About the Book

Title: Lost Stars
Published: 2016
Swoonworthy Scale: 3

Cover Story: Under the Milky Way Tonight
BFF Charm: Beat It
Talky Talk: Hip To Be Square
Bonus Factor: Astrophysics
Factor: ’80s Music
Relationship Status: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Cover Story: Under the Milky Way Tonight

Meh. It is kind of pretty, though, and the main character loves her some stars. Also, it reminds me of the scene in The Lion King where Timon and Pumbaa are pondering the heavens and we learn the warthog is an astronomy genius. And that is a good thing.

The Deal

It has been two years since sixteen-year-old Caraway’s older sister Ginger died and three months since her mom took off, abandoning Caraway, her younger sister Rosemary, and their father. It’s the late ’80s and “Carrie,” in her jellies and neon half-shirts, is livin’ on a prayer. She drinks, she drops acid, and she’s got the third-worst spice name in her family.

Carrie’s dad grows tired of her drunken stumbling in at 5 a.m. and inability to hold down a summer job. He signs her up for a youth work program in a state park, which requires her to wear a hardhat and unfortunately named boots. This gig keeps her out of trouble between the hours of 9 and 5, during which time she builds a footbridge with a childhood frenemy and tries to be snarky to their group leader. After hours she obsesses over the cosmos, plays her guitar and crushes on college boy Dean, a fellow guitarist/troublemaker who just moved in next door.

As the summer hammers on (construction AND guitar pun, booyah!), Carrie’s beloved Vira comet blazes closer and closer to Earth’s atmosphere; she learns about Dean’s demons while we learn about hers; and slowly the secrets surrounding her sister’s death are revealed. Will they pull Carrie back into orbit, or push her further into space, drifting, falling, floating weightless, calling, calling hoooooome?

BFF Charm: Beat It

BFF Charm that says "denied"

In case you, too, were unaware: Caraway is that spice they put in rye bread that looks like anise. I can’t stand this flavor (or anise, for that matter), and maybe that’s why subconsciously I didn’t like Carrie. It wasn’t her brokenness; that much I understood. Even before she suffered these huge losses, she was diagnosed with an impulse disorder: she feels emotions very strongly and has a hard time regulating. I was expecting to have so much empathy for her—to wish I could take her under my wing. Instead, I found myself struggling to imagine Carrie as a real person.

She would swing wildly from too-cool-for-school to supernerd, and I didn’t really believe it. For example, in the first chapter, she explains that when her sister Ginger died, “Ginny’s” friends took her in and showed her how to be cool (if by “cool,” you mean “delinquent”). But she says, “my dorkdom—though softened by my guitar playing and encyclopedic memorization of Public Enemy lyrics—was still firmly intact.” This humblebrag is pretty representative of Carrie’s self-image in general. For someone who is supposedly filled with self-loathing, she finds a lot of opportunities to mention her awesomeness. Her “dorkdom” is a reference to her savant-like knowledge of astrophysics (more on that later). She also believes she’s got a great sense of humor (I have to disagree with her on that one). And she is a great songwriter, or so she says. But I wasn’t convinced of these things. I couldn’t see the person I was being told Carrie was.

Swoonworthy Scale: 3

I am sure this low grade will shock some readers, and I’m curious to hear what others think about the Lost Stars romance. After all, there is actual sex in this book (safe sex, FTW)! But swoon does not live on sex alone, and for me, Carrie and Dean’s interactions are too few and far between for me to root for them. I wasn’t very attached to either Carrie or Dean. On paper, Dean sounds crushworthy: sensitive and sweet, deep and damaged, with musical talent and long hippie hair. But while I knew things about Dean, I didn’t really know him, which made me doubt that Carrie did.

Also, their affinity for Dad Joke humor kinda ruined the mood for me. In their very first conversation, Carrie says, “So I have a question,” and Dean replies, “You’re in luck; I have an answer.” I rolled my eyes when I read it the first time, but it turns out I was NOT in luck, because Carrie and Dean repeat this call and response in EVERY exchange they have.

Talky Talk: Hip To Be Square

This is not Davis’ first book, but it is her first YA novel. It started as a short personal essay written for The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column–and I kind of wish it had ended there. It was such a good column! Short and sweet with just the right amount of nostalgia and self-deprecating humor, it sadly grew into an awkward pimply thing hiding its insecurity in lame jokes. Take Caraway’s nickname for instance: “Rye Bread.” I get the connection, but it seemed a bit forced.

I also had an issue with the pacing of this story. I expected to have to wait at least a little while to figure out how her sister died. But the story unfolded so slowly that I thought I was missing something, that I had skipped the unveiling and needed to flip back to figure it out. Vague hints were dropped so consistently that they felt more like references to the mystery—like commentary on something we’d already been told. Aside from Carrie’s sister’s death, there is also the secret of why Carrie considers herself so horrible, and why her mother still hasn’t returned from her retreat. They unfurl in this same slow pace, and it makes for a confusing read.

Bonus Factor: Astrophysics

Silhouette of person standing under starry sky

Davis worked with an astrophysicist from NYU for this book. How rad is that? She helped Davis create a comet that would have all the correct sciency details. Yay, science! The comet that Carrie tracks is called Vira, and it only comes around every 76 years or so. It’s based on Halley’s comet, which had come around the year that Davis turned sixteen. Apparently Davis’ summer of love that inspired Lost Stars was full of meteor showers that were the aftermath of Halley’s comet. What a sight that must have been.

Vira is on its way to Carrie that summer in this story, and she’s STOKED. She’s always pausing to jot in her notebook, where she’s charting Vira’s orbit and figuring out which nights she’ll be able to see it. I didn’t buy into the idea that Carrie was such a brainiac, though. Carrie never shows us any evidence of her book smarts (aside from doing astronomical calculations on her breaks from hard labor. Instead of, like, eating lunch. Where are your priorities, Rye Bread?!).

Factor: ’80s Music

I know, I know: I’m such an ’80s baby TRAITOR for not calling it a bonus factor. And I had totally planned on it! But it felt as if Davis was trying to pack as many ’80s songs into the narrative as she possibly could, like YOU GUYS, MUSIC.* I mean, I love coming across references to songs from my childhood—the kind of songs that get stuck in your head all day from simply reading the title. Watch this: “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Right?! Or how ’bout: “Somewhere Out There.” Awww! See, I’m no hater. It just felt forced here. Maybe Davis earned $1 for every 1987 hit she could name drop, in which case… you go, girl. (You gotta) fight for your right (to party).

*I was inspired to try my hand at it, too. Can you spot all 10 ’80s songs in this book report??

Relationship Status: I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Book, I was hoping you and I would collide and sparks would fly, but I found myself passing you silently by, our trajectories lightyears apart. I’m sure you’ll find your path, but I’m still searching for my one and only.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received my advanced copy from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but was given neither money nor a bag full of pink Starbursts for this review. Lost Stars will be available October 4.


About the Contributor:

It’s taken a decade, but Lacey Nadeau has finally decided she misses the beaches of Southern California where she grew up. (It took only about a minute for her to miss the Mexican food.) However, she’s pretty committed to the fun and sun of Denver, CO, where she plays with spreadsheets by day, and drinks boozy slushies with her husband and puppy by night. The puppy just pretends.

This post was written by a guest writer or former contributor for Forever Young Adult.