19 October 2015

We Are All Made of Stars by Rowan Coleman

Series: N/A, Standalone
Publication date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Ebury Press
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Format: eArc
Source: The publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Pages: 402

Rating: ★★★★★/5

Goodreads ⎜Amazon Book Depository


What if you had just one chance, one letter you could leave behind for the person you love? What would you write?

Stella Carey has good reason to only work nights at the hospice where she is a nurse. Married to a war veteran who has returned from Afghanistan brutally injured, Stella leaves the house each night as Vincent locks himself away, unable to sleep due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

During her nights at the hospice, Stella writes letters for her patients, detailing their final wishes, thoughts and feelings – from how to use a washing machine, to advice on how to be a good parent – and posts them after their death.


That is until Stella writes one letter that she feels compelled to deliver in time, to give her patient one final chance of redemption...

We Are all Made of Stars is an uplifting and heartfelt novel about life, loss and what happens in between from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Memory Book.

We Are All Made of Stars follows 3 characters; Hope, Hugh and Stella and between each chapter there's a letter from someone else.


Characters
Stella is our main character, her husband came home wounded from Afghanistan a year or so ago and they've slowly been falling apart. Stella has such a sad story and I just wanted to cry all the time - especially when she talks about their past - how they met and such - you could just feel the happiness but then you go back to 'real time' again and they're not even talking. It seriously killed me.

Hope is 21, has cystic fibrosis and loves books! Her hobby is reading and designing book covers - it's so cool! She has basically given up since she knows her life aren't going to be that long and you can just feel the depression every time she's the narrator. In comes her best friend Ben and life gets better. I loved reading the story from Hope's point of view and I loved getting to know Ben!

Lastly we have Hugh, he's quite the loner but after trying to help his neighbor's kids he gets rewarded and his lone life isn't that lonely anymore. Reading his story was quite depressing in the beginning but as you go along you can't help but smile and be quite happy for him.

Even though Stella is the main character I prefer Hope! I loved every part from her point of view, nothing was dragging, nothing was too sad and I just wanted to be as brave as her and have her 'job' as a book cover designer! Both Stella and Hugh are great narrators and each of the three have their own voice but Hope is just my favorite, I could see some of myself in her and I really enjoyed her story!


The Story
I loved every part of the story! Stella writes these letters for dying folks, she listen to their stories and when they're gone she post the letter to whomever it's intended for. Even though she helps people and tries to get their life in order before they're gone she juggling with problems at home. I just admire her for focusing on other people instead of wallowing in sadness.

Hope is definitely giving up in the beginning but she starts wanting to live and that progression was so heartwarming. The way Hope's part is written is just to my liking, she snarky, sarcastic and really funny. I laughed a lot during Hope's parts and I wish I could meet her in real life!

Even though I enjoyed Hugh's part it's probably my least favourite, in the end it was way better than the beginning but I still prefer Stella's og Hope's over his. Sorry.
It's not that his story is bad it's just not nearly as good as Hope's inspiring story or Stella's heartbreaking one. It is quite cute in the end though.


On another note
I loved the way this story is structured with the letter between each chapter, some of the letters I love, some surprised me and some just made me feel all the feels! None of the letters where boring and I just feel like they're perfect for the story and they just add something truly special to the story! 

I love Rowan Coleman's writing style! There where so many times that things where phrased so beautifully or cleverly and it's just beautiful all in all. I loved reading it and I loved that each of the characters have their distinct voice! 
It's also full of beautiful quotes and life lessons all the way through - I love it when that happens!

I decided to give We Are All Made of Stars 5 berries, it's an uplifting story but it's also quite sad, it made me feel all the feels and I felt so satisfied with the ending so I have to give it the highest rating! Every loose end is taken care of in the end and you can't really ask for more than a great ending to this beautiful story! 

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