Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers: REVIEW + GIVEAWAY starring... A Wilderness of Stars by Shea Ernshaw

Our second feature of the day finds me playing host to a spot on the Rockstar Book Tours promotion featuring a title that released last month via Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers! It's a story that will have you looking to the stars as we venture forth with our brave female lead on a journey planned for, but never quite expected. Check out my review, stop by the other sites on the tour, and make sure to enter the giveaway!

Title: A WILDERNESS OF STARS

Author: Shea Ernshaw

Pub. Date: November 29, 2022

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 400

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

Deluxe edition with special embellishments on first printing only!

In this magical romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, an illness cursing the land forces a teen girl astronomer to venture across the wilderness in search of the stars’ message that will, hopefully, save them all.

When all is lost, look to the stars.

Vega has lived in the valley her whole life—forbidden by her mother to leave the safety of its borders because of the unknown threats waiting for her in the wilds beyond. But when Vega sees an omen in the sky—one she cannot ignore—she is forced to leave the protective boundaries of the valley. Yet the outside world is much more terrifying than Vega could have ever imagined. People are gravely sick—they lose their eyesight and their hearing, just before they lose their lives.

But Vega has a secret: she is the Last Astronomer—a title carried from generation to generation—and she is the only one who understands the knowledge of the stars. Knowledge that could hold the key to a cure. So when locals spot the tattoo on Vega’s neck in the shape of a constellation—the mark of an astronomer—chaos erupts. Fearing for her life, Vega is rescued by a girl named Cricket who leads her to Noah, a boy marked by his own mysterious tattoos.

On the run from the men hunting her, Vega sets out across the plains with Cricket and Noah, in search of a fabled cure kept secret by the astronomers. But as the line between friends and protectors begins to blur, Vega must decide whether to safeguard the sacred knowledge of the astronomers…or if she will risk everything to try to save them all.

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She's on the run with nowhere to go, no one to count on, and nothing to her name...except her memories of her mother, the lessons she was taught, and the knowledge that she may very well hold the key to unlocking the mystery of what's happening in the outer world, solving the riddle and saving mankind.

Have I caught your attention yet?

I thought I might.

It really was an epic read. I was pulled in from the start as we get to know Vega in her rawest form. She's losing someone she loves, trying to find strength in body and spirit to follow through on what she knows she must do, and still holding it all together...a feat most would wilt at, let alone a 17 year old girl. She's been groomed, mentally, by her mother for the journey unfolding before her, and yet that doesn't make it any less hard to believe when it comes to pass, any easier to trust in the legends as she moves forward, and any less dangerous to her and those she encounters. It's curious because there are threads that tie it to our reality, and yet confounding because it can be hard to imagine a time when knowledge, or at least this type of knowledge, would be worth taking a life, literally or figuratively, for.

A great read for Young Adult Fiction fans, teen years and up, for the originality, adventure, and unforgettable moments along the way. If this one isn't on your wish list, or GIFT LIST, I'd correct it post haste!

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About Shea Ernshaw:

Shea Ernshaw is a NYT bestselling author and winner of the Oregon Book Award. Her books have been published in over nineteen countries, and her novels A History of Wild Places, The Wicked Deep, and Winterwood were Indie Next Picks. She lives in a small mountain town in Oregon, and is happiest when lost in a good book, lost in the woods, or writing her next novel.

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~~~ YOUR CHANCE TO WIN~~~

1 winner will receive a finished copy of A WILDERNESS OF STARS, US Only.

Ends December 20th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Special thanks to the Rockstar Book Tours team for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the publisher for the copy for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, so click on over to your favorite online retailer or visit your local brick and mortar to grab your copy today! Catch the rest of the tour for more!

Tour Schedule

Week One:

11/21/2022

YA Books Central

Excerpt/IG Post

11/22/2022

Kait Plus Books

Excerpt/IG Post

11/23/2022

Wickedbeebooks

Review/IG Post

11/24/2022