Star Squad — Starcrossed Series Fan Group discussion
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STARCROSSED - Read Along
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Lianne
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Jul 15, 2022 11:37AM
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No worries! Thank you for correcting!
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No worries! Thank you for correcting!"
You're welcome!
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Hi Gabby, I can definitely move my comment (or at least what I remember of my comment) to the final thoughts section!
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Rookie move my friend, should’ve copied and pasted 🤣
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LOL, too late! Also, I can add other thoughts that I had about the questions, so that's fine😂
Gabby wrote: "Lianne, Valet — any chance you guys could move these fab comments over to the final thoughts section? It’s in the same folder underneath this read along. Just want to keep this focused on the earli..."Will do that! Sorry, I only saw it now because I was out and just got home 😫
Hi all! I'm so excited to be reading Starcrossed again. Since I haven't read it since 2011, it's almost like reading a whole new book since I don’t remember how it ends! (although I did just look at my post from when I originally read it and big off I wrote a spoiler back then, so now I kind of have an idea of the ending. Present me is kicking past me -_-)
Straight off the bat though, I remember how much I love these books and can't wait to finish them!
I haven't read the books since 2016 or so! I thought I was behind because I found the group late for the read-along, but I'm only 1 chapter back. 1-3 complete and I forgot just how visceral the descriptions are of Helen's anxiety
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Doing this read along of Starcrossed has been something of a gut punch for me. I’m reading stuff I haven’t even seen in over ten years, and I am struck by how much of my life I put into this book. For example, I used to love to run. It was something that I did for myself, no track meets required. I ran pretty much every day from the time I was about fourteen or fifteen until my ankles quit and I had to switch to yoga and spinning. I still miss it, though.
When I was growing up in Massachusetts I used to run at night. I’ve always suffered from insomnia and I know it sounds mad dangerous, but at two in the morning in Ashland Massachusetts no one is awake. I could go five miles and not see one car. I used to run in the snow. Icy trees everywhere, my Walkman on full blast, playing whatever mixed tape I had concocted from whichever college radio stations had a signal strong enough to reach me in my sleepy little hamlet. WFNX. WBRU. Sometimes I would run to Billie Holiday. The Verve Years.
Like the truck I shared with my dad, running meant freedom to me. Looking back on it, Starcrossed is filled with these symbols of freedom. I gave Helen my truck and I made her a runner for this reason. This story is about how a girl, buried in other people’s perception of her, breaks free. She runs and jumps into the air and flies away. Damn, I love this book. Not because it’s the best thing I’ve written or because it’s a literary masterpiece or anything, but because it was a leap a faith. A bid for freedom. I jumped into the sky.
I know there are a lot of first-time writers out there, reading this. I know it’s scary to put yourself out there, but nothing compares to that feeling of freedom.
So just jump.
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Looking over these chapters, the thing that keeps making me smile is not the fraught love story brewing between Lucas and Helen, but the way Helen is with her bestie, Claire. She is a real person to me. She’s someone I know very well in that she is like pretty much all of my girlfriends. See, while I was writing Starcrossed, I realized that I had a type when it came to friends. I like bossy women. I like smart, sassy, mouthy, loyal, pain-in-the-ass women who are way cleverer than I could ever be because not only are they hilarious, they inspire me.
I’ve been fortunate in my female friends over the course of my lifetime, and I try to keep them close. I’m still friends with three women who I’ve known since I was six—as in, we text every day. One of those friends in particular told me we were going to be friends the first week of first grade. I said “okay”, and that was that. We’ve been friends ever since.
I admire a woman who knows what she wants and informs those in her life that she is going to get it. Lady bosses who never have to shout orders because they know even if they whisper it, their will shall be done. Tough but loving, no bullshit women who will just as likely to bring you soup when you’re sick, as to kick your butt if you whine too much about it.
Claire is the embodiment of all of these amazing women in my life, and I love her dearly. She is not a sidekick, but she will definitely kick you if you underestimate her.
Cheers to Claire.
I just stan Claire so much, she reminds me of my mother and my best friend mixed into one
I am still amazed that it has been so many years since I read STARCROSSED. My kindle buy date was May 31, 2011. It has been 11 years!! I was behind in the read along, so I picked the book up and stared reading at chapter 5 this week. I accidentally finished the whole thing. I was up until 3 am. So, I guess that means I am ahead. Oh, well. I loved it just as much as the first time I read it. I have thought about this series over the years and now I remember why. Helen is a runner. I am a runner, so I always love when I find characters who run, as well. She is fierce even when she doesn't want to be. I love the relationship she has with her bestie, Claire. I love the way Claire knew things about Helen way before anyone else and was so patiently waiting for Helen to reveal her unique qualities.
I adore the angst between Helen and Luke. I love that they are friends who want more and respect each other enough to let things evolve at their own pace. I hate the state of their relationship by the end. I actively dislike Daphne for being so dishonest on almost every level. I hate how her actions affected Hector and Pandora, also.
The combative relationship that Claire and Jason share is so cute. Their arguments are so funny. They really are perfect for each other.
The family atmosphere in the Delos compound is a beautiful thing. The way they accept Helen, her friends, and family is quite exceptional.
Seeing each of Helen's powers reveal and watching her master them is magical. She is becoming resourceful and more decisive with each chapter. It is a good look for her.
I can't wait to read Dreamless again.
So much going on in these last five chapters! Sleepless nights that are actually trips through the Underworld, the Fields of Asphodels, and of course there’s the lighthouse. So much symbolism. Flowers in the land of the dead, and lights that guide us through the darkness. These chapters are just jam packed with things that have rattled around in the shadier corners of my mind since I was a kid. I’ve already mentioned my late-night runs through the snowy streets of Massachusetts due to my lifelong, periodic bouts of insomnia colliding with my unfortunately pig-headed personality that refuses to take any kind of sleeping pill. Poor Helen. I gave her my habit of running all night long in that strange land of the sleep-starved mind. Maybe not hell, but hell adjacent. Asphodels have always had special meaning to me, too. Or fascination is more like it. I even named one of my characters Asphodel, but he’s in another series that isn’t out yet.
Lighthouses are big for me, too, but that one’s pretty obvious—I am from Massachusetts. This read along is such a trip for me. I’m still stunned by how many nuggets of my inner life are in this book. Stuff I can’t even explain, like the asphodels. I have no idea why they’re so important to me. Maybe in another dozen years I’ll read Starcrossed again and figure it out.
This is another aspect of writing that I’m just discovering now: How looking back on something I wrote years ago gives me an opportunity to recognize patterns in the imagery I choose, have always chosen. I’m just starting to unpack what it is about me that put it in there and I encourage all of you to go back through your old writing, even if it’s just journal entries or papers you wrote for school. Leave judgement out of it, this isn’t an exercise in how goofy you were when you were in the eighth grade. Get a list going about how many times you use certain topics or metaphors or imagery.
It’s so cool to lay it out there because you’ll have grown past some of it and never think about it anymore, and other parts of it are going to be things that you’re still mulling over. It’s like a map of your mind and it’s just sitting there under your bed or in a closet somewhere. I don’t know if it’s going to make me or anyone else a better writer, but it’s just…revelatory. Know thyself is one of the first three Delphic maxims that was carved in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Good advice.
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