From the Bookshelf of The Sapphic Squad…

Girl Made of Stars

Ashley Herring Blake

Start date: July 17, 2018

Finish date: July 31, 2018

Discussion leader: Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack)

Why we're reading this: This one is a really emotionally cathartic book, but it is definitely a hard read - there is extensive di…more
[close] This one is a really emotionally cathartic book, but it is definitely a hard read - there is extensive discussion of rape culture and sexual assault in general, and and an on-page flashback to a traumatic experience. The romance is between the bi lead and her ex-girlfriend Charlie, who is nonbinary. This is also by the author of the immensely popular and completely awesome How To Make A Wish. This is a fantastic book and I hope you all read it!!

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Nov 03, 2018 Ashley Owens rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, owned, publisher-for-review, rape-culture, bisexual, queer

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is instantly in my all-time favorite books. To say I loved it would be an understatement... I can't believe I didn't read this as soon as I got it. Shame on me!

This book is so important. Not just because of the topic it centers around or its amazing portrayal of what women go through in these cases of sexual assault, but for its specific perspective. It forces the reader to think about more aspects of ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

May 27, 2019 laurel [the suspected bibliophile] rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq, contemporary, 2019-read, ya-books

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault, Rape, Pedophilia

How do you believe the victim when the rapist is your brother?

Mara and Owen are twins in heart and soul. But when Owen is accused of raping his girlfriend, a wave of accusations arise. Owen is telling his story. He didn't do anything. It was just a misunderstanding. And Mara wants to believe Hannah. Hannah who would never lie about this. Mara wants to trust her brother—but in her gut she knows she has to believe women. Because Mara has a secret of ...more

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Jul 22, 2018 Scarllet ✦ iamlitandwit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, books-like-these, wlw, 4-star-read, in-my-bookshelf, bi-mc, lgbtqa-rep, left-me-an-emotional-mess

I originally had this as 5 stars because it's a brilliant book that I read in a day with amazing representation and characters that tugged at my heartstrings. Plus that cover is more gorgeous than I thought it was going to be!

But days later, the book didn't really stay with me despite how emotional of a reading it was. So I'm leaving it at a 4/4.5 star read because I still really liked it and it's brilliant!

More of a review to come. ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 22, 2018 ida rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: faves, lgbt, characters-of-color, fave-characters, 5-stars, f-lgbt, bi-pan-plus, young-adult-contemporary, ya-lit, 2018-reads

Trigger warnings: rape (not portrayed), child sexual abuse

"Maybe I'm the type of girl who's tired of hiding and crying alone.
Maybe I'm the type of girl who realizes she's not alone.
Maybe I'm the type of girl whose favorite person in the world did something unforgivable.
Maybe I'm the type of girl who finally accepts it.
Maybe I'm not a stupid girl.
Maybe I'm just a girl, plain and simple and real."

Oh wow, I'm going to start this review off by saying that this is easily both the best YA novels Trigger warnings: rape (not portrayed), child sexual abuse

"Maybe I'm the type of girl who's tired of hiding and crying alone.
Maybe I'm the type of girl who realizes she's not alone.
Maybe I'm the type of girl whose favorite person in the world did something unforgivable.
Maybe I'm the type of girl who finally accepts it.
Maybe I'm not a stupid girl.
Maybe I'm just a girl, plain and simple and real."

Oh wow, I'm going to start this review off by saying that this is easily both the best YA novels I've read in a while and it's also one of the most important ones I've read in years.

In this novel, you're following a girl called Mara, who lives in Frederick, Tennessee. She's a twin and she and her twin brother Owen have always been close. They both attend the same liberal arts high school but hang out with different sets of people; for Mara, this is her best friends Charlie and Hannah (Charlie also happens to be Mara's ex girlfriend and Hannah happens to be Owen's girlfriend), and for Owen it's his best friend Alex. Mara is the editor of her school's feminist newspaper, Empower, and is trying to get over her breakup with Charlie when one day, her life is thrown upside down when Owen is accused of raping Hannah at a party.

This is the premise this novel deals with; for a YA novel it's touching on a lot of heavy subjects, and actually works with them a bit. I sometimes find that YA lit tend to throw heavy subjects into the mix, scrape on their surfaces and then focus on safer subjects such as romance. This novel, however, definitely does not shy away from difficult subjects. In fact, I had to put this down on several different occasions because it got so heavy.

As a girl, you're sort of forced to grow up with the ever present threat of rape and sexual abuse constantly on your mind. You always know a friend or a friend of a friend who it's happened to. This is definitely a very prominent theme in this novel too. For Mara, it's the things her brother has done to her best friend, the things she's been subjected to when she was a literal kid, it's the words thrown at Hannah in the corridor.

This novel plays around with a lot of difficult subjects that make my stomach turn in dispair. If your brother is being accused of rape, who do you believe, him or your best friend? I LOVED how this book made her 'choose' Hannah and not Owen because I've seen enough victim blaming in books. I actually liked the fact that Mara was alone in her family in not believing him because it's really sobering to see a book that dares to do it the difficult way. I think this book accurately confirms my impression of victims of sexual abuse and those that stand against it - they're often left alone because it's more comfortable to just not talk about it.

As for Mara, she's one of my most favorite characters in a book of all time. She's such a strong character and the amount of girl power shown by her and the other girls made my heart swoon. In fact, what I liked the most about her character arc and the things she had to dealt with in her past was that that made her realistic and believable. She wasn't a feminist dream character who had the strength to battle the patriarchy at all times in a way that isn't realistic. Instead, she's allowed to be real, to be down, to be hurt, to have feelings. I feel like this is super important to show your readers. Seeing characters being affected by things make them way multidimensional which is a straight up positive thing.

Also, one thing I also enjoyed about this book was how the romance was dealt with! And also, THIS is how you write a bisexual characters! Bonus points for actually mentioning she's bi too.

This book should definitely be mandatory reading at high schools everywhere. Wow, I finished this novel this morning and I'm still so very blown away by it. I'm still hurting for the characters and I'm angry and I want to do everything in my power to change this society.

"For Hannah.
For Charlie.
For all the girls whose names I'll never know.
For me.
Girl made of flesh and bone."
...more

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May 06, 2018 Matie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: anticipated-realease-18, books-to-buy, 2018-reads

This book was wonderful and diverse. Much like The Female of the Species, Blake has tackled a hard topic in a gripping way with intriguing and real characters. That said the novels differ completely. Within this novel, we follow Mara who's twin brother Owen is accused of rape by one of Mara's best friends Hannah. But this book is much more than this, it captures the realness of people with themes that are perfectly encapsulated within its story. Somehow Blake manages to capture an emotional auth This book was wonderful and diverse. Much like The Female of the Species, Blake has tackled a hard topic in a gripping way with intriguing and real characters. That said the novels differ completely. Within this novel, we follow Mara who's twin brother Owen is accused of rape by one of Mara's best friends Hannah. But this book is much more than this, it captures the realness of people with themes that are perfectly encapsulated within its story. Somehow Blake manages to capture an emotional authenticity that is hard to find in literature.

There is a love triangle that I didn't really notice was present due to the way it was handled. The Dynamic between Mara and her ex Charlie, that is summed up best to say that it is one of learning, as they were best friends who fell in love and then fell apart. Which leads Mara to have to figure out why they fell apart. While trying to figure out this complex relationship she falls into a relationship with one of Owen's friend or ex-friend, Alex. Something I loved about this relationship between Mara and Alex is that it is not a primary relationship, but it is still fundamental to her character development. I also just really like Alex, he was a good person in the story. To touch a bit more on Charlie and Mara's relationship. It is incredibly complex and diverse, as Charlie is nonbinary. The relationship between Mara and Charlie is one of the best relationships I've read in a few months. They are incredibly flawed but they find hope in each other, which gives the book a hopeful tone.

The most important aspect of this novel is the narrative around Mara's own trauma. This book may be blurbed and described to you, the reader, as a book about Hannah's rape it is one of the unspoken trauma that so many young people face today. The trauma of having someone whom you trust violate you in a society that refuses to believe you. The treatment of rape within the narrative is also incredible and important, as so much nuance is given to every character's feelings on what happened.

I will say right now that this is not the most flowing book I've read, though it made the book so much better than it would have been if it was more flowing. The book may be messy and complicated, but the world is messy and complicated too. I think the character nuances and the plots general messiness give it the real feeling it has.

In conclusion, Girl Made of Stars is fantastically well written with deeply nuanced characters who have complex relationships, while also dealing with a topic that isn't talked about enough. I read this book in around 3 and a half hours without stopping, I was so engrossed in the characters, especially Mara. To me, this book deserves it's 5/5 star rating from me! ...more

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