Clemmie Judges

WHERE THE FOREST MEETS THE STARS

BOOK INFO

Title: Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Author: Glendy Vanderah

Pages: 332

Publication date: March 1st 2019

Description: After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.

The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child's home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa's past.

Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren't Jo and Gabe checking the missing children's website anymore.

Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.

STORY

One thing I respect about this book is that it doesn't lie. You get every info you need through the description. It fulfilled the promise of the premise well, and I liked it more than I thought it would. 

It's simple, and each chapter feels like its own mini-story. It's what I've always thought a slice-of-life type of story should be, even though this book isn't categorised as that.

This story surprised me with its wholesomeness, and its detail into the life of an ornithologist. I learned a lot about birds through this story, which is nice. I've always loved it when fiction books give out education in small ways. It makes it richer. Nicola Yoon's The Sun is Also a Star is a good example of this.

The conflict in the story is mainly internal, with Jo and her breast cancer and her mother's death. It's not tackled in the book as much as I expected, but it's obvious that what she's been through makes her who she is in the present time. Gabe and Ursa are also very fleshed out, though I didn't enjoy them as much as I could, but that's not because of the story itself, per se.

The book also touches on a lot of heavy topics such as mental illnesses, the life of a cancer, strange families, and more. Though it could've been done with more tack, but again, it's not due to the story itself.

Another aspect I like is how the author tackled the big mystery: is Ursa an alien or not? I can't get into the details because it's a spoiler, but I will say that it's handled well.

My only major complain is that we don't see much of the shift in Jo from begrudgingly letting Ursa hang around to her caring for the girl. One moment, Jo wants her to leave, and the next, she doesn't. I'm not saying there's not any bonding time between her and Ursa—in fact, there's a lot of that—I'm saying that there should be that one moment where everything for Jo clicks. The moment where she thinks, "Oh, wow, this girl means a lot to me."