The Wide Starlight: A Book Review

Her daughter was the sun in her solar system, but the stories were the galaxy.

Once upon a time, a girl discovered a book with a gorgeous cover from Instagram. Upon investigating, the story inside sounded soulful and heartfelt—just the type of stories the girl always loved and enjoyed.

So she decided to give it a read.

Yes, this author's writing style seems to have stuck with me. But the story is true—I found out about The Wide Starlight from Instagram and decided to read it. No romance, a fairytale style of magic, and spun from threads of Norweigan fairytales all played a big part in my decision to read this book.

And quite frankly, I'm glad I did.

- Blurb -

(from Goodreads)

According to Arctic legend, if you whistle at the Northern Lights, they'll swoop down and carry you off forever. Sixteen-year-old Eline Davis knows it's true because it happened to her mother. Eli was there that night on the remote glacier in Svalbard, when her mother whistled, then vanished.

Years later, Eli is living with her dad on Cape Cod. When Eli discovers the Northern Lights will be visible for one night on the Cape, she hatches a plan to use the lights to contact her missing mother. And it works. Her mother arrives with a hazy story of where she's been all this time. Eli knows no one will believe them, so she keeps it all a secret. But when magical, dangerous things start happening—narwhals appearing in Cape Code Bay, meteorites landing in the yard by the hundreds, three shadowy fairytale princesses whispering ominous messages—the secrets start to become more like lies.

It's all too much, too fast, and Eli pushes her mother away, not expecting her to disappear as abruptly as she appeared. Her mother's gone again, and Eli's devastated. Until she finds the note written in mother's elegant scrawl: Find me where I left you. And so, off to Svalbard Eli goes.

- My Thoughts -

Honestly? Fantasy is really just not my thing, but this book didn't just give me magic—it gave me a heartfelt story with themes of forgiveness, loss, and moving on. I turned away from The Wide Starlight with tears in my eyes (which makes this book the fourth in existence to make me cry). This story wasn't just about magic, it was the beauty of family love. It was about being strong, even when the world is trying to tear you apart.

I personally sympathized a lot with the main character. In the story, she lives a life with her father, trying to forget her broken past. But she wakes up with nightmares every night, usually ones with her lost mother (who was taken by the northern lights when she was seven). She tries to appear fine. But no—inside, her memories that she’s tried to erase come back to haunt her, and they’re tearing her life apart. But the one thing she does do is write a story—the story of her childhood and the time when she was with her mother. And guess what? Her mother's also writing a story—a story of her life that help piece together their fragmented past and what tore their family apart.

And the characters. They all had such depth to them. How they were trying to help the family situation, but only making it worse. How they were trying to understand each other, but only failing. How they were trying to put together the pieces of their life, to get over the grief, but stumbling.

One thing I love about this book is how there was zero romance. The book focused primarily on family relationships, and of course the magic of life and storytelling. I wish there were more YA books out there that focused on this specific theme. The ending and the way the author tied up all the story threads from the first half was gorgeous, and yes, it made me cry. The magic in the story was more of light fairytale magic style.

As for what I didn't like, there was profanity, but only a bit of it (and nothing compared to the last book I read 😅). It was definitely unnecessary, and I think the author could have omitted it altogether. There were a lot of mentions of characters cursing or swearing, but most of the time, the words weren't written. The villain's motives were a bit unclear, and as for how they came to be in a practical sense, I wasn't sure. The story delved into mental illness (as in, anxiety and depression), and broken family dynamics, but I feel that the author handled those topics very well and with tact.

- Genre -

This book is magical realism/urban fantasy, perhaps? Basically set in the real world, but with magic and magical occurrences from fictional fairytales.

- Warnings -

Mental illness, broken family dynamics (but nothing is described), profanity, including h**l, d*mn, bu**s**t, b*s**rd, sh**, and bl***y, a character drinks alcohol, mentions of a drunk.

Now, normally I wouldn't recommend a book with profanity at all, but I feel like, for readers who don't mind it, this book is well worth the read simply because of the depth the storyline carries. Though the words aren't repeated throughout the whole course of the book (and I believe only used once per word), I'd advise you to use your discretion.

- Rating -

I'd give this book a 4.5/5 stars rating (deducting half a star for the profanity).

Overall, this book was beautiful and heartbreaking, and it left me in tears. The story was beautiful, the characters were deep, and the themes were thought-provoking. It touched on the topics of family dynamics—something I definitely think the YA audience needs more of. ✨

P. S. Have you read The Wide Starlight? If not, do you think you would enjoy this book? If you've read The Wide Starlight, what are your thoughts on it? And as always, if you want to keep updated with the latest books I've read, find me on Goodreads!