Catching Stars by Cayla Keenan

Reviewed by Sam!

What I drank prior: i had one of the weirdest day. I woke up pissed off for some reason and just couldnt kick it… so Parker drank with me on FaceTime.

Goodreads Overview:

Jayin Ijaad is in hiding. A witch with powerful abilities, she carves out a life for herself in the slums of Pavaal, a city rotting from the inside out. When an old acquaintance tracks her down, Jayin is dragged back into a world she tried to escape — and is determined to escape again.

Maddix Kell is on the run. After two years in prison for crimes he did not commit, Maddix escapes and seeks out a legendary order of witchhunters who are his only chance to find justice.

But all is not as it seems and Maddix soon finds himself on the run from the people he sought as allies. When their paths collide, Jayin and Maddix must put aside their prejudices and forge an uneasy alliance that could crumble at any moment. But if they want to survive in Aestos — a brutal kingdom where magic and corruption lie hand in hand and enemies lurk around every corner — they must first survive each other.

Drunk Overview: ok let me see what i can do to explain this. So… there’s this guy, Maddix, who was falsely accused of 4 murders after he’d been possessed by a demon. But like no one believed him, so they kept him in jail until the best political moment. Oh em gee, he escaped two days before his execution. Then there’s Jayin. She’s a witch who escaped the king’s… menagerie.. so it’s not actually called that but that’s what i call it because for all intents and purposes it’s a squad of witches that are enslaved to do the king’s bidding. She escaped, but they knew where she was the whole time and is contracted to go find Maddix. One thing leads to another and she finds him but she doesn’t want to go back so they’re on the run to get away from the king. Oh and other kingdoms have bad ideas about magic. So… i think that’s about all i can tell you.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: so i picked this up at ALA and… i was incredibly disappointed. There was so much telling and not showing.

• So, let’s start with what i liked. I realllllly liked that it was slow burn. I don’t think anyone was under the impression that they weren’t going to bang, and while this isn’t technically a romance novel, like… come on… you know they’re gonna fall in lurve
• the slow burn was fab. They spend a lot of time together over months and slowly and almost agonizingly get to know and trust one another
• i also think the magic system is kinda cool, but only as far as i understand it. It’s really not explained very well.
• What else isn’t explained well is Jayin’s past. Like I sorta get she was in the king’s court and was the fave, but idk what her job was or why she hated it other than “i wasn’t free” which… fine but like, not abuse or anything? there are some spoilers that i could go in to, but even with those in mind it’s not quite enough.
• It also felt like a lot of walking for a lot of nothing. It takes most of the book to get to the point and it was SO BORING
• This book is less than 300 pages and it took me a month to finish… just… get to either bangin or plotting. Either would do but it took forever to do both.
• Just didn’t quite make sense to me.

What to pair it with: red blend. It’s just so blah

Rating: 2/5

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam