I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, publisher and NetGalley.com. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Our Child of the Stars is, in a word, magical. It reads like a combination of speculative fiction combined with alternative history mixed with magical realism. A moving story of family and what ties us together.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

Molly and Gene want a baby, but Molly keeps losing them. As if she’d put it down somewhere and forgot where she placed it. That’s how Molly feels – that it’s her fault.
Instead of considering who or what is at fault, the author throws us a lifeline with an emotionally heartfelt bit of magic that falls squarely in the Science Fiction genre when a meteor falls to Earth. There is only one survivor, a child from the stars who becomes Molly and gene’s son.
A story of hope and love masterfully told by Stephen Cox.

I would have read Our Child of the Stars in one sitting, but my Kindle died at 92%. I raced to my back-up Kindle only to find I’d failed to recharge it. So I had to finish the last 8% book on a second day. It is a gem of a book, a quiet, emotional story filled with a low-key tension, a poignant look at the life of one particular, peculiar family. It is enchanting and hopeful.

In the 1960s, Amber Grove, a small town in New England was stuck by a meteor on what started out as a run-of-the-mill day. People were killed and injured, and fires devastated the area. Author Cox does a splendid job of recreating the tensions of the 1960s: the long-haired, pot-smoking hippies; Woodstock; the straight folks who toed the line; the Cold War; the Vietnam war; the constant fear of atomic bombs; the protest marches against the war; the marches for racial equality; the first moonwalk.

What is hidden from the people of Amber Grove is that the so-called meteor was an alien space ship, and survivors were found: an alien mother and her child. The mother dies, thus all attention focuses on the child. Several people decide to protect him, he must be sheltered from contact with all but a few humans. Despite these restrictions, his nurse, Molly Myers, bonds with him and names him “Cory” for the cor-cor-cor sound he makes.

Cox manages to capture the youthful exuberance of this alien child down to his voice, that of a boy so eager to get the words out that they come out in a staccato rat-tat-tat. The physical description is vague enough readers can draw their own versions of the boy in their minds. He is smart, curious, and adventurous—and utterly entering. As he’s confined to the space between the four walls of the Myers household, he has no other children to play with. Thus, under this lovable appearance, lies a lonely child. Not only isolated from humans, he is from a planet in which there is communal sleeping—and communal dreams. His own kind, who is supposed to come rescue him, is millions of miles away.

Towards the end of the book, the action picks up dramatically. Cory and his family are running for their lives, trying to escape from the FBI, the American military, Russian spies, curious reporters, and thugs who want to sell him for a profit.

Our Child of the Stars is a poignant portrait of an American family, the ties that bind this family, and the strength of those ties. It’s a story of a nearly-broken couple brought back together by the random twist of fate when an alien child lands in their life. The novel looks at how far this family will go to protect the ones they love.

I really really enjoyed this one, it's Sci-Fi but almost reads like an Alternative History. It is hopeful even in the darkest points of the story and was a beautiful example of the unconditional love of a parent. I think it's brilliant how the author created the "purples" society to be peaceful and without war and yet allowed them to be technologically advanced, powerful beings. I feel like peaceful societies are usually depicted as more primitive/simple or somehow lacking, presumably to justify and encourage our own desire and drive for power and war mongering.
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My only real complaint about this one is that the author chose to begin the story two years after the crash, which was confusing because until they revealed the truth of the crash and ship a few chapters in it basically read a little cryptically, like Cory is maybe a special needs child versus an extraterrestrial. For me at least I think it would have had a better flow if they had started from the beginning at the beginning.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it oddly (and pleasantly) plausible! Science fiction usually tends toward the fantastic; "Our Child of the Stars," however, takes the oft-mundane experience of parenting and elevates it to a higher plane. The pacing is generally good though I found the ending to be a bit abrupt for me. I'm hoping that a sequel is in the works, as I would feel more satisfied knowing more about how this family continues to grow and thrive.

I DNFed this book after getting only twenty pages in. I don’t even have words to describe it.l, besides the fact that I would never recommend this to even my worst enemy.

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In the 1960's a spaceship crashed to Earth in the United states and a couple finds the only survivor, a small child, in the wreckage. Molly and Gene Myers aren't able to have children after a miscarriage and they are struggling to rebuild their life when Cory shows up.

But Cory must be hidden because he doesnt look like other children and if an alien were to land on Earth how many people would want to get their hands on him? The government? Scientists? Everyone would want to experiment on him so Molly and Gene hide him away so that a lifetime of experiments can be avoided. They get there second chance.

This book isnt filled with action packed adventures but it is filled with second chances, family, love, and trust. This is definitely a heartwarming, feel good story of a small family who has been through hardships and is rebuilding a happier life.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free copy of this book!

I enjoyed this book even more than I thought I would- I was expecting a sparkly, childish sci-fi story about Aliens Coming To Earth, and pleasantly ended up with what I thought was overall a rather beautiful portrayal of a family coming together to protect their adopted child- who just happens to be an alien. It was very interesting to see how Gene and Molly and their friends band together for Cory, and how plausible and real their lives felt.

I would definitely recommend giving this book a try, even if you aren't typically a sci-fi reader!

