Early Review – Of Scars and Stardust by Andrea Hannah (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: October 8, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0738740829
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book through Netgalley. I was intrigued by the title and decided this would be an interesting read after scanning the synopsis. It was a quick read that started out amazing. It’s mostly a mystery of sorts with some ambiguous elements of paranormalcy and mental illness.

Claire lives in a quiet town with her family. Her best friend Rae always teases her about the wolves in the cornfields, the wolves that are drawn to the color periwinkle and the taste of cherry. This all seems whimsical, if a bit creepy, until a little girl disappears one night.

Claire loves her sister Elle, Elle is full of energy and whimsy and general enthusiasm for life, Claire has promised to protect her forever. Then after one night of tragedy all that changes. Claire ends up in New York living with her Aunt to recover from the “ordeal”. However when Claire gets news that Elle has disappeared she hurries back to her hometown to help track Elle down. Now Claire is trying to figure out if the wolves are real or if something else is haunting her hometown.

This was a very quick read that was an interesting combination of mystery, paranormal overtones, and mental illness. There are many twists and turns throughout and the plot really keeps you engaged and guessing.

The writing style uses a lot of description and made it easy to visual the scenery in the book. I enjoyed the way the writing flowed and how dreamy it was at times. There are parts of this book that are incredibly creepy too.

Claire is a tragic character plagued by guilt over the tragedy that happened to her sister that night. I thought it was really bizarre that Claire and her sister go through all this and their parents’ idea of resolution is to send Claire to New York to live with her aunt, but that is explained as the story continues.

While I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, the ending of the book is confusing and vague. You aren’t really sure what happens at the end or what is going on. I think this is done on purpose, but I personally would have liked more closure.

Overall this was a good and engaging read. I give the first half of the book 4 stars and the second half 3 stars. I get what the author is trying to do here, but the ending is still just a bit too sloppy and confusing. I enjoyed the description throughout and the haunting mystery that Claire is trying to solve. It was a quick and fun read. I would recommend to those who like creepy mysteries that have a paranormal overtone to them.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge