FESTIVAL OF STARS

Author: Eilis Flynn ISBN: 9781419909054 5/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: CERRIDWEN PRESS

They are meant for each other, but they only have one chance a year to find each other. Have you heard of the ancient Japanese legend of Tanabata? Gaze up at the evening sky, and if you're lucky, you'll see the Weaver Princess and the Cowherder meeting after spending an entire year apart. They are reunited once more on the wings of their helpers, the star ravens. Hope for good weather, because if rain or fog prevents them from finding each other, the star lovers must wait another year. The lovers look for each other in every generation. This time, Kristin Olafsson and Dare Borodin must struggle against the protestations of their families, their loved ones and even themselves to reach each other. Sometimes when the stars shift in the sky, the lovers are a little farther apart, and they struggle to reach each other. And reach each other they must, for unless they do so, eventually, the stars will move away from each other, never to meet again. And so each year, they must try.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

FESTIVAL OF STARS by Eilis Flynn is an engaging story. It drew me in right at the very first page, beginning with the telling of an ancient legend involving star lovers and the Milky Way. Who could resist a tale that begins this way? Not I.

By the time I was fully engrossed in the story, I hardly batted an eye at the sometimes out-of-this-world details that come into play, seemingly from all angles. Multilingual doctors, head-sitting dogs causing car accidents, conversations in Japanese and Swedish and packed full of surprises—this book is highly entertaining. Eilis Flynn has a vivid imagination and it makes her stories, and especially her characters shine.

This author knows how to write a love scene, too. Let's just say there was one shower scene that truly left me breathless—and I loved it!

Well written, with witty dialogue and a story that had me wondering until the very end whether or not the legend would be satisfied, I enjoyed reading FESTIVAL OF STARS by Eilis Flynn.

Kay James