Unfortunately, this book didn't exactly meet my expectations. I like novels in verse, and I'm always happy to see more queer middle grade books, but this one felt off somewhat.

A reminder, though: this was my experience which will NOT represent most people, so I'm hoping you will enjoy it.

The Brightest Star continues to follow Stevie and her best friends, Chloe and Andrew. Stevie and Chloe are now in a "friendship relationship" and all of them are learning more about each other and themselves. The novel in verse starts with Stevie's 13th birthday and the friends' first day of secondary school. Most of the story is told from Stevie's POV, but sometimes Andrew's is aligned on the right side of the page. The friends navigate anxiety & uncertainty about themselves, particularly Andrew. This is a good book for uncertain middle schoolers to have some hope and trust in their friends and adults. It did have a couple of my novel in verse pet-peeves, which are no punctuation or varied capitalization. Some of the dialogue didn't seem realistic for 13-year-olds either, and more like very on-the-nose messages to the reader.