Stars Melt to Milk

by Brittany Touris

Nineteen-year-old Janis has just started renting out her first studio for her dance school, Roc Ballet. Despite her troubled past, she’s beginning her adult life and things look promising.

Charlie is her nineteen-year-old boyfriend of two years. He’s always been supportive of Janis, telling her, “[you] need to do something that would get [your] blood pumping and make [you] raise [your] voice a little.” But as Janis’ future materializes, Charlie realizes just how lost he is.

Charlie is infatuated with the idea of finding a career he loves as much as Janis loves ballet. But he hasn’t done much since high school. Charlie finally decides to quit his job and dedicate all his time to find something he wants to do with his life. His mom, who is supporting him financially, isn’t too happy with this idea.

Charlie’s fear of the future starts to affect his and Janis' relationship. They find themselves fighting more. And in the middle of all of this, the thing all confused young adults fear most happens--Janis becomes pregnant.

Janis is ready to handle this challenge and move to a new stage in her life, but Charlie isn’t quite there. Switching perspectives between the two of them, we discover whether or not love can survive everything.

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 23, 2015

About the author

Brittany Touris is a young adventurer, hailing from the city of Rochester in Upstate New York. She’s spent some time traveling and trying out different colleges before deciding to drop out and become a writer. About a year and a lot of work later, comes her debut book, A Man’s Right to Choose. She also writes daily about feminism, life, and keeping it real on her website, oshitbritt.com, and does goofy vlogs on her YouTube channel.

Reviews

[Niki]

Note: I received an ARC via NetGalley.

Brittany Touris' Stars Melt to Milk is a light, but enjoyable read. Young adults Charlie and Janis are passionate about each other, ballet, and cars, but yet they find that their passions may not be enough. Stars Melt to Milk is a novel about growing up, dreaming, and making amends. It is a novel that straddles the YA and adult fiction line well.

3.5/5 stars

[Charlie]

This book is about Janis and Charlie who are a couple. Their relationship isn't going very well and they fight all the time. Then, Janis gets pregnant and Charlie can't deal with it. The story takes off from there.

I think the concept of the story was great. It's a very mature theme to deal with in a young adult book. Because of the age the characters are, I would classify this as New Adult and not as Young Adult. I felt like the concept was executed well. It's a very character-driven book and I enjoy those types of stories.

Janis opens her own ballet studio and the dancing aspect of it was my favourite part of the book. I enjoyed reading about all of the different positions, ballets and steps. There's even a glossary at the end of the book to look at if you don't know what the ballet terms actually mean.

My main frustration for this book were the characters. I did like Janis, no problem with her character. My problem was with Charlie. He was unambitious, whiny, immature, incredibly possessive and an overall asshole. I actually sighed when another chapter began and I had to read from his viewpoint again. He became better towards the end, but this really didn't make up for me not liking him for most of the book. My favourite character in this story was Persephone who is Janis' and Charlie's child. She's four years old for a big chunk of the book and she was written really well. I feel like her curiosity and personality were well done for her age. She was a big character in the book and the family dynamics were great.

I didn't give this book only two stars because of Charlie's character. I have a lot to say about how the book was written. I didn't agree with how some of the subjects in this book were handled. Some remarks about race and skin colour throughout the book didn't sit well with me. Janis is a person of colour and she had some thoughts about white people that made me feel uncomfortable. The author is not a person of colour, so I don't get how this happened. I also didn't like how abuse was spoken about and at one point Janis asks herself if something is sexual harassment which it clearly wasn't. I couldn't give it a higher rating because of this.

I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Smith Publicity. My full review will go up on my channel soon.

[Ola]

I received an eARC copy of this book from Smith Publicity via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

It is EXTREMELY rare that I do not finish a book, and by extremely I mean that I haven’t EVER put a book on the DNF file… And yet, somehow this book landed in that exact place

I gave it a chance – a good 17% at that which amounts to around 70 pages… which I deemed enough to be able to justify ditching it – it just didn’t look like it was going to get any better and I really didn’t want to risk a book slump at the point in the year where I can actually get some reading done before exam period starts.

So, what provoked me? The incredibly slow pace of the novel was probably one thing that irked me the most; scenes that deserved some page-time got what felt like a split second and some that seemed slightly unnecessary were given what felt like a whole chapters worth…

This probably wasn’t helped by the fact that one of the MCs was a whiny little child trapped in a grown-ass man’s body… yeah, there simply isn’t any other way to describe Charlie. And whilst I largely suspect that he was depressed, and maybe even suicidal from some of the thoughts that crossed his head – his behaviour was often that of a petulant brat and whilst Janice was quite a bland character for me, I felt quite sorry for her and simultaneously impressed at the fact that she was still with him, with the way he constantly behaved.

Janice herself was probably the only half-good thing about the book. Other than her slight infidelity which she seemed really confused about... And I couldn't help but judge her for it.
I mean… Either stick with your boyfriend you claim to love or go with the other guy… Don’t sit on the fence and go back and forth for a few chapters whilst berating yourself for it. I simply cannot stand any cheating in books – it is simply unforgivable and Janice’s case annoyed me no less.

I really liked how Touris presented her ballet classes, those scenes were probably my favourites, those and the dance studio itself were definitely highlights of the book to the point where I finished reading.

Who knows, maybe I’ll come back to the story one day, maybe my rating is based on me not really connecting with the characters due to still being a young’un, perhaps I’ll understand them better at another point of my life. But until that point I cannot give the book a better rating in my review.

My Rating: 1/5 Stars

[Briana Pacheco]

So many readers will find the Stars Melt to Milk's characters relatable. Charlie and Janis go through some hard times that I think most mature YA, NA, and adults go through. Some people have the passion to do what they love and go after it. Others have to take some time to really know what they want. Janis is passionate about ballet and I loved how the author brought that into the story, describing everything perfectly. Charlie loves cars. They love each other. But is it enough?

I personally couldn't see them as a couple and I think that took away from me fully enjoying this story. I love couples who can joke around and be sarcastic....but every time Janis or Charlie said something, the other would make a big deal out of it. I don't know. I liked them more after the pregnancy when they were more grown up.

I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it either. I'm really picky about my books so this could totally be for you! I definitely suggest picking up.

Complimentary copy provided by the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Kasey Cocoa]

This is a light read perfect for those who enjoy YA novels. There's nothing too terribly deep to get wrapped up in yet it's enough to draw in those who can connect with the characters. While I wasn't able to connect with either character I could recognize that they were unique characters who had a story to tell. I found it a bit difficult to view them as a couple the way they were presented in the book. It's as though something was left out, or implied but didn't come through. I know couples who bicker back and forth a lot but even they have a type of bond you can see on some level. Other than this the book is easy to read and understand and is perfect for the more mature YA audience. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion.

[Ari]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A book about finding yourself and overcoming challenges life throws your way.

This book was okay. I was expecting more, but I just couldn't relate to the characters.

Full Review: The Daydreaming Bookworm

[Jamie Garcia]

Wow

Well written, draws you in, you will feel like you know the characters inside and out. I will read everything Brittany Touris writes, and you should too.