Review: The Sun Is Also a Star

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

Our history is too compressed. We’re trying to fit a lifetime into a day.

I’m that cynical hopeless romantic who doesn’t believe in insta-love. And believe me this book screams INSTA-LOVE but guess what, I didn’t mind! (Well, I did at first…you know just a little) This book is so much more than the romance, though it’s the central focus of the plot, it’s also about life, chances, and how everything connects—fate.

The Sun Is Also a Star takes place in less than a day, the story line unfolds in a span of 12 hours. With this amount of time (or even less) Daniel, the hopeless romantic poet, needs to make Natasha, the Science-loving cynical girl, fall in love with him scientifically.

Natasha is finding a way to not be deported to Jamaica with her family, she will not accept to go back there when her life is in New York. Along the way she meets this Korean boy, Daniel, who is supposedly on his way to prepare for his college admission interview that would lead him to the American dream that his parents want. Their meeting is just the beginning of something they both didn’t expect, through a series a coincidences and chances the lives of these two will be forever changed.

I loved reading both of their POVs, alternating between Natasha’s factual yet touching thoughts and Daniel’s dreamy ones was such a delight. I admired Natasha’s character so much, she was strong and vulnerable at the same time. Daniel at first glance is like the perfect book boyfriend for me, he writes poetry in this moleskin notebook that he carries everywhere, but I was quite annoyed with his attraction to Natasha. It was spontaneous yet SO strong that he literally became this lovesick puppy who followed her around. It just became a bit stalker-ish for me, especially if it happened in real life. But aside from that and the insta-love, I adored everything else with this book.

If the person who’s meant to love you forever can suddenly stop, then what is there to believe in?

So in between the alternating chapters, we also get these bits of side-stories from the people they encounter and their family members. As a person who enjoys people watching and wondering about the lives of random people, I absolutely loved those parts. It showed these chains of coincidences that ultimately leads to affecting someone’s life big time. It explored this concept of how we can affect random strangers lives without knowing it, how interconnected we really are. I truly loved that.

And with that being said, it’s apparent that this book did not only focused on the romance but tackled in a lot of concepts like being an immigrant, different cultures, racism, following the american dream, and suicide. The diversity and representations were on point in this one. The family aspect was so…rich, its complexity was equally frustrating and wonderful for both of the families. It gave the story and characters an incredible depth and connection.

As asual, I loved Nicola Yoon’s writing style. Her words are so beautifully written and their flow is so captivating, that I just couldn’t stopped reading. I think I have bookmarked and highlighted almost half of the book because everything gave me feels and I just needed to quote them.

All day I’ve been thinking that we were meant to be. That all the people and places, all the coincidences were pushing us to be together forever. But maybe that’s not true. What if this thing between us was only meant to last the day? What if we are each other’s in-between people, a way station on the road to someplace else? What if we are just a digression in someone else’s history?

The romance was formed through insta-love, and I find it appropriate that the rest of the story kept up by being unapologetically swoony and romantic. You know, if you’re going to write a love story about two teens who just met then it better be believable or at least good. And this was one of the best, the chemistry between Natasha and Daniel was just AHHHHH–HEARTSALLOVER! ❤

The whole book seriously played like a romantic comedy in my mind, every scene was so vivid. And I’m very happy that this will become a movie because OHMYGOD the production and scenes would be perfect. Even the overall plot feels like a perfect movie.

The ending and epilogue really got me, I was so emotionally invested that I didn’t just shed a tear or two but I ugly cried my way out the end. THE EPILOGUE WAS EVERYTHING, in my opinion.

The Sun Is Also a Star is a stunning book inside out. It’s one of those contemporaries that will stick to me. It’s one of my favorites, and I recommend this to everyone because it’s that kind of book that will leave you thinking about the characters and contemplating about stuff days after you read it. It’s absolutely diverse, beautifully written, and incredibly heartfelt.

Sometimes your world shakes so hard, it’s difficult to imagine that everyone else isn’t feeling it too.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an eRC of this book.

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