{"id":3359,"date":"2019-07-04T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T08:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/araopenpages.com\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2019-07-04T16:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T08:00:12","slug":"review-a-pocketful-of-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/?p=3359","title":{"rendered":"review; a pocketful of stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"a<\/p>\n

\"43667892._SY475_\"Title:<\/strong> A Pocketful Of Stars<\/em>
\nAuthor:<\/strong> Aisha Bushby
\nGenre:<\/strong> MG, contemporary
\nType:<\/strong> Paperback
\nPublisher: <\/strong>Egmont<\/p>\n

When I next open my eyes, I\u2019m back… in front of the house again.<\/em>
\nIt\u2019s night time. The stars wave hello, like they\u2019ve been expecting me.<\/em>
\nThe door of the house, Mum\u2019s house, is wide open, like it expects me too.<\/em>
\nThis time, I go inside…<\/em><\/p>\n

Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn\u2019t understand Safiya\u2019s love of gaming and Safiya doesn’t think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange alternative world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there\u2019s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"review\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I received this copy in exchange for an honest review from Definitely Books (Pansing). All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you Pansing!<\/em><\/p>\n

This book is available where all good books are.<\/em><\/p>\n

I do not usually read MG novels, but first, when I saw the cover, I fell in love. And then I read the synopsis, and I knew I had to read the book.<\/p>\n

This was 200 odd pages of pure emotion, honestly. Our main character is a young gamer who finds she cannot connect with her mother, and whose friendship with her best friend is changing, and when her mother suffers a sudden stroke and falls into a coma, her life is turned on it\u2019s head. Add to that the fact she starts seeing flashes of her mother as a young woman when she visits her in the hospital, reminiscent of a video game, and things are definitely confusing.<\/p>\n

The story could have been very preachy? I feel? But it unfolded in a very raw and real way, and balanced a very whimsical and magical feel with the very true emotions of a young woman scared of losing her mother and also watching her best friend grow up and feeling like she is being left behind.<\/p>\n

I feel like I connected with this on multiple levels because I grew closer with my mom as I got older, and now I have a young daughter of my own, and mother-daughter dynamics are a HUGE PART of this story. It was handled all with a subtle nuance that young readers will be able to connect with. And paired with that is a friendship that is changing and growing apart, but also a hopeful note on new beginnings.<\/p>\n

I am so glad to have gotten this novel because I loved it so much!<\/p>\n

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\"a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: A Pocketful Of Stars Author: Aisha Bushby Genre: MG, contemporary Type: Paperback Publisher: Egmont When I next open my eyes, I\u2019m back… in front of the house again. It\u2019s night time. The stars wave hello, like they\u2019ve been expecting me. The door of the house, Mum\u2019s house, is wide open, like it expects me too. This time, I go inside… Safiya and her mum have never seen eye to eye. Her mum doesn\u2019t understand Safiya\u2019s love of gaming and Safiya doesn’t think they have anything in common. As Safiya struggles to fit in at school she wonders if her mum wishes she was more like her confident best friend Elle. But then her mum falls into a coma and, when Safiya waits by her bedside, she finds herself in a strange alternative world that looks a bit like one of her games. And there\u2019s a rebellious teenage girl, with a secret, who looks suspiciously familiar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[552,556,218,6],"class_list":["post-3359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-a-pocketful-of-stars","tag-aisha-bushby","tag-arc-reviews","tag-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/araopenpages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}