That feeling when an author whose two previous books have been on your best-of lists writes a new book that surpasses them all. Thank you, Ethan Joella, for leaving me smiling, sniffling, and utterly in awe about how easily your stories pull me in.

Schmidt’s restaurant has been a fixture in Rehoboth Beach for three generations now. Jack Schmidt has been at the helm for years, running the place his grandmother and father devoted their lives to. And Jack has done the same—put the restaurant and its staff above everything else in his life, including relationships, travel, even simple relaxation.

The DelDine group has been purchasing family-owned and small restaurants all over Delaware, and they’ve cast their sights on Schmidt’s. Jack has absolutely no intention of selling his family’s legacy, but the more tired he gets, the more he wonders if maybe he deserves to put himself first for once.

As he ponders the decision, he thinks about the paths he could have taken, the chances he passed up, and the regrets he has. He worries about his employees and whether DelDine will honor their promise to take care of them if he sells. And when he learns of a secret hidden from him for years, he wonders if this is the sign he needs to act.

The richness of this story, the depth of the characters, the emotions and images it evokes, all blew me away. This is a gorgeous story about family, friendship, love, loyalty, regret, hope, and possibility. I will never get enough of how well Joella tells a story.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Scribner Books, and Ethan for the advance copy! The book will publish 7/2.

This is just a perfect beach or anytime read and I know everyone will come away feeling refreshed.
The Same Bright Stars tells a beautiful story that takes place on the shores of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.It's about family, friendship, and learning how to take one day at a time.
Not an easy lesson for anyone, especially a middle aged diner owner named Jack Schmidt, who has worked every day since he was very young.
The wonderful characters in this novel could be friends and the town details and descriptions throughout the pages makes me need to visit and walk the beach here.

Thank you to @Netgalley and to @Scribner for this ARC and allowing me to provide my own review. Loved it!

I was blessed to be given access to read this particular book at the perfect time in my life. It's an absolutely wonderful story for those of us who may find themselves at a crossroads, be questioning past choices or maybe wondering 'what if' about going forward with or without making changes. For others, younger or older, the story will bring a smile to your lips or memories to mind. What a wonderful, slow paced story about a good man, his chosen family (his employees and long time friends) and how just a tiny change or chance introduction can both elevate one's life and make it richer. Five stars!! Read this book!

Have you ever looked at someone and thought, “I wonder what their story is?” or “I wonder what put those laugh lines around their eyes or the greys on their head?” This is the kind of story Ethan Joella continues to excel at, peeling back the layers of what, on the surface, appears to be just a mundane existence. We all have stories that passersby will never know. Joella gives us that peek behind a curtain and does so with so much depth and emotion. Like his previous two books, Joella also brings to life, in vivid colors, smells, and sounds, another pocket of the world I’ve never visited yet somehow feel like, now, I’ve been visiting all my life. Joella’s books are just such beautiful testaments to the intricacies, mundanities, and subtleties that make up a life. We are all more than meets the eye and Joella’s books continue to prove that with so much skill. I cannot wait for the world to meet Jack Schmidt!

Things I liked about this book:
1. It gives a glimpse into the hectic yet rewarding life of owning and running a restaurant. Jack felt a responsibility for the livelihood of his employees and their well-being.
2. When Jack looks at the troubled young man Ziggy has become, he tries to remember him as the small boy who once found so much joy playing with a puppy rather than the delinquent in desperate need of help that he is today.
3. It illustrates how difficult it can be to make a change in our lives when we get comfortable in our routines even when they wear us down.
4. Jack refers to the Hemingway short story, “Hills Like White Elephants” when he is reflecting on his conversation with Alexis about getting an abortion. (I, like Jack, had to read this in a literature class.)
5. Everything doesn’t wrap up neatly as we would expect, but the reader is left with a sense of hope for what the future may bring.
6. The author, @joellawriting, gives a special thanks to the support of the Bookstagram community in his acknowledgements.

