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One hour later (yes, I read fast) I had read it cover to cover.
Stella's main concern this summer is getting an invite to the coveted after party of popular girl Talia and handling her consuming anxiety, especially since her dad took her out of therapy. She hopes this will be her gateway to a friend-filled summer, leading into finally feeling like she belongs in 7th grade. Then her dad comes back from his business trip to Las Vegas with exciting news. He's met his old college girlfriend, they're engaged, and they're going to spend the next two weeks in Vegas. Stella's excitement over getting her coveted invitation is dimmed by the rapid series of events and her stress increases when her aunt slips her a letter from her mom, who had disappeared into her opioid addiction.
When they arrive, Stella is reluctantly appreciative of Whitney, her dad's fiancee, who shares Stella's need for order and organization. She's surprised by how friendly her soon-to-be stepsister, Vivian is, even though she's fifteen, and the two make a cautious pact over their shared anger at their parents' abrupt changes to their life. Vivian doesn't want to leave Las Vegas, her friends, her school, or her dad. Stella doesn't want to leave Washington's forests for the blinding heat of Las Vegas, especially when she might actually be connecting to new friends. She turns to astrology to try and find answers, as well as a solution for breaking up their parents' engagement, but the more she gets involved, the more confused she gets. To add to her distress, her mom, freshly out of rehab, shows up again and wants to start rebuilding her relationship, her younger brother seems just fine with moving to Vegas, and she's starting to have feelings for the younger brother of a friend of Vivian's.
The ending is a perfect storm of emotion, incidents, and failed communication as Stella tries to figure out a solution that will leave everyone happy - but maybe that's not possible? In the end, the adults take a step back and really listen to their kids and as a family they come to a decision that everyone is willing to try.
Stella is a strongly realistic character, struggling with her longings for friendship, her anxiety, and the trauma resultant from her mom's addiction. There are no stereotyped villains or mean kids - even Talia, the vaunted "popular" girl, turns out to be a kind friend who has her own family challenges. Stella's mom is bluntly honest in her apologies for her past mistakes and realistic about the challenges she faces in her effort to battle her addiction. Although readers might wonder why Stella's dad wasn't more honest with her before (and didn't let her keep going to therapy) it's a very realistic twist that as Stella grows older both she and her parents have to adjust to seeing her as a more independent person and work on being more open and honest about themselves as adults, not just parents. This is complicated by her parents' desire to make up to her for the past when she covered for her mom's addiction.
Verdict: The library I borrowed this from put it in young adult, but it's solidly middle grade/middle school, in my opinion. Stella's romance never goes farther than hand holding and a brief kiss and her emotional struggles and anxieties are something many kids can relate to. I don't have a huge audience for this type of realistic fiction, but I do have a solid core of readers who will love this. For those concerned about the astrology aspects, it's treated from many different perspectives, both from skeptics to true believers, to the firm reminder to be respectful of others' beliefs. If you have the audience for this type of realistic fiction, this is a strong addition to your library.
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