Fire in the Stars

FITS Virtual Book Tour: FINAL STOP

A huge shout-out to everyone who helped out in the Fire in the Stars tour. Without your help, it wouldn’t have been possible. buhosbookreview, books-and-cookies, casualbookreview, booksaroundtheworld, deepreads, miss-henri A giant thanks for your participation and lovely reviews! 

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 13

PLAYLIST inspired by Fire in the Stars

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 12

REVIEW by Newt Goforth

My favorite thing about this book - besides there not being a romantic subplot, thank the good and gentle lord above - is the side characters; they're developed very well and are just as important to the plot and story development as Harper and Clint. (also s/o for having an aroace character!!!!)

(...)

Despite its faults, Fire in the Stars is still a very good read, especially for a book written and self-published by two teenagers. the plot moves along at a steady pace, and the twists aren't too predictable, which is hard to pull off in a work like this. I would recommend it to most fans of action-adventure novels, as long as they aren't bothered by violence (there's a lot of it) and a heavily involved plot.

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 11

REVIEW by abookthiefandawordshaker

One of my favorite things about the book were the side characters, all the side characters were so interesting and honestly I could’ve read an entire book about them. I really wish we could’ve gotten a little more backstory on those characters. I honestly don’t care if that would’ve made the book longer, I just loved them so much, and want to know more about them. These characters really added something to the book, and I’m glad that Harper didn’t stick to her policy of always being alone because without some of these characters this book wouldn’t be the same. I wish they got more page time though, some of them were really not there for a lot of the book. I guess that just made me appreciate them even. One of the things I really appreciated about this book, was the fact that the authors didn’t create a romantic sub-plot. I was terrified that Harper and Clint would end up together, which would have been the worst romance ever, and would have ended up with one of them being murdered by the other. So I’m so grateful that they didn’t go in that direction.  

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 10

INTERVIEW by Fiona Skye

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 9

REVIEW by booksaroundtheworld

Fire in the Stars opens up with one of our main characters, Harper Jones, en route to a prison island full of criminals called Penance as punishment for stabbing someone. From the beginning we can tell that this isn't going to go well - we all know what happened in Lord of the Flies, after all. And we're right. Penance is not a place you want to go. Rogge and Kazajian did a pretty good job with Penance, making it seem as gritty, dark, and disturbing as you would expect. Throughout this book, Harper does her best to stay alive and protect the people that she comes to care about.

The other main character, Clint, has the same agenda, but executes it in a very different way. Clint is a ruthless assassin working for Esme, the "Queen of Penance". Flat out - I didn't like Clint. He was a very interesting character, and had depth, but was too sadistic. Fire in the Stars eventually sent him on a redemption arc, but I felt like he didn't deserve it. I have a limit when it comes to forgiving people, and Clint's actions (the torturing, the constant murdering) surpassed that limit. Harper, on the other hand, was a very relatable character. She was smart and logical, and loyal to those who deserved it. Another character that stood out to me was Gage. I actually kind of shipped him and Harper in the beginning (the scene where Harper tied him up was giving me massive Captain Swan flashbacks), but him being asexual turned out to be better, because REPRESENTATION.

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 8

REVIEW by Henri Brink

I would like to start this out by saying FITS looks like it should be your average young adult novel. It has the obligatory dystopian setting, the power-crazed leader, the group with special abilities, the rebel group, the falling apart city, the early introduction of a man set up to be the main character’s love interest. The main character, Harper, even starts out reading like the protagonist in a YA novel- A bad ass criminal who has rich parents, shipped off to the dystopian setting because she got caught. You have the charming support cast, which, yes, does have a few outliers from the formula, but that’s to be expected. After all, the authors must maintain some amount of originality.

