Where the Forest Meets the Stars

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Is Jo’s mother, in a way, still parenting her? Do you believe the lessons children learn from their parents, both good and bad, influence them all their lives? There are obvious differences between the parents of Jo, Ursa, and Gabe, but are there also similarities? For me things changed when the story begun focusing on the romance between Jo and Gabriel. Jo had initially dismissed him as 'egg man', but soon they realise that they have a lot in common. When she calls the Sheriff’s office, the deputy who comes out doesn’t seem to think she has a real problem on her hands, and if this kid has run away from her parents, or has no parents, she’s not going to necessarily be better off in a foster home. At a loss, she stops by the Egg stand and asks Gabe if he’d mind stopping by and seeing if he knows just who this girl is – and who her parents are.

Joanna Teale is a survivor. She’s battled breast cancer, leaving her disfigured and unable to have children, and is still grieving the death of her mother. She turns her energy and dedication to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, renting a cabin for the summer that’s close to her work. Joanna Teale is a graduate student working on her doctorate in Biology. She has settled for the summer in the beautiful woodlands and streams of rural Illinois. She is studying the nesting habits and success or fail of the local birds nesting habits, journaling their movements extensively. She is only a few weeks into renting her small home when a girl of about nine appears at dusk from the woods. She is barefoot, dirty and clothed in only pajamas. No matter how many times Joe questions her, she insists that she’s from a planet far away and has come down to witness five miracles. Only then will she return to the Pinwheel Galaxy. Jo is a solitary woman who is dealing with a double dose of grief after losing her mother and being diagnosed with breast cancer. She knows that she should call the police and get them involved but every time she attempts this the little girl, now called Ursa, runs away. Yes there were some, what could be considered, repetitive aspects, but they were told in slightly different ways at times to keep an element of causing people to at times wonder, "Perhaps the other "version" is true." The only slight disagreement I felt was with the way extra-marital affair was somewhat justified in this book. I take marriage vows very seriously and didn’t agree with the author’s take on this. It ruined so many lives and could have been handled differently. I am all for love but marriage is a sacred union for me and I don’t condone cheating. However, this aspect didn’t have any major impact on the value of the story and so doesn’t impact my rating. Ursa has been sent to Earth, she says, as part of a rite-of-passage and cannot leave until she observes five miracles.It's a pretty well-written book but doesn't lend itself well to the audio format. The repeated " said," then "" over and over got really jarring. The narrator would, every now and then for no reason, drift into a Southern accent for a few lines, another jarring thing that would bring me out of the story. Also, all of the voices sounded alike; the narrator didn't seem to have much range. One night her solitude is broken by the appearance of a barefoot young girl dressed in dirty clothes, who has bruises on her body. The girl claims to be an alien from the distant planet Hetrayeh, and she calls herself Ursa Major. She says that she is on her own type of graduate study, and can return to home only after she witnesses five miracles. (It's up to her to determine what constitutes a miracle.) From the very first sentence, I was hooked on this story. It reminded me a little of Eowyn Ivey's beautiful novel The Snow Child, in that the presence of a seemingly magical child transforms those in desperate need of rescue. But Where the Forest Meets the Stars has its own magic, buoyed by Vanderah's masterful storytelling, gorgeous imagery, and the immense heart of this book. If you are looking for something a science fiction book with a lot of aliens you need to find a different book. There are so many points where this book made me double and triple guess whether Ursa really was an alien or not. Honestly, I still am not quite sure and I don’t know if I need an answer either. Ursa will wrap your heart around her little finger just like she does with Jo and Gabe. You can’t help but love her and metaphorically hold her close. This book was truly unique, a breath of fresh air! I’m afraid my words cannot do it justice. This is an absolute must read, the kind of book that will always have a piece of your heart.

Ursa might have only been nine years old but she was one of the most extraordinary characters I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in a book. Alien or human, from the stars or from the earth, it doesn’t matter she was an amazing character! Whether she had special powers or not she was magic! Joanna and Gabe weren’t too bad either, I really loved how much they loved this little girl. I had a tremendous amount of sympathy for both of these characters, they had gone through some pretty tough times and I really wanted them to find their way to one another and to happiness. I loved every second of it! This book immediately found it’s place on my top ten favorite books. Hence, the long review below!But why hasn't Ursa shown up in any missing-children bulletins? How can this young child not only read, but understand ornithology texts and Shakespeare? Why won't she tell them the truth about where she really came from, and why does she keep endangering herself by running away every time Jo and Gabe try to get to the bottom of her family situation? There can't possibly be any truth to the story she's telling them, can there?

An enchanting novel full of hope and the power of love that will pull at your heartstrings. Perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen.” – Karen Katchur, author of The Sisters of Blue Mountain and River Bodies But the more time they spend together, the more questions they have. How does a young girl not only read but understand Shakespeare? During the course of the story, the three of them learn to look beyond their own problems and appreciate each other. A stunning story that will tug at your heartstrings,a tale bursting with love and sprinkled with magic!How might Jo’s pre- and post-surgery images of herself help her relate to Ursa’s insistence that she’s an alien in a human body? Do you think Gabe had dual ways of seeing himself as well? Discuss how physical and emotional trauma changes people’s views of themselves. They've known each other for what, two weeks? The day after their first kiss and bang! Jo waltzes into his private life, dismissing his trauma, his boundaries and his mental health,. Because she has survived cancer she thinks that she understands all illnesses and traumas. The story, rather than showing how harmful and emotional manipulative Jo is being it shows us that it works! Gabe is cured! Apparently true love cures depression. Who knew. Oh wow! I know I shouldn’t begin a review with Oh Wow but I was so blown away with Where the Forest Meets the Stars that it has taken a few days to put words to my thoughts (and you see how well that has gone, right?) Oh wow is what I have come up with so far. Jo enlists the help of her reclusive neighbor, Gabriel Nash, to solve the mystery of the charming child.

Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah is a wonderfully heartwarming tale about the challenges that life throws our way, but how the power of love can heal all. When it finally catches up to them, all of their painful secrets will be forced into the open, and their fates will be left to the stars. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles. With concerns about the child's home situation, Jo reluctantly agrees to let her stay--just until she learns more about Ursa's past. Where the Forest Meets the Stars is a lovely, surprising, and insightful look at the way bonds are formed—both the ones that we choose and the ones that seem to choose us.” — Rebecca Kauffman, author of The Gunners Jo asks her neighbor, Gabriel, for help – to find out who Ursa is, where she’s from. The more they learn about Ursa, the more confused they are. The inconsistencies in her knowledge make no sense. She’s a child well-versed in Shakespeare? (Among other conundrums).There are DOZENS of ways to say said and asked, but they are used constantly in the he said, she said conversations. It seriously grated on my nerves, particularly when the characters were only exchanging short remarks or utterances without any inner monologues in between.