How could I resist a contemporary romance with multiple narratives based around astrology? (Heart-eyes emoji forever!)

Star-Crossed follows Justine (Sagittarius); a sometimes-shy but driven, hopeless romantic working at the local magazine. Justine randomly runs into her childhood best friend  (and fleeting teenage sweetheart), Nick; an Aquarian actor between jobs, bereft in his love life.

Justine sees how seriously Nick takes astrology, and decides to “edit” (well, rewrite) the Aquarian horoscope section of the magazine to give Nick a nudge in the right direction.

What I enjoyed most about Star-Crossed was that the love story didn’t just revolve around Justine and Nick. Darke gives us interlude chapters where we see how Justine’s meddling affects other lovers; we see cheating in long-term relationships, a meet-cute in an op-shop, teens who start to maybe understand each other, and so many more well-rounded characters to get emotional about.

I love unique narrative structures, and was pleasantly surprised by Star-Crossed. It reminded me of Love Actually (one of my favourite films), the way the stories interweave as they unfold, and by the end all the strings pull together.

I also liked the way each chapter was titled by a new star sign, because I looked up personality traits as I went and scribbled them down. So I learned a thing or two about myself too! (I’m a Libra, by the way.)

Things don’t always go to plan for Justine and, really, that’s how it should be! She messes up quite a bit. But I liked that too, and it made the story more realistic to see the protagonist fail a little. And it made the ending that much more sweeter.

Minnie Darke’s writing style was very easy to fall into. Justine’s voice was authentically young and I connected with her on that level. Star-Crossed is the kind of book you can easily read for hours without the need for a break, but having said that I did try to pace myself because I didn’t want it to end so soon!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of Star-Crossed. I gave Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

 

Details:

• Star Crossed by Minnie Darke
• Penguin Random House
• Published May 2019
• 400 pages, paperback.