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karreaderwriter's review
4.0
Kit Frick’s debut novel tells the story of four high school friends that get torn apart by secrets.
Best Friends to best friend breakup.
To the MC, Ellory one girl stands out. Ret is the do anything, break you out of your boundaries type of girl. I know I had that friend in high school. The one I broke the rules with.
Right from the start, “Ret’s world was my world, her friends my friends. Everything Ret touched felt electric, exciting, a little dangerous. Including me. Before Ret, I was basically invisible. With Ret, I was somebody.”
“Two roads diverged in the wood, and I - I took the one with Ret.”
Chapters alternate to before (junior year) where we learn about the highs and lows of their friendship and the extreme influence of one girl. And now (senior year) where Ellory has returned to school a much different person than before. It’s a mystery to the reader what broke their relationship, but tensions are high and you know it was something big!
A terrible incident changes everyone’s life forever. And Ellory has to live with the outcome and try to forgive all involved including herself.
Kit’s detailed writing made me invested in the outcome. I didn’t like this book as much as I Killed Zoe Spanos, but I will definitely read any book she writes.
Best Friends to best friend breakup.
To the MC, Ellory one girl stands out. Ret is the do anything, break you out of your boundaries type of girl. I know I had that friend in high school. The one I broke the rules with.
Right from the start, “Ret’s world was my world, her friends my friends. Everything Ret touched felt electric, exciting, a little dangerous. Including me. Before Ret, I was basically invisible. With Ret, I was somebody.”
“Two roads diverged in the wood, and I - I took the one with Ret.”
Chapters alternate to before (junior year) where we learn about the highs and lows of their friendship and the extreme influence of one girl. And now (senior year) where Ellory has returned to school a much different person than before. It’s a mystery to the reader what broke their relationship, but tensions are high and you know it was something big!
A terrible incident changes everyone’s life forever. And Ellory has to live with the outcome and try to forgive all involved including herself.
Kit’s detailed writing made me invested in the outcome. I didn’t like this book as much as I Killed Zoe Spanos, but I will definitely read any book she writes.
imi_k's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
mackenzierm's review
5.0
First, I have to say that I am so grateful for having been given the privilege of reading this e-arc. I absolutely ADORED this book.
I can't remember all the details as I did not write this review right after finishing the novel.
But I do remember that it took my breath away.
A story of sorting truth from the lies, whether that be lies told by others or lies told by herself.
A story of true strength, of pushing through the hard times.
I love the title of this book, I love the cover. I love everything. I will definitely be keeping Kit Frick on my unofficial list of authors to read!
I can't remember all the details as I did not write this review right after finishing the novel.
But I do remember that it took my breath away.
A story of sorting truth from the lies, whether that be lies told by others or lies told by herself.
A story of true strength, of pushing through the hard times.
I love the title of this book, I love the cover. I love everything. I will definitely be keeping Kit Frick on my unofficial list of authors to read!
brandinh's review
4.0
Twist ending that I couldn’t anticipate beforehand, but overall this is not a story you haven’t read before. Still, Frick makes it fresh enough to be enjoyable for fans of dark, twisty friendship tales. Drug use, drinking, profanity, and sexual activity make this more suitable for older teens. Recommended for high school libraries where mysteries by E. Lockhart and Kara Thomas are popular.
carleneinspired's review
5.0
Pre-order available now! Amazon
4.5 Stars
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I . . . "
Yes, I read this super early, several months in advance of its release date, but I couldn't get it off my mind once I saw the cover and read the blurb. When a book like this is sitting on your Kindle, you read it, publish date ignored. Within a handful of pages, I knew this was the sort of book that required my full attention. Kit Frick's beautiful prose pulled me into the solar system made up of Ellory, Ret, Bex, and Jennie, with me flickering on the sidelines as a star, watching their natural rotation unravel. With Ellory as our narrator, we see the friends in the past and in the present, known only as Then and Now. We know the friendship was rocky and dependent on Ret, we know now that they are no longer friends, we know that something happened in the summer of junior year, and we know that all Ellory wants is to get through her senior year unseen and unheard.
"Somewhere, there's an alternate reality version of Ellory. . . . I think about that girl sometimes, until the wanting gets too big, and I have to stop."
I don't want to ruin the novel for readers checking out reviews in advance of See All the Stars' release date, so this review will be as broad as I can make it. I'll try not to gush endlessly, but really, I want to, and I want to post the 29,803 quotes that I highlighted. A coming of age story that belongs with the best of them, See All the Stars takes you back to the high school halls filled with drama, friendships, and first love. The alternating storyline allows readers to become a part of the story, reliving Ellory's junior year experiences and floating alongside her while she hides from everyone during her senior year. With a large cast of secondary characters, we visit parties, river banks, classrooms, and bedrooms, each character and scene proving to be pivotal to the story line.
"Our hands were the beginning of a spectacular, bright promise."
Then, we recognize her naivety in her willingness to submit to her friend Ret, the self appointed leader of their group, and in her desperate hope to make her first real relationship last. We learn that though Ret and Ellory call themselves best friends, they're held together more out of necessity, they need each other, just as they need the other two to balance them out. We watch her downward spiral as she accepts the use of alcohol and drugs around her, how she lets things slide that as readers we scream at her to question, and how she becomes a puppet to a friend's desperate need to have her all to herself. Now, we praise her complex development as she ages another year, but we also ache with each lie she believes and each lie she tells herself. As Now reaches the last chapters, we rejoice as Ellory learns to face the thing that left her friendless, boyfriendless, and alone. The style of writing, and the alternating time frames allows readers to experience the then, while also uncovering the truths that the friends didn't know at the time, revealing us the details of the fall. The accident, something we don't know understand until the end, pulls the friends in two directions and Kit Frick's decision to only write from Ellory's perspective forces us to choose her side.
"My mom calls what happened the fall. It's a kindness, a shortcut, a way of taking something hard and shaping it into two little words that can slip off your tongue."
See All the Stars is the sort of novel that shouldn't be limited to only readers of the Young Adult genre. It's too complex, too big of a story to be ignored by readers of New Adult, Adult, and Contemporary Fiction. The depth of See All the Stars makes it feel very real, making me not only empathize with the characters, but also reevaluate my own personal experiences, putting myself in the same shoes. The focus on relationships, lies, truth, and forgiveness made for a very compelling story. The characters are very well developed, made up of layers and flaws, their emotions ruling their decisions. I was able to guess at some of the plot, but the final chapters of the book proved that the true reveal was one worth waiting for. The shock factor was huge and unexpected, but perfect for a novel that makes you care so much for the main character and the hurt that she had gone through. I was incredibly impressed to find that See All the Stars is Kit Frick's debut novel and I really hope to see more from her.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one with Ret."
ARC provided via Netgalley.
4.5 Stars
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I . . . "
Yes, I read this super early, several months in advance of its release date, but I couldn't get it off my mind once I saw the cover and read the blurb. When a book like this is sitting on your Kindle, you read it, publish date ignored. Within a handful of pages, I knew this was the sort of book that required my full attention. Kit Frick's beautiful prose pulled me into the solar system made up of Ellory, Ret, Bex, and Jennie, with me flickering on the sidelines as a star, watching their natural rotation unravel. With Ellory as our narrator, we see the friends in the past and in the present, known only as Then and Now. We know the friendship was rocky and dependent on Ret, we know now that they are no longer friends, we know that something happened in the summer of junior year, and we know that all Ellory wants is to get through her senior year unseen and unheard.
"Somewhere, there's an alternate reality version of Ellory. . . . I think about that girl sometimes, until the wanting gets too big, and I have to stop."
I don't want to ruin the novel for readers checking out reviews in advance of See All the Stars' release date, so this review will be as broad as I can make it. I'll try not to gush endlessly, but really, I want to, and I want to post the 29,803 quotes that I highlighted. A coming of age story that belongs with the best of them, See All the Stars takes you back to the high school halls filled with drama, friendships, and first love. The alternating storyline allows readers to become a part of the story, reliving Ellory's junior year experiences and floating alongside her while she hides from everyone during her senior year. With a large cast of secondary characters, we visit parties, river banks, classrooms, and bedrooms, each character and scene proving to be pivotal to the story line.
"Our hands were the beginning of a spectacular, bright promise."
