Rob Starr is definitely a book I see on the shelves of people who like the kind of stories that are unfiltered and real. It is an honest and truthful story. The main character, Mia, is in love with Rob but like any relationship, sometimes we aren’t sure of the true intentions of the other person until its too late. The entire story is not a typical love story. There is a part where Mia says that she wishes she could say things were different but that, in reality, some girls don’t feel confident in who they are. It can get as bad as worrying about the kind of food girls will eat when in the same room as their crush. It definitely has the elements of the dark parts of high school. It is a book that you have to be cautious and aware of.
Some topics are heavy to talk about but there are some readers that wish there were more stories that would lead the conversation. This is one of those stories that could bring a certain kind of comfort to a certain reader. I am sure that someone will find comfort in finding a story like this but, personally, I did not feel comfortable. The description did not prepare me for the kind of story that followed.
The themes in this book are very heavy but, as long as the reader is alright with knowing that before hand, I think they would like to read this book.

Reading this book was like being catapulted right into the mind of an tween in all her awkward and self-conscious glory. My own teenage self could relate to Mia painfully, but as an adult I couldn’t connect with her a lot. The book did warn that it wasn’t for adults I guess?

Regardless, the narration read like journal entries rather than a cohesive story to me. The overall message was important but the weight of what was occuring wasn’t actually felt until the ending. Even then, I didn’t feel like things were resolved, neither that the characters were developed throughout.

Maybe this really is better read for actuall teens! It wasn’t a bad book by any means, just wasn’t quite enjoyable for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for a review.

A look into a very naive girl's life and a reminder to those of us past high school how terrible it really was.

Mia is definitely an unreliable narrator, but you don't get a sense from the secondary characters what the truth really is.

Overall a quick read, with a fast pace

This book took me back to being a teenager when everyday feels like the end of the world. Having said that it regularly felt like he protagonist was far younger than her years and made the whole novel rather unbelievable and therefore I found it really hard to immerse myself in the world.

What a rollercoaster kid are really cruel.

I really appreciate this book even if the main character is so naive, wanted to put some sense into her like wake up girl can’t you see, he take thing from you and he never give back. But it’s not just that our MFC is trying to fit in and high school is the worst, she pressured herself to be someone she is not and it broke something in my heart she became someone she wasn’t because of her crush.

I really wanted to slap Rob Starr face, Jake was the real one . Seriously it broke my heart how they manipulate our MFC, he played her. Why kid do shit like this.

Honestly. I don't know what I was expecting. But it wasn't this trainwreck. Mia is 15 and acts like she's about 3. Everything in her life revolves around HER. And, yes, she's a teen. I get it. But not at a single moment in the ENTIRE BOOK does she think about how anyone else is feeling or about what might going on in their life. All she worries about is how everything in the world affects her. The worst part? She's aware she's being selfish and just doesn't care.

If you keep reading you're going to get spoilers. They're not really important spoilers, but they are spoilers regardless.
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But first a thought. I think the story wanted to paint Mia as a bit of an unreliable narrator. I think she over sold Rob (and his AMAZING qualities) and minimzed everyone else. This failed because we never got to know anyone well enough to determine if it was teen lust or not that clouded Mia's judgement. I honestly don't know how accurate this is, or if it's just me digging for something that makes this all make sense.

So, Mia is obsessed with Rob (for reasons that are never really explained other than he's HOTT). After waffling around for the first third of the book she gets into some stupid fake relationship with him. At this point Mia is insufferable. EVERY WAKING MOMENT is filled with BS about Rob and worries about Rob and how Rob thinks she looks. It's boring. As someone who had a crush (on the same kid) for like 5 years, I don't get how she managed to get THAT involved before they started fake dating. And to ramp it up to level 11 (out of 10) was too much.

