A review by athenenoctua11
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

5.0

What a gorgeous book! It was well written, very emotional but without being over the top cheesy. It felt like a mature book. However, this is not a story lacking in 'magic' and some degree of suspension of disbelief is needed, at least to start with. I don't usually read anything connected to Fantasy, but this didn't make me uncomfortable at all (not that it is Fantasy, it just has a little bit of the supernatural).

I'm a bit torn about the way mental illness was dealt with in the book. Many times in stories you find characters with life-events or traits that the authors seem to have thrown at them without much thought: say, I'll give this character some mental illness or a traumatic event and then use that to justify everything but don't properly work it into the character's 'personality'. At least until the last third, these characters felt real: their struggles didn't define them or explain them, rather they were part of them and would potentially continue to be. However, Gabe did recover a bit forcefully from his troubles, through the magic of love. He was full of resentment towards some of his family members but because he loved Jo, he was suddenly able to forgive everyone and be happy for them? A bit too much and too quickly. Jo, on the other hand, pushed him a little too hard to do the things that were difficult for him and, while sometimes a little push is needed, other times it only creates more resistance and suffering. I feel like the focus was on tying together the ending for Ursa and Jo and Gabe's character path fell behind.