First and foremost, I would like to thank Netgalley & Redhook Books for this arc. My opinions are my own.


Said to be cursed, L’Etrange Lune is a film that has been quietly erased from film history.

1960’s actress Gemma Turner has one chance to redeem her career. So when the opportunity comes along to star in a transformation French horror film, she takes it. Little does she know ten days into filming, she will disappear and become trapped into the film itself. Forced to become her role as Gisele Dumas, she must navigate the horror films world full of monsters.

In the 2000’s, Christopher, a film student, is enthralled with the mystery surrounding L’Etrange and Gemma Turner’s disappearance. He becomes obsessed with learning the truth of her disappearance which leads to unforeseeable dangers and inner truth.


I’ve read “A Witch in Time” by Constance Sayers a few years ago and loved it, so I was so excited when I got this arc. This didn’t disappoint!
I was completely immersed into the world. It was mysterious and atmospheric. I can really picture it in my head which I normally can’t do very well. The beginning was ok but when the story really gets started, I was in it for the ride. I generally didn’t know where the story was going even in the later part of the book which is a rarity for me. Gemma and Christopher were both such fun narratives to follow. Gemma learning to adapt to a world completely out of her control. Christopher is such a complex individual. Watching him unlock the mystery behind Gemma’s disappearance had me hooked. The thing I really appreciated about the dual POVs in this story was that we didn’t spend too long with Christopher. With a lot of multiple POVs stories, you find yourself wanting to rush through the one POV to get to the “good stuff”. I think Constance did an excellent job of not rushing Chrisopher’s story but understanding where readers really want to be. It’s refreshing and lets Christopher’s chapters still keep you interested in his story.
There may be a few plot holes and fast developments, but I don’t care. I loved it. I will be getting a physical copy as soon as the book is out!!
Excited to read more from Constance Sayers in the future!!

4 Stars!

I will post my review on my Instagram on release day or a few days prior. Posting on my Goodreads and Storygraphy now.

This is possibly one of the strangest books I've ever read. It is a horror/thriller/mystery all wrapped up in one package.
The first 40% has a lot of world building and character development. But it definitely picks up speed as the mystery unfolds.
We spend time with Christopher, a child whose mother is spiraling with mental issues. A photograph of an actress named Gemma Turner becomes a breaking point for him and his mother. We follow his journey as he grows into an adult and his experience as a child turns into an obsession with Gemma Turner.

Gemma Turner was an American actress who hit a rough patch in American film. She goes to France and becomes the star of a French horror film, however, everything goes terribly wrong.
The rest you need to read, as I can't tell it better than the author herself!

This book was peculiar, and thrilling. There are definitely horror elements and as the mystery unravels, more horror unfolds.
Solid 4 star read and if I know anyone looking for a thriller I will recommend.

This is a beautifully written and plotted book. It drew me in from the beginning and I stayed fascinated until the end.. it is a carefully blended mix of mystery, horror and magic. The two timelines work together as the suspense builds. An A+ read, one which I highly recommend.

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the chance to read this ARC.

Wow - what an absolutely fantastical world Sayers has created here! She has been on my TBR list for a while for A Witch in Time, and now that I have read this one I am definitely going to race off and start it.

This was such an inventive and original story, and the writing is so absolutely beautiful. The characters were fully three-dimensional and phenomenally presented, and I was drawn into their world from the opening lines of the book. The pacing and plotting were spot-on perfect. There were a few times at the end where I felt things were a little rushed relative to how deliciously slowly the build was along the way, but on the whole everything about this story worked for me.

I will read anything this author writes. This book was so beautifully written. The two timelines, a span of 40 or so years, schemes and tricks and worlds within worlds was a book I could not put down! Dark magic, obsession and desperate for love, it was easy to get wrapped up and fall through time with the characters in this book.

Another fabulous story by Constance Sayers. A tale of time travel, magic, historical fiction, intrigue, love, a curse and a mystery running throughout captivated me from the first chapter. I highly recommend this book!

