Review: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
10:00
Series: None
Author: Jenn Bennett
Published May 17th 2018 by Simon & Schuster Children's UK
Goodreads Synopsis
Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best-friends-turned-worst-enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day version of the Montagues and Capulets. But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.
Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to try to make their way to safety. But as the two travel deeper into the rugged Californian countryside, secrets and hidden feelings surface. Soon it's not simply a matter of enduring each other’s company, but taming their growing feelings for each other.
Goodreads
Review
I have fallen in love with Bennett's books since Alex, Approximately, which I think I've read three different times already. So when I heard about this one coming out, and the friends-to-enemies-to-more trope, I knew I had to get a copy ASAP. While I didn't love this one as much as Alex, it was still a fantastic read, and Jenn has quickly become one of my auto-buy authors.
Zorie and Lennon used to be the best of friends, but once their parents started to hate each other, they were torn in the middle, a la Romeo and Juliet. It quickly turned into them two hating each other - or at least acting like they did - when they both were going on the same glamping trip with their friends from school. However, they soon become stranded in the wilderness - okay, a forest - and need to get over their differences, and work together to get home. Obviously the sexual tension that's been there since they were young would also come to a head, and they realise how much they had missed their best friend, let alone the person they were falling for.
I loved both characters - Zorie was organised, a big planner, and hated the outdoors (like me), whereas Lennon loves everything about the outdoors, and is a bit more lax about things. Being together, and having their different characteristics, helped them to recover their camping trip, and get back on the trail, having an adventure while they were at it. During the time when they had stopped being friends, a lot had happened in their families, and this time alone lets them vent to each other, and even without the romantic aspect of the book, the return to friends part was perfectly done!
The secondary characters were either lovely, or so annoying (Zorie's dad in particular), but because a lot of the book was spent with Zorie and Lennon alone, we didn't really see much of the other characters. I enjoyed the plot a lot, and think I will be re-reading this book soon, as I want to immerse myself in that world again.
Dates Read:
May 17, 2018Rating
5 Stars
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