Synopsis: When eighteen-year-old Hunter Jackson and his half sister, Ashlin, return to their dad’s for the first winter in years, they expect everything to be just like the warmer months they’d spent there as kids. And it is—at first. But Chance, the charismatic and adventurous boy who made their summers epic, is harboring deep secrets. Secrets that are quickly spiraling into something else entirely.
The reason they’ve never met Chance’s parents or seen his home is becoming clearer. And what the siblings used to think of as Chance’s quirks—the outrageous stories, his clinginess, his dangerous impulsiveness—are now warning signs that something is seriously off.
Then Chance’s mom turns up with a bullet to the head, and all eyes shift to Chance and his dad. Hunter and Ashlin know Chance is innocent…they just have to prove it. But how can they protect the boy they both love when they can’t trust a word Chance says?
Thoughts: There has never been a Kelley York book that didn’t completely love and I don’t think there ever will be. Kelley always seems to take dark matter and make it into one heck of a story. She’s not afraid to take topics that most people wouldn’t write about because she takes them, sucks us in, and then usually rips my heart out in same way or another. Made of Stars is no exception, it’s frightening, alluring, and yes, heartbreaking.
I love how Kelley doesn’t just focus on a main character but gives us a journey with them all. Even though Chance is the main “focus” of the story, the view points are told between Hunter and Ashlin. None of these characters are anywhere close to perfect, they all have little flaws that make you fall in love with them. They all have secrets and issues that make you want to know them. With Hunter he struggles between the classic who do I really love? He has a “perfect” girlfriend, but is she actually perfect for him? Then there’s Ashlin who is in love with someone who doesn’t love her back. It hurts, but it’s something I’m sure every reader can somehow relate to. Then finally there’s Chance, whose secret is far worse. Chance has always been “different”, but he has a reason behind it. It’s always the broken characters like this that Kelley makes you fall in love with and then somehow breaks your heart.
With Made of Stars, Kelley takes true but frightening topics and makes us want to read about them. She makes her stories magnetic up until the very end and then I usually have to stop and curse her in some form or another. Overall, the writing is fantastic and the story is intriguing and haunting. Plus, you know just like these intense stories that Kelley writes and sucks into, we all are somehow made of these little stars that mold us into who we are today. (Pun totally intended).
Jotted by Jena 