Review: The Star Shack

The Star Shack by Lila Castle

Release Date: June 01, 2010
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: Paperback, 216 pages

Young Adult

Overall:

Pete and Annabelle live for their summers together on Gingerbread Beach. They've always believed they were a perfect pair… until junior year, when Annabelle becomes obsessed with astrology. Now they can hardly stand each other. Pete thinks that Annabelle (a Leo) has become a total flake; Annabelle thinks Pete (a Scorpio) has become an uptight jerk.
When Annabelle dares Pete to open a summer business on the Boardwalk generating personalized horoscopes, their fast-paced, hilarious bickering soon rises to a fever pitch. The he-said/she-said advice of the Star Shack is wildly popular and seems able to fix any relationship problem… except their own.
But when one of Annabelle's star charts helps catch a thief, Pete might have to admit that the stars could really hold the key to the future…and to his own heart.
Synopsis via Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Annabelle and Pete have always spent their summers at Gingerbread beach, it was brought them together.  Nine months apart and several date prospects didn't even phase the two. Who knew what would pull them apart was a little astrology.

Annabelle considered herself a professional, a seasoned vet, of astrology.  She even had a huge box of books she toted with her for her eight weeks spent at the beach.  Heck, she would have taken them over the weekend.  The Stars were what Annabelle lived by, how she won her Fantasy Baseball League and the drama club football pool.  It worked for her. And she believed it.

Pete, a guy who lived day by day and believed in the stuff you could scientifically prove, wasn't exactly on the wave length as the new-New-Age-Annabelle when they visited Gingerbread beach for what would be their last time before graduating high school.  His disbelief in what his best friend, and the girl he thought was meant for him, forced Pete to believe he truly didn't know the girl he had fallen in love with.  Their nights spent emailing and weekends on the phone during their 9 months apart each year, was all a lie to him in many ways.

One thing that Annabelle believed truly, despite everything else, was that Pete was for her.  He was her one chance at true love.  Her soul mate.  She believed you (read: her) only had one.  Another thing Annabelle couldn't believe was that they were truly over.  It had taken her so long to get that first kiss but she knew it meant something.  So while searching for the perfect way to bring astrology into Pete's life and Pete back into hers she dared him, knowing he could never refuse a dare, to open up a summer business which she dubbed The Star Shack.

Who two better to help guide others to love then the two epic love-birds of Gingerbread beach?  Too bad it didn't come without several hiccups.  One in the form of a girl named Sarah.

The Star Shack was a refreshing read.  The astrology provided a great twist to the typical summer beach romance that we all love to read.  Not to mention it had me checking my horoscope for the first time since high school. It was pretty clean where YA Fiction is concerned which was refreshing in it's own right.  Yes, it was a bit cliché and predictable but I loved it nonetheless.

The Star Shack is an adorable, fun, summer read and great for bringing a little warmth your way.

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