My Starlight

by Loryn Stone

If only we could have met sooner… Orly Kochav likes nerdy things. A huge fan of Japanese animation, cosplay, and playing the bass, she’s convinced she can use her natural charisma and swagger to get anything she wants. Including beautiful girls. But when her judgmental mother catches her kissing one of her girl-crushes and asks her a hideous question, Orly shuts down and goes into a state of emotional hiding. She grabs her nearest male friend, Spencer James, declares him her boyfriend, and lives in a quiet bubble. That is, until her mom suddenly dies. Now sixteen, Orly is itching to reclaim her prior life. And when her new friend, Serena Karl, informs her that a secret club dedicated to their favorite Japanese Anime, Lovely Starlight Fighter, is at their high school, Orly thinks she’ll be able to slip back into the world of fandom without issue. Until rising tension between the club president, Marcus Powell, and vice president, Danielle Cohen, threatens to tear the club apart. And a rising attraction to Danielle threatens to make Orly question every choice she’s about to make.

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2018

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Starlight is a wonderfully written YA novel about a teenage girl named Orly Korchav. Loryn Stone's debut novel has something for everyone, and all who read it will definitely find their own connections within the story. Whether you're a fan of anime and cosplay, you've experienced a personal loss of your own in your life, or if you have or are currently trying to find your own way to understanding who you are as a person and understanding your own sexuality, as we all have during those formative high school years, Orly's story is honest, relatable, and powerful. It's real and it's raw. My Starlight is a story that is representative and inclusive of all walks of life, and deserves to be read time and time again.

[Tamás Polyák · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if it's intentional, but the story feels unfinished. I get it, Orly is still young for a HEA storyline, but her actually finding love would have been nice.
Also the last tease with Spencer was kind of weird. Danielle already has a boyfriend, and if Orly goes back to him, that would be the worst trope.
Alex? She has a crush on Orly, and it almost looked as if she actually started to reciprocate, but then the book suddenly ended, and we might never know.