Reviews

Nos étoiles manquées by Anna Todd

kate_carlyon's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jackie_of_all_books's review against another edition

4.0

It’s been a while since I read the falling and the brightest stars. They were basically the same book but both had a slightly different ending. This picks up right where that left off. Karina finds out that Kael helped her brother Austin enlist in the army and she is very hurt about it. And no longer trusts him. They had a love building but she’s done with him now. Austin is ignoring her and ghosting her. Kael is a little jealous for how bad she wants to talk to Austin and not him. Her and Elodie live together. Elodie is from Europe and married an American soldier and moved here for him. Someone sent her parents a message saying he’s cheating on her and her parents have her stressed. Elodie has started going to more of the army wife events so I’m assuming it was one of them bitches. Elodie has a panic attack and Austin shows up. Austin and Karina take elodie to the base hospital. The baby is ok she just needs to reduce their stress. As she’s trying to leave they run into mendoza and Kael. Mendoza asks if she’s going camping with them this weekend for her and Austin’s birthdays and she tells him she was never invited. Kael doesn’t even look at her the entire time. She tells Austin about Nielsen stopping by the massage place and he freaks out saying Nielsen was one of the guys from his fight and how he has had issues. When Elodie shows her the screenshot of who messaged her parents about Phillip cheating it was neilson so what is he scheming. Karina goes and does a slight makeover of her hair and skin care and getting her nails done. Elodie invites her to a cook out with the platoon wives and she finds a flea market to go to instead. She falls in love with the place and buys 2 plants until she sees Kael and he tells her he comes every weekend and she realizes she can’t come here again. He helps her in multiple ways. Has the plant lady hold the plants til she’s ready to go and he swindles a lady down on a chair and helps her pay for it. He tells her he has to go to Elodie baby shower and she realizes when Elodie invited her to the cookout it was her baby shower. The platoon wives were surprising Elodie but never invited Karina which really hurt her feelings. Kael brought her chair and plants home for her but couldn’t convince her to go to the cookout she was too hurt. She was supposed to be Elodies best friend and they excluded her. The book has flashed between Kael and Karina. We know Kaels leg has really been bothering him but he’s eager to get on his disability and doesn’t want to do another surgery. Austin has been helping him fix up his house. When Phillip comes home him and Elodie will live in half of the duplex. We know Mendoza has really bad PTSD. He used to go to the market with Kael but has been kicked out. He used to help cut wood but went to leave one day and had the truck in the wrong gear and drove through multiple booths and freaked out and drove through trees and almost hit a vehicle when he panicked. He hasn’t been welcomed back since. We also know Mendoza punched the glass door at their house. His wife gloria and the kids have to cope with all this but Kael tries to help the best he can. At the baby shower Mendoza get a little drunk and him and some other boys start arguing about the president and not caring and it gets heated until Kael and Austin calm the situation down. Austin seems to really care about Elodie. Karina is re modeling her whole house and herself. She wants to erase Kael from everything and have a fresh start. Elodie is worried about her and tells her she’s going to their camping trip for her and Austin’s birthday. She is forced into this camping trip and then Elodie tells her she’s riding with Austin and that Mendoza and Gloria will be picking her up. But then she hears a familar truck, kaels bronco. He tells her he didn’t know she was going and she tells him she didn’t know he was going. He offers not to go and she tells him it’s fine and they ride together and then he tells her they’re picking someone else up, turner. Turner was a girl she knew liked him from the falling. So this upsets her. When they get to turners she sits in the backseat which upsets Kael. Turner tried making conversation. She asks about their past exes. Kael doesn’t talk but Karina talks about brien being her last ex which upsets Kael. When they get to the camp ground he questions why she’d say that and she tells him that him and her never dated and it was like a punch in the gut to him. At the fire she falls in love with Gloria and her kindness. Elodie and Austin are way late to the campground and Elodie doesn’t say why. Karina goes to find a bathroom and finds Kael in his bronco instead. He has a whole set up. He lends her a flashlight so she can pee in the woods. Turner is hooking up with someone in the bathroom which makes her happy Turner isn’t with Kael. He gives her a hoodie and asks if they can have a reset for the weekend and she agrees/ and then she kisses him. One thing leads to another and they hook up in the bronco. And then there are loud noises and they have to dress quickly, Mendoza is about to be in a fight. Karina sits with Gloria and gives her a massage while Kael takes Mendoza for a walk. When he gets back he takes Karina back to the bronco and they communicate with their bodies for the night and she sleeps so cozy beside him. She worries if this changes anything or if he’s still going to be going to Atlanta. After the camping trip her and Kael talked constantly and we’re exploring what this was. Her and Austin went to her dads for dinner and she noticed how buddy buddy they were and figured it was because Austin enlisted but when Austin talked it sounded like her dad had no idea and they were talking about how he’s been remodeling houses and his future. Karina realizes how much her dad doesn’t care about her life. Her Instagram pictures have been doing decent where she takes aesthetic pictures so I’m wondering if this will amount to something. Austin has Kael come get him which I wonder why he does this instead of having Karina drive him home. He has Kael come inside. The cake that Estelle had made is lemon, their dads favorite but Karina can’t eat lemons. Karina is worried how this will go since weeks ago hee dad and Kael had a screaming match in her house. And then Kael slips up and says how good of a help Austin has been before he leaves and his dad asks where he’s going. Austin hasn’t told his dad he enlisted yet. Karina assumed that’s why they were getting along so well. Austin’s dad did not take it well. He blew up upset that everyone knew but him. Made a comment about how many enemies he has. He’s putting Austin in danger with his enemies. Kael gets in between them. And that’s when her dad snaps and asks why his family is any of his business and he says Austin is a brother to him and he’s in love with his daughter. Karina is melting inside. Kael and Austin leave and she stays. Her dad snaps at her and she tells him she won’t come around anymore if he doesn’t change the way he treats her. Estelle finds her on the porch swing and tells her how her dad gets drunk and talks to her moms ghost. (Their mom left no idea where she is). She says how she always dreamed of the relationship she’d have with her and Austin but it didn’t work that way. When she got home Austin and Kael got there shortly after. Austin took a pie in for Elodie and her and Kael went on the porch to talk. They talked about them a little and how they wondered if it would hurt more to do this than If they didn’t try and he said he thought it would hurt either way. Then on the day before Karina and Austin’s birthday Kael came home and told him his discharge had been approved. It was going through way quicker than he expected. Karina wanted to be happy for him but she also didn’t want him to go. Elodie and Austin went to go to the grocery store. Kael and Karina talked. He asked her if she’d go to Atlanta with him and she doesn’t think she can sell her house and lose her stability even though she loves him she’d be to scared of the falling out. He stays the night and the next day he tells her her birthday present. He’s going to build her a porch and a porch swing since he knows how much she loves them due to her mom. He gets to work on it and she cooks him breakfast. After they eat they starting kissing and Mendoza calls him. She tells him to answer it and Mendoza sent him a picture of Elodie and Austin kissing in the parking lot the night before. And then a solider gets out of a black car, and she knows it has to be Phillip at the worst possible time. She doesn’t know where Elodie and Austin are. So this book ends on Phillip showing up, a picture of Austin and Elodie together, Kaels discharge being rushed and him leaving sooner than planned, his moms health declining, Mendoza sons health declining and he can’t seek help for PTSD in worry of getting discharged, the shake relationship of Karina with her dad. A LOT OF UNFINISHED BUSINESS. The burning is a good title because this was Karina and Kael burning for each other and not being able to resist the fire. And this was the burning everything is burning a little. So I’m really excited to see how it all pans out!!! 4 stars because I felt like there might have been a lot of useless info and like this story wasn’t that long but it almost seemed like it dragged on forever like everything that has happened in both books could have been one. Instead of a whole series. But still 4 stars because I love the plot and I love Karina and how fierce she is but also her anxiety I relate to. And I love her and Kael together. There is a lot going on that keeps you wanting more but like I said a lot of it seems almost useless but I did still really enjoy this book.

