Member Reviews
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Natasha and Daniel are just two teenagers, navigating life in the big city. But underneath their external persona, Natasha has less than 24 hours until she and her family will be deported to Jamaica, and Daniel is struggling with the pressure his family is placing on him. Meeting in the street, again and again, it's as if fate has a hand in their relationship. Will 24 hours be enough to change their lives, and the lives of everyone they meet along the way?
After reading Everything, Everything, I was really looking forward to Nicola's newest book, and overjoyed when I was approved for the eARC. Life got in the way however, and I never actually got around to reading The Sun Is Also a Star until recently. I liked the book, but it was strange, and didn't grip my attention quite like Nicola's debut did. Daniel and Natasha were interesting characters, but the little asides and secondary plot lines started to get on my nerves, and I switched off. I wanted the best for the pair, and Irene's story did keep me hooked, but I honestly found myself skimming the final third or so of the book. I am glad I had got around to reading it, but found myself wishing that maybe I had just done it at the time, because it left me wanting more.
I received this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!!
Ive posted a full review on Goodreads and I look forward to reading more from this author!
This is one I've been meaning to read for ages, but it seems to have had mixed responses.
The story was a fairly quick one to read and I think if you can overlook the ridiculously quick love element it will not bother you too much.
Interesting to get the split views, but it won't go down as one of my favourites.
A very cute book that makes you think about the concept of fate and interracial relationships - the prejudice between non-white groups. In this instance Korean and Jamaican.
I really enjoyed this second novel from Yoon, and thought the romance in it was really sweet and quite genuine. I liked the different format of it, and I can't wait to see what she writes next!
Requested this shortly before I read Everything, Everything back in 2016. I absolutely detested Everything, Everything and Yoon's writing, and thus can not bring myself to read this novel. I read the first chapter out of curiosity but didn't like the writing style.
A little disappointing. I found the style of writing difficult to read. This book just wasn't for me.
I don’t believe in this kind of insta love, that’s the problem for me. I like to read about slow burn, character development, a story that makes sense. This story woth all of its love at first sight it didn’t make sense for me.
I have tried so many times to get into this book, but it is not happening - I even tried on audiobook. There's something about the writing style itself that I cannot connect with, which is a shame as I was quite excited for this book. But it just wasn't my cup of tea.
Firstly: the cover is beautiful and a joy to look at. Secondly: this is a really good read - engaging, fun, and full of YA "issues" without ever becoming too bogged down in them.
I read Nicola Yoon's previous YA novel, 'Everything, Everything,' and was very touched by her sensitive portrayal of young love and the originality of her subject matter, so when I saw 'The Son Is Also A Star' was available I jumped at the chance to read it! I was not disappointed.
Another sensitively handled YA romance which also addresses difficult topics such as cultural differences, expectations, immigration and deportation.
Natasha is a native Jamaican who has lived in America since she was eight years old with her parents who are undocumented immigrants; her young brother Peter was born here. Now however, at 17 and due to graduate with her whole life ahead of her, she is being deported with her family back to Jamaica following her father being charged with 'Driving Under the Influence' of alcohol. Angry and resentful at the lack of control she has over her own destiny, Natasha will exhaust all the options to stay before she gives up - even at the eleventh hour!
Daniel is Korean, the second son of his successful Korean parents, living in the shadow of his older brother who has done everything right - until now. In the wake of his brother's shame having been 'kicked out' of Harvard for his poor grades, Daniel finds himself coming under even more scrutiny from his father.
Natasha is practical, logical, scientifically minded and factual; Daniel is a poetry-writing romantic and believes in love, fate and happy endings. In a moment of fate Daniel stops Natasha stepping out in front of a car and saves her life.
Through numerous cameo moments taken from Natasha's and Daniel's perspective, interspersed with intimate snapshots of peoples' lives who cross their paths during the day, paragraphs of fact and little snippets of history, Nicola Yoon weaves a wonderful story told in a day of a gentle romance blossoming against all the odds. Lovely!
The Sun is Also a Star shows the story of two very different teenagers coming together by chance while struggling with their lives. Natasha is trying to form a case for citizenship in America to stop her family from being deported back to Jamaica while Daniel is struggling with his parents' high expectations to go to a good college and not to become the poet he wishes to be. They meet by chance when Daniel pulls her out of the way of a car and spend their day together getting to know each other and themselves.
I really enjoyed reading this book, it was very different to most of the books I read as it was set over a single day and each chapter switch view point between Daniel and Natasha and from time to time other outside characters. You get to see the two main characters learning to appreciate the importance of a single moment. I felt the book was good at gradually revealing the important details while never becoming too slow and tedious. Another great book by Nicola Yoon to get you hooked from the first page.
The Sun Is Also a Star is a fantastic book, hands down!
Natasha and Daniel are now officially one of my dearest fictional couples. A girl with afro hairstyle who believes in science and only science and a Korean boy who believe in love. Who would have guessed that I will fell in love with both of them?
I really like this book and I recommed it to everybody who read young adult books. It's cute, real and in the same time so heartbreaking that it makes you think. The story is centered on the romantic aspect of the story, however I think it only uses it to show us the biggest picture.
I wasn't really a fan of Nicola Yoon before, but from now on I'll definitelly buy every single book that she writes!
Interesting book. Loved seeing all the different perspectives.
Full non-spoiler Book Talk: http://forever-fictional.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/the-sun-is-also-star-nicola-yoon-non.html
It starts with the deportation – it was made clear that Natasha doesn’t believe in fate right from the start (right from the blurb, actually) but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Daniel is expected to be the good son – and his parents’ definition of the term is not exactly how it means to him.
Everything that led to their meeting had a story. This book is a chain reaction and I love it.
Natasha and Daniel came from very different families. I enjoyed reading about the cultures presented in this book.
The book touched the importance of names , and of words in general. How their meanings affect lives, and why they should never be underestimated. Words are never just words.
I felt strongly for the characters and how they dealt with expectations – not just from their families, but also from the communities they live in, the society they’re part of.
The discrimination against art echoed in my heart. Being practical meant gravitating towards what will feed your family. Natasha kept on insisting being practical as Daniel fought for doing what you feel passionate about.
I love how most of the book happened in only one day – it shows that there are so many possibilities to live in the moment and to cherish the present.
It means so much to me that one of the strongest points in this book is that you can’t control love – when, where, why, how, and the most important of all: who. Once it happens, it happens. A connection between two souls is unbreakable.
Natasha and Daniel are two people who believed in very different things. Love brought them together. They made me smile, they made me laugh, they made me hold my breath, they almost made me cry, they made me want to scream, they made me want to hug the book and to hug Nicola for writing it, and most of all, they made a mark on my heart.
They say the universe is infinite. I say this book deserves that kind of love.
4.5 stars. I loved this standalone. I've heard so much about the author that I decided to pick this one up ahead of Everything Everything, and now I'm super looking forward to the other book. This was a sweet, heartfelt emotional story about two lovers in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was beautifully written, the characters were believable and I really found myself caring about the outcome.
One thing I love about this book is just how realistic the story was. It definitely didn't sugar coat anything or promise anything. It just simply was, and that's what I enjoyed about it.
I received a copy from Netgalley.
I don’t really know what to say on this one. I was really looking forward to it as I absolutely loved the author’s debut, Everything Everything, which I just devoured. But I just couldn’t get into this one. It wasn’t a bad book really. The characters were delightfully diverse, the two leads, Daniel and Natasha had fantastic chemistry and a believable romance in a tough situation. I thought it was handled fairly realistically.
But…I just didn’t like it. It just didn’t work for me. The premise is an interesting one. Daniel comes from a Korean family who immigrated to America, his dad runs a pharmacy. His brother Charlie has always been the high achiever of the family, though has recently come home from college in disgrace. Daniel has always been in Charlie’s shadow. His parents have very high expectations of him. (Charlie is an absolute dick). Daniel is a more sensitive soul, he has a big university interview, he’s not sure what he wants to do with his life. He has a quirky, almost snarky tone of voice. He likes to write poetry.
Natasha’s family came over from Jamaica, her family all live in one small apartment, her dad had dreams of being an actor. He’s got great talent, but can’t seem to get a break, Natasha has a younger brother, and a hard working mom. Natasha herself is very smart and loves science. Her dad got drunk and wound up spilling their family history to a police officer, including telling the police they are illegal immigrants. And now Natasha and her family are twelve hours away from being deported.
Natasha is determined to make one last stab at saving her family from deportation by meeting with a lawyer who specialises in deportation cases. Stopping in a record store a chance meeting leads her to run into Daniel on the way to his interview.
They spark a great connection and start to get to know each other, despite the fact that both of them have places to be and a limited time, their connection is so…just there…they keep finding ways to keep the conversation going; Daniel is more optimistic and romantic. Natasha is a lot more practical and logical.
While they both have great voices, I think what really distracted from their story was random chapters from a whole other points of view. Various characters who have random interactions with both Natasha and Daniel, and whole chapters of random information about things that are relevant in the novel. Sometimes sciency things.
There was an almost quirky tone of voice to the while thing, but it felt to me like it was trying to be clever and funny, but it just came across as distracting from the main story. And by half way through these chapters were making my eyes roll more than anything. Even though they all had a part of play in the eventual story.
It did at least have a believable ending, which I did like, a realistic tone to it. I wouldn’t particularly read this book again, but I do love this this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s for approving my request to view the title.
Natasha is about to be deported. She's trying everything she can to get her family to be able to stay in the US but she's booked on a flight that night. While she's running about NYC speakng to different lawyers and people who could maybe help she bumps into Daniel who is having a bit of a crisis over what he wants to do with his life. Daniel is immediately smitten but Natasha tries to hold herself back knowing that she
This is an example of when insta-love just really works. People have a big hatred for insta-love, and personally I'm not really for or against it. If it's really bad then I hate it but with YA you're reading about teenagers, I don't know about you but when I was a teen I definitely suffered from insta-love.
I really enjoyed how this book played with fate. I loved learning the stories of the random people that the MCs bumped into, getting to see how their lives were changed from that run in. Seeing how people's lives were so intertwined that they kept bumping into each other without even trying.
This was everything I wanted from a book about illegal immigrants that I didn't get from Something in Between by Melissa De La Cruz, which whilst a completely different story and background definitely felt really cliche at times. This book felt so real, it felt so lifelike, I loved getting to read about both Natasha and Daniel and their lives, but also their families lives. Everyone had their own story of how they got to where they were in life.
I loved how the book played off stereotypes, like Daniel being a super smart Korean kid and his parents wanting him to be a doctor, but he didn't want to do that and wasn't really sure what he was going to do with his life, and his brother wanting to completely immerse himself in American culture and forget his Korean roots.
This book was just an absolute joy to read to be honest. The writing style flowed so well and I think I read it in 1 sitting. You got just enough of each POV before a change so that you didn't feel short changed but also didn't get sick of that characters voice. I just really loved this book.
Sarah has done it again. Another great plot and wonderful characters. A definite must for school, pupils will love it.
I'm sorry but I just did not get this.
It was slow and just plain silly.
Not for me.