SHE DIMS THE STARS by AMBER L. JOHNSON

Who is Audrey Byrd?

Ask her ex-best friend, Cline Somers, and he’ll tell you that she’s the girl who inexplicably stopped talking to him when they were fifteen years old, leaving him with nothing but questions and bitterness for the better part of the next six years.

Ask his roommate, Elliot Clark, and he would say that Audrey is the enigmatic girl who randomly showed up outside a window one day and turned his whole world upside down in a matter of moments.

Ask Audrey herself and she’ll tell you that she has no idea who she is, because her entire life is a lie. However, the older she gets the more she needs answers about who she really is.

What she discovers is a tangled web of secrets better left in the dark.

Some truths do more harm than good.

***Recommended for readers 18+ due to sensitive subject matter, language and situations.

“One year is all it took to change my life completely. One moment to shift it on a different course. One second of a stranger’s kiss—a rock on a window—a call from out of the blue. All of it started with one girl and a question.”

OMG!!! I loved this book!!! It is heart-stoppingly beautiful but has moments of humor as well. I hope everyone will read this AMAZING story. It is incredibly poignant, readable and will hit home with many readers. For others, I hope it will offer insight into a painful and often debilitating condition.

At the center of this story is a summer road trip taken by college roommates Cline and Elliot, along with Cline’s former childhood best friend, Audrey Byrd. Cline and Audrey had some kind of falling out, the reasons for which are slowly revealed over the course of the story. Cline, Elliot and Audrey hit the road to try and help Audrey find out about her past. Audrey is clearly troubled, living with a cold father and a cruel stepmother. But as pieces of her life are eventually uncovered during the trio’s travels, not all is at it seems. Amber Johnson skillfully paints each character in this book carefully and realistically and with lots of humor and wit. The dialogue crackles and pops and provides comic relief to the heavy subject matter.

Elliot was immediately attracted to Audrey and their romance is a slow-burn, born from friendship and understanding and a shared sense of humor. I LOVED these two together and can’t stop thinking about them!

”We’re going to be the greatest love story never told.”

Even if you are not a fan of YA novels, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The deep empathy that Amber Johnson has for her characters shines through on every page of this book. What starts out as a mystery as to why Cline and Audrey’s friendship ended, evolves into a sensitive and deeply sympathetic story about anxiety and depression, and finally, romance.

Audrey battles with being honest with Cline and finally tells him the truth. A series of very dramatic events then unfolds but the author delivers a wonderful and very fitting conclusion for the main characters. I can’t say enough about this story, I loved Audrey and Elliot and the way Elliot treated her. The writing is gorgeous and lyrical and very, very brave. Clever, heartfelt, and with just the perfect amount of heat, She Dims the Stars is my favorite book so far by Amber Johnson.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

”She doesn’t need saving. She never did. I gave her the hero she deserved: herself.”

(ARC provided by the author in return for an honest review.)

About the Author:

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