On Astronaut Wings

by Amy Stapleton

Astronaut “Oz” Osborne needs to make sense of his life and he only has one clue to go on. Zaria Wonder, twenty-five and carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, knows nothing about Oz’s quest, but she has the one thing he’s looking for; if only she could find it. A mysterious coin from the long-defunct Mir space station links Oz and Zaria together, but neither can foresee how the coin will change their lives. Oz has only a shred of evidence to go on to locate the mysterious coin that fellow astronaut Carmen White found on the Mir space station over a decade ago. Now that Oz’s world is crumbling around him and the Space Shuttle program is winding down, he needs to find Carmen’s coin like never before. Zaria Wonder received the coin from Astronaut White years ago during a classroom visit, but now she is grown up and caring for an autistic nephew and a troubled mother, while struggling to make ends meet as a barista in a Huntsville, Alabama coffee shop. After all these years, she’s just starting to understand the coin’s potential power to rescue her and her family. Oz and Zaria might have continued along the same, purposeless trajectory, if it hadn’t been for Astronaut White’s tragic death in early 2008. Oz and Zaria both experience the same jarring sense of grief and misalignment following Carmen's passing. They realize that their lives have gone way off course and that they need to take action. Oz wants to find the coin and Zaria wants to hold onto it, but neither of them understands what they need to be happy. Even after her death, Carmen seems to influence the course of events, using the mysterious coin from outer space to help the ones who carry on her legacy.

ebook

First published July 17, 2012

Reviews

[J.A. Dalley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t the type of book I usually read, but the story did catch my eye because the blurb was so interesting. I found that though it wasn’t my usual genre I still really enjoyed reading it.

The story starts out really slow, but it has too. This isn’t an action novel or a mystery novel, this is a story about people. The book starts slow because you have to get to know the people well to connect with this story. I was going to give this a four star rating until I got about halfway through the book and all the characters clicked into place. At that point I felt I understood the characters like they were real people. Amy Stapleton does an amazing job of bringing her characters to life.

I personally developed a strong bond with Oz as he struggled with the reality of not being able to space anymore. As someone who writes sci-fi but will probably never see the green hills of earth from space I understand Oz’s feelings.

All around a great read!

[Dixiane Hallaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zaria's dreams have long since shriveled, and her entire life seems to be crumbling around her until she rediscovers the mysterious coin from space. I stayed up far too late to finish this book, even though I had long since decided how it had to end. I liked the characters, and it was fun to see the twists, turns, and near misses they went through on their journeys.
From the settings to the sailing, the author was knowledgeable about her subjects. I look forward to reading about the next “adventure” of the coin.