Then, we recognize her naivety in her willingness to submit to her friend Ret, the self appointed leader of their group, and in her desperate hope to make her first real relationship last. We learn that though Ret and Ellory call themselves best friends, they're held together more out of necessity, they need each other, just as they need the other two to balance them out. We watch her downward spiral as she accepts the use of alcohol and drugs around her, how she lets things slide that as readers we scream at her to question, and how she becomes a puppet to a friend's desperate need to have her all to herself. Now, we praise her complex development as she ages another year, but we also ache with each lie she believes and each lie she tells herself. As Now reaches the last chapters, we rejoice as Ellory learns to face the thing that left her friendless, boyfriendless, and alone. The style of writing, and the alternating time frames allows readers to experience the then, while also uncovering the truths that the friends didn't know at the time, revealing us the details of the fall. The accident, something we don't know understand until the end, pulls the friends in two directions and Kit Frick's decision to only write from Ellory's perspective forces us to choose her side.
"My mom calls what happened the fall. It's a kindness, a shortcut, a way of taking something hard and shaping it into two little words that can slip off your tongue."
See All the Stars is the sort of novel that shouldn't be limited to only readers of the Young Adult genre. It's too complex, too big of a story to be ignored by readers of New Adult, Adult, and Contemporary Fiction. The depth of See All the Stars makes it feel very real, making me not only empathize with the characters, but also reevaluate my own personal experiences, putting myself in the same shoes. The focus on relationships, lies, truth, and forgiveness made for a very compelling story. The characters are very well developed, made up of layers and flaws, their emotions ruling their decisions. I was able to guess at some of the plot, but the final chapters of the book proved that the true reveal was one worth waiting for. The shock factor was huge and unexpected, but perfect for a novel that makes you care so much for the main character and the hurt that she had gone through. I was incredibly impressed to find that See All the Stars is Kit Frick's debut novel and I really hope to see more from her.
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one with Ret."
ARC provided via Netgalley.
allthatissim's review
4.0
Full review on: Flipping Through the Pages
See All the Stars was no less than a movie or a show. I went into reading this without any expectations or pre-knowledge and it totally surprised me. I loved this book.
This story is about Ellory, a senior year student, and her life in Junior year. The book is basically written in two parts (not divided into two parts). The first part is about the present life of Ellory in senior year and second part talks about her past as a junior year student. Both the parts are well connected and we get to see the interlinks between past and present and also how Ellory’s past affected her present life decisions.
Ellory’s life in junior year was perfect. She was part of a group of 4 girls along with Ret, Bex, and Jennie. Ret was kind of mastermind of the group and she manipulated everyone as per her wish. I totally get the vibes of Pretty Little Liars here. Remember Alison from that group? Yeah, I resonated Ret with Alison so much. Ellory always felt as if she was favorite of Ret. When Matthias enters into Ellory’s life, her frequency changes with her friends as she wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend. But at that time too, she was closest to Ret and shared every secret to her. But she later finds out that this is not true with Ret, however.
Kit Frick has perfectly unveiled the events of pasts along with the present day scenes. I really liked the writing style of the author. The author has portrayed many serious topics in this book like parental neglect, unhealthy friendships, drug abuse among others. Making a story with all kind of issues is not always easy but the author has perfectly captured the whole essence of troubled teen lives.
This story is hugely based on characters and no character is perfect. Every one of them is flawed and complex. Ellory is a relatable character who loves art and working with metal and her dream is to get admission in her dream college in an art program. She is an only child with loving, protective parents. When Ret becomes her friend, Ellory is like a blank slate who is willing to be transformed by Ret’s in order to get her total attention. Her decisions were affected by Ret’s perspective. I loved how realistically this friendship was depicted.
Ret has a negligent mother and her life is twisted in its own way. She like to control everyone in their friendship group. Jenni is fond of cooking and always arranges night-out at her place but her parents also were almost out-of-focus. Matthias family was twisted and he never allowed Ellory to enter in his life. Basically, none of the families were portrayed as happy or good and maybe that’s because we get to see so many issues with those teens.
The biggest lesson that this story gives is how to work on hard things and how to fight your fears. You should be capable enough to learn from your own mistakes and should learn to forgive yourself. This story tells how one action of someone can cause the reactions which were never meant to happen in the first place.
The ending of the novel is the biggest point for it. Basically, the ending has two twists. While the first twist was predictable from the mid of the book itself, I never thought about the second twist. It was a total surprise for me and finally was a factor that made me like this book even more.
