By Mattie Lugar; Photo Credits to Mattie Lugar
Did you enjoy watching Barbie movies growing up? Are you interested in books that make you feel like you’re in a fairytale? Then I think “The Sun and the Starmaker” by Rachel Griffin might be for you.
Set in the small village of Reverie, we follow Aurora who grew up on the romantic tale of the Sun and her Starmaker. Now this village is unique as they depend on the mysterious Starmaker to pull forth the sunlight that sustains the village. Aurora never dreamed that she would meet the Starmaker, but the morning of her wedding changes everything.
When the two meet for the first time in the frostbitten woods, the Starmaker senses a powerful magic inside Aurora and demands she comes to study underneath him to one day take on the mantle of Starmaker. What the two don’t anticipate is falling in love with each other, but the Starmaker is slowly dying, and they are running out of time. Left to wander a giant palace with no companion but an immortal rabbit, Aurora is racing against the clock to uncover the secrets the Starmaker is keeping hidden.
While this wasn’t my absolute favorite book, I will admit that I was captivated by the gorgeous atmosphere and captivating plot. Fairytales and everything fairytale-adjacent are some of my favorite books to read purely because of their whimsical nature and the warm feeling I get while reading. If you’re looking for something similar to this, the “Once Upon a Broken Heart” series has lots of the same whimsical fairytale vibes and a gorgeous winter setting.
Even though this was a fun read, I will admit that the main character was honestly a little annoying at times. She got very whiny at points and honestly at points it got to be a little unbearable reading about her. Also,the romanceseemed to come out of nowhere as Aurora went from completely hating the Starmaker to suddenly being completely in love with him 200 pages later. To me, the pacing of this was just a little bit off, which is sad because I was hoping this would be one of my top reads of the year, but if you’re looking for a whimsical winter read, then this is the perfect book for you.