The Star and the Strange Moon is an addicting tale of mystery, greed, and the dark side of fame.
I found myself captivated by the world Constance Sayers created set in a lush backdrop of France, we are taken on a journey that made me compelled to keep reading.

Gemma Turner was a rising star in the 1960's but found her spotlight fading as a result of choices she made in her career. Desperate to be in the limelight once again, Gemma flew to France for an opportunity to play the lead part in a horror film. The excitement fades when Gemma learns that during a shooting of a scene, she was transported and trapped into the very film itself. A historical fiction novel with elements of fantasy, Constance Sayer managed to blend multiple genres into The Star and the Strange Moon.

This is a dual narration novel that also features Christopher Kent, a man who becomes completely obsessed with Gemma Turner and does everything he can to find out what really happened after her disappearance. I personally did not like Christopher as a character, it seemed like he only served as a plot device to catapult and explain Gemma's story. He felt one dimensional to me and while I did like the purpose of having him as a narrator, I found myself bored during his chapters.

Overall I was satisfied with the ending and I will not say more because I feel like this book has the best effect when you walk into it blind. I really enjoyed this story and am grateful to Netgalley and Redhook for providing me the opportunity to read this eARC. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Star and the Strange Moon is an absolutely stunning and intriguing read! Constance Sayers has done it again! She has written three dark, mysterious, and compelling books. Every one of her books is a story to read again and again.

The Star and the Strange Moon did not disappoint in any way. Constance Sayers has a gift. Her stories are complete with no stones left unturned. She has well developed characters a reader becomes invested in, especially strong female protangonists! She weaves an excellent mystery! I was surprised by all of the secrets that unfolded and how the story tied together. I was on the edge of my seat for several nights of reading. I felt the pacing of the story was consistent and enjoyable!

While all of her books are stand-alone books and do not need to be read in any particular order, they all do share one common character, a demon named Althacuzar. I find myself liking this quirky and devious character the more I read about him. In Sayers' previous books, Althacuzar has a large role to play throughout the stories and is a front and center character. In the Star and the Strange Moon, he plays his role in the background as the story develops and unfolds. I would suggest reading the order of which the books were published so the reader can get to know Althacuzar through each story.

I waited anxiously to read this book and was very excited when I was given an ARC copy by Netgalley. Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publishers, and especially Constance Sayers for this opportunity.

I cannot wait to see what Constance Sayers writes in the future! She is an original and unique writer!

Constance Sayers is a favorite author of mine, A Witch in Time being one of my favorite novels. Trust having been fully earned, I enjoyed going into this novel knowing nothing about it. It was exciting having this story unfold and reveal itself. So, I don’t want to reveal too much here, as I think that is a good way to go on this journey. It is an unexpected, genre-bending story, and I fully enjoyed it.

From the start of The Star and the Strange Moon, I was fully captivated. I enjoy Sayers’ expertly paced, vivid and flowing prose. In this story, we flip between two timelines, protagonists living in different places in the world, different times, never having met, yet somehow connected. Both main characters are fully imagined, each chasing their dreams, and love, and wanting to change their respective worlds.

This story as a whole was original, but in part it reminded me of Carlos Ruiz Zafron’s The Shadow of the Wind – one of my most cherished novels – as our male protagonist, Christopher, spends his life chasing answers to a mystery that no one in his life understands. He feels unsettled with the world as it is, finding himself obsessed with a mysterious person, for reasons not entirely known to him. His story sometimes tragic but inspiring. You root for him, his success, and happiness.

This story also reminded me of Richard Matheson’s Somewhere in Time (though I only watched the movie with Christopher Reeves – beautiful story) where our male protagonist feels an unexplained connection to someone he has never met, and will do anything to have the reason for this obsession revealed to him. He dares to dream, impossibly, that his obsession and their connection is enough to transcend realty, and maybe, against all odds, they can be together.

Our female lead, Gemma, is daring, smart, and about to embark on a terrifying, exciting Wizard of Oz ride!
I love how Sayers’ characters are flawed, real, honest, and vulnerable. I was fully invested in this story and it’s characters from beginning to end, and I’ll be imagining their future lives for a long time.