I think we're supposed to relate to Mia and her struggle of not losing herself. But we never see who she is before. She tells us she likes art (we never see her doing any art for fun or really even for class). She tells us she has band practice (but we never see her practicing). She supposedly has friends (that she talks crap about for most of the book). Mia has ZERO personality so when Rob enters her life her personality is 'Rob's Girlfriend' and nothing more. I don't know how I'm supposed to care about hergrades slipping or her quitting jazz band (this is an aside, but the idea that this girls plays flute in the JAZZ BAND is absurd. I was in jazz band. I went to a crap ton of jazz band concerts in college. Do you want to know how many songs I heard feature a flute???? ONE. In College. I don't even. Put her in pep band or something (that's band for basketball games and usually doesn't require the dorky marching band uniform) - anyway I've ranted about THAT enough) or anything else beacuse she's about as interested as a blank piece of paper.

As a young teen she's probably close to accurate about obsessed over Rob and being nervous about sex. But after the first time she's practically gung-ho about jumping into bed with him. For someone so scared and naive I would have liked to see more reflection about the sex and how it was never all that good (I assume) and not just we had sex a lot. Blah Blah Blah.

Ask me about a secondary character and I couldn't tell you a d*mn thing about them beyond their stereotype. Her friends are all stupid embarrassing nerds. The popular girls all have perfect bodies. The male jocks are all creeps who are also hot. They're literally all cardboard cutouts with no personality.

Okay. Here's the thing. This is Mia's re-telling of the events. She's basically giving us journal entires about her stupid few weeks (or months, or decades???? - despite having the date at the start of each chapter there was nothing to anchor you into a timeframe) with Rob. She can choose to talk about what she wants to talk about. But it didn't work. Every time she had one of her asides it pulled me from the story. I wish she would have just written journal entires. Or Something.

The book did warn me this wasn't for adults. Unfortunately I don't think it's for anyone.

At one point I saw this was either compared to 13 Reasons Why (it's not remotely coparable) or for fans of 13 Reasons Why (also not really comparable). First of all. SPOILERS FOR REAL. Mia never cares about revenge. She's not r*ped. Someone takes some explicit photos of her chest and some suggestivie (out of contexts videos) and spreads them around the school. Yes, this is horrible. Yes, kids are awful. Yes, she was sexually assaulted. Yes, rumors are spread that she gave a guy oral sex. (she didn't). The whole thing felt very... clinical. It happens and then a few pages later the book ends. Mia never lets us with with her emotions for long after the assault happens. We don't get any inner-turmoil or really even anger. When she does feel anger, she blames herself. Which isn't the right message at all. Despite therapy, Mia really doesn't leave us with a good message about what you should do if something like this happens to you.

Let's talk about Rob. There are plenty of reviews here that say mean things about Rob. They're deserved. He's an awful person. But at the same time, I felt like he was a much more complete character in the story (maybe because we saw him through Mia's eyes or maybe just because he controlled what happened to him). Please don't misunderstand me and think I LIKED him, because I didn't. He's a priviledged white boy who was never punished for anything he did wrong. But that's the problem. He was so high above everything he felt like a characture. He might have been more 'complete' but he also slipped into the 'rubbing my hands together and twirling my mustache' kind of villian.

My thoughts are a bit scattered. I apologize for that. I just have a lot of thoughts.

I think the story would have worked better if we have more time getting to know the before Mia. She's very abrasive from the start. She makes fun of everyone at school (including her own friends), and never really seems to acknowledge that was bad - even in the end I'm not convinced she's a better person.

The interview transcripts were pointless. It felt like hitting the reader over the head in case they missed that SOMETHING BIG WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. In the end they didn't even resolve anything.

Once Rob showed up I wish we had a slower progression. I get that Rob was having his fling, but Mia basically changed overnight. I wish one of her friends would have called her out as soon as she started trying harder. I wish SOMEONE would addressed that Mia had been changing. Cutting out her friends seemed deliberate so that Mia could continue to go down the wrong path. The friends could have been there to try to help Mia see that things weren't okay. SHE COULD HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO DITCH THE instead of it all being happenstance. This would have put more pressure on Mia at the end to do MORE to reconnect. The fact that her MOM is the one who got the friend group back together just made Mia more pathetic. Never at any point did MIA try to fix the friendship and then it was just handed back to her on a big platter of forgiveness.

