Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

An Amazon Charts, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post bestseller, and a Goodreads Choice Award finalist.

In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises.

The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child’s home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay—just until she learns more about Ursa’s past.

Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child. But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? Why do good things keep happening in her presence? And why aren’t Jo and Gabe checking the missing children’s website anymore?

Though the three have formed an incredible bond, they know difficult choices must be made. As the summer nears an end and Ursa gets closer to her fifth miracle, her dangerous past closes in. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars.

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Release date 

MARCH 1, 2019

MY REVIEW

“Where the Forest Meets the Stars” is a love story of the most unique proportions. Two wounded adults and an extremely intelligent child are drawn together in a fresh and fanciful story that will have you cheering for the geeks. This is not a sci-fi book but a child’s attempt to deal with a life that is far too painful for her young years.

Glenda Vanderah has created characters that are fully developed and interact flawlessly as participants in this fast moving story. They fuss and struggle and learn to love each other with ferocity in the midst of trying to ascertain the truth of the youngsters travail. This is a unique story and in all the thousands of books I’ve read, there’s not been anything else like it. This is special and you’ll be effected. If there were a second volume, I’d be happy to reconnect with these folks.

The story is dialogue driven and the dialogue is magical. I laughed out loud many times as the pages flew by. There are no issues with gratuitous violence or sexual content and just a few f-bombs that were totally unnecessary. In fact, they were the only expletives on one page; absurd. That issue aside, this book is worth every one of those 5* and then some. Bravo, Ms. Vanderah!