When the Stars Go Blue

I have loved checking in at Free Book Friday and Free Book Friday Teens since I heard about them. Though I had never won a book, I got many ideas for books to buy and add to my wish list. That all changed back in December when I actually won my first book, and I was thrilled to get an autographed copy of Caridad Ferrer's When the Stars Go Blue. I fell in love with Ferrer's writing when I read her first two books (Adiós to my Old Life and It's Not About the Accent), and I had not realized that she had another book out until I saw the post. It was all I could do to patiently wait for winners to be selected, rather than going instantly to Amazon, especially with the beautiful cover!

Once again, I loved Ferrer's style of writing and the voice of the first person narration. Soledad Reyes has been dancing since her childhood years, a therapeutic escape from some traumatizing events early on in her life. Almost ready to graduate from high school, she has big dreams to save up money before heading to New York City to audition for dance companies. But then Jonathan comes along, opening her up to a whole new world of performance thrills of drum and bugle corps. Although the rest of this particular group is all male, this year they need a female dancer to bring their rendition of Carmen to life. Even though it is a complete change of pace, Soledad jumps right in, loving the experience as well as her time with Jonathan.

I was also getting swept away in Soledad and Jonathan's romance. Yet, there was a foreboding on the back cover, "But in an uncanny echo of the story they perform every evening, an unexpected competitor for Soledad's affections appears. One explosive encounter later, Soledad finds not only her relationship with Jonathan threatened but their entire future as a professional dancer in jeopardy." As they were getting ready to go on tour, I wanted to learn more about Carmen. I did a quick web search and was horrified to see that Don José, the equivalent to Soledad's Jonathan, murders her out of jealousy in the end!

What?! my thoughts screamed. There's absolutely no way Jonathan would do that! I was calmed by thinking back to Alyson Noel's quote on the first pages of the book, "an ending that will make you swoon." With relief I went back to the book wondering just what twists Ferrer had in mind, and let's just say I was so surprised. Though there had been some thoughts coming to mind about how the events might go, I was not anywhere near exactly how it all ended up. Such a great book!

You can see more about the book and an interview with Ferrer on the Free Book Friday Teens post.