The ending was incredibly rushed. From the party to the end of the book, things happened at warp speed. You barely had time to catch your breath before something new got thrown at you.

The pacing was off for most of the story. The reasons for behaviors were never solid. No one seemed to learn anything.

The only small amount of justice was the best BASKETBALL STAR ROB could do was a DIII school that no college basketball fan has ever heard of (I'm not knocking DIII schools by any means, but I just think it's hilarious - and it does show that maybe Mia thought a bit too much of him and over sold his skills). Even his loser friends all got into recognizable schools.

One final thought. I called the whole Jake thing from like the second look he gave her. I hate that I was right.

Great book if you are looking for a quick read. There were definitely some predictable moments, but more so there were moments you wanted to scream at the main character for her bad reasoning skills! And talk about a horrible love interest. Rob Starr was maybe one of my least favorite jocks in all my YA books ever read. His friends were the worst, and reminded me of all the horrible people from high school.
The author did a great job of showing that side of things.

Rob Starr follows fifteen-year-old Mia, who is a bit dorky and not popular. Mia has had a huge crush of Rob Starr, a senior basketball player who is adored by his many fans. After a terrible accident occurs, Rob and his siblings move-in to Mia's house temporarily. Rob, sensing that Mia is into him takes advantage of that, but poor clueless Mia doesn't know it until she is forced to revaluate herself and her relationships.

"I'm hoping that maybe, If I'm completely honest about what happened to me, maybe you won't make same stupid decisions I made. Maybe you won't hurt people you really care about to please people who don't really care about you. And maybe you won't let a boy, even a really beautiful, popular boy, make you feel worthless."

There is a lot of dark elements underneath the main storyline. For starters, Rob's character gives off soooooo many red flags. He is manipulative and took advantage of a naïve and vulnerable girl like Mia all because she liked him.

While I thought at times the story seemed rushed and some of the characters weren't as developed as I would have liked, I still believe that this book should be read. It has an important message in it that is useful to all teenagers.

This books tells the story of Mia Morgan, an unpopular nerdy teenager, who has a huge crush for the high school “rockstar” Rob Starr. After an accident the two of them start to live together under the same roof and spending a lot time together. Mia’s world starts to change. She changes as a person and her relationship with Rob but not all that glitters is gold. Mia will get to learn the hard way that giving up her true self for him and her old world wasn’t a good idea.
Did I like this book? Of course. Did it make me angry? SO BAD and I mean it in a “positive” way.
As a no more teenager I can recognise when a boy (and not just him) is a huge alive RED FLAG. Mia’s just a victim of her naivety and insecurity typical of a teenage girl who wants to find her place in the world.
If you are looking for a beautiful teenage love story, this is not the book for you. If you want a real, dramatic and sometimes a punch in the gut story, you’re in the right place.
Good job, J.A. Howard.

I had a hard time with this book. Although the premise is definitely important the story itself felt like something was missing. I realized what it as soon as I read the epilogue. The epilogue hits you in the gut. It makes you painfully aware of how cruel actions can impact a person’s life. For some reason in the story there was a disconnect between what was taking place and how it made you feel. The story moves on too quickly and doesn’t allow the reader to fully digest and feel what is happening. The MC is so nonchalant about everything except Rob that it is difficult to absorb the weight of what was occurring until the epilogue. Overall, the message was deep and needed, but was only apparent in the epilogue. I would still recommend everyone read this story.


Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Apple Island Press, independent Book Publishers Association and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

This wasn’t at all what I expected. It was a lovely, heartfelt read that thrust me back to my teen years.

Rob Starr was a surprising read. The title & cover didn’t hint at the heavy themes within & I enjoyed reading this YA story of toxic relationships.

Told from the POV of 15-year-old Mia, there’s a strong character voice throughout. However, I did find that some of Mia’s asides during her retelling, where she’d jump forward or let the reader know we’d return to something, often took me out of the story.

At times, I was frustrated by Mia’s naivety and at others, I could relate to her thinking and mistakes.

