The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum

     One day, I was looking for books at the library again, and I stumbled upon The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum. I read the summary on the inside cover and I instantly became hooked. I had to read that book. Flash forward about a month or two and I eventually found time to start reading it. So far, it is definitely different than I had imagined. 

The Weight of the Stars is about two high-school seniors named Ryann and Alexandria. Ryann, who dreams of traveling to see the stars, takes care of her younger brother, James, and his son Charlie. Because she is taking care of her brother and her nephew as well as going to school, she has become extremely exhausted. At school, she is often seen skipping classes and causing trouble. Alexandria is a new student at Ryann’s school. Because she is new, she doesn’t have many friends there, so she is seen as an angsty loner and antisocial. Their paths collide when Ryann’s teacher, Ms. March, suggests that Ryann should try to befriend Alexandria so that she doesn’t feel so lonely. Ryann tries to but is reluctant that making friends with her will work. Alexandria doesn’t seem to want to be friends with her either, which makes the both of them annoyed with each other. One fateful day, Alexandria falls off of the roof of her house after she and Ryann had a fight, resulting in Alexandria having a broken arm. Ryann comes to learn that the reason Alexandria was on the roof in the first place is that her mother is at the edge of space and she has not returned since, so she is trying to look for her signals. As the story progresses, Ryann helps Alexandria find her mother, they learn more about each other, and she and Alexandria’s relationship grows into friendship and eventually more. 

So far I really love this story. As slow as some of the exposition is in the beginning, the story does start to build up its pace and become a lot more interesting. I also loved reading about the classic “enemies to lovers” trope, which this book included. It is one of my favorites, mainly because the characters start off not liking each other and they end up learning things about each other that bring each other closer. I also liked how the author included quite a bit of LGBTQ+ representation, especially the relationship between the two main characters, Ryann and Alexandria, as well as diverse characters, which made the story realistic and meaningful.

I would give this book a 5/5 and would recommend this book for anyone who likes space and stories with an “enemies to lovers" storyline. 

-- Xenia