This books felt to me a lot like a Nicholas Sparks novel. This isn’t my typical genre but I enjoyed it as a light fast read. It’s well written and even though it is predictable, the main character is so well written that I enjoyed rooting for him.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

How lovely, in the depths of winter, to read a story set at the beach. And a Delaware beach, an unfamiliar setting for me. I really appreciated that the main character was in his 50s, as so many novels these days seem to be about 20-somethings. I look forward to recommending this one to our patrons, and also to going back and reading the author's first two books.

Loved this one! I think we will be seeing it as a highly-sought after pick for a lot of book clubs. I highly recommend this unique story. Ethan Joella does no wrong.

What a feeling this book brings!! This was the ideal book for a Northeasterner like myself to be enveloped in during a cold February. “The Same Bright Stars” delivered a sense of hope sprinkled with underlying themes of love, forgiveness and the importance of tradition within its character driven and charming plot.

Growing up with much of my childhood summers in Bethany Beach, I was thrilled to see that this novel was set not too far away in the author’s beloved hometown of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Joella’s description of the town was spot on, and his obvious love for the town shined through his characters and writing. I encourage all my fellow readers to add this spectacular novel to their TBR list and visit sweet Rehoboth…you won’t regret it.

Publication date: July 02, 2024

Sincere thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital ARC copy in return for my honest review.

5 stars

Having really enjoyed Mr. Joella’s “A Quiet Life,” I was thrilled to be approved by Net Galley for an advanced copy of this one. What a nice surprise to find I loved this one even more!

Though there were some tense and difficult moments in the story, I found this to be a quiet book. This is a character study of Jack Schmidt. It’s also a treatise on family, whether blood or nonblood, and the importance of having those connections in one’s life. This novel is also about difficult life decisions, what is important in life and how to attain those sometimes very elusive goals.

Jack has a ton of money sitting in the bank as he owns a very successful restaurant in the resort town of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. But Jack never feels like spending much money. He has discovered that wealth alone does not assure a happy life. In fact, it plays very little role in bringing happiness to Jack. Poor Jack. He is 52 years old and has been involved with the restaurant since his mother died when he was only 12 years old. He is the 3rd generation of Schmidt’s to own and run Schmidt’s Restaurant. Unlike his grandparents and parents, he has never had a family of his own; it’s just never been in the cards for Jack. He yearns for a family. He yearns for deeper happiness.

To me, books that make me FEEL, THINK, and LEARN are the very best reads. Bonus points if the book is character-driven. “The Same Bright Stars” has excellent characters who drive the novel, especially Jack, Deacon, Andie, Carl, Sam, Genevieve, and a couple others I will let you discover yourself. I felt for every one of them. The story also gave me much to mull over in terms of how single decisions can play such a huge role in how your life turns out. I always like to learn from my reading and this time I learned a lot of interesting tidbits about the restaurant business.

Gosh, I loved this book. I was totally engrossed as this is absolutely my favorite type of novel. It’s all about people, their needs, and their relationships. Life is hard. Life is complicated. So complicated. But you can never stop trying to make the very best of it. “The Same Bright Stars” is a beautiful, poignant life-affirming novel. I highly recommend it for all.

I would like to thank Net Galley, Ashley Gilliam of Scribner Books, and Ethan Joella for an advanced copy. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Ethan Joella is one of my favorite authors not just because of his writing (which is fantastic) but also because he’s such a nice guy, supportive and interactive on Instagram and a Bookstagrammer favorite.

Joella’s newest novel is set in a Delaware beach town and features locals including Jack, who owns a family restaurant. Jack puts his whole life into the business and has ignored his own needs for too long. When he gets unexpected news from the past it sets him on a new path.

I finished this beautiful book last night and loved reading about a small town and the people who inhabit it. This is going to be a perfect summer companion in your beach bag!

If you haven’t already read Joella’s backlist I also highly recommend A Quiet Life. That was one of my top books of the year when it came out- I just adored it.

