There's nothing like a story with a good, unexpected twist. Pair that with a contemporary high school scene and you have a win in my book. See All the Stars by Kit Frick was just that. This part love story, part thriller follows high school student Ellory both at present in her senior year and in flashbacks to her junior year. Something clearly happened that split Ellory's friend group apart and destroyed her life, but what?

While one part of this story was incredibly predictable, the main twist came out of left field and completely took me by surprise! If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that's rare for me! I really enjoyed the characters and was especially intrigued by Ret. With characters like her, I'm always fascinated by what makes them so attractive that people can't help but want to be in their orbit. I honestly can't say I've ever met a person so charismatic in real life, so these types of characters are some of my favorites!

Overall, I enjoyed how unique and truly realistic the characters were. I appreciated that Ellory was into metalworking as an art form. I found that so unique and wish I could have seen some of her pieces. The writing in this novel was absolutely beautiful and poetic, and the story just flowed off the page. The last chapter was good closure, and I felt satisfied with the ending. And can we talk about this cover - it's gorgeous!

Fans of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart will absolutely love this read! It's one of those books that you will want to read over and over again to get your questions answered and discover more details.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Thanks so much to Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster for a finished copy of this thrilling read! See All the Stars by Kit Frick is out now, so be sure to pick up a copy!

This is a solid ya mystery that had me turning the pages to finish in one sitting. I don't want to say anything to give away the plot, but if you like mysteries this is a good choice. Recommended!

I would definitely call this book a page-turner. Fans of We Were Liars would probably enjoy this title for the suspense and secrets.

This reminded me a bit of Pretty Little Liars in that it follows a group of friends who were once extremely close and suddenly, after something happens, no longer speak to each other anymore. The narrative flips back and forth as the story of what happens gets pieced together and the reader gets a full picture. I thought it was an interesting premise but something felt a bit lacking for me. The characters weren’t overly likable or compelling, and so I didn’t feel connected to any of them. ★ ★ ★ (3/5 stars)

I liked this one but I'm not sure I would re-read it again. It's so much like other contemporaries that it was pretty predictable and details were drug out too far that it became boring.

This thriller took my breath away. I went into See All The Stars not knowing anything about the plot, and I prefer it that way. Seeing how the story grew and developed, I was fascinated at the author's use of time and characters to create a complex plot. Her writing style added the necessary grit to this story that truly sent my mind reeling.

I borrowed this book from my local library. ***Thanks to Netgalley (even though I was unable to read the provided format) for providing me a complimentary copy of SEE ALL THE STARS by Kit Frick in exchange for my honest review***

Alternates between THEN: before “the fall” Ellory's Junior year of high school and NOW: Ellory's Senior year of high school dealing with the aftereffects of “the fall” with each chapter. By the end of the book we get a complete timeline of events.

THEN Ellory was a typical teen with normal insecurities who was friends with a group of girls that each had their own hobbies and interests. The fours girls really would only hang out together because they all loved Ret, the leader. Right before school started Junior year, Ellory met a boy, Matthias, and that first love pretty much overshadowed everything else.

NOW Ellory is starting her Senior year avoiding everyone, especially her former friends and boyfriend. Ellory is seeing a counselor and trying to deal with ‘the fall’ piecing together the good and bad, real and imagined, all the events that led her to now.

I really liked how the author describes several different types of relationships and family dynamics. The social and emotional issues the characters had to deal with were spot on. I think sometimes it's very easy to feel all consumed by someone else, and with their heightened hormones and emotions teenagers have it worse off.

Ellory’s hobby is welding artistically. I don’t think that is a common field of interest for girls so it was nice to see that outside of the gender norm. You can like and be good at whatever you want.

Also, being a part of the BFF's inside joke… "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-" was nice.

This story is more of a contemporary YA romance than the suspense it seemed to be billed as, but it was a good story that I had no problem getting through while reading.

The two time periods presented in this concept definitely have pros and cons. It ups the interest on the plot but it also can affect the pacing, I found this timeline was ultimately unsuccessful in this book. The later timeline didn't grab my attention. There was just too much Ellory and at some point I started to get annoyed of her. We also had very little action. Plotholes and obvious answers, I was not suprised by this novel and I am dissapointed because I saw this was marketed as Pretty Little Liars meets We Were Liars, which I genuinely dont know if I should take that claim seriously.

Margaret K. McElderry Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of See All the Stars. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

Ret, Jenni, Bex, and Ellory are best friends, navigating high school together with friendship and laughter. When Ellory meets Matthias at a party, the dynamic of their group changes. After a betrayal ends in tragedy, what will the future be like for all of them?

