Summary (from the publisher):
In her senior year at NYU, Riley Hope appears to be on top of the world. With a loving mother who makes Lorelai Gilmore look like a parenting slacker, ride-or-die friends, and a long-time boyfriend destined for the National Hockey League, she puts on a smile for the world. But behind it, she’s drowning. Racked with fears for the future, she battles to stay afloat amid life in the shadows of a heartbreaking illness.
And then, Ben Fagan comes crashing into her life. Twenty-three-years-old, British, and alone in the Big Apple after a disastrous pilot season in LA, the struggling actor is looking for an escape: booze, mischief, sex—minimum commitment, maximum fun—anything to avoid returning across the pond.
As they form an unlikely bond, Riley keeps her reality from Ben so that he remains a happy refuge. But how long can she hold back the truth…and is Ben keeping his own secrets, too?but Until the Last Star Fades
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
My Thoughts:
Jacquelyn Middleton’s Until the Last Star Fades had been on my TBR since 2018. I read London Belongs to Me back in 2017 and really enjoyed its London setting and emphasis on fandom. Until the Last Star Fades features some cameos from London Belongs to Me and London, Can You Wait?. I have not yet read this sequel and don’t think you need to read either book to read this book, but you will run into minor spoilers from that series.
Until the Last Star Fades follows soon-to-be NYU gradating senior Riley and her life after her meet-cute with Ben, a British actor who’s had no luck finding acting jobs in the States. The book follows their evolving relationship against the many setbacks that they are both experiencing. Told in the third person, the book mainly follows Riley’s perspective with a few scattered chapters from Ben.
Until the Last Star Fades was a much heavier read than I had anticipated. I admit that I hadn’t really re-acquainted myself with its synopsis before picking it up, but much of the plot revolves around Riley’s mom’s battle with cancer. I really appreciate Jacquelyn’s honest and emotion-filled depiction of Maggie’s illness and the struggles both her and Riley experience, but it may be a triggering reading experience for readers who have been in a similar situation. In between being there for her mom, finishing up college, hanging with friends, and working two jobs, and yes, developing her relationship with Ben, there is also a lot of discussion about Riley’s smiling depression. Jacquelyn Middleton sheds light on some hard issues and situations.Read More »
Although I admit it wasn’t a TBR priority, Michelle Obama’s Becoming was always one of those books that I knew I would read one day. A few of my friends started reading it back in April, so I decided to join in by listening to the audiobook. I’m a sucker for almost any auto-biography or celebrity audiobook that is narrated by the author. Becoming definitely took me a while to listen to – at almost 20 hours in length, it took me over 6 weeks to get through it. This is also because I’m someone who has to be doing something while listening to audiobooks and even podcasts, most commonly when I’m walking or coloring. I also listened to a big chunk of this while unpacking from my college dorm room.
What I learned after last year’s distractions cost my hockey team our entire season? No more screwing up. No more screwing, period. As the new team captain, I need a new philosophy: hockey and school now, women later. Which means that I, Hunter Davenport, am officially going celibate…no matter how hard that makes things.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
From New York Times bestselling author Sandhya Menon comes a delightful enovella sequel to When Dimple Met Rishi and There’s Something about Sweetie, about a Valentine’s Day group date gone hilariously, disastrously awry. Ashish Patel has never considered himself a hopeless romantic. But now that he’s found his other half, Sweetie Nair, there’s nothing he wants more than to celebrate love in all its forms. So when Valentine’s Day rolls around and he hears about a romance-themed escape room, he knows it’s the perfect opportunity to bring together Sweetie along with his newly engaged brother and sister-in-law-to-be, Rishi Patel and Dimple Shah. On their way to the escape room, the group runs into Pinky Kumar and Samir Jha—both friends to Ashish but nemeses to each other. Despite Pinky’s kneejerk reaction to the cheesy theme (which gets her a high-five from Dimple), the two of them agree to join the group. The escape room is as insufferably saccharine as Pinky feared, but even she is surprised when she and Samir actually…work well together. Samir embodies everything Pinky despises—following rules, having no fun, consuming single-use plastics. Getting along with someone like him—a shiny Volvo when she’s so used to junkers—sends Pinky into a tailspin. Sparks are definitely flying, but it’s unclear if that’s a good thing. Could this be love at first fight?
Fangirl Fury 