I’m so excited! People have been reading advance copies of Looking at the Stars and they’re putting up their reviews online, and there have been some LOVELY comments!
First there was this one from the wonderfully-named PetrovaFossil on The Guardian Books Blog:
“Looking at the Stars is one of the best, if not the BEST book I have ever read. With great descriptions and a gripping plot, I think it should win an award – my highest compliments to the author!…
I love this book, particularly the characters; my favourite one would have to be the main character Amima. She speaks her mind and is bold and imaginitive. I particularly like the way her character develops and how she grows to be much more compassionate towards her sister and Aron in particular!
The imagery and description is something I would also like to compliment the author on; I always knew the scene and what was going on, which in my opinion is quite hard when you are writing about something like this.
In conclusion, I think that Jo Cotterill is an amazing author and I shall be very upset if there is no sequel; when there is, I shall be first in line to buy it!”
Then I came across two more today on GoodReads – thank you to the lovely readers who said such nice things! I am grinning all over my face this evening 😀
Rebekah Johnson said: “I won on Goodreads first reads and WOW!
I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the book as in place of a summary there was a quote (though i do love it) but Looking at the Stars is an incredible read…
One of the things really loved about this novel was the stories that Amina tells at night and i found myself just as captivated and mesmerized as Lemo or Tiger or … any other character who camped out to hear her tales. This book was well written and i was constantly waiting for the next disaster to strike …
Overall this book was full of hope and even after having a little cry at the end i felt stirred by the courage of Amina and her stories.”
(Rebekah ends her review on GoodReads with a plea for more information about the relationships between some of the characters – Rebekah, I promise that if there’s a sequel, I’ll write more about them!)
And Sarah said: “Through it all Amina weaves her stories about the stars bringing hope to families who have lost so much already. A beautifully tragic book filled with hope and inspiration.”
I love Sarah’s last line. That’s what I hope people will take away from my book – that things can get really, really bad, but that even in the darkest places there can be hope.
Writing is a weird job. You sit in your room writing stuff that comes only from your own brain, and it can feel so removed from the rest of the world. And yet…and yet you HOPE that people will one day read it and feel what you’re feeling when you agonise and rejoice with your characters. That’s the best bit of writing – when you know that someone has read your story and really got it – and I think most authors will agree with me 🙂
Jo Cotterill 