To Catch a Falling Star

by Julie Wright

April Preston has had a rocky few months. Following her parents' divorce, April was dragged to Boston to live with her mother. Her only glimmer of happiness there has come through her new friend Sara Downey, who is not only smart and popular, but is also a true friend. Sara soon sets April up on a blind date with John, a Mormon from the Rocky Mountains. He returns home, but April dreams of their next meeting. Then Sara is diagnosed with cancer. Sara begins a search for God and the ultimate purpose of life while April finds herself filled with cynicism and doubt. While at a party, she meets Sam, a new friend who designates himself her conscience. Sam is headed to BYU, and when April finds out that his roommate is going to be John, she conspires to get her parents to send her there for college. Reunited with John, April finds herself confronting her past, as well as facing the quest looming in front of her, which urges her down a path she can ultimately never deny-the truth.

Genres: Lds Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Julie Wright wrote her first book when she was fifteen. She's written over twenty novels since then. She is a Whitney Awards winner for best romance with her books Cross My Heart and Lies Jane Austen Told Me, The American Library Association listed “Glass Slippers, Ever After, and Me” in their 2020 top ten best romances and "A Captain for Caroline Gray" in their 2021 top ten best romances.

She has one husband, five kids, two grandbabies, one dog, and a varying amount of houseplants (depending on attrition).

She loves writing, reading, hiking, playing with her kids, and watching her husband make dinner.

She hates mayonnaise.

Reviews

[Marcia Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty typical Mormon fiction.

[Becca McCulloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read with decent characters. Some of the deeper elements were skimmed over too much for my taste and the last third was a standard-fare conversion story. I wish the author had dared to dig a little deeper since the plot and characters could have easily been developed into something really thought-provoking.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I don't know what it was about this copy of the book I got from my library but the first 3 or 4 chapters drove me nuts with typos and grammar mistakes and major issues and I told my husband that I might not even finish reading it.
Then suddenly it got better...the writing was smoother and the awkward sentences were nearly blotted out and the story really revved up. I liked it. I found a connection with the characters and I liked the slow realization of the main characters true feelings and the developement of her story. In the end it was touching.
I would look for the latest printing of the book though incase the editting was redone in later versions for the first several chapters. They were really hard to plow through.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely, and thoroughly enjoyed this book. The main character, April, is well developed and an interesting person. Her journey from High School to BYU is fun to read. Her reasons for going to BYU are thoroughly believable and the book is a delight. The characters seem real, if a little over blown, but that is OK because most people are over blown. The romance in the book is kept to a level of tension that makes one want to read the book to see how things are resolved. Julie Wright is a good author and story teller and her story is well worth the time and effort to read. I would recommend this book heartily to any one who enjoys Jack Weyland books such as "A New Dawn". Well done, Julie Wright.

[Kaylynn Johnsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the story, the characters were believable and the situation was compelling, but... Cedar Fort needs to hire a better editor. It really detracted from the story when I was constantly distracted by unusual syntax or sentences so poorly worded they are confusing to the reader, and I am not uneducated person.

Here are two examples from a randomly opened page. 1. "She let her gaze trail down the stairs to Sam's room and then a slow smirk spread across her face." That's alright, but this is better (a smirk spread slowly across her face.) 2. "I don't have time for you to be cute, just tell me where my keys are." That's okay too, but this is better (just tell me, where are my keys?) There were some that were soooo much worse but as I said I just randomly opened the book.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

In all fairness I have read this book a number of times before. But I love it so much I just keep coming back to it. In fact, I've loved it so much the last half fell out of the binding completely tonight. I first read this book when I was in middle school and I remember feeling like the characters could be my best friends, even though they'd be several years older than me. Nothing has changed since then, I can still picture being best friends with the characters. Laughing when they laugh, crying when they cry. It's really just a solid book. (Yes there are grammar errors, yes it's a cheesy LDS fiction novel but it's SO GOOD!!!)

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book about dealing with lost of a friend and the understanding to the questions of where we go after death that the gospel can bring. After sara's death April goes off the deep end and gets in with the wrong crowd. She meets Sam her Jiminy Cricke who tries to steer her on the path back to doing good and ends up landing her at BYU. She investigates the church for the wrong reasons but ends up getting babtised and gaining a testimony. She ends up loving her best friend in the process.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was not my favorite part. It was difficult to read the destructive part of April's life. The second part of the book however, I loved. I thought she was great how she just jumped into everything head first. I loved the relationship with Sam and thought he would be an amazing friend for any girl to have. I loved the conversions and changes of heart that took place and it left a smile on my face.

[Emmeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was heart wrenching. It was so sad but i loved the fact that April was changing into a better person. The first half of the book made me really depressed because of the choices she was making. But the second half was my favorite. I have to say i fell in love with Sam and i hope that i can have a friend like him too. I absolutly adored it all.

[Dianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is an easy read full of moments you can find yourself in the story. catching your star is hard but once you do, you find fun in the shine of the lesson learned. I say read this one...a good gift idea.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great read for 13+ youth. A great book about the importance of a testimony and being honest with yourself. A great, clean, romance story.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably my favorite LDS author right now because she uses life events and people who seem real. Not the cookie cutter versions with the people who have lives that are too good to be true.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun YA read.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really got tired of reading this book because of the main characters attitude/personality. It was ok and it did have a good point, but I just got tired of the "poor me" attitude.

[ScrappyDiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

story about dealing with a friend's death and finding herself - teen book. Actually goes along with My Not So Fairy Tale Life book

[Kellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was SUCH a cheesy Mormon novel, but we all need a little cheesy sometimes, don't we?

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot was a bit unfocused, but I really enjoyed this book! It's definitely cheesy, but I still liked it.

[Susan Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another can't put down book

[Samm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A coming of age story about a girl who continues to feel out of place wherever she goes until she confronts the lies she has been hiding.

[Misty Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I read by Julie. What a talent!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite book when I was younger. I thought the love story was really cute.