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From Stardust to Stardust: An Emotional, Forbidden Romance

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“There are people you are born to and there are those who come to you. We don’t always have a choice and sometimes fate chooses for us.”

You can’t have two soul mates.

And you certainly can’t have them at the same time.

Or can you?

Kai Ferris is wild and passionate, like an untamed stallion refusing a bridle.

Henry Gerard is gentle and warm, perfect like a mug of hot cider on a crisp autumn day.

Both men love me.

But I must choose.

There are two sides to this story.

I'm sharing mine.

If you think this is about a love triangle, you’d be wrong.

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2014

183 people are currently reading
794 people want to read

About the author

Samantha Garman

13 books312 followers
Samantha Garman writes stories of love, laughter, and life. She is a lover of all things romance, a full-time puppy mama, and a bonafide klutz.

When she's not busy spilling things, she can be found reading a book or taking photos of the wee beastie and posting them on Instagram.


WRITING MAFIA ROMANCE AS EMMA SLATE:

The SINS Series
Wreck & Ruin (Blue Angels MC Romance)

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5 stars
163 (62%)
4 stars
60 (22%)
3 stars
28 (10%)
2 stars
7 (2%)
1 star
3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
Profile Image for Isobel.
Author 8 books52 followers
July 29, 2018
I'll be honest, it takes something special these days for me to be inclined to write a review. This book is special. Beautifully written - God, I so want to write like this - it tugs the emotions and just when you think you know where it's going it turns on its head. Others will outline details of the plot, I'll just tell you to read it. It's lovely.
Profile Image for Michelle.
105 reviews2 followers
September 11, 2018
Do yourself a favour and read this incredible book

Wow. Just, wow.

I burst into blubbering tears at about the half way mark and those tears didn’t really stop until the end.

I’ve read the Sibby tales which are sweet, so I thought why not give this a whirl.

Best decision ever!

To be clear. This book is nothing like the fun, candy floss feels of the Sibby books. It’s so much better! To the point it almost feels like a different author.

This story is raw and heart wrenching and makes you reanalyse your life way too much. It’s simply one of the best books I have ever read, and that is saying something. I don’t just dole out five stars without the works seriously deserving them.

The story of Kai and Sage is one for the ages.
Sage was so lost after the death of her mother she was drowning in an ocean of grief, right up until Kai found her. And he was perfect. He climbed right into the darkness with her because he had more than enough darkness to go around himself. Together they saved each other in the most powerful, boundless connection of two souls that were destined to be together.

What I absolutely loved is that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the story, I happily realised. Part one was all them. Their love, their navigation of pain and grief and regrets and finding their own island of light and joy in the midsts of it. My heart swelled watching their connection grow beyond something either of them saw coming. They had it, the perfectly rare kind of love and you felt it in each and every page. Unbridled, unrestrained. It was in everything they did. They would be in a room and immediately seek the other out like a lifeline. Even in the mundaneness of ordinary life they lived every second of it completely, hopelessly in fierce love with each other.

That was the problem. It was too perfect.
Don’t get me wrong, they had crappy cards dealt to them as a couple too that could break a marriage with ease but Kai and Sage conquered the world together.

***Spoiler****













But as I said, that was the problem. So when that cop shows up on Sages driveway, your heart shatters with anguish. You felt it. Every evil, unfair, heart wrenching second of it.
Her love. Her life. Kai, was gone.
I cried so hard I felt like I was right there, lying on the floor with Sage, sobbing. I understood so completely how she just wanted to die.

Thing is, Sage was carrying his unborn child so death, wasn’t much of an option no matter how much she wished it could be.

And here comes part two. The part of Sages life where this poor girl, who’s been through more than any person should ever have to, has to find it in herself to keep living.

She moves back to France and spends months never letting go of a thing. She sleeps either in or next to Kai’s clothes and I promise, the tears didn’t stop flowing for me. Her family tried to get it but they really didn’t and to be honest, they started to irritate me. I wanted to shake them and make them understand. This wasn’t just her husband that died, he was her breath, her life force, her everything. But in true Sage style, the broken woman slowly tapes herself back together.

Along comes Henry. Who is sweet and goofy and genuinely cares about Sage. Nice guy? Sure. Is he right for her? Not at all but that was my personal opinion.

