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A review by snakeyghost
Follow the Stars by Gwen Martin
2.0
2 stars
This is a new to me author but I was very intrigued by the blurb and I just had to try it out. I like the idea of two friends being bound together by their shared grief and it was a topic I really wanted to read about. In the end, this one just didn’t work for me, sadly.
Brief Summary
Noah, Ezra and Rory are friends. Rory has been talking about them taking a road trip for a while. Rory has cystic fibrosis and she dies after the graduate college and most of the book is Noah and Ezra trying to deal with their grief. They decide to do the road trip of honor of Rory. During the road trip, Noah and Ezra fall in love and start a relationship.
First, I really enjoyed how the point of views were done in this book. Noah’s POV was in first person while Ezra’s POV is told through letters he sends to Rory, it was a really creative way to frame the story and it really worked for me.
Second, Noah really loved space and there was a lot of space facts mentioned during book and I really enjoyed those, it was lovely to read about.
Third, Noah is neurodivergent and the way it was done was absolutely lovely to me. He was overwelmed by too much noise, he had to plan everything, changes and decisions overwhelmed him, he follows a routine so he doesn’t get overwhelmed, etc. Everything was done with a really brillant level of care and it was absolutely brillant for me to read about. It really felt like a realistic approach and I appreciated it, very much.
Fourth, what I didn’t appreciate was how Ezra dealt with Noah being neurodivergent. Ezra knowns that Noah is neurodivergent and Noah was very good at telling Ezra what bothered him but Ezra never listened to him. Also they have been best friends for years so i’m assuming that Ezra knowns how Noah functions by now He had no consideration about Noah’s routines and kept suggesting that Noah broke them. He also kept encouraging Noah to live without plans when Noah needs his plans to function. Breaking his routines and not making plans could send Noah into a mental breakdown so i’m really not sure this is the best plan in this scenario. These scenes were told in Noah’s point of view and we got to see how much it affected him that Ezra didn’t respect his boundaries, which just made me feel sad for Noah and start to dislike Ezra as his love interest. Also Noah was always the one apologizing when Ezra was the one in the wrong for not respecting Noah’s boundaries, which didn’t sit well with me. Noah needs the rule to feel safe and well so he shouldn’t have been apoligizing about them, ever. Ezra was always making rude comments about Noah’s routines like they’re a simple quirk he can change instead of how Noah stays functioning throughout the day and I really disliked that part, it made me feel like he wasn’t good enough for Noah, because he didn’t seem to be trying to understand how Noah’s brain works. I’m hoping that Ezra probably just lacked education on the matter and didn’t actually willingly try to push Noah’s boundaries but because these scenes were all told in Noah’s point of view, it made me really unsettled and it just didn’t work for me.
And there was parts of the book where Ezra was really sweet to Rory and really tried to understand him and while it was lovely to see, I had already turned sour on him due to the previous events so sadly I could not enjoy those parts as much as I wanted.
Fifth, the grief and how Rory and Ezra felt it was so nicely portrayed. It felt very realistic to how grief really is. I liked that it was portrayed in many details and never skimmed over. I liked that it followed them everywhere and it didn’t just magically go away. Noah used to rely on Rory to tell him what to do and how to act in certain situations and he was a little lost without her being there and that part felt so realistic to me, I really enjoyed me. I liked how Noah and Ezra didn’t really know how to be friends at first because Rory was the glue to their friendship. I also loved how the stages of grief were shown and how Ezra and Rory went through them in different ways. I loved how Rory was kind of numb and couldn’t cry even if he wanted to, at first, it was so well done and so realistic in its approach.
Sixth, at first Ezra is really angry with Noah because Noah doesn’t seem to be sad about Rory’s death (because he’s not openly crying about it), but Noah is neurodivergent and grief hits everyone different. And I get that Ezra is grieving too and that the comments came from a place of grief. I don’t feel like it was a good enough motive for him to yell at Rory and then he doesn’t even explain to Rory what is wrong, like Rory is suddently a psychic and can read his mind. I just didn’t enjoy how Ezra was so mad at Rory and didn’t tell Rory why, it made me feel bad for Rory who didn’t understand what was wrong except that he did something wrong, but he had no clue what that thing was. I just didn’t enjoy that part and it made it hard for me to like Ezra as a character because of it.
Seventh, this entire book is about Rory. And how Ezra and Noah are grieving her. But she died in the prologue and we never met her on page. So I didn’t really feel a connection to her. Like sure her memory lived through the book and the stories they told about her (and Ezra’s POV is always told through letters he writes to Rory) but I still didn’t feel like I knew her enough to share the grief they felt about her, which impacted my feelings about the story because I didn’t feel as emotionally impacted as I should have been. I barely cried during this book and i’ve cried during a scene where a main character was gifted a stuffed animal of his favorite Pokemon before so it shows that I really didn’t feel connected enough to Rory to be able to feel sad about her death. I just wish I had known Rory better so that I could have been grieving her too, it would have hightened the reading experience for me, but I love to cry during books so it might just be a me thing.
I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did, I really loved the set up for it and the idea behind it, I just sadly didn’t vibe with one of the main character.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest review.
