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A review by abinthebooks
Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender
3.0
I was really excited to read Stars in Your Eyes, because the premise alone sounded absolutely fantastic, and it’s a Taylor Swift lyric (Dorothea <3). This book is really hard for me to rate. I can’t really pinpoint what I overly disliked about it. I really liked this authors writing, and I found the two main characters of this story, Logan and Mattie compelling, but I think everything for me kind of fell apart in the third act (which, yes, does involve a breakup). The third act also has a very weird time jump, which includes major character development off-page? It kind of felt like everything I read wasn’t even worth it in the end.
But I still feel kind of iffy about my rating. On one hand Stars in Your Eyes had some very good conversations about racism, Hollywood + the acting industry, and queer relationships and representation. This book doesn’t lie in it’s triggering warning at the beginning; it’s very very heavy and deals with toxic and abusive parental relationships, rape, and depression. And Logan is a character who very heavily deals with these things. Logan was a very frustrating character to read, which was the intent of the author. He’s very self destructive, and I hated how his development was done off page. We didn’t really get any on page development, wish you just so desperately wish for throughout the book.
It’s the same thing with Mattie’s character. He’s struggling a lot with himself, and his relationship with his father, and I was so ready to see him become the best version of himself in the third act. And he did…off page. I just really think it was that third act breakup that is tripping me up. The rest of this story was really fucking good; the plot, the writing, the relationship between Mattie and Logan. I just think this book could have been edited better—cutting out pages and completing changing the ending.
I didn’t hate Stars in Your Eyes, I just really can’t decide what I liked and didn’t like. I definitely think this story needed more editing and revision, and I just really wish the third act was cleaner. But if you’re someone who really likes to read books about the “behind the scenes” stuff inside Hollywood, I definitely think this book is for you. Just beware that this book doesn’t lie in its triggering warnings. Despite giving this three stars, there are still many things I want to read from Kacen Callender, and I’m really excited to. Unfortunately this one wasn’t for me as I hoped it would be.
3 to 3.5 stars
* * *
THIS SOUNDS SO GOOD
But I still feel kind of iffy about my rating. On one hand Stars in Your Eyes had some very good conversations about racism, Hollywood + the acting industry, and queer relationships and representation. This book doesn’t lie in it’s triggering warning at the beginning; it’s very very heavy and deals with toxic and abusive parental relationships, rape, and depression. And Logan is a character who very heavily deals with these things. Logan was a very frustrating character to read, which was the intent of the author. He’s very self destructive, and I hated how his development was done off page. We didn’t really get any on page development, wish you just so desperately wish for throughout the book.
It’s the same thing with Mattie’s character. He’s struggling a lot with himself, and his relationship with his father, and I was so ready to see him become the best version of himself in the third act. And he did…off page. I just really think it was that third act breakup that is tripping me up. The rest of this story was really fucking good; the plot, the writing, the relationship between Mattie and Logan. I just think this book could have been edited better—cutting out pages and completing changing the ending.
I didn’t hate Stars in Your Eyes, I just really can’t decide what I liked and didn’t like. I definitely think this story needed more editing and revision, and I just really wish the third act was cleaner. But if you’re someone who really likes to read books about the “behind the scenes” stuff inside Hollywood, I definitely think this book is for you. Just beware that this book doesn’t lie in its triggering warnings. Despite giving this three stars, there are still many things I want to read from Kacen Callender, and I’m really excited to. Unfortunately this one wasn’t for me as I hoped it would be.
3 to 3.5 stars
* * *
THIS SOUNDS SO GOOD