Oooh two of the tropes I love are Toxic Friendships and Campus Novels. I love them. Love, love, love them and so I was thrilled when I read Stargazer because it combined the two. A little bit Single White Female, Stargazer focuses on the friendship between Diana and Aurelle. Whilst they have been friends for a relatively short time the relationship takes place during that period of discovery, when friendships mean the absolute world to you. However, Diane becomes very envious of everything Aurelle has and wants a bit of that for herself. The more time the spend together, the more Diane infringes on Aurelle's life.

This is when the novel takes its creepy turn.

Stargazer is a book that creeps up and down your body making you have a visceral reaction to what is happening. When a novel can have you looking over your shoulder in fear then you know you have written something good.

Stargazer by Laurie Petrou is available now.

For more information regarding Laurie Petrou (@lauriepetrou) please visit www.lauriepetrou.com.

For more information regarding Verve Books (@VERVE_Books) please visit their Twitter account.

I enjoyed this a lot! Never thought I'd enjoy reading about WASPs but the complicated female friendships were enough to get me hooked. Very compelling and immersive.

Ever felt like your life was hurtling towards an inevitability that you could see but just couldn't stop? That's what this book felt like.

The story follows Aurelle and Diana - two rich girls who meet as teenagers as their family's summer houses are next to each other. Brought together in difficult circumstances, they very quickly fall into an intense friendship to the exclusion of all others. They decide to attend college together, staying in the cottages across the lake from the college campus. They each throw themselves into different elements of college life - Diana into her work as an artist, and Aurelle into her reputation as a party girl.

Over their first year at college, their differences start to cause a rift between them and they hurtle towards the end of the year, and towards their different destinies.

The book started slowly and is very character driven, letting the reader into insights in the history and characters of each of the girls and their developing relationship and motivations. It is astute, showing loneliness in a crowd of people and how money does not buy stability and a sense of belonging. I found the relationship between the two girls very interesting - although never fully described as a romantic relationship, there is an interdependency and an element of controlling and coercive behaviour which set my teeth on edge and is almost minimised by those around them as they are friends. Had this been a male - female relationship, I feel like their friends and family would have picked up on this sooner.

There are questions raised about art vs real life - is it justified to use a friendship with a person for art? I felt like this had echoes of A Little Life with Jude and JB . Can a friendship survive seeing yourself echoed back in how you are perceived through the eyes of a loved one? And is this then exacerbated if the person becomes successful and these images are disseminated further? What role does the media play in this, and the art world? Surely at some point someone should be brave enough to stand up and say that enough is enough.

The ending of the book felt shocking, and yet also inevitable. I felt like I couldn't imagine this ending in any other way. For such a short book, it certainly packed an emotional punch.

Three stars given as the writing was beautiful and the ending was perfect, but the book felt slow to start and I almost lost interest a number of times when repeatedly reading about the differences between the two families and how this formed their friendship.

This book follows two young women, Diana and Aurelle. It’s mainly set in 1995 where the women attend Rocky Barrens University (shortened to RBU), but the timeline goes back to 1994, when they became best friends.

Both girls come from wealth and privilege, Aurelle being the daughter of Marianne Taylor, a famous fashion designer. Aurelle craved the normalcy of Diana’s family, and Diana wanted the special relationship Aurelle shared with her mother, Marianne. Diana’s parents were grieving over the death of their son, Keith and had no time for their daughter. Diana started spending more time at the Taylors’ house and felt like a part of their family, another daughter, and Marianne her second mother.

When the young women start university, Diana studying art and Aurelle literature, they quickly enter the world of parties, alcohol and drugs.

However, things begin to change when Diana starts painting for the upcoming exhibition and becomes so engrossed in her artwork, neglecting her friendship with Aurelle.

Aurelle loses herself in drugs and booze, and doesn’t perform as well academically as her friend.

When the night of the exhibition arrives, Aurelle’s and Diana’s lives will never be same again. Both are unaware of the devastating consequences looming ahead…

I loved this dark and twisty tale, especially the darker nature of Diana’s character. She was a person who wanted to love and be loved, but at the slightest hint of betrayal, she would turn her love into hate.

Aurelle was a sweet natured girl who didn’t want the life of fame, and being constantly compared to her mother. She thought that going to the RBU would change things, that she could reinvent herself.

I was very shocked to read the chapter about the art exhibition and what Diana did. I felt that she stooped very low, but to her it was the ultimate act of revenge.

Overall, it’s a great page turner, I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to the publisher Verve Books for approving my NetGalley request.

I love how the author puts friendships in light as we see the inseparable Diana and Aurelle.
Love the setting and also the fact that it's 1995.
It's brilliant

I just put this book down about 10 minutes ago, it took me a few minutes to organize my thoughts....

The first thing I can tell you is this was a captivating thriller that will leave you gasping often. The amount of obsession written between the pages had me in constant disbelief and questioning "does this really happen?" .

Stargazer is a dark read that shows just how far people will go for revenge. This is a character driven novel that outlines the complicated dynamics of female friendships.

This book is under 300 pages and I literally flew right through it. I was left a bit numb at how far someone would take revenge BUT I do want to go into too much detail and spoil anything for everyone else.

I will say this, I loved how this was short and to the punch, there was no dragging or repetitiveness and it held a lot of shock factor. I highly recommend Stargazer!

I was drawn to this book by its cover , so eye catching and captivating and perfect for this unsettling book.

