Ursa is an alien trapped in the body of a 9-year-old who has come to earth to witness 5 miracles. Her first introduction to humanity comes in the form or scientist and disbeliever Jo. Jo is in middle-of-nowhere, Illinois doing research for her P.H.D and when she first lays eyes on the changeling Ursa, the only thing she knows is that aliens don't exist and someone hurt Ursa very badly. When Jo asks her quiet next-door neighbor Gabe for help, she never expected they would both be sucked into Ursa's orbit.
I just want to put a disclaimer that this book touches on some pretty heavy stuff; cancer, alcoholism, addiction, child abuse, and child molestation, I will not go into any of the heavy here in my review but wanted everyone to be aware should you decide to pick up your own copy.
Where the Forest Meets the Stars came out in 2019 and I am fairly certain I have downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited multiple times but always wound up returning it before reading. Then Amazon prime day 2021 happened and the paperback copy of the book was for sale. Who can pass up a good book sale? Not a book hoarder like me! So here I am... adding this book to my book buddy, and I'm wondering when in the heck I am going to find time to read it with my already lengthy to read list. I was feeling a little lost on what book to choose next from my list and kept coming back to this one. You know it's meant to be when no matter how many times you walk away from it, you continue to be drawn to it day after day, month after month.
Im going to be honest with you, I really did not like Joana Teale and within a couple chapters I wanted to scream at the author... why did it have to be her story? Why couldn't this have been told from Gabe or Ursa's point of view? She was judgemental, lacking imagination and had the mothering skills of a cow bird. Gabriel on the other hand was gentle and quiet, he had this sad soul thing about him that you could tell Ursa's childishness helped heal a tiny bit. My favorite character of course had to be Ursa. I was about 10 chapters in when I started pleading with the author "Glendy Vanderah please please please let this little girl be an alien who makes good things happen for nice people." She was so sweet and innocent I couldn't bear for anything bad to have happened to her.
While I started out uninvested and distant, that didn't last for long. Sometimes you read a book and you keep hoping for the main character to change, to find some redeeming quality that makes your time reading it having been worthwhile, but it never comes. Where the Forest Meets the Stars is not one of those books. The growth in all of the characters as the story progressed, was astounding. I finished the book in about 5 hours (stayed up until 3am finishing, much to my fiancé's dismay). For any adult who enjoys women's fiction with a little bit of magic, I would definitely recommend Where the Forest Meets the Stars. People who should avoid this book, anyone under 18, and those sensitive to the topics I mentioned in my earlier disclaimer.
I've decided language isn't as advanced as we think it is. We're still apes trying to express our thoughts with grunts while most of what we want to communicate stays locked in our brains. - Gabriel Nash "Egg Man"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Beautiful Shiny stars for Where the Forest Meets the Stars
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