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did, but I did really like the book. There was a gritty real kind of feel to it and their was unavoidable pain in the book. It was very realistic and very hard to swallow at times.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

5 stars. I really enjoyed this one. The characters are rich (we even discover some interesting facets in characters who are…less than sympathetic), and the tension never lets up. I never knew where the story was going (a plus from my point of view!). I definitely sympathized with the Myers’ constant struggle to make the right decision despite a lack of adequate information. I especially liked the fact that the author portrayed the emotional effects of miscarriage openly, yet sensitively. Those looking for science fiction/action will get plenty of it; nonetheless, Our Child of the Stars is a book heavily focused on family love and (mostly)-realistic family struggles.

From a Catholic point of view, I was very grateful to see a family who was open to, and excited for, life (even though, unfortunately, they did engage in contraception at one point). I was also grateful to see Catholic nuns being portrayed in a positive light. I was not pleased, however, with the depiction of the alien society as an absolute paradise—where transgenderism (and, it seems, homosexuality) is normal. That smacked too much of modern acquiescence to the new gender theory.

This is a somewhat gritty, albeit hopeful, book. I think most adult readers will be able to handle the content. There are, however, content issues, including a good bit of violence and a moderate amount of profanity.

In the 1960s, a loving couple named Molly and Gene Myers meet, marry, conceive a baby, and lose the baby. After that, while they still love each other very much, their marriage turns turbulent. Then a meteor hits their sleepy small town. Molly is a nurse and is called upon to treat many patients. However, the most interesting patient of all came with that meteor, which is actually a ship--an alien child.

Our Child of the Stars is primarily about Molly, Gene, and that child, later to be called Cory. The Myers eventually take Cory to hide and to raise him. Unfortunately, unlike Kal-El from Krypton, there is no way that Cory can blend in among human beings. A few other people know of or have guessed at Cory's existence, some benign and some extremely not. As Molly and Gene become more withdrawn in order to protect Cory, their friends and neighbors wonder what's going on with them. While Cory is small in frame, he's a very big secret, and can't be hidden for long...

Stephen Cox' characterizations of the Myers, Cory, the people around them, and the eventual villain who wants to get hold of Cory are nuanced and vivid. I was particularly impressed by how Cox rendered Cory truly alien, but also sympathetic. Molly and Gene manage to come off as ordinary and flawed, but also potentially heroic people with a lot of love to give. The small town of Amber Grove comes to life on the page. The conflicts are realistic, and it becomes extremely understandable how the Myers' and Amber Grove's limits will be stretched.

This is soft science fiction, much more about people than technology, although of course the technology of the ship plays a role. As a child refugee, Cory knows some things about it, but not many. Love is all over the novel, from the anti-war movement Molly and Gene sympathize with to their friends to the ambitious lesbian couple who help them. However, menace from unloving forces is a very real part of the Myers family's lives, and sometimes they must protect themselves. The question of how far is too far is a theme that pervades Our Child of the Stars.

There is unavoidable violence, but it is not gratuitous. Cory, of course, struggles with the loss of his family, and a character deals with alcoholism. Molly, Gene, and their friends aren't hippies, but they're definitely liberal. The unnamed President at the time (Richard Nixon) is not popular with them. The author is British, and my ARC had some British terms and spellings that were a bit jarring in Cox' otherwise well-rendered American small-town setting. I hope these were edited out.

All in all, Our Child of the Stars is a beautiful and fascinating novel that deserves to take off into the stratosphere and beyond! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

There were moments you could live in forever, to full too speak. Molly rested her head against Gene’s shoulder and remembered how they had brought Cory home from the hospital, a secret in the night, without a clue if it would even work. Cory was a secret. So, few people knew, and those friends held his life in their hands. You could still see where the Meteor fell, the flaming stone from space that had turned mile of State Forest to flame and smoke and then to mud and ash. The Meteor brought destruction, it brought Cory, and it changed everything. After meeting Gene, six months later Molly decided beyond all doubt, this man who believed in spaceships and aliens, justice, and peace was the man for her. Their second winter Gene and Holly had been together they married. Then Molly got pregnant and just knew it was a girl. But she miscarried their daughter Molly was lost and drank a lot for a while, almost killed herself and decided then to change things and go back to the job she had loved as a nurse. No one in Amber county would forget that cold spring day, clear but with cloud due from the north. Everyone had their own Meteor Day story, but Molly believed hers was the strangest of them all.

I really loved this book and didn’t think I would. Once I started it, I found it hard to put down. Cory was so endearing you couldn’t help but root for him and his earth parents. I loved the pace and the plot. I just plane old loved Cory. I loved that Molly and Gene toke Cory in and loved him and would do anything to protect him. I loved we got to know Cory and his home and culture through his dreams. This was not the usual read for me. But I did love it. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I highly recommend it.

I really liked the plot to this book and though I found it too wordy I also wish it had more substance to the story

There's no b***h on earth like a mother frightened for her kids. ― Stephen King

This was a different book than I expected. Yes, it definitely had sci fi elements but it was a story about the love of a mother and a father for their child foremost.

