Book Review / Stargazing for Beginners Jenny McLachlan

Science geek Meg is left to look after her little sister for ten days after her free-spirited mum leaves suddenly to follow up yet another of her Big Important Causes. But while Meg may understand how the universe was formed, baby Elsa is a complete mystery to her.

And Mum’s disappearance has come at the worst time: Meg is desperate to win a competition to get the chance to visit NASA headquarters, but to do this she has to beat close rival Ed. Can Meg pull off this double life of caring for Elsa and following her own dreams? She’ll need a miracle of cosmic proportions …

Fans fell in love with the warmth, wit, romance and fierce friendships in Flirty Dancing, Love Bomb, Sunkissed and Star Struck, and Stargazing for Beginners has all that and galaxies more. This is the best kind of real-life fiction – with big themes and irresistible characters, it goes straight to your heart.



Published:     6th April 2017
Publisher:  Bloomsbury
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

Now, I have a few things to say about this one.  Firstly, I will say that the writing in this book is really good and I will definately be reading more from this author.  I liked her style and the way that she dealt with a very difficult situation.  Next, to put it bluntly this book made me very angry.  I think this is more because I am reading this book from an older person perspective (i'm 35) rather than a younger adult reading this.  If I had read this book ten or twenty years ago I think I would have loved it and took the story at face value.  Reading this book now, the actions of Meg's mother and grandfather just makes me angry.  How could a mother just up and leave her children to fend for themselves and not even seem bothered about it?  How could a grandfather be so flippant about the fact that his daughter has left his grandchildren to fend for themselves.  Not only that but he lets them live on their own with no supervision or help.  That just makes me angry at those characters and is the main reason I kept reading because I wanted to make sure they were ok.  

Angriness aside, I did really enjoy following Meg at school and seeing how she gets in with trying to win the competition to visit NASA headquarters.  I really was rooting for her.  

I had so many conflicting emotions with this book.  I did enjoy reading it but the subject matter made me very angry and made this uncomfortable reading for me.