When the Stars Align

by Jeanette Grey

[whisperingchapters]

This 2.5 stars review was originally published on Latte Nights Reviews.

Jo thrives to do better, to be better. When an opportunity arises for her to travel to Arecibo, Puerto Rico to do research on the biggest radio-telescope in the world, she jumps at the chance. Her focus is only on doing research, not making friends and certainly not a fling, who comes in the form of Adam.

I saw this cute cover on Netgalley, read “Puerto Rico” in the description and I immediately requested it. I mean, I live in Puerto Rico and this is the first time I find a book where it’s setting is Puerto Rico so I was very pumped and excited. Sadly, I was disappointed. Instead of talking about all of the wonderful things that Puerto Rico has, all the author mentioned was how hot it was over and over and over again. I did liked that the author really embraced and explained very well how the radio-telescope looks. I had never been and it is like… Probably an hour from my home so I had to search for pictures online and ask my friends that have been to it before so I could really picture it. The author also mentioned Mosquito Bay, Vieques, which has a bioluminescent bay that is so gorgeous! I really loved that she incorporated this into the story.

But what truly frustrated me is our main character, Jo. She made me want to stop reading this book a lot of times. I couldn’t connect with her at all—there was no way. I mostly kept reading for Adam and the other research students because they really were entertaining. But Jo acted like an ignorant woman for the most part of the book and would act childish at times. She was doing research along with other students. The girl Jo was rooming with always tried to be nice to her and went out of her length to invite her to their activities and Jo always kept saying she was better off not spending time with them… People who really were genuine and kind. As you can see, I was very frustrated and irritated by Jo. I just wish Jo hadn’t been so unlikable to begin with. There was some character development but I would have loved if she had gone through more development because it was needed. Adam was a sweetheart and a very down-to-earth guy. He really tried to help Jo in changing for the better and would motivate her 24/7.

I think the story was focused solely on Jo, instead of branching out more in her friendships and relationship with her father. I would have loved for the author to explore Jo’s relationship with her dad. Now this is a very big deal throughout the book but it is only mentioned by Jo. She doesn’t spend time with her dad or anything until near the end and it wasn’t much. Even with my rating, I would recommend this book. Just because I didn’t connect with Jo, doesn’t mean others won’t. I stated my reasons for why not liking her but others love characters like Jo so I still would recommend it. And I would still give this author a chance because her writing is really good and the way she describes a scenery is wonderful.