When Stars Come Out
Scarlett St. Clair quickly became one of my favorite authors last winter (2024) when I read her Persephone X Hades Series, "A Touch of Darkness." I have even had the absolute pleasure of meeting her in person during a signing, as well as engaging in fun conversation via her Cult of Scarlett (unofficial name) Facebook group.
With that being said, my review may be skewed by bias -- regardless of my efforts to be unbiased here. "When Stars Come Out" is the second to last book of Scarlett's that I had to read. I'm currently reading her latest fairy tale retelling, "Apples Dipped in Gold." When I complete that read, I will have read all of her novels.
So, when it comes to "When Stars Come Out," I was pleasantly surprised by the story! Scarlett often uses her expertise in Greek mythology within her writing, and this reimagining of Orpheus & Eurydice was incredibly creative!
It's a stand-alone novel (Or so it is for now -- her book series for this storyline was paused), but I could totally read more installments of this story, especially since Scarlett built a solid magic system. Unlike her other work, the romance was fairly PG. I'm used to her novels containing graphic sexual relations between lovers, and this romance was more sweet and slow-building.
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WARNING: SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
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“The only correlation I've made is that the longer I'm away from her, the worse the feeling gets.
I hate it.”
I do wish we got to see a stronger relationship between Anora and Shy. However, I do love how Shy's jealousy is depicted, especially when Anora spends so much time with Thane.
The plot twist with Lennon also surprised me, to be honest. Normally, I can suspect when characters are going to develop or change, but I didn't pick up on her character's involvement. I just thought she was a supporting character who innocently wanted to be friends with Anora because Lennon was odd too. I guess I could have seen it when Lennon said she wasn't friends with Lily, and I did think to myself that it was odd. But I just wrote it off like Lily and the shadow knights in training were too cool for Lennon. Plus, there were no indications that Lennon knew Anora and the others could see the dead.
I really hope Scarlett comes back to this series in the future, I think it could be super popular among the YA crowd and those who aren't as into smut as me.
Until then, I am SO excited for her upcoming series: Terror at the Gates! Also, Adrian x Isolde's "Born of Flames and Sacrifice," "Kingdom of Spirit and Shadow," and her Persephone X Hades novella: "A Christmas of Chaos!"
