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Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar // Night Markets, Star Courts and Desi goodness

GOODREADS // AMAZON // BOOK DEPOSITORY The daughter of a star and a mortal, Sheetal is used to keeping secrets. Pretending to be "normal." But when an accidental flare of her starfire puts her human father in the hospital, Sheetal needs a full star's help to heal him. A star like her mother, who returned to the sky long ago. Sheetal's quest to save her father will take her to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows, where she must take the stage as her family's champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of the heavens--and win, or risk never returning to Earth at all. This gorgeously imagined YA debut blends shades of Neil Gaiman's Stardust and a breathtaking landscape of Hindu mythology into a radiant contemporary fantasy.   ( A huge thank you to the  HOV Tours  and HarperTeen for the eARC and the opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.  ~When a book sees you~      Yes I am absolutely going to s

Review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

(I'm reading this book as a part of my Diverse Fantasy Read-A-Thon. If you're interested, sign ups are still open!)


Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else.

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.


Hazel is from India, adopted by American parents who have since divorced. She is a girl who lives in books. The girl who loves Hogwarts and Wonderland and loves making up stories with her best friend Jack. Hazel feels like an outsider at all times due her being different; not just her looks but also her way of thinking and seeing things. Her classmates think she's a dork and a weirdo; most of them calling her 'Hazy' Hazel. my heart pined for this little kid who's life revolved around her mother and her best friend. Despite her feeling that she didn't belong anywhwre she feels at home with her mom and Jack. Her noticing the things that made her different from others is heart wrenching.

And Hazel, for the first time, saw what they saw. Her mother was white with blue eyes and light brown hair. Hazel had straight black hair, odd big brown eyes, and dark brown skin. People looked, and Hazel looked, too, and when she looked she realized that everyone else came in matching sets of one kind or another.

Jack is an amazing boy with an imagination to match but he has his problems too. A mother who has slipped into depression and left him feeling lonely. He cares about Hazel as much he cares about his family. He is there for her when her father leaves and there for her when her classmates make fun of her. He is a wonderful kind of best friends who later stops being so. He changes overnight and suddenly disappears. This is what kick starts the major events of the story.


Hazel and Jack have been best friends and neighbors for years now and they've always been there for each other; when Hazel's father left, when Jack's mom slipped into depression; always. Now Jack has turned cold all of a sudden and then much to Hazel's bewilderment and fear, disappears. the plot deals with Hazel setting out to rescue Jack from The Snow queen, braving the things that come her way. There is so much depth to each encounter. This maybe a book for middle graders but even adults could learn a thing or two from the book. I didn't love the fantasy part as much as I thought i would but it was still well brought out.


the writing is lovely. The authors writes so well that I could have a perfect imagery when reading the book. I enjoyed the banter between Jack and Hazel and how the writing made me smile so much.


- The Characters
- The plot
- The writing
- The diversity (Indian descent MC)



- Certain plot points


A wonderful book that I would recommend to everyone for it is beautiful and the characters are so amazing. The inner demons of the characters are depicted so vividly and i personally loved the ending.




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Comments

  1. Lovely review. And this book looks wonderful! I'm definitely going to add it to my TBR :)

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  2. It's based off a fairy tale - will definitely be giving this book a look. We originally thought that it'd be based off Hansel and Gretel, with the breadcrumbs and boy and girl, but the Snow Queen is an amazing fairy tale. Great review Uma!

    ~Pendragons 

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    Replies
    1. I thought so too when I saw the cover and title! But this was a little different :) Snow Queen is a dark and amazing tale!Thank you ^_^

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  3. Oh, this sounds amazing! And I love magical books like this so I should definitely go check it out further on Goodreads.😍

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