Review: Made of Stars by Kelley York

Title: Made of Stars
Author: Kelley York
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release date: October 1st 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

When eighteen-year-old Hunter Jackson and his half sister, Ashlin, return to their dad’s for the first winter in years, they expect everything to be just like the warmer months they’d spent there as kids. And it is—at first. But Chance, the charismatic and adventurous boy who made their summers epic, is harboring deep secrets. Secrets that are quickly spiraling into something else entirely.

The reason they've never met Chance’s parents or seen his home is becoming clearer. And what the siblings used to think of as Chance's quirks—the outrageous stories, his clinginess, his dangerous impulsiveness—are now warning signs that something is seriously off.

Then Chance's mom turns up with a bullet to the head, and all eyes shift to Chance and his dad. Hunter and Ashlin know Chance is innocent...they just have to prove it. But how can they protect the boy they both love when they can’t trust a word Chance says?

When I first read the synopsis I was expecting a thriller, but it´s more a contemporary realistic novel with a bit of suspense.

The story is told from the point of view of Hunter and his half sister Ashlin, alternating chapters between the two of them. Hunter is a 18 year old guy, who lives with his mother and her boyfriend and spends every summer with his father, his half-sister and his best friend Chance. He just graduated from high school and is taking a year off to live with his father and Ashlin, while he decides what he will do with his life. For her part Ashlin is also 18 year old girl, she lives with her mother in California and passes every summer with her father, her half brother and Chance; and like Hunter she decides to take a sabbatical year to be with her family and also to take time decide about college. I really liked to see how close Hunter and Ashlin were, because despite being almost all the time apart (at least physically) they never lose contact with each other because they spend talking on the phone, sending emails , etc. so in addition to being siblings, they´re best friends and both know each other very well.

Both are best friends with Chance since they were 8 years old, but they only saw him during the summer vacations, because he lives in the same city as their father. The three have a very special relationship, they are best friends but they also think of Chance as family, they love Chance and would do anything for him.

But despite being his best friend, they know very little about his family life, where he lives, his phone number, etc. because that the way Chance want it to be and the siblings accepted it, so they only have contact with him during summer vacation but other than that they haven´t had contact with him for the rest of the time. So now that everyone has 18 years of age, the siblings begin to notice things in the behavior of Chance that before they may had notice but didn´t say anything or believe in anything that Chance said to them.

Made of Stars is the story of three teenagers, their life, their family and what they are capable to do for one another. It's a sad, tragic story, with an unexpected ending that broke my heart and with a bit of romance, which I did not know it was LGBT, but I loved it! This novel is primarily a story about Chance through the eyes of his best friends.

If you are looking for a story with rainbows and a happily ever after ending this is not the one for you, but if you want to read a realistic, raw, dark contemporary novel, with broken characters and an ending that at least to me, can not take it out of my mind, this is a book that you should read. I'll definitely be checking more books written by Kelley York.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.