I really enjoyed this. I was drawn into the story quickly and particularly enjoyed the fact it was set in 1995, I was close to the ages of Diane and Aurelle in 1995 and I can remember that time vividly. I find it hard to describe why I enjoyed this so much, it is more how the book made me feel than the plot perhaps. Such an atmospheric read and the tension built so slowly as the story unfolded. I love a coming of age story and this is one of the best ones I have read. The ending left me unsettled but satisfied. I insisted my 16 year old read it now and will be recommending this one.


I will read some of the authors other books based on the strength of this one.

This was an excellent story of two friends and the rifts and divides between them. A brilliant character study, I read this in one go.

I’d describe this book as realistic fiction. The author has done an amazing job at creating imaginary characters and situations that depict the world and society. The characters focus on themes of growing, self-discovery and confronting personal and social problems. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

Stargazer is an exploration of female friendship, following the intertwined lives of Diana and Aurelle as they grow into young women. The all consuming relationship between female friends is perhaps unique and often one of adoration/replication. In this novel, Diana begins as the less accomplished, less 'seen' of the two girls as she becomes consumed by Aurelle and her family's glimmering world of fame. Secrets are exposed and hierarchies switched as the girls move into college life. Now Diana has the 'fame' where does the balance stand and can their friendship survive.

Primarily about female insecurities this book is an interesting if slightly predictable read with an echo of Gatsby excess.

the setting is what stands out in this novel but other than that i had a hard time feeling particularly engaged by this.

Really couldn’t put this book down. Such an insightful work on female friendships/relationships and how different points in life trigger different feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley, Laurie Petrou and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story revolved around 2 characters, Aurelle, the daughter of a famous fashion designer who finds it hard to live in her mother’s shadow, and Diana, who lives next door and wants nothing more than to be a part of Aurelle’s seemingly perfect family, especially after the death of her brother. Their entire friendship becomes more toxic throughout, especially when Diana answers a phone call meant for Aurelle which sends her spiralling. From that moment on I especially grew to dislike her, but I also have to say I loved her dark side at the end.

I also loved the themes of obsession, jealousy and toxicity throughout this book, and the ending has left me in silence still trying to process it. It’s definitely a book that I’ll never forget.

I loved getting to know the characters Diana and Aurelle. Their friendship started to build through pain and mourning.
Their relationship went from strength to strength being best friends. I loved them together. Everything changes when they move and start at university.
Cracks start to show and the drama unveils. I loved this book and would reccomend.

Diana and Aurelle are next door neighbours who become best friends and go off to college together. So far, so straightforward? This is anything but - it’s a gritty, prickly slant on the campus novel: there’s personal tragedy, toxic female friendship, the dangers of fame and ambition and if that weren’t enough there’s love, art, envy and dark obsession!
Apart from the sometimes clunky references to bands and artists, I enjoyed this coming of age novel - it’s pacy, compelling and well written.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

A dark, character-driven tale of friendship and fame, of pushing to get what you want, even when it means hurting people in the process of achieving your goals.

I found this story a little repetitive. I realise it was trying to build the strong feelings and relationships throughout, and teach the author of the motivations behind the actions, but I just felt it was really hammered home in places. I enjoyed the second half much more than the first.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings:
Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Stargazer is a darkly compelling character-driven read, a tale of the complexities of female friendship and what happens when the dynamics of a relationship turn a friendship into something much darker. It is a relatively short book but it is full of simmering tension and one that had me gripped from beginning to end.

Diana and Aurelle, both brought up in a life of privilege, have been neighbours for years, but it takes a tragic accident in Diana’s family for them to become friends - and when they do they become inseparable. Aurelle is a bit of a dreamer, the daughter of a famous fashion designer mother who has reluctantly lived life in the spotlight as a result; Diana, an often prickly, talented artist, envies Aurelle’s close family which is totally unlike her own where she feels largely overlooked by her parents and longs to be part of Aurelle’s family. They decide to attend the same university and even live together in a house owned by Diana’s family, but as the year progresses, their intense friendship turns toxic, with shocking consequences.

Petrou’s character development is exceptional and as a reader you really do feel you get to to know Diana and Aurelle, and their personalities in all their complexities leap off the page. Set in the 90s at a university campus in Canada, there is a strong sense of time and place - the rave scene, the music, the fashion and the casual drug use, whilst at the same time the rural setting is used to great effect, its remoteness really coming to life and adding to the sense of menace that exists through the book. Petrou’s writing style is quiet but compelling with an ever-present tension that kept me turning the pages.

I love a good coming of each story. I love the back-and-forth between the two points of views. I thought the description was done very well and I could vividly see each scene clearly. I thought that the characters both were pretty flawed but that they were poised in a way that they were still very likable

- thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an early review.

I’m reminded after reading this book that sometimes the less you know about a book before reading it, the more you get out of it.

Stargazer was published yesterday and it is a heady rush. I love a campus novel; this one is set mainly in the fictitious rural college Rocky Barrens in Canada.

Aurelle and Diana are preparing to embark on their freshman year together at college.

Aurelle is a dreamer, a budding poet and the daughter of Marianne Taylor, a successful fashion designer and mother of four. Diana is a promising artist and isn’t close to her well-heeled but reserved parents.

The girls have lived next door to each other all their lives but have only become close over the year prior to starting college. As the year progresses, their intense, loving friendship turns toxic, with consequences for both.

Quietly addictive and written in clean, clear-eyed prose, this became more gripping the further into I got. An atmospheric literary thriller that explores themes like friendship, jealousy and privilege, it does feel somewhat YA, but that only means it can be enjoyed by all ages. There’s nothing groundbreaking in here but it certainly makes for very enjoyable summer reading. 3.5/5 ⭐️

*Stargazer by Laurie Petrou was published yesterday by indie publisher @vervebooks. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance digital copy via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*