Told in Ellory's perspective, from present to past in alternating chapters, See All the Starts was a good story that never truly came together for me. Because of the way that the plot unfolded, the truth behind Ellory's self-made isolation did not pack a punch. In the end, I was left desiring more. In a genre full of coming-of-age stories with similar social issues examined, See All the Stars just did not stand out.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and I couldn't put it down. The novel grabs the reader right off the bat because it goes back and forth from Ellory's junior year to her starting her senior year of highschool after an incident ripped her and her friends apart. Little clues are given as you read more and more but the ending was the real shocker for me. I definitely never saw that coming (well I saw the more obvious parts coming) but wow.
This is a really quick read about growing up and betrayal. It was an excellent debut novel and I'm looking forward to more from this author.

I liked this one! It was interesting, suspenseful, and so beautifully written. I don't want to give anything away, so I'l keep this short and sweet, but the only thing for me is that it dragged just a bit. Other than this, I highly recommend this book and suggest you put it on your TBR.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

See All the Stars by Kit Frick follows Ellory, as she rejoins her peers for senior year after having been gone for some time due to an incident she simply calls the fall. The story alternates between the past, leading up to the fall, and the present, where Ellory is trying to work through things and make peace with the past. In the past, Ellory has a (seemingly) close group of friends. Ret has drawn Ellory into a group comprised of herself, Ellory, Jenni, and Bex, and Ret is the glue that holds the group together. One fateful day, Ellory accompanies Ret to a party, where she meets and falls for Matthias. As time goes on, though, things between Ellory and Matthias grow strained, and tensions grow between the group. It all comes to a head on the fateful day of the fall.

I enjoyed this read for the most part. The story is told from Ellory's POV, with each chapter alternating between then and now. I felt the transitions were handled well, and the flow was nice. I was always left wanting to know more and enjoyed each time frame equally, which doesn't usually happen for me. The most interesting was the past, as we headed towards this terrible incident, but the present was interesting too, as Ellory has to work through many things, and lay the past to rest. I'll admit, I didn't expect the full truth of the fall, and it kinda shocked me.

I liked the 'Bad Parents’ game Ret and Ellory played, with full-on acting. I think the author meant they pretended to be ethnographers in the field, not ecologists. Psychologist, anthropologist, culturalist, sociologist, or behaviouralist/ behaviourist would all have been better choices too, given that they were observing social interactions and behaviours. I adore the 'Road Less Travelled’ call and response Ellory and Ret played. I enjoyed how they would complete the iconic line with the oddest things.

To me, this was a great look at social interactions and how families & peers shape kids’ behaviours on a deep level, setting in motion at young ages schemas that will shape their actions for a lifetime, unless they become aware and work to overcome them. Even in the past events, Ellory seems to know what drives Ret, and to at least partially understand what drives her own actions. Just goes to show, even if you understand the drive behind behaviour, it can still be very difficult to change. People fear change; better the devil you know, eh?

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Children's for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was an odd one for me, I related to Ellory’s shyness, and the writing was excellent, but there wasn’t a whole lot going on for the first quarter or so of the book. But I never actually felt bored, in fact I was so riveted that I kept reading which is not often for me when reading contemporary. There’s just something about the book that kept my attention and compelled me to keep turning the pages.

I liked the unreliable narrator thing going on, since the book was told in Ellory’s perspective you don’t quite get the whole truth since she’s not even telling herself the truth. Most of the book was contemporary but as you get to the last quarter it turns into a thriller and the revelations blew my mind! They made the time jumps, Ellory’s long break from school, and her breakup make sense and upped the wow factor for me.

The book was riveting and compelling, the ending was really satisfying, and I loved Miss Frick’s writing. I recommend this book!

P.S. That cover is gorgeous!

Rating: 4 Stars

Recommendation: ages 16 and up
FTC DISCLAIMER: I received this book in exchange for an honest review

See All the Stars is a YA contemporary with mystery elements centered around a girl who loses her small group of friends and is forced to survive her final year of high school alone after the events unfolded. The sequence and layout of the story worked really well to add to the suspense of what happened by leading the reader on the journey of seeing the before and after, and slowly revealing the event that tore everyone apart. I loved the exploration into the toxic, dependent dynamic the four girls had and how it rang true to the types of relationships girls can form with one another, and watching it unfold was as enjoyable as it was difficult to watch.

While I enjoyed the story's layout and how it helped to spice up the mystery, I struggled with connecting to the characters and maintaining interest in finding out what happened. The plot's pacing sagged quite often and didn't hold my interest, making it all too easy to put it aside after only a chapter or two. Even though I really wanted to know what happened between them and why Ellory was experiencing what she was, I couldn't be convinced to read continuously or voraciously. The writing, for a debut, was strong and I enjoyed the complexity to the connections these girls fostered—both good and bad—but something was missing to make me feel as if I couldn't put it down. Maybe there were too many unnecessary scenes that didn't anything add to the overall story, or enough substance or hidden clues in these scenes to add to the story itself, but as the story went along it slowly became more difficult to read through them to get to the parts that did add depth and background.

I am but one person and you could very much enjoy this story as I wish I could've so I recommend giving it a try. See All the Stars had such potential, and I think Kit Frick will be an author to watch out for. I look forward to seeing how her writing develops and grows in her next book and the one after that.

I wanted only this, the four of us together, but Ret said nothing ever happened, and Ret Johnson was the sun. Hot, bright, at the center of our universe. That we revolved around her was simply a fact.

I could have said no. I could have let the sweetness of carrot bread melting on my tongue and the lull of the breeze on my face keep me anchored to the grass. I could have let the trill of the iPad drown Ret out. Everything that came next might have been different.

No Matthais. No lies. No hot, bright surge of rage that flung us all apart, lodging galaxies between us by senior year until we were planets orbiting no-one. Ret, Jenni, Bex and me.

But that day I was the moon, dark and cold without the sun’s light. Ellory Holland – constant satellite. So I went. Ret went, and I followed.

First impressions: I am intrigued by the introduction, especially with Ellory describing each of the girls as celestial bodies around the centre of their solar system, Ret. The alternate chapters look like they will slowly reveal what happened to bring them to where they are in present-day, but my mind is already whirling trying to work it out!

Ooh, this is going to be a hard book to review without giving anything away…

The book is told by Ellory, a teenage girl suffering in the aftermath of something terrible which happened and changed her whole life. Each chapter is either a flashback to ‘before’ or telling what is happening ‘now’, each giving you a few more clues about what it was. I worked out part of it, but not all of it, but it all pulls into focus with the ending.

Ellory is a flawed and relatable character – she loves art and working with metal and she is an only child with loving, protective parents and slight social awkwardness. She works hard in school and gets along fine, although she worries that she is nobody special. When Ret takes her under her wing, Ellory is like a blank slate, willing to be transformed by Ret’s attention into somebody unique and allow her likes and dislikes to be curated by her friend. This friendship is depicted very realistically, in the sense that Ellory looking back, can see some of the dark side to this lopsided, controlling relationship, while her past self could only see the positives of not being left alone and having someone treat her as special.

Ret likes to orchestrate everyone in their friendship group, leading Ellory to describe her as the sun at the centre of their universe. She is the moon, following and reflecting back the light of the sun, while Jenni and Bex are Earth and Venus, two other planets orbiting the sun. When Ellory meets Matthais and begins to spend more time with him, ret’s control slips and their relationship becomes a bit more fraught.

Every character in this book is lovingly realised, even those you only meet for a short time. That was a true strength of this book for me, because I found myself completely absorbed in what would happen next.

If you’re a fan of contemporary young-adult books, mysteries or anything like One of Us Is Lying or We Were Liars, you will love this book!

This is a complicated, twisting, heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful book.

I pull into the student lot extra early. As I make my way up to the second floor, my stomach lurches, just a little, and I can feel my heart start to clobber in my chest. The past doesn’t just vanish behind a screen of good intentions. All those feelings – the hurt and confusion and the deep, burning anger – they don’t just go away. Whoever said that time heals all wounds didn’t know what he was talking about. Time dulls the wounds, makes them bearable. But it doesn’t patch you up and send you on your way, as good as new.

I’m the only one who can make that happen. And it’s freaking hard.

What I liked: Ellory’s character, the characterisation of everyone, even those who play a vert small part in the story, the alternative chapters, Matthais’s notes, the gradual reveal of the mystery, the depiction of friendship and the intricacies of power and control.

Even better if: I’m not sure if I could read this again because knowing what happens at the end would completely change my reading of earlier events.

How you could use it in your classroom: The language used in this is beautiful, with some really lovely turns of phrase. Extracts from conversations between Ellory and Ret could be used to open up discussion about friendship, control and how we have the power to hurt those closes to us. I would recommend this for any library catering for older teens. Despite being set in America, I could see young adults in the U.K. loving this.

I actually didn't enjoy this at all so I would rather not review it. It was way too long for the lack of plot, and everything was based on the worst teenage drama I've read. Even the plot twist wasn't as unexpected as it should have

I think this is one of those books that best going in with as litte information as possible - it just elevated tghe story and allows you to really be pulled in. I really loved the use of then-now format in the story that built tension and suspense through the story. I also thought the story weaved contemporary and mystery genres together seemlessly and created a unique space that breathes. And I thought the way Frick highlighted grief, healing, and loss was fantastic and showed real story progression and character growth, A tiny complaint was that I thought that some of the friends in the friend goup wasn't as fleshed out as I would have liked, but I enjoyed the story overall.

When I read that See All the Stars was compared to We Were Liars, I was very intrigued. And I almost skipped over this one because of my growing tbr list, but I decided to just read the first few pages and see what I thought. I'm so glad I did. I couldn't read this one fast enough. And while it is comparable to We Were Liars, it is also quite different with more predictability. Overall, a great debut!