The story takes place in the 1960s mostly in and around small town Amber Grove, New York.

Molly is a nurse there and her husband, Gene, is a librarian. They have tried to have a child in the past and were heartbroken partway through the pregnancy.

A large meteor crashes in and near Amber Grove and an alien craft is discovered. The only survivor of the crash is a small child that is hidden at the local hospital and Molly takes care of the child. Military and government entities want to get their hands on the child and Molly, with help from hospital personnel, spirits the child into her and Gene's home where they start raising the child as their own

I enjoyed this story although I think it was too wordy. It could have been pared down quite a bit and made for a better reading experience. Also, even though the author is British, he decided to set the story in the U.S. and there were quite a few Britishisms (such as petrol and tyre to name a couple) that I noticed throughout the book. That tended to be a bit distracting.

All in all, though, I enjoyed this story especially the characters of Molly and the child.

I received this book from Jo Fletcher Books through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

I really liked the premise of the book, but there was something that was lacking in the story that made me not enjoy it.

Molly’s character, while interesting, bothered me. She decided she would be the mother of Cory very quickly and it just felt wrong to me. I couldn’t get past that, and everytime she’d mention Cory, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a little bit.

The story was beautifully written; it just wasn’t for me.

Due to my ill-timed slump, it took me longer than usual to complete this. Nevertheless I did find myself intrigued by the overall premise of the story. Once diving into the read, the reader is thrown into the Woodstock era where we meet married couple Gene and Carol, a troubling duo whose lives soon spin of control when dealt with death, grief, deception, infidelity, and substance abuse. Fast forward, we meet 'Corey', a special 'boy' that comes along and everything changes.

I won't go too much into it since it'll spoil the story but this is ideal for readers who are looking to steer off their usual route and indulge themselves with a family oriented, science fiction mixed type of story.

To close this out, "Our Child of the Stars" was a debut that didn't particularly stand out and didn't fall in my favor, but the concept was unique and refreshing, and I would recommend this novel if you're looking to step out of your comfort zone. Yet be warned, it can be a hit or miss, that's for sure.

This was a really great read for the most part but I did have a few issues with it. First off, there was way too much filler content. Some chapters felt really unnecessary. Secondly, the political views can really be pushy at times. Although I agreed with most of it, I can see how some readers may be turned off by it. Lastly, the relationship between Molly and Cory was offputting. I didn't feel a real connection there, which might be the point and if that's the case, forgive me for not catching on. I just felt a lot of unexplained resentment there.

Those issues aside, this was such a fascinating story! I was instantly interested in the characters and background. I feel like this is one of those books everyone can enjoy even if you don't usually read sci-fi.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Jo Fletcher Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book will make you call in love. A family centric story that centers around a couple who decide to adopt an alien child. So sweet but it does have that element of danger and threat. Great story

Readers don't have to be sci fi.lovers to enjiy this book. It was well written and fun. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

This is my first book of 2020! I know you're looking at the date (February 11th) and wondering what the hell's taken me so long to start reading. Truth is, it's only February and my days are already incredibly busy; I just haven't been able to fit reading into my schedule. I already knew 2020 would be a big year for to-do's, which was why I reduced my reading goal to 30 books. But anyway, let's get into this review.

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This book neither drew me in nor revolted me. It had its bright moments, and then it had its filler chapters that could have been cut out entirely.

The story follows an alien space craft crashing onto Earth, leaving an orphaned alien child in the arms of caring small-town nurse, Molly. Molly will end up loving this child as if it were her own, and protecting/hiding him from the government.

I had two issues with the novel as a whole:

1) I've already mentioned this above, but there was a lot of filler content. There were scenes in which I engrossed myself in, and once they were over I asked myself "What was the point of that scene? How did this expand the story in any way? Why have I wasted my time reading it?" (view spoiler) This really, really put off the reading experience. I found myself getting very bored, skimming paragraphs and sometimes entire chapters without feeling like I'd missed a beat of the story.

2) The mother-son love between Molly and Cory (the alien boy). I understand that Molly had tried and miscarried a pregnancy, which had a massive toll on her mental health and her marriage. I understand this had a major roll in her decisions to take Cory in as her own. But it truly felt so rushed. Within only a few moments you can see that Molly sees him as a son, and there was something wrong about how her feeling developed. I feel almost--I don't know how to word it--uncomfortable with Molly's character. She very much disguises herself as this compassionate all-good-nurse, but I feel like she has a lot of inner demons inside of her in which she used Cory as a bandaid solution for. It didn't feel as if she actually loved Cory; she loved that Cory needed her and could never leave her side without facing serious consequences. Like the mother that loves when her child is sick because then she's needed and can't be abandoned; Molly's relationship with Cory felt similar to this. Perhaps this was intentional by the author, but as I was reading, I feel like I was trying to be deceived into believe Molly was this extraordinary, self-sacrificing human being. I was just not buying into the mother-son relationship the two of them had that was so crucial to the story.

But beyond these points, this story truly wasn't bad. Would I pick it up again? Probably not. Would I be willing to read more from this author? Definitely. The story had its potential, unfortunately it just wasn't the completely right fit for me.