I was so excited to receive an ARC of this gritty literary thriller and it didn’t disappoint.

Stargazer tells the story of two best friends who leave their hometown in search of themselves at a university in rural Canada. One friend is trying to escape the notoriety of fame, while the other is desperately trying to reach it, but initially, neither is strong enough to succeed in their quest without the other. Their bond is built upon a mutual need for what the other has, and there’s virtually no line between what they envy and what they love about the other.

As the story progresses, their friendship becomes increasingly twisted and obsessive, where what was once a symbiotic relationship turns into something parasitic and utterly unhinged.

Overall, this was an intoxicating, haunting page-turner that brings the darker, complicated side of intense female relationships into the light. It tells the tale of two friends coming of age and coming into themselves, but at what cost?

Published 23rd June 2022.

Thank you Verve Books for the ARC!

Stargazer by Laurie Petrou, not only looks great on a coffee table or bookshelf but has a story between the covers that will keep you engaged until the final page.

Following the childhood and early adulthood of Diana and Aurelle, the novel teeters on the edge of something darker as both girls explore family expectations, fame and amongst everything, the art of growing up.

I felt a true connection to the characters in this book and truly understood the unity between the two through the pages. Petrou has a way with words, weaving through explosions of descriptive narrative all whilst building a creeping tension.

Petrou really blew my expectations out of the water with this book and I can't wait to see what more the author has in store.

The book is about two girls, Diana and Aurelle. Diana lives in the shadow of her talented big brother, who bullies and belittles his little sister. Diana often looks out to her neighbour’s house, wishing nothing more than to ne a ‘Taylor Girl’ herself. Aurelle is the daughter of the famous fashion designer Marianne Taylor. Despite the opportunities available to her and the glamorous lifestyle having a famous mother allows her, Aurelle wishes she was just a normal teenager and not constantly linked back to her mother’s success.

Following the tragic death of Diana’s brother, Diana and Aurelle become the best of friends and are rarely seen without each other. What at first appears to be nothing more than a sisterhood of two girls, soon leads its ugly head towards obsession.

In the summer of 1995 the girls both attend college together. Soon Diana’s talents as an artist spreads around the campus, and she will stop at nothing to finally succeed. Meanwhile, Aurelle goes back to dreaming of a simpler life and tries to overcome her sadness threw endless parties and taking anything that can help her forget who she is.

This is such a captivating read that kept my attention throughout. Honestly, I was so surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.

An incredible Summer read that is totally enthralling. I love books about friendship and this cast of complex characters had me completely gripped. I also fell in love with Canada!

Set mostly at a lakeside university in Ontario, Canada, this book follows the intense friendship & rivalry between Diana & Aurelle. They say opposites attract.
Diana is craving love; her parents are cold & distant; her brother sadistic. Aurelle is adored but gets swept up in the celebrity life of her mother & longs to escape into anonymity.

The timeline of the early 1990s is perfect for this storyline; if it was set now, with the ever-present social media, I don’t think it would work. The two girls live together in a forest ‘cottage’ & are initially inseparable however, Diana becomes increasingly bitter & Aurelle regresses into a clinging toddler.

Well-structured & written in such a way that you can’t, & don’t want to, predict the story’s path. I’m not going to say anymore. Read it.

This story is about the complexities of female friendships and their impact on our lives. Stargazer toes the line between friendship, love, and obsession so beautifully and realistic to the reader. Aurelle and Diana are next-door neighbors who quickly become inseparable in the form of a friendship. Aurelle and Diana's codependency with each other seems to take a dark turn, with them not being able to function without the other. Both these women are suffering in their ways but ultimately spiral together heartbreakingly.

I found the complex dynamic of these characters fascinating. While there isn't a ton of plot being driven, there is still a lot being offered in this novel. Both Aurelle and Diana's struggles mentally are shown perfectly on the page, making these characters feel real and three-dimensional. Their relationship is somewhat toxic, displayed in a weird and eerie way that makes the book much more enjoyable.

Thank you Netgalley and Verve books for a copy of this arc.
Stargazer is a dark, coming of age thriller which follows two young girls, Diana and Aurelle, as they navigate their how their co-dependent relationship changes and develops throughout their first year at college.
It explores many different topics including the role of female friendships, obsession, jealousy, fame, loneliness, privilege and complex family dynamics.
This is very much a character driven book which lots of descriptive writing and character building in the first half which makes it quite a slow burn. However I felt this added to the intrigue and plot development as you get fully immersed in the college campus and understand the girls motives. The girls were both extreme characters and yet were somehow still relatable and had a vulnerability that despite their questionable behaviour and decisions had me empathising with them. The final part of the book played out in a some what inevitable way yet it still kept me gripped and reading on intently.
Highly recommend for those who enjoy character led thrillers!

A coming of age thriller circling the jealous, obsessive and toxic lives of two best friends, Stargazer is one of those reads that makes you feel unsettled throughout - and has left me torn with how I now feel about it.

One the one hand, I loved the read. Laurie Petrou has a uniquely charming writing style, and her characterisation is spot on for her genre. The recklessness and uncertainty of Diana and, primarily, Aurelle, struck home with being an 18-year-old; lost and literally stumbling through life. It's an intriguing read with a slow burn that pays off at the end - I'm so glad I stuck around.

But stuck around is apt. The middle section of the novel feels like it was dragged out further than necessary, and I found myself getting bored of the build up, something that in hindsight added to the suspense, but didn't help my enjoyment. I also found the twist - as much as I loved it - really rather unrealistic. Which is a shame, because it's one of my biggest draws to the book.

But I loved the exploration of toxic friendships and families, and the complications that come with them. Beautifully written, and, I would say, worth the burn.

I really enjoyed this slightly creepy book about the intense relationship between two girls, one of whom has been obsessed with the other for years.

The two girls come from very different families - despite both being wealthy - and this adds another dimension to the story.

I really liked the unusual setting of the bohemian university, and the use of the landscape throughout the novel was effective. There was one important twist in the novel which I found implausible, and I could see the end coming, but I still really enjoyed this atmospheric and tense novel.

I started off really enjoying this novel, a tale of a destructively close female friendship set in mid to late 90s Canada. However, as it progressed I came to find it increasingly overdramatic and unsophisticated and by the end it was really lacking in nuance - a shame as there are the bones of a good story here. The period setting also doesn’t add as much as I’d hoped but that’s probably personal preference (contrasted with something like Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow, which literally made me feel like I was back in my teenage bedroom, there’s not much here beyond a few music references). Not my cup of tea but thriller fans might enjoy it more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This started so soft and gentle, with two girls supporting each other at a real time of need. The way in which the relationship develops is both surprising and twisty. The book is so intense and I was almost waiting for the climax in anticipation.

The characters are very in depth and complex in their own way which makes you feel a volume of different emotions as the book progresses.

This is totally gripping, you wont want to keep your eyes away from the next page. This is a truly pull you in and spit you out kind of read!

‘Stargazer’ was an incredibly twisted read and I just couldn’t stop reading it! I was completely sucked in by the strange relationship between Aurelle and Diana; the entire story was original and really brought out a darkness that can develop as friendship turns into obsession.
The novel is set in 1995 and follows the unlikely friendship between two young women who lead very different lives despite living next door to one another. Diana is an outsider unable to step away from her belittling brother and Aurelle is a budding celebrity daughter of her fashion designer mother.
The two bond over their privileged but cultivated upbringings as they attend the same college. Those around them don’t understand the friendship but the girls almost feed off of one another and get more entangled in each other’s identity. I loved how dark the story became as Diana’s success as an artist began with Aurelle as her inspiration but also how Aurelle developed a love/hate relationship with fame in the 90’s that really began the celebrity culture we have today. In many ways this book is based on more than a ‘friendship’ it is more a strange dependency and obsessiveness that is so ingrained in those teenage relationships we all went through. I loved the intensity of the story and the changes across the character arcs. It was so well written and I really enjoyed every page.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. Diana Martin has always been envious of the Taylor family next door but it is only in her later teens that she becomes close friends with Aurelle Taylor. They go off to university together , to a woodland campus that seems more like a summer camp. They live together and are completely obsessed with each other. However, things change when Diana starts to receive recognition for her art work, and Aurelle has to take second place. This is quite a disturbing story but I didn't warm to the characters although the setting was very appealing. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Such an immersive read, about two best friends, Diana and Aurelle, and their descent from best friends to something dark.

