I thought the writing itself was beautiful, and the style reminded me of Joanne Harris. But nothing about the story or the characters resonated with me, I didn't connect with it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

Thanks to NetGalley & BooksGoSocial for providing me with an e-ARC for me to review.

I did not read the first book in this series but I enjoyed the writing style and plot in this book.

This book was also set in a time period that I have not read in a lot of books so that was interesting.

FIND ME IN THE STARS by Jules Larimore is historic fiction about a place I have never been and time I have never lived. Intrigued by the bloody history of a people I was vaguely aware of in a country I love, I dropped into the story of Amelie and Jehan, amazed at the lengths to which they followed their convictions and passionate pursuit for life, freedom to worship, and thrive under incredible hardship and oppression. While the language was clunky at times, the strong love between fascinating people and the vivid events with terrible dilemmas they faced held me throughout shocking events and twists of fate. I learned history of a people in a thoroughly enjoyable way. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Thanks to NetGalley & BooksGoSocial for providing an e-ARC!

Fine Me in the Stars picks straight up from the first book with the two main protagonists, Jehan and Amelia going their separate ways. Set during the reign of Louis XIV and his disdain for protestants, book two explores Jehan's spiritual journey as he joins a troupe of refugees to find Eden, their sanctuary. Meanwhile Amelia stays behind to aid her ill grandmother while being accused of witchcraft.

Things I loved about this book:
We get a new pov in the sequel with Amelia and I loved reading her sections. She is such a selfless woman of her time and it's refreshing to read about these type of female characters in historical fiction. The writing though so eloquent is very easy to understand, you breeze through this book. The way the two characters interact through letters traveling through a clever system was endearing to read and I love how they both yearn for each other.

What could be improved:
I do find that this could have been part of book one. The first half of the first book was dragged on a bit, it could have been condensed. There were several filler chapters that I started to skim through. There are magical elements in this book but it was not the forefront. It could have been completely omitted if it's not going to be a main theme.

This book was full of such immersive, atomospheric writing that I was immediately invested and intrigued with the historical world. There were moments in the story that were so powerful, exploring trauma, religious persecution, and relationships in a time when things were deeply uncertain. I felt the setting was authentic to the history while still keeping a rich, engaging fictional narrative at the focus. It was an easy book to finish reading through, and has me curious to read its companion, the first in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an eARC. These are my honest thoughts!

Although I didn’t read the first in the series, I found it really easy to pick up the story of Find me in the Stars and was swept into this beautiful story of romance, persecution and journeys.

Set during Louis XIV’s oppression of the Huguenots, this was a beautifully written, elegant story that wove the trauma of the persecution into a story told through two of the lives it impacted. Although a difficult and traumatic period for French protestants, Larimore crafts a hopeful and touching narrative from it.

Larimore is a fantastic storyteller; creating believable places such as treacherous mountain passes in the dead of night, scenes of rural France and 17th century London, which hook the reader from the start. Their writing is immersive and pulls the reader into an authentic historical setting and believable story.

The novel is engrossing and hard to put down; although it’s not a ‘light’ novel, it’s easy to get lost in the story (I finished it within three days).

Find Me in the Stars is a touching historical novel written with finesse.