Ultimately, this is an important YA read that confronts a number of tough topics and ends on a moving & powerful note.

What's really interesting about this book is that it reminds the reader of the fact that choices have consequences and it's how we deal with those consequences that matter. It's got the typical high school set up; the cool kids, those in between and those who are unknown in a subtle way until something happens to them then they become hot news- and that's exactly what happens to Mia.
This story is told from Mia's point of view and I feel that it was the best way the author could write about the themes she covers in this book.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
PS: To the publisher, I absolutely love the cover, keep it!

What an amazing book! I have spent all day reading this and seriously could not put it down. It has love, heartbreak, confusion with the will they, won't they, and the shocker that i didnt see coming. Overall I'd give this book a 5* rating as I thoroughly enjoyed every single page. Thank you so much for letting me read this arc and I will be buying this for my own collection when it becomes available.

"Thirteen reasons Why" vibes.
When I first started to read this book , the first pages warned me, that this story isn't for an adult. Well, I'm an adult and before keep on reading, I mentally came back to my 16 years old. It wasn't so hard to read this book being 31 years old 🤣, and it makes me remember all that shit I've had in school.
Mia is a good normal girl, and she likes a boy, a popular and handsome boy from her school, like a lot of girls. This boy is Rob Starr.
One day his mother has an accident, and her son's move to the Mia's house, and of course, Rob Starr will be living with her. Is this a beginning of a dream or a nightmare?

So, here we for another time go through the hard school live, or, through the real shit of the school. When o was reading this book, I remembered how was my experience, and of course, it was awful. I remembered thanks to this story how the people is so annoying and hateful, and how this live can be cruel. O remembered how the teacher didn't care at all. It was a disgusting experience, seriously.
This book has the Thirteen reasons why, but without any tragedy like in this first. Actually, it tells us about, that horrible things can happen but we can learn from them and be more yourself. It remind us, that we don't need to change or so something different to be more attractive to others.
It very good paced and it was a nice read. A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the copy of this book.
(This review is posted on Goodreads)

I read a lot of YA books, as I work with youth and run teen and tween book clubs. None of those books has given me quite the feeling of teen angst as this one. I suppose if that is the goal, then mission accomplished. The book focuses on Mia's obsession with Rob Starr and his abusive behavior toward her. He takes advantage of a younger girl, uses her, is emotionally abusive the entire time, and then drops her as his so-called friends enact a horrendous plot against her. While the act is criminal in nature, no one is ever charged. There is no resolution. Mia suffers silently through it all and then we pretend that it magically went away with time. She does see a therapist after the event, but it is questionable how much this actually helps her.

Overall, the writing isn't horrible, minus some missed editing errors. The book is written in a conversational narrative that is annoying at times but acceptable for the most part. Honestly, this is not an enjoyable book to read. The main characters aren't as developed as I would like and really aren't likeable people. Supporting characters are flat with no development. I can't imagine any of the teens I work with being willing to accept book suggestions from me again if I recommended this book to them. And the angst......If you would like to spend an evening feeling deep anxiety, this would probably fit the bill.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was provided by the publisher.

This focuses on love and loss, change and growth and I appreciated that. I loved how the author focused on the characters and their adaptation to new life and of course their futures. It’s really interesting and I do appreciate it when authors do that. I loved this book and really loved the emotional depth the author put into these characters and the writing itself. So of course. 5 out of 5 stars!

I’ve always loved these types of books and knew instantly wanted to read this one.
Premise
Rob Starr (sigh) was out of Mia Morgan's league. Of course, she had a crush on him. Everyone did. But in her case, it would just be way too weird to admit that. For starters, their moms were best friends and Mia had known Rob since she was five. But while Mia was now a demi-geek with relentlessly frizzy hair, Rob had become a demi-god and Ellsworth High's basketball superstar. Besides, he’d been going out with the totally perfect Chloe Olsen since, like, forever.

