Vile Stars - Sera Milano

How can the things you love hurt so much?

 

17-year-old Luka isn’t looking for love. She’s trying to piece her life back together after a heartbreaking loss. But when she meets the gorgeous and charismatic Cosmo under a meteor shower at the Greenwich Observatory, it feels like destiny has played a hand. Surely theirs is a love written in the stars.

 

But Cosmo isn’t what he seems, using Luka's love for him to slowly take control of her life. As the pandemic starts to make headlines and lockdown sets in, she is trapped emotionally and physically in a coercive relationship. Luka’s friends and brother can see what’s happening, but struggle to reach her. Something will have to be sacrificed so Luka can set herself free – but what will be left of her when she does?

He tells me I’m the only one who can save him. But loving him is stealing the best of me.

 

What did I think?

Vile Stars is a YA novel but you don’t have to be a young adult to read it as my youth is long gone and I absolutely loved it.  

It’s written in the form of letters and a podcast with short paragraphs from different people’s perspectives.  It’s a very modern way to write and it gave the novel a depth I wasn’t expecting as it really feels as if the characters are talking to you.

It starts with a bang in chapter one and you just can’t get the haunting scene out of your mind.  So with the opening chapter in mind, you know how it’s going to end but you just can’t stop reading and hurtling at full speed towards that devastating conclusion.  Sera Milano has perfected the art of the hook as I was completely riveted from start to finish.

This is not a traditional love story; it’s dark and horrifying as Cosmo draws Luka into his web, gradually alienating her from her friends and family.  Luka’s friends never give up on her but Cosmo’s grip is firm and he chips away at Luka’s mind until she is a shadow of her former self.

The story is hard to read at times, although it’s never graphic, it’s more the level of mental abuse that Cosmo inflicts on Luka.  It’s frightening that people don’t see what is happening to them, as their partners are so crafty and conniving.  Cosmo is a vile character and if only one reader recognises their own mentally abusive and controlling partner in him, then Sera Milano’s work here is done.

Fresh, powerful and haunting, Vile Stars is a novel that will stay with me for a very long time.  I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

My rating:

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BLOG BLITZ: Cold Echo - CJ Carver

Should you trust your best friend with your life?

When they were children, Harry, Lucas and Guy were best friends. But then they made a mistake that shattered their friendship and forced them to cut all ties.

Years later a man’s head is discovered in the woods, skinned and with the tongue cut out. The police call on Harry, a psychotherapist, to help with the case, and when it transpires the victim is his old friend Guy, old skeletons begin to surface.

Then one of Harry’s clients goes missing.

Forced into a desperate hunt to save the boy, Harry finds himself closing in in on a terrible secret, a secret someone will do anything to keep buried…

What did I think?

This is my second CJ Carver book and although it didn't quite knock Over Your Shoulder off the top spot, it was still an excellent read.  CJ Carver writes a might fine thriller with so many strands woven through the story, giving it a multi-layered effect.  The pacing is fast and the pages turn effortlessly as the story unravels.

I love books with secrets in them and Cold Echo starts with Harry, Guy and Lucas as young boys sharing a secret that will haunt them all their lives, with some lives proving to be shorter than others.  The intrigue was certainly ramped up to full when, many years later, a head is found that belongs to Guy.  As if that wasn't intriguing enough, Harry is a psychotherapist who is called in to help the police in this case, a case that sees one of his clients go missing and brings him back into contact with Lucas and another face from their past.

Cold Echo is rather like a supermarket trolley; it goes in unexpected directions.  Although I didn't fully engage with the characters, I was completely riveted by the story and found it very hard to put down as there are so many strands of intrigue to unravel, it's like a ball of wool that has been in the paws of a kitten.  I really enjoy CJ Carver's writing; it's so intriguing, gripping and filled with eye-opening surprises.  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Winner of the CWA Debut Dagger for her first novel Blood Junction, CJ Carver has written a further ten critically acclaimed novels. Spare Me The Truth, the first in the Dan Forrester series, was shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award 2017.

Half-English, half-Kiwi, CJ lived in Australia for 10 years before taking up long-distance rallies, driving London to Saigon, London to Cape Town and covering 14,000 miles on the Inca Trail in South America.

CJ began her writing career by writing about her adventures, eventually becoming a travel writer for various national publications including The Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian, Autocar. She is co-founder for the Women’s World Car of the Year Award.

CJ has been a judge for the Thriller Awards in the USA. Her books have been published in the UK, USA and translated into several languages. She lives just outside Bath.

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