The Darkness Between the Stars by Julie Burtinshaw

The Darkness Between the Stars follows the downward spiral of a seemingly perfect son, he is deemed the Golden Boy by his family. A fate that is too overpowering to him. It also shows how your parents secrets can shape the lives of their kids.

Early in the book you are following Kate as she talks about how much she loves her new baby brother, Cole. At five she deems the day he is born as the “best day of her life”. From that point on, she does everything in her ability to be near him, to play with him, to care for him. She’s essentially the ideal sister. Cole, in turn, adores her as well. Their parents are overbearing and clearly favor their “perfect” son over their daughter. Small comments and cracks that tear Kate down broke my heart. That said, I don’t think their parents intended to treat Kate the way they did, but it was upsetting nonetheless.

Even more heartbreaking is Cole when he begins trying to be his own person and act out. Once we start getting to see things from Cole’s eyes I was torn between thinking he was a spoiled brat who needed an attitude adjustment and wanting to cry for him. Liam seemed to be a great friend for Cole, but Anna really bothered me at times.

Burtinshaw weaves a story that stands out and shows the harmful results of teenage depression, not only on the teen, but on everyone around them. It also is a touch comforting with the clear love that Kate has for her brother. The book is provocative and a touch rough at times, but it is a story that I feel needs told.

One thing that annoyed me was the shifting POVs, specifically those between 3rd person and 1st person. For more than half of the book, the story was told in 3rd person, then there was a shift and it was told in both 1st person of various characters and 3rd still. I would get used to one character/vantage point only for it to change. Then at times I’d expect it to change only to realize it hadn’t changed. Once I got used to it, it wasn’t nearly as bad, but it did take a bit getting used to.

The Darkness Between the Stars is currently not available everywhere. One place I found that it was for sale is here.

I received my copy courtesy of the publisher, McKellar & Martin, in exchange for my honest review.