Sage starts to feel like a version of human again and sparks a relationship with Henry whilst still feeling incredibly conflicted which I completely understood. After a few more hiccups, (and a truly heartbreaking scene where Kai’s CD arrives in the mail) she finally lets go. She has to decide if she’s going to live in the past, waiting for Kai to walk through the door, (which I’ll be honest, even though I saw his funeral play out, I still kept impossibly waiting too) or move on and live her life with Henry.

See why I cried like an idiot?

It ended much the way you hope it does for Sage considering the circumstances. She chooses life. Life for her and Kai’s daughter.

My only thing with the ending? (Which just made me cry harder I’ll add) Henry wasn’t right for her. He was sweet and cared deeply and loved her daughter without abandon but... he was no Kai. Henry was light and life itself. He brought the sun back into her darkened world. But what broke my heart a little more is knowing it wasn’t the same and wondering when Sage would know it too. She threw herself into Henry’s love and that gave her a reason to keep living but Henry would never understand her the way Kai did. Kai climbed into the pit of her despair and shared the burden. He understood completely. Henry was kind and loved her but he never would truly understand her. I finished the book oddly hopping Sage found some measure of peace in the rest of her long life but when she died, she would finally be reunited with Kai.

Bare in mind I stayed up the entire night reading this book so it might have been sleep deprivation that had me dreaming of Sages true happily ever after.

Long story short? Read this book. You won’t regret it.

Profile Image for Relyn.
4,081 reviews71 followers
January 8, 2023
Samantha Garman must know or have known real and deep love because she sure can write it. She's also gentle, kind, and hopeful in this book. I really hated part of it, which is a testament to her writing, isn't it? If an author can make you care so much about fictional people that you have a visceral reaction - that's a good writer.


I love rom-coms, romance novels, and love stories. So I read a lot of them. This is great fun for me, but it means that my personal "market" is oversaturated. It will take a truly great romance to get more than three stars. In case you are interested:

Relyn's personal rom-com & romance novel rating system
5 stars - This book is excellent. It stands out from the hundreds of other love stories I've read, and I loved it.
4 stars - Oh, I really, really liked this one. Or, I didn't love it, but it was so well-written it deserves four stars.
3 stars - This was a good, entertaining book and I'm glad I read it.
2 stars - Meh - boring, or overdone, or in some other way just not a good fit for me
1 star - This one stunk.

Profile Image for Kari.
271 reviews5 followers
January 12, 2020
Beautiful and heart wrenching.

This story gripped me from the beginning. Sage is such a complex, realistic, and likable character. The way she handles grief is something that hits so many of us close to the heart. This book amazingly tells the story of how grief, no matter how terrible, can lead to new beginnings, chances, and relationships. I cried through this book, laughed at some of the lighthearted moments, and felt the pain as Sage felt it. The minor characters all play such important roles and tell such a beautiful story of how family is so much more than those you’re born related to. This story was a beautiful tribute to the relationships we build and the strength we find in one another.

Emma/Sam, PLEASE write us some more Luc and Jules! PLEASE.
Profile Image for Kristyn.
97 reviews4 followers
December 30, 2018
Beautiful

I was not expecting this after reading the Sibby books. This book was absolutely breathtaking. Beautifully written and so very emotional. It is a book about hope, and living and learning to love again. I’ve never in my whole life of reading hundreds and hundreds of books have I cried as much as I did reading this. There were times I hated it and wish I never picked it up but I couldn’t put it down. I kept reading and am glad I did. I wish I could put into words how great this book was but my words compared to this would be so insignificant. Just read it, but be warned you will cry more than you have ever cried reading a book but you won’t regret it.
Profile Image for Jessica.
436 reviews
October 5, 2018
One of the best books I have read. I enjoyed the Sibby books but this one had it all. I laughed and cried... and I pretty much relate to the main character in some ways, especially when it comes to dealing with loss and pain and trying to overcome it. Sage also inspired me in many ways. She is such a strong heroine and she made juice from lemons. And her love with Kai is one of those everyone dreams of.
52 reviews
January 21, 2019
Emotional journey

