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The Weight of the Stars

K. Ancrum (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 2,526 ratings · 845 reviews

Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends.

One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horri ...more

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Hardcover, 384 pages

Published March 19th 2019 by Imprint

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Feb 13, 2020 Lala BooksandLala rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2020

I feel like calling books like this "quiet science fiction" ? though that's probably not a real term. What I mean is a story that is character driven, introspective and existential, with science and space being the motivation for the setting, but not the vehicle for the story itself.

In this book we're following 2 teenage girls, a slow burning hate to love romance, family hardships, and the desperate lure of space travel.

Ryann is used to acting out and not expecting a lot of herself. She's from a ...more

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Feb 17, 2019 chai ♡ rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, poc-rep, own-voices, trope-it-s-about-the-yearning, ya-contemporary, ya-romance, lgbtq-mm-side, lgbtq-rep, read-in-2019, fiction

I finished this book and wandered downstairs in a dream, my head spinning, but acutely, achingly conscious that I was alive. A wild desire to go outside and lay under the cold of the stars gripped me, and that moment, seemingly ordinary, felt utterly surreal. The obscure unreality of it all expanded until it blotted out all else: nothing mattered, problems were futile, the planets spun, life went on, and I was my own celestial being.

Look, I'm just a simple girl with a highly detailed and romanti ...more

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Nov 16, 2018 Melanie rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Melanie by: may ➹

Shelves: young-adult, lgbtqiap, dragons-and-tea, arc, buddy-reads, read-in-2020, contemporary, read-in-2019, sapphic

flag 333 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2018 Elle (ellexamines) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: x-buylist, elle-recs-list, contemporary, z-2019favs, favorite-characters, favorite-squads, y-2019releases, lgbtq, characters-of-color, author-love

All joking aside, this book was wonderful. @KaylaAncrum so kindly offered me an arc of The Weight of the Stars literally months ago, and my reading slump sort of destroyed my reading plans (oops), but. It. Was. Worth. The. Wait. Well-written, existential, and so so deeply human. And the last twenty pages are singlehandedly my favorite thing I’ve read this year.

Here, we’re essentially following three lead characters:
➽Ryann Bird, trying to raise her brother James and James’ adopted child Charlie. ...more

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Nov 06, 2018 emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya, arc, owned, from-publisher-author, reviewed, recommend, diverse, 4-stars, sci-fi

Anyone know if the program in this book, in which young people are recruited to spend their lives traveling through space in a rocket, is anywhere close to existing in real life? Because I’m interested.

I’d like to be vaulted out of the atmosphere, if possible.

Did this drag for me in the middle? Yes. Did the friendships and characterizations kind of stray away from what I would call “realistic” or even “pleasant and/or believable to read about”? Indubitably.

But overall, this was such a creative a ...more

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Feb 19, 2019 may ➹ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-and-a-half-star, arc, rep-bipoc-asian, buddy-reads, diverse, rep-lgbtqiap-author, my-soul-hurts, rep-disability-neurodiverse, rep-lgbtqiap-wlw, my-heart

4.5 stars

I was just looking for a good time and instead I ended up crying myself to sleep at 1am because of this book, and K Ancrum knows exactly what she’s done and I know she’s out there smiling to herself!!!

The Weight of the Stars is about a girl named Ryann, who is struggling through her last year of high school while having to take care of her brother and his son. Alexandria is new to town, and she instantly intrigues Ryann, to the point where it gets her in trouble.

But there is more to Ale ...more

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Jun 28, 2020 Riley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sapphic-read, favorites

i have no words for how much i loved this. just tears.

flag 118 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2019 destiny ♡⚔♡ [howling libraries] rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, owned-physical, diverse-reads, z-2019-reads, owned-ebooks, review-copies, young-adult, lgbtqiap

All Ryann wants is to travel through space, but that’s not happening for a girl living in a trailer park, taking care of her brother and his baby—so she spends her time befriending the “misfits” at her school and trying to stay out of trouble. When Alexandria shows up, she wants nothing to do with Ryann and her friends, but Ryann’s never been one to back down from a challenge, especially when that challenge is a girl known far and wide for being the only daughter of a famous astronaut who wen

...more

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Jan 12, 2018 anna (½ of readsrainbow) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2-lgbt, 5-young-adult, 3-slowburn, 2-authors-of-color, 3-found-families, 2-protags-of-color, 2-polyam, favourites, pub-2019, 2-lgbt-authors

rep: lesbian mc, mixed-race Black lesbian li, poc side characters, side mlm relationship, side interracial polyam relationship

(yells from rooftops) BUTCH LESBIANS & SPACE & SOFTNESS & TRUE LOVE

i would give my life for kayla's writing but also her writing saves my gay life - Equivalent Exchange

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | Reads Rainbow ...more

flag 108 likes · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2019 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it really liked it

Recommended to Chelsea by: Melanie

Shelves: queer

*hugs myself forever* brb i'm just gonna go cry for a decade don't mind me ...more

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May 24, 2019 Kayla Dawn rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned-books

God, I really really wanted to love this..

