Kit Frick’s debut YA novel, See All the Stars, is part love story, part thriller, part coming-of-age story—and definitely a book to be devoured all in one sitting. Frick, who is also a poet and poetry editor, has a love of words (and, as she puts it, “putting complicated characters in impossible situations”) that is clearly on display in this story about the relationships among four high school students.
Ellory, the narrator, begins the story in June following her sophomore year. She calls it “then.” Then, she was best friends with Bex, Jenni and Ret. To Ellory, her friends are the stars and planets of the solar system. Ret is the bright center sun, and Ellory sees herself as “the moon, dark and cold without the sun’s light. Ellory Holland—constant satellite.” So, when Ret wants to go to a party, Ellory follows. At the party, she meets and falls in love with Matthias Cole—a beautiful but complex boy with plenty of secrets.
See All the Stars shifts between these past events and now—Ellory’s senior year. Now, Ellory is attemping to brave out the school year by hiding in metalwork class and trying to focus on her dream of going to art school in Portland.
Frick deftly keeps the suspense and mystery of what happened “then” just out of reach until the very end, when the pieces fall into place and we can see all the stars—and understand the full nature of the gulf between then and now. Frick’s debut will especially be a treat for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.
