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Book Review: Where The Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller 

Kidnapped by her mother as a child, 17-year-old Callie has spent her entire life on the run. When her mother is finally arrested, Callie is returned to a father she never knew in the close knit Greek-American tourist town of Tarpon Hills, Florida. But for a girl who spent most of her life on her own joining this loving Greek family is more of a struggle than a happy reunion.

Throughout the novel Callie struggles with trying to cope with the new happy life that has been handed to her, while the absence of her mother is always somewhere in the back of her mind. During this transition she is also haunted by an abusive past that still seems to have control over her life. Watching Callie deal with having been abused as a child was really jarring and at times very hard for me to even read.

Callie does garner a somewhat love interest in "steal your breath beautiful" 22-year-old sponge harvester,Alex Kosta. I find their relationship interesting because they have this insta-lust, mostly physical relationship that I associate more with New Adult than YA. I'm wondering if this is maybe a turn towards more mature YA or if this book could even be considered NA ? Alex as a character does have his own issues,but the book never delves into them deep enough to be fully formed and their relationship felt fleeting.

I'm a little disappointed in this book, because despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Goodreads, this book didn't quite work for me. We only scratch the surface of what is going on in this town and in the novel because it shifts focuses on so many plot elements and never settles. I didn't get a true sense of any of the characters or the plots to get invested. Maybe it's because I felt like I've read the "girl close to 18  leaving her damaged mother to see the father she doesn't know" in books like Along for The Ride by Sarah Dessen or Fingerprints of You by K.P Madonia.

While the character and story development  can be a bit spotty, Where The Stars Still Shine ultimately tells a story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful about a girl who discovers a family and a love she never expected. The Book Depository | Indiebound Labels: bloomsbury

