Monday, July 27, 2020

Book Review: Starlight Nights by Stacey Kade


Goodreads Overview:

At twenty-three, Calista Beckett is trying to overcome her early fame and fortune. The former savior of the world on Starlight is now a freshman at college--miles away from L.A. and her former existence. She sees it as her start to a new life, a normal life, one where she won't make the same mistakes she made before--a brush with heroin addiction and losing her freedom to her controlling mother, thanks to a court order.

Eric Stone played her older brother, Byron, on Starlight. But she's been in love with him pretty much since they kissed--her first kiss--while auditioning. When Eric shows up on campus out of the blue asking her to return to California for a role, Calista's struck immediately by two things: first, in spite of everything that's happened, she still feels something dangerous for him, and second, she's absolutely determined not to let him ruin her life again.

Only Eric's not giving up so easily.

Jacque's Review:

Starlight Nights is a companion novel to Stacey's 738 Days.  You don't need to read 738 Days to appreciate this story, but there is some overlap of the characters and the timeline is several years in the future. I loved seeing how Chase and Amanda are doing now, but they are definitely secondary characters this time around.

Calista's mother is her manager and has been using her as the family's primary revenue source for as long as Calista can remember. Now that her career has been derailed, she is taking a much needed break from the spotlight and trying to be a normal college student. Unfortunately, she is the biggest thing to hit her small school in the middle of nowhere and doesn't exactly fit in. 

Eric's father is a famous producer, so Eric is viewed as the privileged son who can get away with anything. He has made some mistakes, but he is trying to turn his life around and is putting all of his own money into starting a production company of his own. He wants to prove himself, but his father is determined to sabotage everything he does.

Eric buys the rights to a book that Calista loved when they were working on Starlight Nights together. He will stop at nothing to get her to star in it with him to capitalize on their existing fan base, but that isn't his only motivation. He feels guilty about how things ended between them and is determined to help her get her life back on track. 

Eric and Calista have a long and complicated history together, but they both still have feelings for each other. It takes them a while to regain the trust and friendship they once had and to see what the real problems have always been in their relationship. They need to take control of their own lives if they are ever going to be happy.

This was a highly entertaining romance. The content is adult compared to Stacey's Ghost and the Goth or Project Paper Doll series, which is great for us older readers, but I wouldn't recommend it for younger teens. I have a 15 year old that I still try to keep him in the PG13 range, which this book definitely exceeds. I can only imagine the expression on my son's face if he read a few of the scenes, LOL.

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