Alice is settling down. It might not be the adventurous life she once imagined, but more than anything she wants to make everyone happy - her steady boyfriend, her over-protective mother - even if it means a little part of her will always feel stifled.
Max is shaking things up. After a devastating injury, he is determined to prove himself. To find the man beyond the disability, to escape his smothering family and go on an adventure.
A trip to Sri Lanka is Alice's last hurrah - her chance to throw herself into the heat, chaos and colour of a place thousands of miles from home.
It's also the moment she meets Max.
Alice doesn't know it yet, but her whole life is about to change.
Max doesn't know it yet, but he's the one who's going to change it.
I'd like to thank Laura at Penguin Books for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour and sending me a proof copy of One Thousand Stars and You to review.
Although One Thousand Stars and You is Isabelle Broom's fifth book, it's only the second that I have read and reviewed on the blog although I do have her three other books, A Year and a Day, Then. Now. Always. and The Place We Met, on my kindle and I'm hoping to read and review these next month during a planned catch up month.
One Thousand Stars and You is told from the viewpoints of Alice and Max who have both suffered traumatic experiences that have shaped their lives. Alice's accident as a child has left her family, especially her mother, overprotective of her which has shaped her into a cautious, young woman who doesn't take many risks and has settled for a safe, quiet life with boyfriend Richard although she does have a rebellious, adventurous side too as we soon discover. Whereas it was only eight years before that Max's life took a drastic u-turn and everything he knew and loved was torn out from under him and he's had to adapt to his new way of life without the job and wife he once loved.
Alice along with her friends Steph and Maureen decide to book a holiday to celebrate their upcoming thirtieth birthdays and decide on a trip to Sri Lanka where their paths cross with Max and Jamal. Not only is it the holiday of a lifetime for them all, it also gives Alice and Max the chance to seriously think about their lives. Are they happy to settle for the life they are currently living or is it time to make a change?
Sri Lanka is a country that I have never thought about visiting before but through Isabelle Broom's descriptive writing I was able to picture what I would imagine to be a vast picturesque country with lots to see and explore. I'm not quite sure I'd manage a climb up Adam's Peak but would definitely love to go on a safari to see the elephants although I hope I wouldn't have the same experience that Alice, Max and Maureen do! The only thing I'm not sure I'd be able to cope with is the busy bustling towns and cities as I'm not that great in crowds, give me a nice quiet location to sit, relax and read any day so maybe a balcony on one of the treehouses that the group also stayed in would be more my cup of tea.
What can I say about this group of characters other than they really were a great bunch, I loved the dynamics between the two sets of friends. Alice, Steph and Maureen each had totally different personalities but the mix worked well for them. Maureen was definitely the more adventurous and flirtatious of the group, Alice the most reserved and Steph fit nicely in the middle to bring out the best of her two friends. They had a true friendship and would be there for one another no matter what, that's not to say they don't have their fights along the way. And then there's Jamal and Max who first met under tragic circumstances but they have built a strong friendship over the years that followed. Both Jamal and Max sounded like dream guys that anyone would be lucky enough to have as a friend and partner but for me it was definitely Max all the way.
One Thousand Stars and You truly was a magical read, a story about self discovery with warm, engaging characters that you can't help falling in love with. The one consolation in being behind in my reading is that I know I don't have too long to wait for another gorgeous story from Isabelle Broom as I still have three more waiting for me although I hope it won't be too long until we have a new book to discover... where will she take us to next I wonder.
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