Review: The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon || Where the universe failed me, epically

Title: The Sun Is Also a Star
Author: Nicola Yoon
Standalone
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, [Young-Adult]
Heat Rating: Cool
Page Count and Format: 344 pages, Paperback
Published: November 1st, 2016 by Corgi Childrens
Source: Purchased
My Rating: 

Blurb (from 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?

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After reading Everything, Everything which I adored very much, this book was rather a letdown. But there were still some parts that I enjoyed, so I decided not to make this review long but write a simple line review with what I liked and disliked instead!

Basically, Natasha along with her family is being deported to Jamaica as they are illegal immigrants and Natasha holds onto the one tiny bit of a hope to stop the deportation. She doesn’t want to leave her life, her friends behind in the US. In that one fateful day, she meets Daniel and somehow their worlds collide. Will they be able to have a future or will their first day together be their last?

What I liked:

• The diverse representation. Our main leads, Natasha is Jamaican and Daniel is Korean. Whereas Natasha loves science and facts, Daniel is the complete opposite, a foremost poet whose imaginations knows no bounds.

• The immigration representation. Both Natasha and Daniel are immigrants. The only difference is Natasha’s family came illegally and thus are being forced to go back after the truth gets revealed in front of officials. Natasha’s desperation and struggle felt real and also the official problem of immigration was handled realistically.

• Usually, the middle portions of many books lag behind but I surprisingly found myself enjoying that very part in this book. Though I was not a fan of the beginning or the end.

• The coincidences were rather sweet. Sometimes they were a bit too obvious but I found myself enjoying those.

• The insta-love didn’t bother me much but I didn’t end up enjoying it either.

What I didn’t like:

• The narration. The way the story is narrated made it much more hard to like it and connect with the story and some parts felt like a complete bore.

• Daniel was okay but I found Natasha a bit annoying sometimes. Overall, I had a hard time connecting with the characters. Although there were some aspects I liked but mostly the characters failed to make its mark on me.

• I completely felt irritated with both Natasha’s family members as well as Daniel’s. Whereas Daniel’s family members were simply prejudiced and didn’t like anything other than their culture, Natasha’s parents didn’t even try understanding her, especially her father who was a complete failure at his role as a father.

• Daniel’s brother who gets a special mention because I’ve never met a complete asshole like him before! I just didn’t understand his purpose in the story. I wanted to hit him with a frying pan! Also, his relationship with Daniel was a complete mess, although did try but a relationship can’t be mended from only one side.

• The ending felt weird. Simply weird. I mean what was that?!!! I was so not satisfied with the abrupt ending, I wanted more from it but alas, I didn’t get that satisfaction either.

Basically me after finishing this book. Also, I love my bias!

Overall, The Sun Is Also A Star was an okay read. I felt the story had more potential but it fell flat for me. I didn’t enjoy the plot or the characters much. I couldn’t connect with the writing and the pace felt unstructured throughout the book.

Recommend it?

Maybe.

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So guys, have you read this book yet? What did you think about it?

• 2 stars
• 2 stars out of 5
• contemporary
• Corgi Childrens
• diverse
• Nicola Yoon
• November release
• own-copy
• paperback
• Purchased
• romance
• standalone
• The Sun Is Also a Star
• YA
• Young-Adult