Friday 5 May 2017

The Sun is Also a Star by: Nicola Yoon

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Published: November 1, 2016 by: Delacorte
Pages: 348
Rating: 2.5/5 stars



Natasha is an aspiring scientist whose family is about to be deported back to Jamaica. Desperately trying to get out of the situation, she spends her last day in America circling around an immigration lawyer, and waiting for his call back. It is during that day that she meets Daniel, an aspiring poet that wishes for his parents to recognize his true passions. During this one day, the universe will bring Natasha and Daniel together more than once, but what else does it have in store for them?

This book was one of those books I was really looking forward to reading and then kind of went like: meh? It's safe to say I had high expectations of this because I do like Yoon's style of writing and her diverse characters, but to be honest, the characters are what annoyed me the most about this.

First it's worth mentioning that I really like the cover of the book. Yoon puts so much life and colour into her covers that really draws you in. It's definitely a selling point.

I also kinda enjoyed the plot? I mean, it was cute and I think was a good representation of the struggles of undocumented immigrants, and definitely gave me new information on immigration and deportation. The topic of immigration always interests me in YA and I was happy to read about it again.

I liked how diverse the characters were, Natasha was obviously Jamaican and even rocked her natural hair, and Daniel was Korean. However this was pretty much the only thing I liked about them. Natasha was extremely judgemental of people who pursue art careers, and didn't really develop to realize that this was wrong. I found her to be really uptight to the fact that she was smart and she really seemed to look down on everyone else. Plus, she was way too much of a realist and questioned everything, which got on my nerves. Daniel on the other hand, was way too much of a dreamer and was incredibly obsessive to the point of being creepy. Like dude, you just met her, calm down.

There's also instalove in this book, which I don't particularly enjoy. Sometimes it's not the end of the world, but in this case it seemed so out of place and odd. How can two complete strangers know by the end of the day that they need to be together, forever? It's super unrealistic.

At the end of the day, I am happy I tried this book because I did like the plot, but I wanted more from pretty much everything else. And that was disappointing.

Have you read The Sun is Also a Star? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess


13 comments:

  1. I did really like this book but not quite as much as I liked Everything, Everything. Because it was instalove it didn't have that slow burn thing going on which I love. I love seeing relationships build over a period of time and TSIAAS just didn't have that.

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    1. I agree! I liked Everything Everything more because the romance didn't seem as quick. They had to work at it.

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  2. I loved this book! The little peaks in other people's lives, and the fact that small remarks can make a big change was a great eye opener!

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    1. I liked some of the writing, but overall it just didn't click for me :(

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  3. I never did look forward to this one all that much because E,E turned out to be quite the disappointment to me. I'm kinda selfishly glad you didn't like this too much xD What a lost opportunity, though! The premise is so promising.

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    1. Haha you're welcome... I guess? XD but in all seriousness, it was a huge let down by something I thought would become a new fave.

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  4. A lot of people love this one but *shrugs* if you didn't like it, you didn't like it - it happens!

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    1. Yeah, that's the only downside of books, I'm afraid! Sometimes you just don't like 'em:)

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  5. Ah sorry you didn't really enjoy this! I've had this recommended to me a bunch but because of the insta-love aspect I've been putting it off. I really dislike insta-love and I thought I might be able to excuse it if the rest of the book was good but from the sounds of it, it's not really. I might end up giving this one a pass...Great review 💖

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    1. It was a huge bummer for me, and if you don't like insta-love then you should probably stay clear. There are just so many better ways to show romance!

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  6. I've heard some meh reviews about this one too, so I'm sorry you didn't quite love it either. :( I was the same way with the author's debut Everyone, Everyone so I don't think this would be for me either. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3

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    1. Thank you Zoe! I'm sorry you didn't like Everything, Everything :( I liked that one a lot better!

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