Written by Peta Hardiman
If astrology and friends-to-lovers tropes are your jam, or if you’re a bit of a sucker for a romantic comedy, then it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Star-Crossed by Minnie Darke.
When Justine Carmichael (Sagittarius, grammar nerd, and journo) bumps into old childhood friend Nick Jordan (Aquarian, aspiring actor, and very much a true believer in all things stars) after more than a decade, she finds herself saddled with a crush she thought she’d gotten over years ago. While reconnecting, Nick reveals that he still guides his life according to the astrology section of the magazine where Justine just so happens to work. At first, Justine finds this information an amusing throwback to the boy she knew as a teenager. But when Nick fails to call her, she uses it to her advantage and begins to tweak the monthly Aquarius predictions to open up Nick’s eyes, and his heart. But as we soon discover, Nick isn’t the only Aquarian who uses The Alexandria Star to influence their decision…
If I could describe this book in one word, it would be ‘cute’, followed closely by ‘sweet’, and, well, you get the idea really. Star-Crossed was fun, soft, and decently interesting, and to be honest, it was something that I didn’t entirely expect it to be: smart. Darke managed to find a decent line between science and pseudoscience to balance on and the humour, dry and sarcastic, kept me amused while I read.
Authors can tread a fine line when writing romance novels, and to me, keeping that bit of bite in amongst all the inevitable sap, kept Star-Crossed from becoming tooth-achingly sweet.
Star-Crossed follows mostly Justine’s POV and we spend about a year in her life (as told by star signs), following her quirky and refreshing personality as she navigates the long-buried crush she has on Nick, her working life, and her other interpersonal relationships. However, what makes Star-Crossed a little more interesting than average are the ‘cusp’ sections, which is where we get insight into the lives affected by Justine’s meddling. It’s an interesting change to an otherwise fairly stereotypical storyline, and while eventually, we see the cyclical nature of these ‘cusp’ stories, and how they all wind together, what makes these sections shine is that not all the people we read about are changing for the better.
Justine as a main character is incredible relatable, I enjoyed her sarcastic nature, and the fact that she has an ongoing war with a fruit and veg vendor at the local market. But what makes Justine so incredibly real as a character is the fact that over the course of the novel, we watch her struggle with love, family, her career and being a twenty-something that doesn’t have it all figured out. It was super refreshing to read from the perspective of someone who finished work and makes a Vegemite sandwich for dinner because she’s too lazy to do anything else.
Nick as well follows along these lines, his chosen career path is an actor, and he’s not anywhere close to being successful at the age of 28. It speaks to the millennial mindset of dreaming big, and then having to keep on dreaming, because to give up would destroy your soul a little bit.
While for the most part, I enjoyed the plot, if I’m being honest, parts of this storyline didn’t sit too well with me. The idea of Justine jeopardising her job, and her integrity, to convince the guy she likes to give her a chance seems borderline crazy, and more than a little manipulative. While I can see why that could fall under the banner of personal preference more than anything else, at times, it did throw me out of the story, and it would take a little bit of trudging to get back into it again.
In terms of writing style, Star-Crossed is surprisingly intelligent and it’s the wittiness and banter between characters that really kept it interesting. Darke doesn’t fall victim to plot line or prose, but rather, she has chosen to let her characters drive the plot forward, and it’s that feature what makes this a spectacularly easy book to fall into and read. As a little aside, I will point out that this book is incredibly Australian, both in landscape but also in language. It’s absolutely full of colloquialisms and shorthand that are bound to trip you up unless you’ve already got a solid understand of the land down under.
The acknowledgements at the end of Star-Crossed say that Darke wrote this book to amuse herself, and you, the reader, and I think that perhaps nothing describes it better than that. Nothing thing about Star-Crossed is difficult to read, unless you don’t understand Australian idioms, and it is exactly as advertised: a sweet and easy rom-com perfect for a weekend afternoon read.
Star-Crossed is available now from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
Will you be reading Star-Crossed? Or have you read it already? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Minnie Darke’s STAR-CROSSED, pitch as in the vein of THE ROSIE PROJECT, about a magazine editor who, after bumping into an old friend she’s secretly loved for years, begins to make “unauthorized” alterations to her publication’s preeminent horoscopes column, the one he relies on to guide his direction in life, resulting in far-reaching and unintended ripple effects, to Hilary Rubin Teeman at Crown.
