Written in the Stars (Written in the Stars, #1)
Alexandria Bellefleur
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Written in the Stars (Written in the Stars, #1)
Alexandria Bellefleur
With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year’s Eve—with results not even the stars could predict! After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass. Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy... a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle's new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because... awkward. When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?
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0Written in the Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur's debut, draws inspiration from Pride and Prejudice, but it's hardly a retelling. The plot and characters are significantly different from Austen's (Elizabeth Bennet would definitely laugh at anyone believing in astrology - which would absolutely include Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins), but they're charming on their own merits. Elle, a social media astrologer, and Darcy, an uptight actuary recovering from a painful breakup, agree to fake a relationship through the holiday season - only to discover that opposites seriously attract. It's a heartwarming f/f romance that makes strong use of the fake dating trope, and though it relies once too often on bad communication skills, things like mistrustfulness and inability to express one's feelings seem absolutely in character for these two starstruck lovers.
My biggest complaint about Written in the Stars, really, is that it...sort of...has too many words? It's a little on the longer side of average but still far from what you might call a tome, and yet everything feels like it takes a little too long. A few too many words describing the way Elle and Darcy look to one another, a little too much time recapping the same emotional baggage. It could all be tightened up and clarified, and it'd be better for it. But it's still a fun, swoony-steamy book, and I'm sure there will be plenty of readers for whom extra pages spent with Darcy and Elle, and their starry-eyed romance, will be a bonus.
Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the advance review copy!
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