2.5 stars

Amelia is a young girl with a strange affliction: once a month, pearls grow out from under her skin. Her mother views this as an easy way to make money since the pearls are all perfect and of very good quality. She controls every single aspect of Amelia's life and even keeps her locked in the attic when she leaves the house. But according to her mother, it's only because she wants Amelia to be safe from the dangerous and cruel world outside. Of course, Amelia feels trapped and the story begins with her plotting her escape. She manages to hide a few pearls every month and leaves as soon as she has enough to be able to survive on her own.

We follow Amelia as she is set on starting a new life, far away from her controlling mother. We can see that she is set on creating a new life, becoming more independent and that she slowly learns how to trust other people. The "human oyster" concept is quite original, but I feel that the author could have developed it more, I feel there is more potential there than simply having Amelia hiding her condition until she can trust people enough to let them know and then no one talks about it anymore.

Amelia is a nice character, I like that she is brave enough to leave her mother behind and not look back. We can clearly see that she has been sheltered her whole life, and does not know much about social interactions. Still, I found it weird that she trusted Peter immediately after bought some of her pearls and offered her to travel with him. I get that he seems very nice and trustworthy, but for someone who has been away from other humans for most of her life, she was a little naive at times. Overall, there is room for more character development for every character in this book.

My main issue with this book, however, is how easily all of Amelia's problems get resolved. She struggles for a few days when she leaves, then she meets nice people, finds a job, and a place to stay in the same day. Near the end of the book, she realizes that she should not have trusted one of her new friends, but we saw it coming because of hints that were dropped in the previous chapters ("If only I'd knew what I was getting into", "Looking back now, I was so stupid to trust him", etc.) so it wasn't even a real plot twist. Even so, she gets in big trouble for trusting the wrong person, but she manages to escape almost easily, and she remains calm and collected even after having to fight for her life.

The dialogues and events near the end were not as well written and developed as the rest of the book. Constellations of Scars is a story about survival, trust, and finding a place to belong. I have to say though that I am not sure what kind of book this is supposed to be, it's about survival and resiliency, yet there is a darker twist near the end with a sprinkle of serial killer and mental illness... It just felt all over the place. The pace and tone are also not consistent throughout the story. The last 20% felt rushed and weak, and it's what made me give this book such a low rating because the first part was worth 3.5 stars.

Charm is not everything.

This is a story about trust, loss and betrayal and the repercussions it has when everything happens with the people you thought had the best intentions towards you, I honestly did not expect it, of course, I suspected a character from the beginning because there were too many red flags but I was leaning more towards an abusive turn instead of the one we had, sincerely low-key I expected the protagonist to go another way from the beginning, because it would have been super cute, but 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was a bit annoyed by the protagonist naive demeanor, but I guess it fits her upbringing.

Btw, it's not fair that it ends like this, I expected at least an epilogue haha, what about her pearls? 😱

Amelia is a young girl with a strange and unique affliction. Once a month, pearls grow (and then shed) out from under her skin. It started when she was twelve years old, monthly, and has littered her body with “constellations of scars”.
However, her mother views this as a money making scheme and harvests these pearls from her daughter for profit. She keeps Amelia locked in an attic room, isolated from the world. According to her mother this is to “keep her safe.”
Naturally, Amelia feels trapped and the story begins with her plotting her escape.
She manages to stash a few pearls away from each shedding, as the number varies each time so she could do this without her Mother noticing.
Once enough of the pearls have been collected to sell on for enough money, and with a bag packed, Amelia sets off to the city of Portland alone and determined.
She is set on creating a new, more independent, life for herself.

A chance encounter with a young man called Peter when she arrives in Portland changes Amelia’s direction - to the coastal town, aptly named, Seaside. This is where Peter and his father run a museum, where Amelia’s pearls could come in useful for their mermaid exhibit. But can she keep the secret of where these pearls are actually obtained from?

Constellations Of Scars initially grabbed me with its hauntingly beautiful cover, and it pleased me that the story inside was so gripping. I felt on edge wanting to know what happened to Amelia next with every turn of the page.
This story begins quite dark and has many shocking moments throughout, especially a huge twist that almost feels as though it winds you as a reader.

4.5 Stars, rounded down to 4.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy in exchange for a review!

Fun interesting quick read! What I loved most was the writing i haven't read anything this good in a while!
Now I've got go buy book one!

3 stars

A tender story of survival, trust, finding a place to belong, & standing up for yourself. This starts off as a coming of age story with a teensy hint of fantasy-lite, then veers into crime fiction near the end. The pacing & tone of the story aren’t consistent, & there isn’t anything particularly unique about this book, but I did enjoy it & the narration is nice.

[What I liked:]

•Nothing particularly groundbreaking or insightful here, but I did appreciate & relate to Mia’s descriptions of living with a chronic health condition & how it becomes “normal” in the sense that’s all you know, & the difficulties of having people complain or act controlling about your body.

•I liked Amelia’s 1st person narration. While I dislike how much she tells the reader instead of showing & her sometimes heavy-handed philosophizing, her character voice is smooth & believable for a young woman.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•I’m not sure what genre this is meant to be. The themes are consistent: gaining confidence & independence, & finding a place to belong. Everything else meanders: plot, pace, genre, tone.

•The “human oyster” concept was interesting, but I feel like more could have been done with it. She presumably loses the “curse”/“gift” by the end of the story, but we don’t learn how she feels about that. All the other characters’ unique features are explained with medical diagnoses, & since there are zero other supernatural elements I’m assuming the pearls are meant to be as well. It’s just that the synopsis teased me with magical realism & there really isn’t any.

