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When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis

Young adult

When the Stars Lead to You

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Ronni Davis, on your first book!

by Ronni Davis

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Quick take

First love hits hard. And so does mental illness. And so does dealing with racism during your senior year of school.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Romance

    Romance

  • Illustrated icon, Emotional

    Emotional

  • Illustrated icon, 400

    400+ pages

  • Illustrated icon, Social_Issues

    Social issues

Synopsis

Eighteen-year-old Devon longs for two things:

The stars.

And the boy she fell in love with last summer.

When Ashton breaks Devon’s heart at the end of the most romantic and magical summer ever, she thinks her heart will never heal again. But over the course of the following year, Devon finds herself slowly putting the broken pieces back together.

Now it’s senior year, and she’s determined to enjoy every moment of it as she prepares for a future studying the galaxies. That is, until Ashton shows up on the first day of school. Can she forgive him and open her heart again? Or are they doomed to repeat history?

Free sample

Check out a preview of When the Stars Lead to You.

When the Stars Lead to You

Before

Then

You’d think someone who wanted to study the stars would know better than to wish on them. There was no logical reason for me to put so much hope in exploding balls of hydrogen and helium, especially since they were millions of light-years away. But it didn’t matter. Every single night, I turned my head toward the sky, closed my eyes, and dreamed.

Like right now, sitting on the beach during the summer solstice, watching Arcturus rise. The red giant, twenty-five times bigger than the sun, burning brighter than every star in the northern hemisphere, both awed and terrified me. But it also somehow comforted me. Made me feel safe. So I gave him one simple wish: that I’d have the best summer ever.

My cousin Stephanie and her family lived at the beach year-round. Her parents owned one of the souvenir shops and a restaurant here. It was just a few hours’ drive north from my hometown, so I visited every year while my parents did non-church-affiliated (they really wanted everyone to know that part) missionary work in Honduras. If they knew the things Stephanie and I got up to (boys! parties! kissing!), they probably wouldn’t have been so quick to let me go every summer.

I loved these quiet nights before the tourists took over. The tide rolling in, the cool Atlantic waves splashing over my ankles and making me shiver. Pretty soon, they’d be splashing over my knees, then my thighs. I buried my toes in the sand. I liked the way it tickled when the surf carried the grains from under my feet. And I loved the stars scattering all over the sky like diamonds against blue velvet.

This was the dream life.

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Why I love it

I love love stories. And books that mean something. And books that deal honestly and responsibly with mental illness. And books about going after dreams. I love characters that sparkle off the page, with voices so fresh and real it feels as if you know them. This book is all these things.

Devon has always been fascinated by the stars. One summer she meets the troubled Ashton, they fall in love, and then, like that—he vanishes. Now it’s Devon’s senior year and she is focused on pursuing her dream of becoming an astrophysicist. But guess who shows up? Ashton. She has to decide whether or not she can trust him again, and as they get to know each other for the second time, they are faced with challenges—Devon is biracial, Ashton is white, which makes them the target of micro-aggressive racism from those around them. To make matters worse, Ashton is struggling with depression.

This book doesn’t shy away from diving deep—into racism, mental illness, loss—and Ronni Davis writes with sensitivity, humor, understanding, and honesty. But there is also joy on these pages. And so much swoon-worthy love. It’s a gorgeous, powerful, heart-tug of a read.

Member ratings (565)

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Debut authors
View all
This Time Next Year
All We Were Promised
Shark Heart
Lessons in Chemistry
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
How to End a Love Story
Ink Blood Sister Scribe
The Stone Witch of Florence
A Flicker in the Dark
Honey
A Thousand Times Before
Ariadne
The Wishing Game
The Collected Regrets of Clover
The Days I Loved You Most
The Road of Bones
Thistlefoot
Dinner for Vampires
The Wives
Adelaide
Here After
Spitting Gold
The Ministry of Time
Did I Ever Tell You?
Middletide
The Teller of Small Fortunes
Northwoods
This Spells Love
A Short Walk Through a Wide World
The Storm We Made
Dirty Diana
Neighbors and Other Stories
The Husbands
More
You, Again
The Love Hypothesis
Red, White & Royal Blue
The Other Valley
Hard by a Great Forest
Maame
The Circus Train
The Mayor of Maxwell Street
The Other Black Girl
Weyward
The Push
Age of Vice
The Lost Apothecary
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?
One Day in December
Paper Names
We Are the Brennans
Black Cake
The Last Russian Doll
Olga Dies Dreaming
She Started It
Bringing Down the Duke
Somebody's Daughter
The Hacienda
Beautiful Country
Dearest
Lunar Love
Kaikeyi
River Sing Me Home
Love & Other Disasters
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
Sign Here
The Stranger Upstairs
Damnation Spring
The Maid
The Verifiers
A Little Hope
In Every Mirror She's Black
Taste Makers
Fiona and Jane
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Camp Zero
The Last Story of Mina Lee
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
My Body
Honey Girl
Vladimir
Big Friendship
Black Buck
White Ivy
Three Women
White Horse
Someday, Maybe
Peach Blossom Spring
Behold the Dreamers
The Mothers
The Animators
Marlena
Sharp Objects
The Girl Who Smiled Beads
Small Country
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Golden Child
Small Fry
Too Much Is Not Enough
All That You Leave Behind
Doing Justice
Again, But Better
Free Food for Millionaires
Leaving the Witness
On The Clock
All of Us with Wings
Color Me In
Frankly in Love
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them
The Water Dancer
Full Disclosure
When the Stars Lead to You
My Friend Anna
Trick Mirror
The Girl with the Louding Voice
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P
A Burning
The Boy in the Red Dress
Fleishman Is in Trouble
The Beauty in Breaking
The Comeback
The Prophets
Girl A
Arsenic and Adobo
What Comes After
Things We Lost to the Water
The Family
The Keeper of Night
Win Me Something
Four Weekends and a Funeral