Until the Last Star Fades by Jacquelyn Middleton (Review by Amanda Woodruff)

Rating: 4*

If you need something light, and romantic then this could be the book for you.

It starts with us meeting Riley and then quickly meeting Ben. They meet at the beginning of the book at the airport when they accidentally take one another’s luggage. The interaction was what hooked me to this book and made me want to read on to see how this relationship flourished. The relationship quickly turns to a friendship where Riley attempts to take Ben under her wing and show him the ropes of New York. The dynamic of their relationship had me quickly reading on.

Riley is a New Yorker who is trying to please all those around her and stay in a relationship she isn’t quite sure about and attend college and care for her mother who is very ill. There are a few other hurdles thrown in and we go along with Riley for the ride.

I really really appreciated the mental health aspect of this story.

Riley struggles with a form of depression. While I don’t struggle with the same I found the author’s descriptions of the mental illness very accurate. Working in a mental health hospital and having intensive trainings on the topics discussed, I appreciated the author didn’t make the depression sound like a life sentence and made the lead character relatable despite her internal struggles.

Ben is a native from the UK and is visiting New York to help deal with his feelings of being unsuccessful in his career as an aspiring actor. The rawness of his failures and struggles are what took this book from a purely romantic fluffy story to something much deeper.

I loved that despite being “hot” and “sexy” Ben was often described as something many females would find attractive the author also made him dyslexic, which made him that much more relatable. The emotion he feels regarding this and the impact it has on his daily life and his dream of becoming an actor was so heartfelt and had me feeling all the feels as a reader.

The pace of this book was something I did struggle with. Going weeks ahead and back again I personally found confusing.

I really loved that this book was based in London and New York. I travelled to both just last year and fell in love. Reading about the cities made me fall in love all over again!

If you love romance, New York, London and Mother Daughter relationships then this book is a book for you!
Thanks so much and enjoy this one fellow book worms!