The story started out with emotional lows and I almost stopped reading it. I am so glad I kept going. This story grabbed ahold and shredded me. About midway i was yelling at the story and if I was prone to cursing i would have been. I was crying. I was not left there emotionally thank goodness. It finds it's way back to the happy side of life.to seeing and knowing the good moments.
30 reviews
July 21, 2019
This book.... it broke me, put me back together. Broke me again, and put me back together. My heart just took the wildest merry-go-round ride I've ever been on while reading a book. I'm still reeling. I cried, I laughed, I cried some more. I felt every single emotion Sage was feeling on ever page. Samantha Garmin hit it out of the park with this one. Leave yourself plenty of time to read this, as you're not going to want to put it down. The imagery and description were perfect and I was able to completely submerge myself in this book. It seems sometimes that 5 stars are frequently given, but maybe not full deserved... this book deserves 5 plus 5 more. I'd love there to be more books to come after this, but I also felt a complete ending and would be satisfied with this being such a strong stand-alone.
Profile Image for Amber Khan.
525 reviews4 followers
July 31, 2019
Rollercoaster of feels

Sage is lost in grief, flees NY, and lands in France. She is drowning in sorrow.

Kai is no stranger to loss. He takes his mourning on the road. The moment he sees her, he knows she is what's missing.

GiGi helps Sage stay afloat and keeps her moving. She to has suffered losing a loved one but had been sheltered lovingly from its pain. Sage and Gigi are blessed beyond measure even though for them it's hard to see at times.

Henry is a nerdy History professor teaching nearby. He steps into their lives in perfect timing and nothing could've prepared them.
Love sees you through it all.

I cannot say enough about this book. I wasn't prepared for the gauntlet of emotions. It is an amazing story of love conquering everything. There is a HEA, just not in the traditional sense. Have tissue handy. This is story unlike any other and it is beautiful.
13 reviews
January 22, 2019
This book...I'm finding it hard to put into words how I felt about this book. After reading the Sibby series, I went into it thinking it would be a quirky, light-hearted read. Boy, I was not prepared for the onslaught of emotions... It broke my heart. It amazed me. It put the pieces back together...
I generally stay away from books that make me cry. And if I had known ahead of time, I wouldn't have read it. But I'm glad I did, because it was powerful. It will now be included in my top recommendations when people ask for the names a books they should read!
168 reviews1 follower
February 22, 2021
If you want to take an emotional rollercoaster ride, this would be the one to jump on! There was some fairly predictable paths, but it was the entire ride that made it worth the read. It took a while to realize the importance all the darkness played in securing the happiness and ups here. Going on with life after loss, after death, and finding the hope in going on..ugh!! Sage, Kai, Henry, Jules, Luc...loved them all! They all made it easy to feel like you were part of their story. I am a big @sammgarman fan, and this just added to my fan girl status!
177 reviews
March 19, 2022
An incredibly emotional story...

A good deal of my life has mirrored a large part of this story, so it was an emotional, heart-wrenching roller coaster that I couldn't put down. It brought me back through the past 36 years of shared emotion with its characters. The author's writing created all the detail my mind's eye needed to replicate each scene, as I am a visual reader. I commend the editing and proofreading, for this book was nearly perfect in this respect. This is the first book I'm reading by this author and I shall look for more of her work.
125 reviews1 follower
April 8, 2021
This is a deep story about grief, family, love, loss, and more grief, family, loss, and love.
This is a deeply moving story. If you are an empathetic reader, keep the tissues handy.
This is not like the Sibby series also by this author, which is light-hearted and humorous.
Although there is humour sprinkled in this story, it is mostly about loss and grief, and the importance of family and love.
A truly beautiful novel. Heartbreakingly haunting, yet full of hope and love.
15 reviews
April 27, 2022
Well-written, flowery prose for scene descriptions. The story world whether in US or France captured the imagination. The protagonist's angst, i could not relate to, yes death and loss are painful and strength-sapping but to wallow endlessly about loss makes for a boring read; as also sugary, syrupy romance. The story lacked conflict, and i could just skip through pages and not miss out on anything significant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Betsy Howe.
35 reviews
April 17, 2018
Wow just wow! My husband is going to be so mad when he gets home... This book was soo addicting I didn't get a thing done today couldn't put it down. This book will make you laugh then cry and want to move to France, fall in love and them laugh and cry some more. Definitely a good read! I will highly recommend to friends & family
Profile Image for Cristin Robertson.
29 reviews1 follower
July 13, 2018
This is the most heart-wrenching book I've ever read

