Gorgeous photo by @baltic.bookworms
Hello hello and welcome back to day 3 of the Star Daughter readalong. we left off on quite a bit of a rough one as Sheetal has two days to learn everything for the competition wow.
But before we start, we have our semi hush-hush giveaway to cover before that! What’s that? Oh just a chance to get your next FairyLoot for free as a reward for reading! Doesn’t really get better than that! And your chances are so good too! We don’t really announce this anywhere else as we truly want the person from the readalong to win! If you’d like to try your luck, all you need to do is follow these steps!
- Take a photo of our edition of Star Daughter!
- Include a hashtag #Fairylootstar (very important)!
- Do all of this by the end of the 8th October!
- Mention down below in your comment today that you have entered and include your Instagram handle (also super important!)
Alrightly guys, let’s read. Today we’re reading Chapters 13-19!
Please be warned, the following will include spoilers for Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar Chapters 1-19! Read only if you’ve finished those chapters!
-!SPOILERS!-
And so, the training begins, Sheetal has a detailed training schedule and there is a lot to cover.
Oooo a room off limit to mortal visitors, I wonder why? Ahh jars of stardust, every night they empty the jars into the heavens, just a little bit, enough for mortal inspiration. ?
Nani casually dropping the fact they’re doing a Ball for Sheetal’s birthday! A whole mood ?
The competition is consisting of the houses that wish to compete, each champion was selected for their artistic potential after being observed through the Hall of Mirrors! wow and now we find out who each house’s champion is and the prize is; to be remembered for their work forever. And whoever does not win, magic removes all memories of competing from their minds whaaatttt!
Time for Sheetal to mingle and talk to the other stars… And we meet with the Aspara from the night market but she comes bearing bad news that the other houses have called a convocation yay
Another mortal in and he looks very familiar! Oh snap, it’s Dev! ?
Oh wow, Sheetal wants to talk but someone cuts in and it’s Jeet, Dev’s cousin from the pictures. Jeet apologises for sending Dev to spy on her!
Jeet is house Revati champion and Dev is his mortal companion. Damn that was a heated fight.
Casually hiding behind the cabinet in the study room and they all are complaining that Sheetal cannot compete in the competition. Brutal.
I’m sensing some animosity from Rati… Hmmm I wonder why?
Charumati takes Sheetal for voice rehearsal, but she can’t bring herself to sing. Damn, Priyanka, another champion with marionettes, just heard Sheetal try to sing. Could this get any worse.
The Hall of Mirrors, Minal and Padmini join to! In the mirrors they see everything happening on earth. Minal sees her mom and Sheetal sees her dad, at the hospital, and it all but strengthens her resolve to win.
Sheetal tries to ask Padmini for her blood to save her dad but she says no! Nani forbade anyone in her house to give their blood WOW!
I wonder what’s going on between Minal and Padmini.. hmm! Minal is excited to talk about Padmini but also manages to make Sheetal understand in order for her to win the competition she has to embrace the side of her that is a star.
What’s this….. A LIBARARY yaaaassss!
SO pretty and organised by colour be still my beating heart. At the library she encounters another champion and Padmini’s brother as she tries to find some books to help understand the history of the stars.
As she ponders over all the text that she found about half stars and all the text on how her grandparents ruled she gets an unexpected visit from Rati… this should be fun.
Oh, snap did Rati just tell Sheetal to go back and she’ll all but give her the blood to save her dad? How did she find out?
Rati got some personal beef with house Pushya… Ooop
Ah nothing liking getting told off for skipping lessons!
OoOooo Nani had a sister and that topic is not up for discussion. Hmmm interesting.
As Nani and Nana give her a demonstration of what it feels like to be inspired, Nani senses her thoughts about Dev and tells her to stop. Ahaha awkward.
And now we’re in the Champions dining hall where Sheetal decided to have dinner and as she searches for Minal who is nowhere to be seen, she ends up sitting with the other champions and so they each give their story on how they came to be and why they agreed to be the Champions for their houses.
Talk about intense!!!
WOW I so need to know why Rati did that?!!
Comment down below your theories for today’s chapters and I will see you all tomorrow.
Love,
Shaz
Today’s part was as beautiful as it was depressing.
Dev is a…well, I can’t say the word but I think you can guess. He’s a manipulative, sly and unworthy slime. I really hope he won’t be endgame, that Sheetal will realize she’s better off alone than with him.
And her star family is also maniulative and cold. Blackmail her into joining the competition wasn’t enough, they also openly choose to ignore her needs and her well being. Even Minal seems to be unable to realize how stressed, lonely and sad Sheetal feels.
I really hope tomorrow’s chapters will be about Sheetal finding her strength and fight back.
However I posted my photo, my instagram handle is Sputnik.books ?