But once I’d moved past the third or forth chapter, I was struck by the differences I saw both in the way the characters were constructed and in the way they all interacted. Harper, far from a cliche, acted like a true human being. Every action she took was tied to the person she was. There was no sense of nobility in her actions- everything she did was for her own survival or the survival of her friends, or for her own personal gain. Gage became unable to trust her because of it, which was in line with his moral code. Sophia was so broken by events that led up to the dissolving of the group that she could hardly think, Lars started off and the foreshadowing involved with his plot arc was masterfully done. Hazel’s blind sense of loyalty led her into the plot and kept with her to the end of it, and honestly I was amazed by how little it seemed like your average YA novel.

But the characters weren’t the only things that amazed me. Characters were introduced and then promptly killed. Things that seemed off about the island were pushed to a breaking point, side plots were done with precision and expertise that some authors in the mainstream can’t accomplish. The other main character, Clint, was written in a similar fashion. His motives were clean and precise. His actions were those of a man with nothing to lose, and that was the intention. While sometimes his reasoning was wrong, it always made sense to the character, and if it ever seemed like there was nothing he wouldn’t do, it’s because that was the case.

Then came the end of the book. Everything was moving so quickly, but that’s the way it was meant to be. And as everything started to fall apart, I realized that I had already begun to suspect- that this book didn’t follow a formula. It took cliches and twisted them, took the YA plot and turned it into something darker and completely unexpected. By the time I was reading the epilogue, I wasn’t really surprised by what the authors did. Blown away by it? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. But at the same time I think it has become one of my favorite YA novels, if only because I didn’t see any of it coming. For someone who’s read as much young adult literature as I have, that’s a thing which rarely happens, and it’s nice to see it from authors with so many books left to write.

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 7

FITS Virtual Book Review: Day 6

INTERVIEW

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 5

REVIEW by casualbookreview

“After I finished reading this novel, I was left staring at my black computer screen just sitting in awe of the incredible story that I had just finished reading. How is one supposed to go on after they complete a book they didn't want to see end? When I was first approached by Isabella with a co-written book, I was thrilled by the opportunity but worried about having two authors; I have read co-written books before and have often found a disconnect between chapters. For Fire In The Stars, there is no hint of disconnect whatsoever! The two perspectives, that of Harper and Clint, are so seamlessly intertwined that it felt as though the two authors were in fact one. The characters themselves are also so real that it's as though you are watching their lives unfold before your own eyes, just watching from behind a tree on Penance Island. It was as if I had known these characters before, instead of trying to learn who they were. They each had their own distinct personality as well, which made the story that much more enjoyable!

Another enjoyable part, especially for me, was the pace of the story. From the very first page, the story began and not once did that pace seem to falter or slow; the consistency was impeccable! With each new chapter, you learned more about Penance Island and those who have existed in this make-shift society since the beginning of its time; it was as though my mind was filling in the details of the poorly defined map given to the new additions to the island - it was like I was one of the "Fins" of this world.”

FITS Virtual Book Tour: Day 4

REVIEW by books-and-cookies

Penance is a scary place to be in. It sounds like a holiday, being shipped to an island, with no supervision, allowed to do whatever you feel like doing, but reality isn’t that simple. As humans, we will always have the tendency to form a society, to instate rules, written or not. And that’s what happens on Penance. There is a struggle for power, people band together according to allegiances, and you sometimes forget that these are kids we’re talking about. It’s a very violent book and it hits you hard when you really sit and realise that these kids are willing to do whatever they need to survive, including murder. I felt immense sadness for them, because... kids should be taken care of, not thrown into the unknown, into a violent environment and left to fend for themselves. [...]

There is a plethora of characters that make an appearance, which makes it believable that the island is inhabited by so many kids. While there is a genuine concern that so many characters may confuse the reader, such concern can be set aside, because Rogge and Kazanjian manage  to give depth even to the characters that appear for a handful of pages. These side characters add flavor and make the second half of the book even more difficult to read. You’ll understand what I’m saying when you get there, trust me. Also, the last 50 or so pages may be one of the most intense I’ve ever read in my life, so be warned.