I absolutely loved this book ! I cried, I laughed and I'm back to crying again. Just when you think someone can't possibly endure any more hurt in their heart, there's more. This book is wonderful for anyone who's afraid of moving on. I'm glad to have read Sage's journey.
Profile Image for Tina Johnson.
16 reviews
March 11, 2019
Breathtaking... Heartbreaking.... Beautiful

Finished Stardust and I’m sitting here... Shocked... Stunned...
Such a heartbreaking yet beautiful story. Everything Sage felt, I felt as I read. I’ve read other books that have done the same but never this intense, never the overwhelming feelings and emotions like with this book. This book absolutely blew me away. ❤️💔😭🙂❤️
Profile Image for Stefanie Jenkins.
Author 16 books404 followers
March 21, 2019
Heartbreakingly beautiful

Excuse me why I go have an ugly cry right now. This book is proof that no matter how much loss we face including saying goodbye to the love of your life that there still is happiness for you. Sometimes you are meant to fall in love and lose them to find another. And it’s proof that it’s okay. Bravo! Bravo!
1,915 reviews8 followers
December 12, 2019
This story was long and through, makes you have a range of emotions. They are parts were you will laugh out loud and parts were you have to stop reading because you are crying and can not see the pages. This book was not what I was expecting but so glad that I read it.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Barbara.
19.1k reviews8 followers
December 12, 2019
This is the first book by this Author that I have read the story drew me in and did not let go until I was finished. It is a well written emotional story as one minute you are laughing with them and the next you find yourself crying as you read. I recommend this story it is well worth reading. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Jenni Lennen.
180 reviews1 follower
April 4, 2020
What to say....

This book was...amazing!! I had a rollercoaster of emotions and never thought there would be a happy ending.
In reviews I usually write how much I loved the two main characters, but really there’s only one. This book was everything I needed but didn’t know I wanted. Thank you for writing such an amazing book.
4 reviews1 follower
August 1, 2018
Amazing Heartfelt Journey

This is a beautiful story about love and life. Get ready to look inward and ask yourself: What are you hiding from? Are you truly living? Or merely existing? Tears, smiles, laughter, reflection. I felt all of these when reading this.
Profile Image for Jessica.
30 reviews
December 27, 2018
Full of emotion

This is one of the better books I’ve read in a while. It’s the first book to make me cry and laugh in a long time. Beautifully written story of Sage’s life with all of the joy & trials she experienced.
Profile Image for Carrie Garza.
805 reviews2 followers
January 3, 2019
So totally different from the other two books of hers that I just read. Oh my gosh, this one will break your heart. Then it will make you smile. There isn't much you can say without giving it away, but I loved it.
2 reviews
January 11, 2019
Incredible

I don’t normally read sad stories as I feel there is enough despair in this world but this book called to me. It was so beautifully written, emotional and magical. I loved it!
65 reviews3 followers
January 31, 2019
Beautifully written!

I absolutely fell in love with this story. The lows, the highs, triumphs and failures are so potent. Look into the lives of real life characters!! They come alive as you read and become engaged in their lives!!
97 reviews
February 6, 2019
Brilliant Book

This is going to be one of my favourite books. Wonderful story telling, a story of love that is sad enough to make you sob but still manages to make you smile. Samantha Garman is an extremely talented writer and I highly recommend this book.
Profile Image for Beth Hohenbery.
13 reviews
February 11, 2019
Sewing hearts back together

What an emotional roller coaster this book was! There was hardly a character not to love. The love was pure, the sorrow deep. Great read for someone ready to awaken the depths of their heart again.
Profile Image for valentina dolpies.
20 reviews1 follower
March 16, 2019
This book mad me sad and then happy and then so sad I sobbed. It was heart wrenching. Continued reading and then it gave me hope and bittersweet happiness again. Sorry it ended, it needed one more chapter. So loved this story.
Profile Image for Faith From Jersey.
89 reviews3 followers
May 5, 2019
Story line started off amazing. Was hooked fast. BUT then it was just slow moving. Monotone in a away. This story had a lot of tragedy but I the words didn’t make me feel the sorrow or anger that should have come after the sadness that happened so many of times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews

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