"The Wicker King" is one of my favorite books and my hopes were so high for this one.. I was sure Ancrum would be one of my new favorite authors.
But I just didn't enjoy this one. Neither did I care for the plot nor the characters.. and the writing style felt way different than it did in Wicker King.

I don't know. I'm sad now..

(But everyone else seems to love it so far, so maybe I'm just weird lol.) ...more

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2019 Tucker (TuckerTheReader) marked it as not-released-tbr

Shelves: poc, science-fiction, young-adult

flag 94 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2019 Lex Kent rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-or-na, drama, slow-burn, romance, f-f, 2019-favorites

Damn this book! Such a good read but it completely wrecked me. I’m emotionally and physically exhausted but in a good way. I wanted to end the year by reading a few books that have been on my to read list all year long and I’m so glad I picked this one because this book was excellent. Ancrum writes really well and I was completely sucked into the book. I read past 3am and had to keep going until the end, I could not put this down.

It’s interesting that the older I’m getting the more I appreciate Damn this book! Such a good read but it completely wrecked me. I’m emotionally and physically exhausted but in a good way. I wanted to end the year by reading a few books that have been on my to read list all year long and I’m so glad I picked this one because this book was excellent. Ancrum writes really well and I was completely sucked into the book. I read past 3am and had to keep going until the end, I could not put this down.

It’s interesting that the older I’m getting the more I appreciate YA. I never used to be a YA fan but maybe I like reliving the good parts of high school. Actually, what I think it is is that good YA can really make you feel and I love good books that do that. This book is the perfect example of that and it was crazy emotional. My eyes are so red from crying that people are actually asking me if I’m okay. I went through half a box of tissues but I loved every second of this.

This is actually a slight enemies to lovers (and I mean that in YA terms) romance. The romance is really slow burn and I loved how the characters relationship progressed as the book went on. It is a YA rated romance but I absolutely believed in them as a possible couple and I was rooting hard for them.

I was also really impressed by the characters themselves. There is a great cast of characters all around with everyone being well imagined and important to the story in their own right. Ryann who really is the star of the book is fantastic and the kind of kid you would want to be friends with if you time traveled back to high school. Ancrum has a very strong YA voice and I was really impressed.

This ended up being one of the better books I read all year. I had my fingers crossed but I didn’t expect to be this moved, this emotional, and connected to the characters. I hope Ancrum will write another wlw story again because I would read it in a heartbeat. This book is so easy to recommend. If you are looking for fantastic YA book look no further, this is the book for you.
...more

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Aug 14, 2020 amy ☂︎ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, lgbtq-rep

...more

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May 12, 2019 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2019, young-adult-genre, bookstagram, lgbtq, stand-alone-novel

This young-adult novel featuring high school seniors shows the heavy weight of mistakes, both inherited and self-made. It portrays palpable emotions such as grief, protectiveness, anger, hope, and love, and it does this all with a beautifully diverse cast of characters.

As for the rating, this novel started out as a 3 for me (mainly because I wasn't quite sure where it was trying to go), the story progression later on had me at a high 4, but that author's note...OMG, a solid 5. K. Ancrum can del ...more

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Jun 03, 2019 nat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: rep-of-lgbtqiap-plus, genre-sci-fi, genre-contemporary, adored-the-writing, pretty-covers, adored-this-romance, rep-of-poly-relationships, released-in-2019, rep-of-poc, adored-these-characters

Here I am, getting nostalgic enough about my favorite books to finally write reviews for them.

The Weight of the Stars was my favorite book of 2019, and despite how much I had screamed about it last year, I don't think I've even ever mentioned it in a descriptive manner in like . . . 7 months. And I don't really know why, either? Because this book is so amazing, brilliant and special, and as my one-line review said, "I LOVE THIS BOOK PLEASE READ IT."

This follows a Black butch lesbian girl named ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Julie Zantopoulos rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, read-in-2019, blew-my-mind, diverse-read, own-it

"Fighting for yourself is another way of loving yourself."