“ Diana Martin has lived her life in the shadow of her sadistic older brother. She quietly watches the family next door, enthralled by celebrity fashion designer Marianne Taylor and her feted daughter, Aurelle. She wishes she were a 'Taylor girl'. But when burgeoning artist Diana has a chance at fame, cracks start to appear in their friendship. To what lengths is Diana willing to go to secure her own stardom?“

It’s a chilling story of what despair, ambition, loneliness, drugs, fortune, and callousness can do to a friendship. I love a campus-based book and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. The two main characters are written so well, you really feel what they’re feeling, especially poor Aurelle and her feelings of depression and displacement. That ending too, wow!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

It’s the mid ‘90s and two girls are starting university together. There’s the beautiful Aurelle, daughter of a famous fashion designer and heiress to the empire - and Diana, her tall but somewhat plain friend who is a bit odd and whose brother died in the very lake that surrounds the house she lives in.

Diana and Aurelle have an obsessive all-consuming friendship, they are everything to each other but are so sickeningly codependent on each other that it’s not healthy. Their friendship is undisputedly toxic and everybody else can see it except them.

It’s a heady read that flows likes a dazed stream of consciousness rather than a plotted novel - it’s of the genre I like to call ‘limited plot just vibes’ but I really enjoyed it.

If I could sum it up i’d say it’s like reading The Secret History if it had been written by Eve Babitz.

This is a story about female friendship.

The book is quite intense as are the relationships between the friends.

Its a dark book that drags you in and gets you hooked

This is a story about two complex young women and how they both envy the lives of the other while also being completely obsessed and co-dependent on one another. It's definitely one of the more interesting portrayals of female friendship.
Aurelle is the beautiful daughter of a famous designer whose life has been in the limelight since childhood. And she just wants to blend in and be a regular girl. I found her portrayal to be a mixed bag, I understood her aversion to attention but towards the end I didn't understand why she continued to cling onto her friendship with Diana.
Diana is the more flawed and complex character. I felt that Petrou explained her obsession and explored her family life in amazing detail. The way that her life is drop fed and we as the reader see more of how lonely and cold she is.
I actually enjoyed the flitting of the timelines to reveal how their relationship progressed and how they became the two people they became.
It was a great exploration of how everything can lead to one big moment.

Thank you to Netgalley and Oldcastle Books for an advanced digital copy.

This is a strange book. This is the story of the friendship between Diana and Aurelle, who were childhood neighbours from very different families. Diana's parents were indifferent to her and her brother was a bully. Aurelle's mother Marianne was a fashion designer, and celebrity, with a big family and a home full of love. Everyone in the book was manipulative to a certain extent.
Diana and Aurelle become friends through adversity, and go to the same university as Marianne. Diana studies art with Grace, who was a student with Marianne, and is envious of Marianne's success.
At first I felt sorry for Diana, because of her family, but she seemed to change personality through the book becoming even more cruel and ruthless. The story is brutal, and the characters are all shown in their unpleasantness. I didn't really enjoy all this misery.

Summary: They have been neighbours all their lives but it took a tragic accident and 16 years for Aurelle and Diana to meet. They become inseparable and even apply to the prestigious Rocky Barrens University together. Aurelle Taylor is beautiful, with a famous designer mother and perfect family. Diana Martin has wanted to be “a Taylor” as long as she can remember. However, as the girls discover drugs, sex and art at University they find their is a very fine line between love, obsession and jealousy.

Thoughts: I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began this book as the introduction to Aurelle and Diana started slowly. But as soon as they met and I could feel their connection and obsession with each other I was totally captivated. I loved this book so much! Themes of love, jealousy, success, failure, death and everything in between just made it such a complete story and book for me. The depth of the characters of the 2 girls made me fully believe they were real and I can’t stop thinking about them both.

Recommend: Please read this book! Need I say any more?

I’m so torn about this book, which I think I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with. The prose - particularly at the beginning - reads very YA-y, all conveniences and developments that are hard to believe. Then it turns into a psychological examination of a friendship that is so intense it quickly burns out (which is relatable), but between two supremely unlikeable characters; although in my opinion, Diana is clearly the biggest psychopath from the start. My issue is that the reveal of her true nature - which runs alongside Aurelle’s deep-dive into addiction (warning: it heavily glamourises drugs) - drags on a bit too long. Petrou repeats tropes that we have heard numerous times already, in the setting up of the novel. Some even then go on to contradict themselves: for example, I don’t need to know, at 85% into the book, that Diana doesn’t have any friends on her course, because they all find her intimidating and cold - this has been clearly established already. Although I was compelled to keep reading in the first half, by the time the plot started wrapping up I wasn’t too bothered about picking it up - and therefore the ending lost a lot of its impact.