✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰ 
• 9 August 2020
• Standalone
• Children/YA Drama Love Story
• Children/YA Drama Love Story
★★★★★
4.75 Stars
… he walked a tightrope five stories up just to hold my hand.
Gaze: I moved into the building next to Pixie when I was eleven. She blew bubbles through my window. I shot my Nerf gun through hers. We both had secrets, but one of us was fated to get hurt. I wanted it to be me.
Pixie: When I was afraid of the dark, he would shine a light in my window. We shared our popsicles and I taught him how to get a good swing on the playground. I never imagined I’d have to decide who got to live and who didn’t. I chose him --and he could never know.
They met on her 12th birthday. They're neighbors. Their bedroom windows are across an alley from each other. They don't live in the best neighborhood. Her mom is working three jobs and his dad is a mean drunk. But Gaze and Pixie have each other. They're enjoying life. Summer will soon be over and school will start. Exciting things and adventures are coming.
But the happily ever after makers are not yet ready for those two...
What will happen to Pixie & Gaze?
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT ☺
I was so scared to start reading this. The blurb was way too scary/sad/heartbreaking/vague for my tastes. But I just had to read this book!
First of all - beautiful cover!
And I loved Gaze and Pixie. They are so adorable and sweet and innocent and it's all so heartbreaking and sad and hard - the way they have to grow up. Ugh. I wanted to jump into the book and adopt them or something.
I loved how Pixie knows everything and everyone in the neighborhood. Poor Gaze would've been lost without her in the beginning! Adorable!
For the first half of the book we see how those two 12 year olds try to survive everyday life.
And then, fast forward a bit, after we kinda barely suvived our early teenage years we meet again. But their story... it's only just beginning.
Ugh! I just loved this book.
I can't really say much more than that. I don't want to spoil anything. I want to say so much. I want to tell you ALL THE THINGS!!!
It was a beautiful love story.
A beautiful and heartbreaking story about two sweet kids from broken homes fighting their way through unimaginable horrors to just survive and then to maybe one day get that happily ever after we sooo want for them.
Amazing story!
If I had to find some things I didn't love? I don't like it when I don't have a real city. I need to imagine a real place in my head. I think it's never actually said that we're in New York - I just imagined it like that in my head - and we go to Poughkeepsie for a bit, so we're in New York.
But I prefer having real cities and places and parks and streets et cetera.
And then the two parts of the book. I loved it all. So much. But. I would've preferred to have more of the second part. There was a bit too much children story for my tastes. 30% or so of the story would've been enough for their childhood.
BUT as I said - I loved this book!
Will there be a HEA?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT ☺
I was so scared to start reading this. The blurb was way too scary/sad/heartbreaking/vague for my tastes. But I just had to read this book!
First of all - beautiful cover!
And I loved Gaze and Pixie. They are so adorable and sweet and innocent and it's all so heartbreaking and sad and hard - the way they have to grow up. Ugh. I wanted to jump into the book and adopt them or something.
I loved how Pixie knows everything and everyone in the neighborhood. Poor Gaze would've been lost without her in the beginning! Adorable!
For the first half of the book we see how those two 12 year olds try to survive everyday life.
And then, fast forward a bit, after we kinda barely suvived our early teenage years we meet again. But their story... it's only just beginning.
Ugh! I just loved this book.
I can't really say much more than that. I don't want to spoil anything. I want to say so much. I want to tell you ALL THE THINGS!!!
It was a beautiful love story.
A beautiful and heartbreaking story about two sweet kids from broken homes fighting their way through unimaginable horrors to just survive and then to maybe one day get that happily ever after we sooo want for them.
Amazing story!
If I had to find some things I didn't love? I don't like it when I don't have a real city. I need to imagine a real place in my head. I think it's never actually said that we're in New York - I just imagined it like that in my head - and we go to Poughkeepsie for a bit, so we're in New York.
But I prefer having real cities and places and parks and streets et cetera.
And then the two parts of the book. I loved it all. So much. But. I would've preferred to have more of the second part. There was a bit too much children story for my tastes. 30% or so of the story would've been enough for their childhood.
BUT as I said - I loved this book!
DROWNING IN STARS was such a heartbreakingly beautiful kids-YA-coming-of-age-family-drama-love-story!! I just adored Pixie & Gaze! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Gaze - this one is MINE!!!!
Also - I NEED a spin-off for a certain scarf-wearer!
The blurb for Drowning In Stars had me scared. I knew just from those few words that this was going to be a tough, emotional read.
Boy, was that an understatement.
Pixie and Gaze's story wrecked me. Completely and utterly. I didn't know if I was going to tear up or throw my reader across the room as I turned each page.
You could feel the heat of summer in NYC, could hear the sounds of kids playing in the streets. Could really visualise the area where our lovelies were living.
Gah. I want to tell you everything, but this is a book that you need to immerse yourself in after diving in blind. Really. You do.
There is pain. There is heartache. There is just so much everything.
Buy it. Read it - no, devour it.
I can't wait to see what Ms Anastasia brings us next.
♥ EXCERPT ♥
If
she was superman she couldn’t have timed it better because the fire alarm went
off. I followed the flow out the door, the teachers closing doors and flicking
out lights. I didn’t like how Megan and Ashlin snickered with each other.
They
gathered near a group of girls that all had their phones out. Their attention
was pinned on a door like they were cats ready for a mouse to pop out.
It
was cold outside. I stood near my last class, but it was more a loose cluster.
When the door finally popped open, the fire alarm was starting to give me a
headache.
The
spoils of mean laughter made me grit my teeth. I’d been bullied enough to know
that that particular noise was always accompanied by someone else’s pain.
Her
hair was shorter than when we were kids, but her face was an instant balm to my
raw heart.
Pixie.
But
I went from calm to confusion. My normally gutsy Pixie looked like she was
trapped in her worst nightmare. She hung her head for a few beats of the alarm.
Flashes went off. The crew of girls snapping pictures.
Pixie
was hugging her body and I realized why with a gasp. She was only in a pair of
underwear. She was topless and hugging her breasts as a way to cover herself.
I
jumped through the kids in front of me, using their shoulders to hold myself up
and swing my long legs through. I flat out sprinted to get to Pixie, peeling
off my basketball jacket from my old school as I moved. I covered her from the
front, pulling the arms behind her back.
She
looked up in my eyes. Her confusion and relief collided.
I
slipped my sweat pants off and held them out to her feet. She stuck them in one
and at a time and then jumped so I could yank them up the rest of the way.
The
world swirled around us, blurry and useless. I used the time to cuddle her to
me, holding the jacket closed while she wiggled her arms inside. I leaned over
her and snapped up the back.
She
was covered.
“Gaze?”
She held up her hand, well it was her hand but it was dwarfed by the extra
fabric of my long jacket on her. She almost touched my face before squinting.
“You can’t be?”
I
watched as her soul knew what her brain refused to come to terms with.
“I
am. It’s me and I’m back.”
Teachers
came into our orbit, asking questions. The snide assholes were there too, but
the pictures and video continued, I saw it in my peripheral. I’m sure my boxer
briefs were super exciting.
Pixie
pushed on my chest. “Are you cold?”
“No.” It was her. I could still smell her
strawberry shampoo and tsee the small dusting of freckles on the bridge of her
nose. They were my own personal constellation that I’ve always wished on a
million times.↓ LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR ↓
Other Books by Debra Anastasia:
Check out For All The Evers:
Debra creates pretend people in her head and paints them on the giant, beautiful canvas of your imagination. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and writes new adult angst and romantic comedies. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two amazing children.
