'STAR STRUCK' -Jenny McLachlan

"In a huge fantastic final hurrah to our lovable heroines - Bea, Betty, Kat and Pearl - Jenny McLachlan's latest book tells Pearl's story. Pearl is the 'bad girl' of the group - she drinks, she smokes, she swears - and she's mean to Bea and Betty. But she did fly halfway round the world to rescue Kat in Sunkissed. If there's one thing Pearl knows deep down, it is how to be a friend. And now, more than ever, she could really use a friend. There will be laughter, there will be tears and there will definitely be kissing. Most importantly, Pearl will be keeping it fierce!" -Goodreads

I received this book from Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I haven't read the first three books in the companion series, but decided to give it a try anyway. Here is what I thought;

CHARACTERS; The main character in this novel, Pearl, is one that I didn't love straight away. Although she is fierce and honest, however she is also mean, bitchy, and rebellious. However, this did allow for major character development throughout the book. One negative aspect of this is that I thought it happened too quickly. One minute, Pearl was getting told off by teachers, bullying her friends, and ignoring the new girl, and then suddenly she was being nice to everyone. I feel like there should have been more progress between these stages, rather than it happening straight away. 

Hoshi is the new girl in town; she's bright, bubbly, and talented. However, she is also hiding a dark secret. Without giving it away, I thought this secret was a bit random and didn't really add much to the story line (I will talk more about this later). Although Hoshi was probably written to be a character that is loved by readers, I didn't really like her too much at the beginning. It was as if she just showed up at this new school and had everything given to her. However, she did grow on me in the end.

STORY LINE; I felt like there wasn't one main storyline, and instead it was lots of mini ones being told in the lead up to the school play. There was Pearls friendship with her old friends, the new girl coming, Pearl's family, Pearl's interest in Jake, Hoshi's secret, the school play, and many more. I just found it all a bit random and I don't think they really fit together too well. 

I was really interested in Pearl's storyline with Jake at the beginning, and thought that it would end up somewhere good, but that ended up dying out. As with Hoshi's secret, I felt like that was discovered by Pearl in one chapter, and forgotten by the readers in the next. It didn't really add to the overall story, whatever that may be.

However, I did like how McLachlan wrote the story so that it was easy to understand without reading the first few books. There wasn't much mentioning of the things that happened previously, but whenever there was, McLachlan explained and summarised them quickly so that it made sense to new readers. I would like to read the first few books later on to just be able to get to know the other characters that were briefly mentioned in 'Star Struck.'

ENDING; Without giving the ending away, I thought this was also random and a complete plot twist. Not to say that I didn't agree with the ending or like it, I just felt like it came out of no where. I liked how it talked about a certain topic that isn't discussed enough in books, and I also liked how it didn't make a big deal out of it. I just thought that it was a bit random.

RATING; Overall I decided to give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. I liked the book overall; I enjoyed the characters and the writing style. However, there were parts of the story line that I think just didn't fit in. Maybe directing this book to a younger audience would be better. I would still like to read the first three books to compare the differences.


Comment below if you have read any of the books in the Lady Bird series, and let me know what you thought.

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