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The Stars in My Heart
In an attempt to cope with her most recent, and hopefully final, diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Sloan Banks’s cardiologist suggests she join a therapy group the hospital sponsors for chronically ill teenagers. In this group, Sloan meets Harlow Baxter, a teen battling Bipolar Depression and alcoholism, and Clem Walker, a teen recently diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma. Though Sloan and Harlow get off to a rocky start when Harlow accuses Sloan of faking her illness, the three teens defy the odds and become each other’s sounding boards as they all struggle to overcome their illnesses. When she’s not stuck at the hospital or hanging with her newfound friends, Sloan’s boredom at home often results in one of three activities; binge-watching Gilmore Girls, jamming out to any song by Demi Lovato, or trying to master a new gluten-free recipe she’s found on Pinterest that would even make Gordon Ramsay salivate. Though Sloan’s POTS is a large defining factor of her life, it is not what defines her. She is still the goofy, compassionate, determined Sloan that she was before becoming known as a “sick kid”, and her tenderness re-emerges in her relationships with Clem and Harlow. In just six months’ time, Sloan’s world is no longer simply consumed by medication, doctor’s visits and hospital stays, but now embraces all of that plus friendship, sisterhood, and adventure!
- GenresDisability
422 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2022
3 people are currently reading
155 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 5, 2022
This story has been five years in the making, and I cannot believe it is a real book. There are so many people in my life that helped me make this dream a reality. Nineteen year old me would be so proud of how this story turned out!
July 28, 2023
POTS rep by MC Sloane? Loved it right away. This author did not shy away but beautifully represented depression, addiction, and cancer.. wow. Having an illness myself, I can relate to Sloane not having drama but your body itself you just want some dull days to get some kind of ease or relax in.
August 20, 2022
Omg my heart. This book brought me all the feels.
What if someone who was chronically ill was the biggest fan of 2007-2010 Disney stars? Well, their name would be Sloan Banks. This story brings a personal narrative feel within journal entries.
In this book, we see real and raw representation of POTS, bipolar depression, addiction, and Ewing's Sarcoma. We get to see the mental health incline on each of the characters in different ways and I think that's stunning how are the author is able to portray that.
I found that there isn't any unnecessary drama in the plot. So, to others looking in those parts may seem to be dull. However, I empathize with Sloan and understand the being chronically ill you almost wish for a dull or laid-back day because your body is literally constantly having an eventful time on the inside.
The conclusion is very real. As I mentioned before there is no unnecessary drama in the story.Personally, I believe everything that happened toward the ending, the author wrote to show us an accurate portrayal of life with a chronic illness especially when you were young and just coming to terms with your diagnosis. Life is constantly adjusting for your quality of life.
I received and Arc copy of this book from the author Sydney in exchange for an honest review. So, a big thank you to her!
What if someone who was chronically ill was the biggest fan of 2007-2010 Disney stars? Well, their name would be Sloan Banks. This story brings a personal narrative feel within journal entries.
In this book, we see real and raw representation of POTS, bipolar depression, addiction, and Ewing's Sarcoma. We get to see the mental health incline on each of the characters in different ways and I think that's stunning how are the author is able to portray that.
I found that there isn't any unnecessary drama in the plot. So, to others looking in those parts may seem to be dull. However, I empathize with Sloan and understand the being chronically ill you almost wish for a dull or laid-back day because your body is literally constantly having an eventful time on the inside.
The conclusion is very real. As I mentioned before there is no unnecessary drama in the story.Personally, I believe everything that happened toward the ending, the author wrote to show us an accurate portrayal of life with a chronic illness especially when you were young and just coming to terms with your diagnosis. Life is constantly adjusting for your quality of life.
I received and Arc copy of this book from the author Sydney in exchange for an honest review. So, a big thank you to her!
October 28, 2022
The Stars in My Heart is about how Sloan, a teen newly diagnosed with POTS, experiences life with chronic illness. She has many curveballs thrown at her throughout the book and is able to handle each one with support from her friends, doctors, and parent. The friendships in this book reminded me of Red Band Society (anyone else ever watch that show?) with how close Sloan, Clem and Harlow become throughout the book.
The POTS representation was fantastic!! The POV of being a newly diagnosed teen felt so authentic. I loved how Sloan grows throughout the book and learns to live with her chronic illness.
Thank you @sydneyblondellauthor for writing this wonderful book and for the ARC!
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes:
✨ found family
✨ POTS/chronic illness rep
✨ gluten free cooking
✨ 2000s/2010s Disney or Gilmore Girls
✨ journal entries
P.S. So much happened in the last 30 pages (I was shook) and I can’t wait to read Harlow and Clem’s stories!
October 20, 2023
A Book Full of Representation, Inclusion, and Pop Culture
A great read for book club or anyone experiencing chronic pain or chronic illness. The moment I started reading, I was totally absorbed and read for way longer than I planned! Definitely one of the best indie books I’ve read this season.
The novel is written like a chronic pain journal, following the main character through her journey with POTS. Such an accurate portrayal of all the symptoms, emotions, and experience of being a spoonie, or someone with a chronic disease. I can relate to many of these experiences and identify with the main character right away. It’s clear that the author is writing from a place of experience making it a great representation of books with people with disabilities or illness. One of my favorite parts is that the book is full of so many pop culture references that make it a heart-warming and fun read. Perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, A Fault In Their Stars, and Demi Lovato. A must-read to add to your bookshelf. Looking forward to reading the next two books in the series!
A great read for book club or anyone experiencing chronic pain or chronic illness. The moment I started reading, I was totally absorbed and read for way longer than I planned! Definitely one of the best indie books I’ve read this season.
The novel is written like a chronic pain journal, following the main character through her journey with POTS. Such an accurate portrayal of all the symptoms, emotions, and experience of being a spoonie, or someone with a chronic disease. I can relate to many of these experiences and identify with the main character right away. It’s clear that the author is writing from a place of experience making it a great representation of books with people with disabilities or illness. One of my favorite parts is that the book is full of so many pop culture references that make it a heart-warming and fun read. Perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls, A Fault In Their Stars, and Demi Lovato. A must-read to add to your bookshelf. Looking forward to reading the next two books in the series!
January 17, 2023
This book is super cute and brought up all of the feelings! As someone who is chronically ill, it was easy to relate to a lot of Sloan’s struggles. I also deal with POTS, and it’s something that’s hard to understand until you go through it yourself. The representation in this book also deals with Bipolar Depression and Ewing’s Sarcoma. TSIMY takes a complex experience and relays it through emotional, relatable, cute, and funny prose. I had a really great time reading it. Being a young and chronically ill person isn’t easy, but this book makes you feel a little less alone.
October 21, 2022
The Stars in My Heart is a book full of representation, friendship, and honestly a little bit of “Oh my god I can’t believe that happened” tears. The representation of POTS in literature is so deserved and Sydney shows it in this book, which is an all around YES SYDNEY moment. You’ll have so many emotions and thoughts ranging from “are you serious?” to “NO that did NOT just happen.”
The Stars in My Heart was written from the heart and it shines brighter than any star.
The Stars in My Heart was written from the heart and it shines brighter than any star.
September 15, 2022
Beautiful book with great POTS representation. Can’t wait to read the second and third books!
January 9, 2023
A touching story with so many spots that had me tear up a bit. It's definitely worth the read.
October 19, 2022
AMAZING! This book felt so raw and genius from the start. Sloan is a character that develops beautifully through the story! The Disney references in the book really brought back my childhood and I love Sloan’s music taste!! Sloan is a character I loved from the beginning! The friendship she has with Harley and Clem is very genuine! This book had me hooked from the beginning! I also loved how this book didn’t shy away from any hardships the characters were facing. Can’t wait to read more from Sydney!
June 12, 2023
The Stars in My Heart follows Sloan after she receives her diagnosis with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). She joins a support group for chronically ill teens to cope with her new diagnosis and it gives her an outlet to process her feelings. You’ll follow Sloan via diary entries as she makes new friends and realizes she’s not alone in her experiences.
As someone with a POTS diagnosis, I was initially excited to read this book, but I found the writing style to be very repetitive and juvenile. While I might expect this to some extent in a YA book, it went further than I would’ve liked to see which made it hard for me to become genuinely invested. The diary entries became boring after a while and I could anticipate the timeline (eat, doctors appointment, watch tv, repeat) of each entry. While these entries do represent my life, I wish that she’d added more to the story.
There were many scenes that I found sweet, but overall I felt like the plot was stilted and there were times where it felt like the story wasn’t moving forward. Certain moments felt painfully slow or were mentioned too often (like Sloan watching Netflix) whereas others felt completely skipped over (like Harlow and Sloan’s friendship developing).
At times I debated whether I wanted to finish the book, but I wanted to give it a chance to improve before stepping away altogether. It took over half the book to get interesting, but finally a small plot developed that was enough to push me to finish the book.
Overall, I would recommend this book to those newly diagnosed who need someone to process with or to those who are struggling to understand their friend or family member’s diagnosis. My CAWPILE score was 5.71/10 Or 3.5/5 stars.
As someone with a POTS diagnosis, I was initially excited to read this book, but I found the writing style to be very repetitive and juvenile. While I might expect this to some extent in a YA book, it went further than I would’ve liked to see which made it hard for me to become genuinely invested. The diary entries became boring after a while and I could anticipate the timeline (eat, doctors appointment, watch tv, repeat) of each entry. While these entries do represent my life, I wish that she’d added more to the story.
There were many scenes that I found sweet, but overall I felt like the plot was stilted and there were times where it felt like the story wasn’t moving forward. Certain moments felt painfully slow or were mentioned too often (like Sloan watching Netflix) whereas others felt completely skipped over (like Harlow and Sloan’s friendship developing).
At times I debated whether I wanted to finish the book, but I wanted to give it a chance to improve before stepping away altogether. It took over half the book to get interesting, but finally a small plot developed that was enough to push me to finish the book.
Overall, I would recommend this book to those newly diagnosed who need someone to process with or to those who are struggling to understand their friend or family member’s diagnosis. My CAWPILE score was 5.71/10 Or 3.5/5 stars.
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May 10, 2024i don’t feel comfortable rating this because the representation in this book IS SO IMPORTANT, but the writing was absolutely atrocious.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews