And The Stars Were Burning Brightly (And The Stars Were Burning Brightly Series, book 1)

By Danielle Jawando

Blurb:
An emotionally rich and current story of suicide, mental health, bullying, grief and growing up around social media.

When fifteen-year-old Nathan discovers that his older brother Al has taken his own life, his whole world is torn apart.
Al was special.
Al was talented.
Al was full of passion and light…so why did he do it?
Convinced that his brother was in trouble, Nathan begins to retrace his footsteps. And along the way, he meets Megan. Al’s former classmate, who burns with the same fire and hope, who is determined to keep Al’s memory alive. But when Nathan learns the horrifying truth behind his brother’s suicide, one question remains – how do you survive, when you’re growing up in the age of social media? 

Review: 
I received this book as an ARC within Book Box Club. I got really excited about it when I received it because I'd heard good things about it. But now after reading this book and writing the review, I'm not too sure on whether my excitement for this book was worth it.

I'd say this book only just meets 4 star criteria in my opinion. There is also a trigger warning for this book of suicide, depression, grief and bullying.

This book is wrote in two points of views, one is female (Megan) and one is male (Nathan). So it is quite nice to see these two characters views on the events that happen within the book.

It starts off with this black family who live in the rough/run down part of Manchester (I'm not being racist it's how Nathan describes his family). Nathan and his brothers sometimes get stopped in the streets as the police accuse them of the crimes that happen in the area. Al is a boy who stands out and doesn't fit in at school. He is the one who commits suicide at the start and Nathan his brother comes home to discover his body.

Throughout this book Nathan is fighting guilt and grief for his brother, he is struggling to believe that something was wrong with Al and that someone else was the cause of all this drama.

Megan was friends with Al because they had art class together and they were starting to become quite close together but then the suicide happens. She wasn't aware of him feeling like this so the grief for Al and her dad becomes strong again.

The grief between these two characters is what fetches them close together. I feel that throughout the book there was huge character development and we got to see how both of them actually felt and their feelings towards other people. We also go to see how they reacted to their friends and family throughout this difficult time.

Everyone deals with grief differently and this 100% slows this.

The plot of this book was really good, I loved learning different things out about Al's life and how he had those inputs at the start of each chapter just made you feel like their was a third persons view to read but knowing his parts were a small insight to the chapter that was following. It was really well planned out and the style of book was just perfect.

It was fast paced all the way through, the only thing that sort of annoyed me was the ending. But then knowing that there is going to be a book two, I can sort of forgive that. The only other thing that annoyed me was Tara but then that is what some people are like. a hell of a lot of two faced people around. When you lose someone close to you, you soon find out who your true friends are in a bad time.

I'd recommend this book if you don't mind the trigger topics, interested in a sort of discovery story, friendships developing in difficult times, and a hint of romance. 

Favourite Character: Megan

Read: 12/02/20 - 06/03/20

4 stars out of 5

Written by Sammie