The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Genres: Coming of Age (YA), Romance (YA), Contemporary (YA)
Pages: 384
Goodreads
Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.
Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.
The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?
I gave this one a shot, I really did. It just ended up being pretty much what I expected. I wasn’t a fan of the plot of Everything, Everything, but the writing was easy and fun to read so I gave this one a try hoping I would enjoy it. Unfortunately, I didn’t, and I feel like such an outlier for this.
This is literally a story about instalove. It’s more instalove than Colleen Hoover’s November 9. Both books follow two characters who fall in love after knowing each other for less than 24 hours. If that’s something that you can get into, then you might enjoy this book. For me, however, it’s too unrealistic.
I can understand insta-lust, insta-infatuation, that feeling when you meet someone you think is cute and you want to get to know them more, but love at first sight & just knowing someone is the one? No, I can’t get on board with that and that is the main theme of this plot.
For those who have read it: View Spoiler »
The two main characters are Natasha and Daniel. I didn’t like nor dislike either character because I never really felt like I got to know either one. All you know about Daniel is that he is Korean-American and that his parents have high expectations that he doesn’t want to meet. All you know about Natasha is that she likes music a lot, but hates her father because he’s basically never put the family first. And the rest of the book was filled with how they felt about each other. That wasn’t enough for me to feel empathy towards either character.
I do like Yoon’s writing. It’s easy and fun to read, which makes for a light book. Since this book takes place over a one-day period, it’s pretty fast going. The only times I felt like it slowed down was when there were the random chapters from other perspectives. They were only a few of them but they would interrupt the flow of the story to me, and, frankly, most were boring.
It’s not that this book is bad, it’s just not for me. Maybe I’m not enough of a hopeless romantic, but if you are, you may enjoy this. Yoon’s writing is easy and light to read and the book is fast-paced. If you are looking for a light romance to brighten your day, this might work for you. If you’re not into that sort of story, then I wouldn’t recommend this. It’s very much a story about instalove and that is almost all there is to both of the main characters.
| Rating Report | |
|---|---|
| Plot | |
| Characters | |
| Writing | |
| World Building | |
| Overall: | 2 / 5 |
9 Comments
The reviews for this one are pretty much the same, I see. I didn’t enjoy Everything Everything, the ending ruined it for me and I think the author takes insta love on another insta level…
Really?! All I’ve seen are positive reviews. I’d love to read a review in which the person felt the same as me :/ She definitely does take instalove to a whole new level lol
sigh. I felt the same way. I listened to the audio. Which was mildly entertaining. So that probably kept me from making this a DNF book for me. I just loved Everything, Everything so much, I’m totally disappointed with this book.
I didn’t like Everything, Everything so I probably should have lowered my expectations a little. I also know I’m not a fan of stories that take place over 24 hour periods. I really set myself up on this one lol
Great review! I feel the same about the writing – with all of Yoon’s books, it’s always been the writing that’s kept me reading, never the plot, because there’s too much instalove for me to ever be on board with it.
This one was even more instalove-y than Everything, Everything to me. It’s unfortunate, though, because I really enjoy her writing & her as a person, I just wished I liked the stories 🙁
I’ve been debating for so long about whether or not I wanted to add this one to my TBR. I’m not a fan of romance contemporaries at all and the fact that the romance is so instant made me even more hesitant. I’ve decided I’m going to give it a try though because I know it discusses some important issues so I’m really interested to see how I’ll feel. Great honest review, Molly! Sorry this one didn’t work for you.
I hope you enjoy it more than I did. It does have two diverse main characters, but I guess I just felt that that was all there was to them. Does that make sense? I just didn’t feel like I got to know them beyond the immigration status and stereotypes. I hope that it works out differently for you, though! Yoon’s writing is great & super easy to read so it won’t take too much of your time to read.
Oh yeah, definitely. Diversity is extremely important, but there needs to be substance. I’m definitely going to keep an open mind when I read it. It’s not a priority or anything either haha. I might try picking it up when I need a break from Fantasy or am in a slump.