This is a new to me author but I was very intrigued by the blurb and I just had to try it out. I like the idea of two friends being bound together by their shared grief and it was a topic I really wanted to read about. In the end, this one just didn’t work for me, sadly.
Brief Summary
Noah, Ezra and Rory are friends. Rory has been talking about them taking a road trip for a while. Rory has cystic fibrosis and she dies after the graduate college and most of the book is Noah and Ezra trying to deal with their grief. They decide to do the road trip of honor of Rory. During the road trip, Noah and Ezra fall in love and start a relationship.
First, I really enjoyed how the point of views were done in this book. Noah’s POV was in first person while Ezra’s POV is told through letters he sends to Rory, it was a really creative way to frame the story and it really worked for me.
Second, Noah really loved space and there was a lot of space facts mentioned during book and I really enjoyed those, it was lovely to read about.
Third, Noah is neurodivergent and the way it was done was absolutely lovely to me. He was overwelmed by too much noise, he had to plan everything, changes and decisions overwhelmed him, he follows a routine so he doesn’t get overwhelmed, etc. Everything was done with a really brillant level of care and it was absolutely brillant for me to read about. It really felt like a realistic approach and I appreciated it, very much.
Fourth, what I didn’t appreciate was how Ezra dealt with Noah being neurodivergent. Ezra knowns that Noah is neurodivergent and Noah was very good at telling Ezra what bothered him but Ezra never listened to him. Also they have been best friends for years so i’m assuming that Ezra knowns how Noah functions by now He had no consideration about Noah’s routines and kept suggesting that Noah broke them. He also kept encouraging Noah to live without plans when Noah needs his plans to function. Breaking his routines and not making plans could send Noah into a mental breakdown so i’m really not sure this is the best plan in this scenario. These scenes were told in Noah’s point of view and we got to see how much it affected him that Ezra didn’t respect his boundaries, which just made me feel sad for Noah and start to dislike Ezra as his love interest. Also Noah was always the one apologizing when Ezra was the one in the wrong for not respecting Noah’s boundaries, which didn’t sit well with me. Noah needs the rule to feel safe and well so he shouldn’t have been apoligizing about them, ever. Ezra was always making rude comments about Noah’s routines like they’re a simple quirk he can change instead of how Noah stays functioning throughout the day and I really disliked that part, it made me feel like he wasn’t good enough for Noah, because he didn’t seem to be trying to understand how Noah’s brain works. I’m hoping that Ezra probably just lacked education on the matter and didn’t actually willingly try to push Noah’s boundaries but because these scenes were all told in Noah’s point of view, it made me really unsettled and it just didn’t work for me.
And there was parts of the book where Ezra was really sweet to Rory and really tried to understand him and while it was lovely to see, I had already turned sour on him due to the previous events so sadly I could not enjoy those parts as much as I wanted.
Fifth, the grief and how Rory and Ezra felt it was so nicely portrayed. It felt very realistic to how grief really is. I liked that it was portrayed in many details and never skimmed over. I liked that it followed them everywhere and it didn’t just magically go away. Noah used to rely on Rory to tell him what to do and how to act in certain situations and he was a little lost without her being there and that part felt so realistic to me, I really enjoyed me. I liked how Noah and Ezra didn’t really know how to be friends at first because Rory was the glue to their friendship. I also loved how the stages of grief were shown and how Ezra and Rory went through them in different ways. I loved how Rory was kind of numb and couldn’t cry even if he wanted to, at first, it was so well done and so realistic in its approach.
Sixth, at first Ezra is really angry with Noah because Noah doesn’t seem to be sad about Rory’s death (because he’s not openly crying about it), but Noah is neurodivergent and grief hits everyone different. And I get that Ezra is grieving too and that the comments came from a place of grief. I don’t feel like it was a good enough motive for him to yell at Rory and then he doesn’t even explain to Rory what is wrong, like Rory is suddently a psychic and can read his mind. I just didn’t enjoy how Ezra was so mad at Rory and didn’t tell Rory why, it made me feel bad for Rory who didn’t understand what was wrong except that he did something wrong, but he had no clue what that thing was. I just didn’t enjoy that part and it made it hard for me to like Ezra as a character because of it.
Seventh, this entire book is about Rory. And how Ezra and Noah are grieving her. But she died in the prologue and we never met her on page. So I didn’t really feel a connection to her. Like sure her memory lived through the book and the stories they told about her (and Ezra’s POV is always told through letters he writes to Rory) but I still didn’t feel like I knew her enough to share the grief they felt about her, which impacted my feelings about the story because I didn’t feel as emotionally impacted as I should have been. I barely cried during this book and i’ve cried during a scene where a main character was gifted a stuffed animal of his favorite Pokemon before so it shows that I really didn’t feel connected enough to Rory to be able to feel sad about her death. I just wish I had known Rory better so that I could have been grieving her too, it would have hightened the reading experience for me, but I love to cry during books so it might just be a me thing.
I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did, I really loved the set up for it and the idea behind it, I just sadly didn’t vibe with one of the main character.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest review.