Ethan Joelle does it again with a well crafted story about believable, sympathetic characters that will touch your heart and stay with you long after the book is finished.

The only good in this book was the short chapters. The writing is off somehow and the story was not to my liking.

Ethan Joella has a gift for writing contemporary slice-of-life novels with real people with real life problems. I know what I am getting when I hold a new Joella book in my hands. I wouldn't want to call them predictable but dependable. I know he will capture moments of human connection. In this emotionally resonant novel set in a Delaware beach town Jack, a local restaurant owner, is at a turning point. He cares deeply about the restaurant and his employees but he is burnt out and ready to sell his family restaurant. For years Jack put the demands of the restaurant above all else, with a string of failed relationships, no hobbies, and no days off as proof of his commitment to the place. Then he receives startling news from the past, he begins to reshape his life.

Jack is a good man shaped by grief and self imposed expectations and disappointments. You cannot help but root for him. While Jack is at the center of the story, you'll get glimpses of other characters and their stories: Jack's employees, his parents, his best friend and his former romantic partners. There is a bit of a found family here and unexpected new friendships.

The Same Bright Stars is a character driven novel set in a small beach town. Short chapters and the dual timeline with flashbacks to Jack's past made this a quick read for me. I really enjoyed this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance reader's copy of this novel.

I find Ethan Joella’s books completely irresistible. I’m tempted to call them quiet, simple portraits of regular people, but I feel like that would be a disservice. These are regular people, but their lives are not simple. They’re complicated, in the heartbreaking, beautiful way everyone’s lives are. He expresses this so well. Maybe I want to call these lives simple and quiet because Joella makes it all seem so effortless, the way he’s able to get you inside his characters. I loved Jack, the protagonist of this one, who’s the same age as me but living a very different life. Because at heart I’m a writer who never made a real effort at becoming one, I’m jealous of Joella’s skill but I’m grateful that he shares it with us.

THE SAME BRIGHT STARS
BY: ETHAN JOELLA

Five Sparkling Stars!

"You enter Rehoboth Beach over a drawbridge and instantly feel like you have been transported.
There is a welcome sign and a lighthouse in the middle of a traffic circle, and as you drive the main
street, you see boutiques and restaurants and a local bookstore with a wide green awning. In the
summer, the shops have geraniums and impatiens spilling out of window boxes, and people leave
their rescue dogs waiting for them by the parking meter as they buy croissants or coffee in the
morning.
The beach is wide and generous with striped metal sheds that rent umbrellas and chairs in the
summer, and there is a mile-long boardwalk with ice cream places and souvenir shops. The rides at
Playland pier have been around since your parents and grandparents were young (a carousel, antique
boats that go around in a circle with bells on a string). And there are games like Skee-ball and
Whac-A-Mole and Frog Bog.
Rehoboth Beach is a mix of yesterday and today, at once a small town and a city. Planes creep by in
the sky trailing banners, and you will look up and read their messages as though the words were
written just for you. ---That's Rehoboth Beach: A Guidebook."

This is my most anticipated best loved, and favorite Author of literary fiction writer Ethan Joella's description of this wonderful and charming setting for this beautiful newest novel. I hope the publisher will forgive me for quoting one of the excerpts, which I will check for accuracy upon publication. This isn't something I normally do, but I wanted to shout it from the roof tops for whomever is reading this review just how strong of a writer Ethan Joella is. In his newest novel, called, "The Same Bright Stars," he has managed to deliver once again in his third novel in a row that cements him in my opinion another example of pure perfection. The characters are all richly developed as fully fleshed out and three dimensional. To read a new novel that has been crafted by Mr. Joella is to love everything about it because he sketches his characters, settings and plots in the most brilliant and stunning prose.

