Starry Eyes – Jenn Bennett

★★

“What’s that?”
“French press.”
“For coffee? Real coffee? Not instant?”
“We’re camping, Zorie, not living in a dystopian nightmare.”

Zorie reluctantly goes “glamping” with a couple of her friends.

It’s kind of eye-rolling to her but it’s the summer and her mom pretty much made her do it.

But when she gets to the glamp grounds, Zorrie realizes (to her horror) that Lennon was there.

“When I looked up at the stars, I saw us. You were the stars and I was the dark sky behind you”

Lennon. Her best friend.

Lennon. The guy who she was secretly dating to see if their friendship would survive a relationship.

Lennon. The guy who she hasn’t even talked to since last year’s home coming.

When Zorie’s friends get themselves kicked out of the glamp grounds, they decide to go real-camping.

Tensions run high and the group splits. And Zorie is left alone with Lennon. In the middle of the wilderness.

Will their relationship survive? Will they survive?

It’s years in the making, and it’s messy and convoluted, some of it even tragic. But I wouldn’t change the route….

Ehhh…this is one of those times that the actual book was pretty interesting and well-written. BUT something other than the quality of the book ruined it for me.

So, I like survival-style books. I love watching characters trek their way across the landscape and overcome various challenges.

And that part of the book worked pretty well for me. It was cool to see the terrain and learn about wilderness survival.

HOWEVER – the characters.

Ugh. I wanted to SHAKE them.

Zorie as the main character was so annoyingly vapid and quirky-cute (but in a forced way). Bleh.

She knew nothing about pop culture (in an unbelievable way – it was like she lived in a bubble in the middle of the ocean for the last 16 years).

She had a knack for asking the dumb questions and making assumption-leaps that had me tilting my head.

Essentially, every time she came on the page…which was every page cause she was a MC…it annoyed me.

Lennon was alright but he was spoiled by the sheer presence of Zorie.

Also, spoiler warning:

the entire plot hinged on the characters NOT communicating.

I had a thought towards the beginning of this book that if Zorie and Lennon just talked that the whole book would be over in 15 pages.

AND GUESS WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF THE BOOK?

That’s right. 400+ pages later and the two characters freaking finally communicated and the book was 110% resolved within 15 pages.

Unbelievable. 

Essentially, it definitely had good moments…just wasn’t a hit for me.

Interested in this one from Jenn Bennett? Buy it here:  Amazon