Written in the Stars: A Novel

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 3,993 ratings

Price: 6.99

Last update: 10-20-2024


About this item

With nods to Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, a charming #ownvoices queer holiday rom-com debut about a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to fake a relationship with an uptight actuary until New Year's Eve—with results not even the stars could predict!

After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest setup was a success. Darcy doesn't expect her lie to bite her in the ass.

Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy... a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy's brother—and Elle's new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because... awkward.

When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they're dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year's Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.

But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?


Top reviews from the United States

Blessie San Jose
5.0 out of 5 stars An opposites attract romcom with astrological twist that made by heart flutter a bajillion times!
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2021
It’s not every day we get to encounter a debut novel that sweeps you off your feet, but Written in the Stars just does exactly that. Especially with the recent release of Happiest Season starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, I feel like Christmas truly is the season of the gays. #winning

Alexandria Bellefleur’s debut novel Written in the Stars is a stunning #ownvoices opposites attract sapphic rom-com that made my heart flutter a bajillion times. Not to mention that it also falls under the fake relationship trope, which is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s definitely high on the list of my favourite books this 2020 and probably forever.

In the beginning, we meet Elle ‘Elizabeth’ Jones off to a blind date with Darcy Lowell, her new business partner’s older sister. The date turns out disastrous when things take a turn for the worse. Add in the fact that they seem to have nothing in common. Elle is an astrologer who wants to find her soulmate. Meanwhile, Darcy, who works as an actuary, is a bit of a sophisticated old soul who initially comes off a bit jaded about love because she’s already been burned before. But things take a turn when Darcy asks Elle to pretend to be together just so her brother would quit being the meddling matchmaker.

Bellefleur is a genius for creating Written in the Stars as a sapphic modern-day Pride and Prejudice, with Elle and Darcy bearing a really strong resemblance to Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. These two characters are a joy to read, particularly Elle, the dreamy, hopeless romantic, and quite whimsical with her lifestyle choices. She loves cheap boxed wine, co-owns the popular social media astrology account Oh My Stars and is also in the midst of launching a dating app with Darcy’s brother, Brendon. Darcy, on the other hand, comes off a bit standoffish yet refined — definitely Elle's polar opposite, but deep down, I related to her character more as someone very sentimental and But while these two may seem far ends of the spectrum like the north and south pole, they definitely do have certain compatibilities that come out in the open as both heroines begin to catch feelings as they pretend to be in a relationship.

The chemistry oozed by Darcy and Elle is just explosive despite nearly being stark opposites. They're both smart characters with incredibly witty dialogue that won't fail to make your smile turn into a cheesy grin. Surprisingly enough, I thought Darcy funnier than Elle, most especially with her dry-wit humour that always left me chuckling. And don’t get me started on the smut, because it. Is. Fire. Darcy and Elle are not just adorable together, but they definitely had my Kindle sizzling with queer sexiness.

But other than the shits and giggles and the heat required in a rom-com, Bellefleur manages to deliciously weave in a little bit of relatable angst that shapes the story perfectly — with Elle, who struggles with wanting to be accepted by her family of well-accomplished university graduates with PhDs and Darcy taking responsibility as the elder sibling to Brendon after their parents both checked out following an awful divorce. Bellefleur did an absolutely impressive job in actually making me feel lots of emotions for this couple.

However, while this novel may have been a delightful read, especially the astrology aspect, I felt a bit cheated with the absence of an epilogue that could have at least featured a time-skip. I really wish there were more of these two — I just can't get enough!!! Miss Bellefleur, spare epilogue chapter, please?

Nonetheless, I’m truly in love with the LGBTQ representation and the fun astrology twist in Written in the Stars and I’m hoping this will pave the way for more sapphic and queer romances to come out of their closets and onto the bookshelves (I know there are a lot already out there but they're still quite niche). You definitely wouldn’t want to miss out on this delightful read that’s bound to leave you smitten with every turn of a page! Although this isn't exactly a holiday romance, its quirky feel-good nature is just perfect for the holiday season!
Book Bruin
4.0 out of 5 stars A Lifetime of Butterflies
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2021
I loved Hang the Moon and after reading it, I really wanted to find out more about Brendon's sister, Darcy, and how she found her happily ever after. The book starts with a very memorable meet disaster between Elle and Darcy. I really enjoyed how those initial negative reactions and impressions gave way to so much more. The fake dating trope is always a fun one and I always love the moment when the characters realize that what they've been feeling is anything but fake. It was also nice to see another side of Brendon and Margot. I love how loyal and steadfast they are, but I will admit that Brendon's meddling grated on me a bit in this book. I fell hard for him in his own book though, so all is forgiven ;) Alexandria Bellefleur's writing is beautiful, but the pacing of the story was fairly slow and then the ending was very abrupt. The ending unfortunately didn't leave me fully satisfied, so I'm glad Elle and Darcy made prominent appearances in Hang the Moon. I'm looking forward to Margot's story next!

Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 4.5 stars
Story 3.5 stars

The narration by Lauren Sweet was wonderful and I find her voice very pleasant and engaging. She voiced all the characters very well and was able to convey so much emotion in her performance.
Halle Woods
5.0 out of 5 stars Way to Addictive!
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2024
I finished it in one day—it was that addictive! First time reading a lesbian romance novel (excluding my wattpad days lol) and it set the bar extremely high. The first page, I was completely hooked. The plot is full of twists that kept me turning pages non-stop. The characters are well-developed and relatable, adding depth to the suspenseful storyline. The writing is so engaging that I lost track of time. If you’re looking for a thrilling read that you can’t put down, this is it. Highly recommended!
Annette P.
3.0 out of 5 stars Insta-lust equals love?
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2021
Lemme just start by saying I don't typically read romance. I don't like the "one look and they instantly fell in love/had the hots for each other" plotlines. But I found favorable reviews for this book on another site, and decided to try it out. Rom-coms in general can make me eye-roll or swoon, depending on how they're handled. My favorite one is "You've Got Mail", which is about two people who essentially learn about each other and form a friendship and an emotional connection before it transitions to love. (If there are any books like this out there, please let me know!) I think this is why I found the relationship between Darcy and Elle a little unsatisfying.

First of all, let me say I loved the writing style. Easy to follow, nice and relaxed, and make it easy to understand the characters' thought process and motivations. The text conversations were fun, and helped to further illustrate the personality differences between the two MCs.

Secondly, the characters themselves were interesting. Dialog isn't an easy thing to write, but the conversations in this book were more natural sounding than I've read in some others. And each character had a distinct way of speaking. Darcy is clipped and precise, while Elle is more of a "rattle off anything that falls out of your brain" type of conversationalist. Very appropriate for their personalities.

The situations they encountered were also fun and gave us more insight into who they are. The Escape Room double date and Thanksgiving dinner at Elle's were well done.

That said, there were things that poked at me as I read that I couldn't quite put my finger on. As I read over some other reviews, I realized the problems I had with the book.

Insta-lust - They both claim to have felt "a spark" during the disastrous blind date during the meet-cute. There was a lot of blushing and flushing and being hot and bothered very shortly afterward. This type of attraction may work in some romances, but here it felt like nothing more than lust to me. They knew NOTHING about each other, and spent hardly any time together before feeling hot in the nethers for each other. That's not love, or attraction, really. That's simply lust and a want to get laid.

No Respect - Darcy rudely dismissed astrology--and Elle's passion for it--very quickly in their date, and Elle struck me as someone who was simply looking for "The One" so she could stop dating. I don't get the feeling either one went in open-mindedly (although that's understandable for Darcy's character), or eager to simply see if they clicked with each other and go from there. Elle was hoping for Happily Ever After before she even met Darcy. That's a little off-putting.

Darcy's Baggage - The reason given for Darcy being an "Ice Queen" is because she discovered her previous fiancé in bed with a mutual friend. That hurt her badly, and made things very difficult with all their other mutual friends, so she decided to move to a completely different city to start fresh. Okay, I buy that. What I don't buy is the fact that she never really unpacked that baggage and dealt with the feelings that went with it. It was the BIG HURT in her past, but she never faced it or even talked to Elle about it. Brendon, Darcy's brother, is the one who told Elle (which I thought was over-stepping his bounds, but whatever, he was a little too invested in his sister's love-life already if I'm being honest). If it was such a huge thing that caused not only a major move, but also prevented her from even wanting another relationship, I feel there should have been more exploration of that hurt, and more soul-searching for Darcy to face it.

No Growth - I didn't get a sense that anyone really grew over the course of the book. Darcy could have relaxed a little and become more open, and Elle could have realized that while it's great to be a free-spirit, there are times that require less feeling and more thinking.

In Love or Lust? - I don't believe either character really admitted they were in LOVE with the other. Yes, they couldn't stop thinking about each other, and had lots of sex, but I didn't get the feeling there was a deeper, emotional connection between the two. It was all physical.

Lop-sided Relationship - By the end of the book it felt more like "What does Elle need?" as opposed to two people realizing they can't live without the other and coming together. Elle deserves to be seen. Elle deserves to be with someone who understands she's a mess and wants to be with her anyway. Okay, fine. What about Darcy? Elle learned of Darcy's cheating fiancé, but didn't seem to care much at all. "Yeah, that sucks, but what about what I need?" Yes, I know she was hurting from the breakup, but come on.

The Ending - As other reviews have noted, this book simply ends. They make up, kiss, and BOOM. The End. Wha? Where's the epilogue, where we see them a few months later, happy and content in their relationship? A slight rehash of the meet-cute where they behave differently now that they've grown and become more comfortable with themselves and each other? Nothing? It was an unsatisfying ending after a rushed makeup.

All that aside, it was a fun read and I did enjoy it. There were just a few things that kept it from being something I'll return to again and again.

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