•There was room for a lot more character development for Gabe, Vincent, & Peter. Especially more depth could have been added for Mia’s relationships with both brothers. Mia just tells us how things were or how people felt, & it doesn’t leave as much space for demonstrating them through character interactions.

•The story is fine, but it’s similar in plot to other books I’ve read (like the second half of Middlesex). I don’t mean that this book is a copycat, but I have read similar stories that were done better, & in comparison I’m not sure this book will be memorable for me.

CW: child exploitation, murder, assault, infidelity, miscarriage

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Constellation of Scars starts with gripping introduction of Amelia planning to escape her mother who has been holding her captive for the past 9 years in order to use Amelia for the pearls she grows. At this point I'm thinking we're getting a Rapunzel retelling!!!

The Pearl plot seemed to be the main driver of the story, which is what made the story so enticing and unique (so excited for a Rapunzel retelling), but oddly the Pearls do not end up playing a role in the rest of the story. They could very easily be written out and nothing would change. "Young girl of controlling/abusive mother escapes and runs away to the big city, meets a man who offers. her a job" rest of the story would continue the exact same.

After the dark introduction of Amelia's life so far with her mother, the tension builds as she escapes and naively trusts people, as I am fully of dread and foreboding the story completes changes into a cheerful story of Amelia's daily life with found family absent of any conflict causing me to wonder where the plot went for the next 100 pages. There does end up being a conclusion to what would have been a great mystery had that been the plot rather than the pearls. Unfortunately since the mystery is only introduced 3/4 into the book I cannot hint at it without revealing any spoilers.

Overall this was a fun quick read, it does drag in the middle, but considering I read it in 2 hours the slow parts are over quickly. I do wish I could give spoilers because I think this would appeal to many non-fantasy thriller readers, whereas the synopsis makes it seem more of a true fantasy than is accurate.

Well that was interesting. I loved this book!

First off, thank you NetGalley for the advance e-copy to review.

I have not read a book like this EVER. I think this is a great book to just get lost in. I would have liked to have had more to the story but I am content with how everything played out. Like, did she ever respond to any emails from the jeweler? Or how did her mom turn out? Maybe searched for her father a bit. Again, loved the story. A bit more would have been great as well 😉

Book Review for Constellations of Scars
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

This book had such a unique premise! About halfway through, I almost DNF as the plot gets pretty slow. After reading other reviews, I decided to push through and I’m so glad I did! Worth the read for sure!

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Constellations of Scars initially attracted me because of the gorgeous cover - I have a thing for skulls and flowers, to that was right up my alley! And the story made good on the promise of the cover art: starting out as a survivor-story of a young woman escaping from her overbearing mother, who keeps her as some sort of money-making slave, it quickly twists into a suspenseful thriller with horror elements, as Amelia has to learn that the true monsters aren't those that look gruesome, but instead can have the handsomest of faces.

The writing flowed easily and effortlessly, and it was a pleasure to breeze through this book - if I had to criticise anything, I would say that I might have wished for it to be a little longer, to give some of the elements of the story a little bit more space to be expanded on; but saying of a book that it's too short is really not a criticism, is it?

I would absolutely recommend this for fans of YA fantasy with a darker/horror twist.

I want to thank Netgalley, Melissa Eskue Ousley, and Midnight Tide Publishing for giving me a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I find the concept of the book so fascinating and weird but in a good way. This one is so unique. I see this book as a metaphor for people who saw their oddities as cursed, but even though you see it as a cursed, it can also be hauntingly beautiful. The book was so calming to read. Yes, it does have confrontations and some things that wasn't pleasant was happening but not to the point that it will stress the hell out of you. This book shows people who are damaged that are trying to heal from what happened in their past and I found it so calming to read. Most of the characters also was so nice to each other that gives me so calm vibes.

As for the main character, Amelia, she is such a thoughtful character. Even though she knows she needs something, she still consider the feelings of other people especially her mother. But what I really admire her for is the fact that her mother made her dependent to her through the years, but she is so independent in her own way. Certain things really scared Amelia but her will to be free and have a control in her own life is so inspiring to read. I really love that about her. She may have still fear but she is so brave and it made her character so admirable.

The only thing that I have a problem in this book is the romance. I can't clearly tell which between Gabriel and Peter is the love interest of Amelia. It keeps switching and switching and i'm like, "who am I supposed to ship Amelia with?". And then when she got a relationship with one of the two boys, I thought that the romance was under-developed. I feel like the romance go from A to C, rather than A to B. But then the plot twist happen. And I kinda understand why the author didn't put so much effort within the chemistry of Amelia and this character.

And speaking of the plot twist, I find it so out of place. I can't clearly tell if I liked it and suit the concept of the book or it's just the author is trying to put a climax in this book. I really thought this book is focusing on Amelia and her shedding pearls, but that plot twist happened. And I was like, "what? What this particular detail connects to the concept of the book?".

Overall, I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's true that certain details in the book makes me questions it but I think this book is so unique and worth a try. Not to mention that it has a calming effect. So, if you're looking for a low-anxiety read this one is perfect for you!

I just finished this book and my mouth is hanging open in shock. It starts out as a coming-of-age story, with a woman plotting to leave her abusive mother. Then, out of nowhere, it became a high-stakes thriller. So good. Don’t snooze on this book.

Amelia was a relatable character and I genuinely cared about what happened to her. The author did a fantastic job of keeping me turning pages.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

This had an interesting premise. I wanted more from the ending though as it felt a bit rushed. I also felt like some of the characters should have been talking to a therapist at the end to deal with past and present trauma.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely a page turner. Not exactly what I was expecting. I thought this would have had more fantasy elements, but this is more on the lines of being a survivor story. It definitely had some suspenseful/thriller moments. The writing was fairly easy to get into, and it kept me interested. I read this in a day and had a fun experience while doing so.