The Sun Is Also A Star No Spoiler Book Review
Hey lovelies!
So today I am going to be writing a review for The Sun Is
Also A Star by Nicola Yoon! *cue screaming*
If you know me, you’ll know HOW MUCH I adore Nicola Yoon
after her debut novel Everything Everything which I gave a solid five stars and
also wrote a review on!
I was so excited to hear she had a new book coming out and I
knew I had to get my hands on it ASAP! The fact that the cover was so flipping
gorgeous just made me want to have it some more!
And then I got the eARC of it, I read it and I died because
OMG GOOOOOOODDDD! *insert heart eye emoji here*
About the book.
Author: Nicola Yoon
Pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Synopsis: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? (source)
Synopsis: Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true? (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Recommended for: Anyone 13+.
This book was provided to me from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This book was provided to me from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My thoughts.
{ WRITING }
Nicola Yoon’s writing has always been so enjoyable to read
because of how easy it is to get into and how funny and witty she can be! She
always has a little something different in her books, when it comes to
formatting or her character’s unique quirks she expresses through the writing!
In Everything Everything (EE), her debut novel which as
mentioned before, I adored, she had little illustrations done by her husband
which added so much more to the book!
In The Sun Is Also A Star (TSIAAS) she had alternating
chapters, and then random chapters from different people’s point of views,
which do add to the story, trust me! She also had little quirky sentences such
as ‘observable fact’ for Natasha’s point of views, adding to her science loving
personality and ‘area teen….’ for Daniel’s point of view to add to his
dramatic, poetry loving nature!
She also wrote her random chapters in third person
omniscient which I found worked super well for her as they gave the readers a
birds eye view of the characters and what goes on inside their head!
Yoon threw in there a lot of factual information intended to
teach readers about the cultures, Korean and African American in the book,
through information about hair, family, food and more, sometimes even
dedicating whole chapters to it!
I found it to be such an informative and entertaining way of
learning not only about the characters but also their culture!
{ IDEA }
I think The Sun Is Also A Star is such an important book! I
read it as part of #diversitydecbingo which I did a whole post on so you can
find out more information for that and it is really one of the best diverse
books I’ve read!
There is just so much representation in here when it comes
to race, gender, stereotypes and more! It has everything from issues about
deportation to the racism when it comes to Asian and African American people
and it was all so well represented and taught me SO MUCH!
I found the idea was also quite different because yes, it
was instalove but at the same time, it was a really well done kind of
instalove, which I’ll be talking about more below! It also had a lot of
philosophical vibes to it as the characters pondered fate, destiny, true love,
dreams vs real life and so much more!
Another thing I adored was the meeting a stranger in New
York City and going on an adventure with them in a day vibes! I am a sucker
when it comes to this cliché and it was just so well done, even though it
wasn’t something new and I knew I was a goner!
Nicola Yoon is able to pack just SO MUCH into such a small
book and it is done so effortlessly and seamlessly!
{ PLOT }
So it’s actually kind of surprising but TSIAAS has a plot!
Most contemporary novels are not able to pack in a plot but this novel did!
If you didn’t know, this novel is the story of Natasha and
Daniel that meet each other in New York City and have a whole adventure in a
day. Natasha is about to be deported to Jamaica that very night and Daniel is
going for an interview in Yale even though he was no interest in being a
doctor.
The story is only through the duration of a day so it isn’t
very long but SO MUCH HAPPENS!
I can’t say too much but you can literally feel yourself
racing against the clock with Natasha and Daniel as they try and stop Natasha
being deported!
{ CHARACTERS }
The characters are EASILY my favourite part of the story!
Natasha is such a no nonsense, focused and driven girl. Daniel
is the complete opposite being dreamy, poetic and lost.
I liked the stark contrast these two drew and how they
worked around their differences to find they had so much more in similar than
they originally thought. They had such good chemistry and have to be one of my favourite
couples ever, especially because Daniel is the cutest cinnamon roll ever!
The actual romance part of this was really well done too! Not
many people are a fan of instalove and I can’t say I am either but this book
did that so well! The way Nicola Yoon wrote it and the way the characters just
connected didn’t make it seem instalovey or cliché or stereotypical!
There was just so much of a connection between the two that
it was absolutely impossible to deny they were perfect for each other. It is,
without a doubt, one of the best romances I have read where the characters ARE
JUST SO AMAZING, apart and together!
{ FINALLY… }
So if you can see the rating, I bet you’re wondering why on
earth didn’t it get 5 stars if all I’ve done is rave about it in this review? Well,
the answer to that is just because while I thought it was SUCH AN AMAZING BOOK,
I still felt let down. It didn’t have that extra spark for me that EE had and
unfortunately, I cannot give it five stars! Don’t worry though because almost
everyone I know gave it five out of five stars and the fact that I didn’t is
more of a personal reason than anything actually being wrong with the book!
It is such a fantastic, beautiful and amazing book and I highly
recommend you read it!
OVERALL RATING:
★★★★ ½
10 happy thoughts
I'm glad you enjoyed this one so much!! The instalove sort of ruined it for me. *buries self in apology* But I did love the premise and all the diversity and Natasha and Daniel were both amazing (and Daniel was pretty downright adorable hehe).
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by @ Paper Fury!
I don't hate insta love that much that it ruins a book for me so I think that is where the difference came in! AND DANIEL IS ADORABLE OMG!
DeleteSeems you really enjoyed this - I think I might have to check this one out for myself. Admittedly I haven't read Everything Everything yet either... but at least its on my TBR pile :) Great review!
ReplyDeleteThank you! And you must read Everything Everything! It's one of my favourite books ever plus it's a great diverse book!
DeleteOoh, I was the opposite! I enjoyed EE, but I preferred The Sun Is Also A Star - for me it just had that spark! PLUS THAT ENDING! *squeals*
ReplyDeleteI also really agree with that point about the plot - I was also pleasantly surprised by it, and it made following along the book so much easier!
Wonderful review - I have no idea how you managed to make it spoiler free - IT'S TOO HARD NOT TO GUSH FOR ME!
Geraldine @ Corralling Books
The ending was pretty awesome, if not a little too open!
DeleteAnd yes the plot was awesome! *squeals and jumps around*
And thank you so much Geraldine!
I actually haven't read Everything Everthing as yet, but can't wait to pick this one up too Anisha. I'm a massive fan of quick pace storylines and instalove if it's not cheesy and overdone. Definitely picking it up over the Christmas break. Absolutely brilliant review, loved it! <3 <3
ReplyDeleteOMG THANK YOU KELLY! <3 Also READ EVERYTHING EVERYTHING IT'S ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS EVER! And yes, TSIAAS is not too cheesy (at least not for me) and defs not overdone! I can't wait till you read it! :)
DeleteThanks for keeping it spoiler-free! Most reviews are definitely not, and I'm pretty bad about keeping my reviews spoiler-free as well. x) I try not to reveal too much, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I'll love this one. I've noticed that insta-love stories don't bother me as much as they do other people. Sure, I'll roll my eyes a little, but if it's done well and it's super cute, I'll also have heart-eyes the whole time.
I can't wait to read it!
Insta love stories don't really tend to bother me either! And you'll so be making heart eyes at Natasha and Daniel! They are the cutest!
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