Every year, the people of Borne come to Sunder to celebrate The Parse, an annual tradition where anyone wanting to get married and have children must participate. This year, Innis’ uncle is forcing him to compete. East is heartbroken when he finds out, because it could mean losing the boy he loves. Enraged, he decides to enter The Parse as well, hoping to keep Innis, but he needs a partner. A chance meeting with Samone, a girl cursed to turn into a siren every day, offers him exactly what he needs. Her curse can be revoked by a boy, making East an opportunity of a lifetime for her. Their goal leads them to keep each other’s secrets, because if the truth gets out about who they are, Sunder would be merciless with them.
What a great book! Rustic Stars main character East, who is in love with his best friend, Innis. While East dreams of a future with his love, Innis has been forced into making other plans. He is forced into The Parse, a competition if you will, held yearly to determine who is eligible to marry. Brokenhearted, East comes up with his own plan to secure a place in Innis’ future. East befriends Samone the Siren and together as a team they too participate in The Parse, forming a friendship that knows no bounds all while having to overcome the crazy competitions in The Parse and society’s judgmental opinions. My favorite character in this book was Simone. While reading I felt almost desperate for her in both good and bad ways. There are so many great characters in Rustic Stars which make this an outstanding read. J Luis Licea did a terrific job descriptively making it easy to visualize everything.
I will definitely be watching for more material to come from this author!
Rustic Stars is one of those books that you will never forget. I read this book and it blew my mind. In just 312 pages J. Luis Licea captivates you as a whole, and once you close the book you will want to flip back to the beginning and read it again. Throughout the book you fall deeper and deeper in love with the main characters, Samone and East. They are both people that you want to protect from the danger of their world. You felt the urge that Samone felt when wanting to get rid of her curse. And you felt the love that East felt towards Innis. In the town where their love is forbidden, the novel causes you to feel a thrive for their emotions to never stop. The story causes you to fall in love with the love that East and Innis have for one another. Throughout the story it causes you to feel an array of emotions. From happiness, sadness, anger, and love. This novel is so beautifully written, I would not be surprised that in a few years we see a film adaption of it. I highly recommend everyone to read this story, you will not be disappointed.