This was definitely not what I expected from the blurb and the publisher. I went into this book anticipating a dual timeline horror with romantic elements, more along the lines of Silver Nitrate. Instead, this read to me like historical fiction with some speculative elements, with a few interludes in different times but most of the action taking place in Gemma's timeline. I found the plot a bit slow for my tastes, and perhaps it's just me, but the fact that Christopher is set up to be Gemma's love interest but is introduced as a child--whose mother is of the same generation as Gemma--struck me as an odd choice. Ended up putting this one down at 20%--it's just not for me, although I did love the concept.

I think this one will appeal more to fans of historical women's fiction, which is not what I expected from the marketing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

The Star and the Strange Moon is pure fantasy magic, unlike anything I've ever read before, and it pulled me in immediately.

The slow buildup is low-key tense and really adds to the atmosphere of this, of which there is a lot.

I don't want to share any details that could be construed as spoilers. If I were to pick this up for the first time, I wouldn't want to know anything about the storyline because not knowing anything about the storyline was fantastic and so much more suspenseful.


Excellent, excellent story. Deeply compelling and engaging. I think this will be terrific in audiobook format.

An absolute recommendation!

Thank you to Redhook Books and NetGalley for the DRC!

From the author of 'A Witch in Time' and 'Ladies of the Secret Circus' comes another dark glamorous read about free will, choice, and fate.

Gemma Turner is a fading star of 1960s Hollywood who is unexpectedly cast in a French nouvelle vague horror film where the lines between fantasy and reality start to disappear. When she vanishes while filming the unsettling movie, wild conspiracies and secrets from the past cast an eerie glow over the production, director, and cast of the film. In the 2000s, a young film student named Christopher has held a nearly life long obsession with Gemma and her mysterious disappearance. The search for the truth will lead Christopher to shadowy people and places connected to the film and a confrontation with an evil that could only be found in the movies.

The Star and the Strange Moon was a tour de force with its creepy cinematic storyline that was juxtaposed with the moodiness of the French nouvelle vague, and the glitz of Hollywood. Sayers crafted a sinister story that explored the thin lines between illusion and horror. and, beauty, and death What it means to choose freely, the price of fame, intuition, and the power of influence were featured in this creepy tale. Occult elements such as black magic, Faustian bargains, rituals, blood, curses, and a strange moon were included in this macabre story.

Sayers explored the dark underbelly of film making in a fantastical way that brought to light the issues surrounding art and eternal fame. Is getting lost in one's own creative world a sign of madness or something else? What makes some films stand the test of time, and others not? Do you ever get to make your own choices in life, or have they been carefully set up scene by scene, by an unknown director? Each character in this story had to face their realities which led to encounters with evil...an evil that revealed itself to be the controlling force of every choice and decision they made.

If you enjoyed Constance Sayers previous two books, you will enjoy The Star and the Strange Moon. It has a strong female protagonist, a labyrinthine story, and black magic, set against a backdrop of the French New Wave, Hollywood, and creepy chateaus.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Completely enthralling! Such a beautifully creepy horror novel where the boy finally gets the girl. I could not put this down from the very start. The author has such talent in building the scenery, the world, the characters… Just a sprinkle of some spice near the end, nothing majorly descriptive, fade to black essentially. I cannot begin to explain just how wonderful this book was and I am grateful to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for this ARC. This is my own unbiased opinion.

Wow that was a wild ride. I think Sayers struggled with the pacing, but that was an incredibly inventive and unique story. I loved every second of it. The time period/setting doesn’t align (costume wise lol) but the parts with Gemma in the other world made me think of Jacques Demy’s Peau d’âne, and I would frequently think of that film when they were shooting the film.

It felt overlong at parts and maybe a little lost, but I feel like it was so unique and honestly such a ride that I’m not that bothered by it.

Will be going back and reading her earlier books, and waiting for her future ones with baited breath.