Ryann Bird has been fighting for herself, for her family, for so long she doesn't remember what it feels like to be a gentle thing. Ryann has been taking care of her brother Jamie since their parents died and as if that wasn't enough on her eighteen year old shoulders she's also trying to keep her grades up so she can get into a space program. She's the glue that holds her friend group together and she's tough as hell with a heart of gold ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 Gabby rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, disappointed, lost-interest, read-in-2020, own, dnf, sci-fi, over-freaking-hyped, lgbt, reviewed

DNF at 205 pages
I knew I was taking a risk by putting a young adult book in my five star predictions.. but I’m still really shocked I didn’t love this. I think my problem is that I went into this with false expectations and I didn’t really understand what this book is even about going in. I thought it would involve more sci-if and space elements. It’s really just a moody coming of age story in a futuristic setting and sometimes they mention astronauts and space stuff.

I didn’t connect with any of ...more

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Dec 13, 2019 C.G. Drews added it

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary, read-2019

I'm always very emotional about K. Ancrum books (The Wicker King having filled my whole soul in ways I very much needed) and I definitely finished this one feeling messy and complicated. I really really like the very last chapter and I have hope. TWK was about clinging desperately to what you love (which means a lot to me), but TWOTS is about leaving, which I confess does leave me in ruins. That's not a criticism of the book! I recommend everything this author writes because these books are diff ...more

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Jan 17, 2020 Romie rated it really liked it

Shelves: sapphic, 2019-releases, owned-books, buddy-read, contemporary, nearly-a-favourite, poc, queer-books, dragons-and-tea, young-adult

I don't know how to talk about this book without saying, first and foremost, that it's such a beautiful one. such a brilliant one. such a unique one. it's so different from what I've read in the past, especially when it comes to f/f relationships.
it's a book that broke my heart, again and again. it gave me a group of friends, lonely people coming together and forming a family, helping one another no matter what. it gave me a commentary on loneliness and humanity, and what it means to go after so ...more

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Jun 21, 2019 Acqua rated it it was amazing

Shelves: qf, q, aoc, ya, sci-fi, love-cover, grief, db, contemp-sff-mr, w-ones

The Weight of the Stars is the kind of novel that reminds me of the power of quiet books. There are no grand revelations, surprises or explosions; just two girls, their friends, and the stars - and yet it feels so wide, carrying so much weight sometimes in just a paragraph, so much emotion in the unspoken moments.
It does feel like looking at the stars.

This is a story about Ryann, a queer butch girl, who falls in love with Alexandria, a biracial black girl whose mother left to live in space and n ...more

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Feb 06, 2018 Silvia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, ff-romance, wlw, best-squad

I was kindly sent this book as an advanced copy by the author for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own.

Okay let me tell you about this book and not because technically I kind of have to review it but because I just really need an outlet for what I'm feeling after finishing it.

THIS BOOK is very different from The Wicker King but it's also very similar. But kind of not. I'M ALREADY NOT MAKING SENSE HERE but I'm really trying.

The Weight of the Stars throws you in an initially seemi I was kindly sent this book as an advanced copy by the author for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own.

Okay let me tell you about this book and not because technically I kind of have to review it but because I just really need an outlet for what I'm feeling after finishing it.

THIS BOOK is very different from The Wicker King but it's also very similar. But kind of not. I'M ALREADY NOT MAKING SENSE HERE but I'm really trying.

The Weight of the Stars throws you in an initially seemingly familiar contemporary YA setting. You have a MC, Ryann, who is a bit of a troublemaker and doesn't have a typical teenage home situation, you have the new girl at school, and you have Ryann's group of friends who don't belong anywhere so they all belong together. And yet the way everything is presented already announces itself not to be so typical after all, starting from literally every character's backstory.

By far one of my favorite thing was the found family element in this and all of the different bits of representation we are presented with. We have a mostly (all?) queer cast, a teenage single father with PTSD and selective mutism (I'm not sure if the terminology is correct but this is what I found googling it), a Sikh teen with three parents (two dads and a mom - if you've read The Wicker King I'm just going to say that............you already know his parents), and of course our main f/f couple (I'm not sure exactly how they identify but Ryann says she's mostly attracted to girls but once had a brief crush on a boy).

While The Wicker King takes you down a spiral where you have no control over your thoughts and feelings and then slowly brings you back to the surface (not a soft surface, but a surface nonetheless), The Weight of the Stars fools you into thinking you have more room to breathe normally when in fact what you should be doing is taking deep breaths in preparation for a final oxygen-less plunge into space.

There comes a point in the novel where you have to let go of your own plane of existence and fully embrace that you're not in control, and your point of view and your perspective don't matter anymore. This blank state is all I can recommend when you read the last 30% of this book. Just, don't let gravity keep you grounded is all I'm saying.