midnight_bookshelf_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

bertrbri's review against another edition

3.0

Normally I fly through Anna Todd books but this took me a while. I feel like not much happened in this book

ashjane13's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

fsmeurinne's review against another edition

4.0

This is the second book in the Brightest Stars trilogy. It was a captivating read that kept me hooked. The prologue had me on my seat, eagerly trying to unravel the funeral mystery. Kael and Karina's love story continues to tug at my heartstrings, and their passionate connection is beautifully portrayed. Though secondary characters had a significant presence, they added depth to the narrative. Elodie's inclusion brought some intriguing twists, keeping me engrossed in the plot. The military backdrop provided an exciting and unique setting for the story, adding to the overall appeal. While the book was substantial, it allowed for an in-depth exploration of the character's emotions and experiences. I enjoyed this one but cannot wait to see how this enchanting trilogy concludes.

kirstyshields3's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thindbooks's review against another edition

3.0

This book follows after the first one. This story wasn’t bad and it wasn’t good. It’s as though a different author wrote this book compared to the first one. The pacing was very fast and the plot was very messy. I was confused about what was even happening in this book as there were more subplots than a main plot. I couldn’t grasp the main message behind this book as it didn’t feel like a romance or a character development story. There weren’t good conflicts and the prologue didn’t make sense for this book. This book is told from both Kael and Karina’s perspectives.

Karina is an okay character but I wasn’t understanding her character in this book. I felt she didn’t have much of a story described or a purpose. She was bland compared to the 1st book. Kael is still a mystery and his pov didn’t help to find out more about him. I honestly don’t remember his pov because his story felt nonexistent. Karina’s roommate had more page time in this book than anything and I felt that the story involved around her which didn’t make sense. The romance was bland and nonexistent and for a romance book that was the main thing needed for the story. Karina and Kael both barely saw each other and somehow in the last chapters, they ended up together with no chemistry build-up for anything.

The ending was whatever and I’m guessing someone is about to end up dead in the third book. I’m not exactly sure if I will be reading the last book as I’m not seeing much of development in the series. I have loved Todd’s After series which I think is fun and well-developed but this series is not so much. The romance is just very much lacking which is the main part of this book. I hope to see more from this author.

*This book was sent to me by the author to give an honest review in return*

thatfrenchislandgirl's review against another edition

2.0

The military romance aspect is what drew me to this book. I’m a veteran’s wife and loved reading all the details of on post, active duty life. There were so many details that Todd added to the story that made it so relatable and brought back good memories for me, but my goodness were there details, way too many. It felt like every move the characters made was detailed and not in an interesting way, but more like a way to fill the pages. It took a long time to get into it and get any kind of worthy action between the characters. I really liked both main characters though so I read on to figure out what would happen only to be left with a major cliffhanger at the end that should’ve been the end of a chapter, not of the whole entire book! As much as I want to know what happens with Kael and Karina, I’m not sure I’m up for another couple hundred pages of this

jessclairereads's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0