Though the story was entertaining and suspense was quite good, I felt as if it was little long and was kind of dragged out. I think that sometimes the past was moving too slowly and the book could have been much shorter. Also, the romance was not the strongest point of the story. I never shipped Matthias and Ellory. From the beginning itself, their relationship felt too rushed and forced. Matthias never seems that interested while Ret was trying to prove her importance to him.
Overall, this book is a complex and captivating read which definitely has the potential to keep the readers hooked till the end. The writing of Kit Frick is really good and with the complex and layered characters, she has added a magic to the story. The final twist was definitely worth waiting. This book makes you feel connected to Ellory and her emotions on so many levels. I was really impressed with this story and I hope to read more from [a:Kit Frick|7210822|Kit Frick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1499480938p2/7210822.jpg] in the future.
** Thank you to the author and McElderry Books for providing me the ARC in exchange for an honets review.
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See All the Stars was no less than a movie or a show. I went into reading this without any expectations or pre-knowledge and it totally surprised me. I loved this book.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-“
“I took the one back to you.
This story is about Ellory, a senior year student, and her life in Junior year. The book is basically written in two parts (not divided into two parts). The first part is about the present life of Ellory in senior year and second part talks about her past as a junior year student. Both the parts are well connected and we get to see the interlinks between past and present and also how Ellory’s past affected her present life decisions.
Ellory’s life in junior year was perfect. She was part of a group of 4 girls along with Ret, Bex, and Jennie. Ret was kind of mastermind of the group and she manipulated everyone as per her wish. I totally get the vibes of Pretty Little Liars here. Remember Alison from that group? Yeah, I resonated Ret with Alison so much. Ellory always felt as if she was favorite of Ret. When Matthias enters into Ellory’s life, her frequency changes with her friends as she wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend. But at that time too, she was closest to Ret and shared every secret to her. But she later finds out that this is not true with Ret, however.
"I wanted only this, the four of us together, but Ret said nothing ever happened, and Ret Johnson was the sun. Hot, bright, at the center of our universe. That we revolved around her was simply a fact."
Kit Frick has perfectly unveiled the events of pasts along with the present day scenes. I really liked the writing style of the author. The author has portrayed many serious topics in this book like parental neglect, unhealthy friendships, drug abuse among others. Making a story with all kind of issues is not always easy but the author has perfectly captured the whole essence of troubled teen lives.
This story is hugely based on characters and no character is perfect. Every one of them is flawed and complex. Ellory is a relatable character who loves art and working with metal and her dream is to get admission in her dream college in an art program. She is an only child with loving, protective parents. When Ret becomes her friend, Ellory is like a blank slate who is willing to be transformed by Ret’s in order to get her total attention. Her decisions were affected by Ret’s perspective. I loved how realistically this friendship was depicted.
Ret has a negligent mother and her life is twisted in its own way. She like to control everyone in their friendship group. Jenni is fond of cooking and always arranges night-out at her place but her parents also were almost out-of-focus. Matthias family was twisted and he never allowed Ellory to enter in his life. Basically, none of the families were portrayed as happy or good and maybe that’s because we get to see so many issues with those teens.
The biggest lesson that this story gives is how to work on hard things and how to fight your fears. You should be capable enough to learn from your own mistakes and should learn to forgive yourself. This story tells how one action of someone can cause the reactions which were never meant to happen in the first place.
The ending of the novel is the biggest point for it. Basically, the ending has two twists. While the first twist was predictable from the mid of the book itself, I never thought about the second twist. It was a total surprise for me and finally was a factor that made me like this book even more.
Though the story was entertaining and suspense was quite good, I felt as if it was little long and was kind of dragged out. I think that sometimes the past was moving too slowly and the book could have been much shorter. Also, the romance was not the strongest point of the story. I never shipped Matthias and Ellory. From the beginning itself, their relationship felt too rushed and forced. Matthias never seems that interested while Ret was trying to prove her importance to him.
Overall, this book is a complex and captivating read which definitely has the potential to keep the readers hooked till the end. The writing of Kit Frick is really good and with the complex and layered characters, she has added a magic to the story. The final twist was definitely worth waiting. This book makes you feel connected to Ellory and her emotions on so many levels. I was really impressed with this story and I hope to read more from [a:Kit Frick|7210822|Kit Frick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1499480938p2/7210822.jpg] in the future.
** Thank you to the author and McElderry Books for providing me the ARC in exchange for an honets review.
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