TWs: alcohol and drug use, mention of death of parents, teenage pregnancies, mild violence, hospitals, mention of attempted suicide, mention of homophobia (the d slur) ...more

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Jul 11, 2020 Thomas rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, science-fiction, own-electronic, lgbtq, read-on-nook, romance

Ugh I dislike writing negative reviews of books by queer BIPOC authors so I’m gonna try to make this one quick. I appreciated the nonproblematic representation in The Weight of the Stars, ranging from the Black lesbian romance to the polyamorous parental relationship to the prominent Sikh character. Reading the author’s note, I liked how K. Ancrum cared for characters and how they represented people confronting their issues and overcoming their problems through love, knowing their worth, and con ...more

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Nov 17, 2019 mina reads™️ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: about-poc, wlw, contemporary, ya-mg, lgbtq

I haven’t cried while finishing a book in so long but I’m sobbing over this one...I don’t know what to do with myself right now

The Weight of the Stars is a YA title about a young girl named Ryann Bird who dreams of space travel, however a career in space seems unattainable for a young girl who lives in a trailer park. No parents to speak of, just her taking care of herself, her younger brother James and James’ son. One day she meets a girl named Alexandria and Ryann is desperate to integrate the ...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: march-2019, diaspora, giveaway, 2019, young-adult

The Weight of the Stars is the second book that I have read by K. Ancrum. The first, The Wicker King, I read along with the Dragons and Tea book club here on Goodreads. I loved that book so much that I contacted the author personally to ask for this ARC and bless her heart she was gracious enough to send me this beautiful gift.

When Ancrum says "Love is such an awful, powerful thing," she means to warn you. For she breathes it into her prose. Her writing is so beautiful that at times you have to ...more

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Jan 15, 2020 jade rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: teenagers with a love for space? i think?

Recommended to jade by: various book clubs

Shelves: lgbtq-rep, coming-of-age, young-adult, diverse-rep, unpopular-opinion, contemporary

“all i am is a terribly brave small thing, with a terribly brave small life, and a terribly brave love that spans eons.”

… i really, really wanted to love this. spoiler: i didn't.

this is a story of a bunch of kids who fuck up and don't always get it right; who love each other deeply, but have their own unique way of showing it. there's broken families; there's whole ones. there's rawness and violence, and hugs and pinkie promises.

coming of age with trauma and space themes. sounds righ ...more

flag 28 likes · Like · see review

Dec 15, 2020 katie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, gorgeous-covers, lgbtqia-plus, 4-stars, diverse, soft-queer-faves, bipoc-ownvoices, made-me-cry, my-heart, faves

i say that i don't cry easily, but that is an absolute lie. and me reading books like this PROVES IT.

"Don't...take time for granted. You have all this freedom and opportunity and people around who love you. Make sure you use the time you have to love them back."

the plot, the banter, the characters--every single thing about this book broke my heart and then sewed the pieces together again.

this is the exact opposite of a fluffy story, but i loved it so much and i'm just SCREAMING. i can actu ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 Sol ~ TheBookishKing rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Sol ~ TheBookishKing by: Melanie

Shelves: cover-lovin, lgbtqiap, favorite-authors, feel-the-tears, diverse, fave-ships, better-than-food

“Love is not about holding people where you want them. It is about doing what’s best for them because you need them to be okay.”

Do you ever read a book that you want to hug so close to your soul but at the same time want to chuck it across the room cause it messes you up so bad? Welp that’s exactly how I felt with this one, I did not expect to completely fall in love with it. K. Ancrum stays winning with her books and can’t wait to see what else she has in store for us!

If I was to sum this up qu ...more

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Mar 31, 2018 rachel ☾ rated it it was ok

Shelves: own, contemporary, favourite-author, 2-star, rep-bipoc, rep-religion, deserves-more-hype, rep-queer, science-fiction, rep-bipoc-author

i'm not mad, just disappointed

Blog • Goodreads • Twitter • Instagram • The Book Depository ...more

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Nov 15, 2019 CW (The Quiet Pond) ✨ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: forever-in-my-heart, has-lgbtqa-rep, ownvoices, 2019, 2019-favourites, diverse-shelf, has-poc-rep, science-fiction, speculative-fiction, young-adult

This book reminds us of our smallness against the vastness of the infinite universe, but it also reminds us that love can be immense and can span space and time.
Oh, this book. A book of my heart. I loved this so much.

- Set in the distant future on Earth, the story follows a Black teen who is as fierce as she is protective of her friends. When she meets new-girl-in-town, Alexandria, the two strike up an unlikely friendship (and later, romance), reigniting Ryann's dream to be among the stars.
- O ...more

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About K. Ancrum

K. Ancrum

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K. Ancrum, is the author of the award winning thriller THE WICKER KING, the interstellar lesbian romance THE WEIGHT OF THE STARS and the upcoming Peter Pan thriller DARLING. K. is a Chicago native passionate about diversity and representation in young adult fiction. She currently writes most of her work in the lush gardens of the Chicago Art Institute.