But one October afternoon, a terrible accident changed everything. Suddenly, Mia and Rob were living in the same house and spending a lot of time alone together.
I love the sort of geek/vs popular troupe and I was really curious to get into Mia and Robs story. I was also very curious to read about the accident that caused them to be back in each other’s company again. Also when Miss world starts to change and she’s at a crosswords of what she wants and who she really is that was an interesting journey to follow as well! I enjoyed this one! It would make a good movie!

3,5/5 stars

wow. I seriously was not expecting this.

Disclaimer: I just had maths for two hours and am at a loss for words. read at your own risk, thank you.

so, here's the description:
Rob Starr (sigh) was out of Mia Morgan's league. Of course, she had a crush on him. Everyone did. But in her case, it would just be way too weird to admit that. For starters, their moms were best friends and Mia had known Rob since she was five. But while Mia was now a demi-geek with relentlessly frizzy hair, Rob had become a demi-god and Ellsworth High's basketball superstar. Besides, he’d been going out with the totally perfect Chloe Olsen since, like, forever.

But one October afternoon, a terrible accident changed everything. Suddenly, Mia and Rob were living in the same house and spending a lot of time alone together.

Soon, Mia’s world was changing in ways she never thought possible: new clothes, new friends, and an incredibly hot boyfriend. But was any of it real? Would any of it last? And did getting everything she thought she ever wanted to mean giving up who she really was? (copied from NetGalley's website)

This book is about teenagers, made for teenagers. Especially the ones who cannot seem to fit in anywhere. Or maybe the ones who always dream of hanging out with the popular rich kids.

the book did not start off really interesting as Mia's POV is very biased and the character voice sounded very weak. However, as I kept reading, I realized it is the point because we are reading the memories of a 15-year-old girl.

The plot felt natural and realistic, and things that happen in real life happen here. The events were not forced and fell right with me.

Mia, the main character, was way too immature in the beginning of the story, which changes with her character development throughout the whole book.

i loved Jake from the very beginning to be honest, which got even better towards the end! He was in my opinion really mistreated and misunderstood.

Rob, fucking piece of shit. Rob is another level of Chad. He's arrogant, stupid, ugly (not in Mia's eyes), abusive and manipulative. I hate him, though i can say i had some hopes in the first 25%..

The best part of this book is the epilogue. Leave everything alone. The book is worth reading for its end. Mia's comments and reflections on the entire story and new beginnings are really worth reading. For a teenager, reading this book and seeing how small things can grow bigger and bigger on the person and how easily someone can come and manipulate you, is helpful. sometimes, a lot happens and in the course of it, we who live in it do not realize how downhill things are going. This book is a great representation of this because yes, we know we shouldn't let people manipulate us, but is it that easy to actually do it?

My absolute favourite quote:
"The best days are the ones when i can see how lucky i am. Sure, I went through something awful, but it could have been worse. I survived. And I have real friends who are funny and smart and care about me.
And I have me.
The real me.
And I'll never give myself away to someone who doesn't deserve me again."

Rob Starr by J.A. Howard
Genre: Teen/ YA fiction

This book follows unpopular nerd, Mia Morgan and her unexpected relationship with popular basketball player Rob Starr. However this newfound relationship instigates her high school journey in discovering herself, but not in the way anyone expected.

One thing I liked about this book is how relatable the feelings Mia has, is to a teenager like myself. At first it seemed as if she was being a weak, spineless character. But then you realise she’s your average 15 year old girl, thrown into a world of popularity and fame. Small details Mia mentions really makes the story as it genuinely is a reality for so many teenagers. For example missing out on things because of a boy or the idea of ditching your friends because they’re just not “cool” enough, while sad, is definitely not a feeling that’s unusual to all teenagers.

And despite the fact you know what’s coming, you can’t help but feel sadness and pity reading about Mia and her deterioration in the “popular” world.

I liked the raw honesty of the book, the character development and the way everything flows easily. Parts were definitely cliché, but I expected that.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes high school fiction and genuinely to any teenager who feels as if they don’t belong.


Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️
3/5

ARC provided by NetGalley & Apple Island Press