Jamie's Reviews > Sprinkled in the Stars

I've had this book on my radar as to be read for a while now after a few really positive reviews came out late last year and early this year, but additionally some people criticizing the meetcute for the characters cooled me on it at the same time. So after I started it I fell... right in the middle of the two camps but overall did enjoy this book overall.

Sprinkled in the Stars follows AJ Beckett and Melanie Cooper. Melanie is an A-list movie star who is completely over the life of a celebrity after feeling drained of creative passion, having no privacy, and being painted as cold by the press. At the same time AJ Beckett is a single mother struggling to make ends meet while raising her autistic 6 year old daughter Parker. AJ and Melanie keep meeting and it doesn't always go well, but when encouraged to open up to each other new worlds begin to open up to each.

So I'm gonna start this review with my criticism and then move into the book's strengths which is not how I normally outline my reviews but I think it's fitting for this book.

I wasn't a fan of the circumstances that drove Melanie and AJ together. Or at least the first few times. It really seemed really contrived and cringy to me and not funny or entertaining to me- in a literary standpoint. I understand why some people found this a turn off to the book and not finishing.

Fortunately, I loved all of the characters individually. Melanie, AJ, and Parker are all really lovable, nuanced, and interesting to me. And I figured that I persevere into the book when they all are comfortable with each other that I'll get into the book a lot more as I was into the characters. And fortuitously, this decision 100% worked. To me, when the book started to get going it really got going. The chemistry between Mel and AJ clicked for me, and I loved how both women interacted with Parker, particularly Mel. It was great and so heartwarming.

This was Violet Morley's debut and I'll be definitely looking forward to other books by her. The plot left a little to be desired by me, but the character work was lovely. 4/5