His novels are imbued with nuances that are written with a keen observational insight that in my humble opinion showcases his unique signature style of what a talented writer he is. I first discovered his intimate and rich storytelling when I read his fantastic second novel called, "A Quiet Life." I LOVED IT so much that I rushed to read his debut novel called, "A Little Hope," which I also devoured so I screamed with excitement when the publicist sent me an email that I was approved to read this one. It's only February and I absolutely can say without a doubt that this one is going to be my favorite literary fiction novel of 2024.

I said to myself when I read his second novel called, "A Quiet Life," that this author must have a background in psychology because the characters that inhabited it were written with so much humanity. In this one Ethan Joella has impressed me again with how realistic and multi-faceted and kind his main male protagonist is in his depiction of Jack Schmidt. He is a third generation restaurant owner who is fifty two years old getting his restaurant ready on the day before Thanksgiving to serve up a good old fashioned traditional fresh turkeys with all of the fixings with a variety of home made style pies for the holiday.

Jack is mulling over the decision about whether to sell his restaurant to a corporate company named DelDine. He inherited the restaurant named Schmidt's from working with his father and grandmother. Being the conscientious employer that he is he is worried about how this new owner will treat his employees fair and not replace his staff. He is a thoughtful man who treats his reporting people like family and even though he is ready to start to enjoying life's simple pleasures he wants the best for the people who work for him..

For example he yearns to be free of the commitments of having all of the responsibilities that come with owning a reputable business. He had bought himself a nice beach chair that he hasn't had time to use because he is always at work leaving him no opportunity to relax and go to the beach. He has a great best friend and his friend's wife who the three of them enjoy each other's company, but he always has the worry of getting to the restaurant. I really enjoyed reading this and Jack faces his share of challenges and setbacks, but I admired how he was always trying to be a giving type of guy who was always looking for how he could help those who needed it. Not everything has always gone the way he envisioned it, but this story left me feeling hopeful. This is another masterpiece written with heart. I highly, highly recommend putting this on your "to be read," list or trying his two previous novels.

Publication Date: July 2, 2024

Here is the link to my review of "A Quiet Life." https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4754897473

Thank you to Net Galley, Ethan Joella and a huge debt of gratitude to Scribner for generously providing me with my wonderful eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheSameBrightStars #EthanJoella #Scribner #NetGalley

A sweet book! Which when I looked back at my review for A Quiet Life, I described that book the same way. Lots of positive similarities between the books…sweet stories, relatable characters, heartfelt quick reads. I enjoyed it and really like the cover as well!

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Scribner for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Ethan Joella has become a must buy author for me. A Little Hope & A Quiet Life were excellent, so I was so excited to receive a review copy of this via NetGalley, but will be purchasing this for my shelves!

Perhaps I’m a bit biased, as the setting for this novel is Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, a place I spent many childhood and early adulthood days. This book is about Jack, a local restaurant owner who is in his 50s and getting tired, but also feels so tied to the restaurant (as it has been in the family for years) so is hesitant to let it go. An offer comes to purchase Schmidt’s, and Jack has to decide whether to take the deal.

Woven into the story are lovely scenes of the small beach town, and some intensely emotional moments, as Jack and his best friend deal with grief, loss, relationship struggles, mental health, and a blast from Jack’s past makes him re-think everything. This book had me sobbing, laughing out loud, and everything in between. This was an absolute pleasure to read - I didn’t want to put it down, and I think it would be a great re-read each summer. 🏖️✨

This book was like comfort food to read. Loved the story. Jack the restaurateur was such a fair, nice man. It was refreshing that the most all of the characters were caring and thoughtful of others. Not to say there wasn’t some drama. Really beautiful story. Ending was perfect. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this wonderful book.

Jack has a restaurant which has been in his family for generations. His restaurant is his life. He wants more but at what cost? A big time restaurateur group wants his place, but can he sell it and feel good about what he does? Family and friends…secrets…red herrings…what is the right path for Jack? His past comes to the present…this talented author has written a page turner. Even the title is intriguing. I liked the letter writing…insight to the souls of loved ones… Thanks Netgalley.