A Song for the Stars - Ilima Todd

A Song for the Stars by Ilima Todd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. I suppose that's obvious from the five-star review, I don't tend to give out many of those, but this story and the way that it was told earned it. I was captivated from the moment that I first started reading to the last sentence.
This is a love story. A romantic love story, where two people grow to love one another as they learn more about each other, but also a love story about the place that it is set. I have never been to Hawaii, but it was portrayed so clearly, that I could picture it clearly. I do have some experience in the Pacific, currently living in New Zealand and having visited a number of other Polynesian islands. Even for someone who knows little of the culture, it's so clearly explained through the eyes of Maile, who has never known anything different and John, who is a visitor to the shores.
I'm not sure if this is a more of a romance or more of a story about two different cultures meeting and learning about one another for the first time. Either way, both parts of the story weave together to create an overall fascinating and satisfying read. Maile and John learn that they have as much in common as they have differences and as they discover more about one another, they fall in love.
This was the kind of book that gripped me from the start, pulled me willingly along on the journey and then left with me with a contented sigh at the end. In many ways, it was perhaps inevitable that I would love this book. Historical fiction has long been a soft spot, combined with the Polynesian setting and a romance, what wasn't to love. What really brought this story to surpass all of this was the wonderful way in which it was told. I fear the only downside is that I may now be left suffering from a 'book hangover' for a while, where nothing else quite measures up and I feel the loss of the joy in its pages. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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