See….I like Dev ??yes, he original noticed her to spy on her….but he didnt actually beilev his cousin- and he never told his cousin anything about her. I think he genuinely started to fall for her and I think she needs to talk to him more and maybe begin to forgive him ? #unpopularopinion?
well, apparently mine is the unpopular opinion ?
the reasons why I think Dev is a slime are not only that he kept knowing her identity a secret, which feels manipulative, but mostly how he behaves afterward. He’s just petty.
Fist he compares the fact that both had secrets, but while Sheetal’s secret was not only somenthing meant to be kept from everyone, not just him, but it existed for a very practical, serious reason: to protect her life. Dev’s secret instead had absolutely no reason to exist. He could have told Sheetal the truth basically without any risk or consequence.
Secondly, he throws back in her face what she did to her father like it’s her fault. I mean, she was the practical cause of his heart attack, but she didn’t want to and pretty obviously feels bad for it. If (IF) someone is to blame is rather her mother, who didn’t teach her how to control her powers.
And lastly, he has witnessed the others treat her like garbage and bully her and he didn’t. Do. Anything.
I don’t mean stand up for her, I don’t think that would have helped, but at least saying a kind word to her afterward, or even look at her, acknowledge that she’s here and obviously hurting, dammit.
He only focuses on how offended he is because she was (rightfully) angry at him and doesn’t even try to make up for what he did. He just keeps making things worse for her. I don’t know if it’s just me having a rough day and thus overreacting but he feels pretty toxic to me ?
this is why i dont want them to work things out. Before we saw him again i felt like maybe she could have listened to him to see what he had to say but now he has acted like a child and thrown it all in her face and made her feel even worse about hurting her dad i dislike the boy and he definitely gives me a toxic vibe!
I totally agree, Lisa!
I like the fact that Dev is there ? and that they kinda-talked? Still don’t fully understand the whole Jeet-sending-him-to-spy-on-her thing tho. Like, what would that accomplish? How will that help Jeet win??
I’m looking forward to seeing how Sheetal will learn to control her starfire!
I’m curious about Rati and her relationship to them- is she the missing greats aunts daughter? Or some relation to the missing great aunt? What happened there? How do you earn tour circlet? How come Rati doesn’t have one?? SO MANY THEORIES AND QUESTIONS! Hahahaha
I’ve already posted a Star Daughter picture and have added the hashtag to that- will that count? ? it’s faefolkreads ?
i think it was supposed to be so that he could spy on her to see how good she was at singing. Remember he kept asking her to sing? trying to size up his competition because he had a feeling that she would answer the call and be the champion for her house.
I dont think Rati is the missing aunt .. i think maybe the poor star that was bled was her aunt which is why stars were stopped from going to Earth.? maybe thats a stretch but that is what by gut is saying
Oh that’s good thinking! Her missing great aunt being the star that was kept for her blood would make sense as to why her grandparents were so strict about keeping the boarders closed and not letting the stars be with humans
Oooo that would be a very interesting twist ?
I don’t like Dev and Jeet being there…. I found it unbelievable.
First of all: I loved the library!! ? And I liked the kids there.
I’m not sure what to make of Dev, I kinda not like him, but kinda want them to be together and not suffer separately? I hope that does makes at least a bit sense. ? Don’t know to what to make of him really, he sometimes comes off as manipulative, sometimes genuine. I don’t know, glad I’m not the one to make that choice. 😛
I love the relationship between Minal and Padmini!
I don’t really like the celestial family, if they would be more approachable, maybe, but so far their bad points outweigh the good ones.
I’ll make a post before the weekend, my handle on instagram is: serenity87hu
Thank you for the giveaway! <3
The library is amazing right?! I love seeing libraries in books
okay okay okay .. so forget Dev for a second. Can we just appreciate Kaushal. What a sweetie he is. They way he clamed up when Sheetal questioned him about being half star. i did love the other kids in the library though. Was definitely a bit of a change of pace to the snarky Priyanka and champion talk. Until Rati showed up? what is she playing at ? is it a test? I do not like this person…
As for Dev.. He had not right th throw it back in Sheetals face about keeping secrets. Clearly there was a reason. Also it was her secret to keep. He had no right to spy on her and he should have come clean to her before. Then to blank her when she was sitting with everyone? quite petty! At first I wanted them to make up and maybe find a way to work through the whole secret keeping-being sent to spy on her thing, owever now i am not so sure
Priyanka is just your typical bully.. i hope it doesnt come out that she has a sob story for why shes so mean beause that is never a good reason to be mean and try to isolate somebody. She likes to make Sheetal feel small and she likes to single her out and there is no need to act like that.
I really dislike the way some of the other stars talk about her. I know it is fiction but being mixed race myself i defintely relate to this and have had my fair share of “half breed” comments in my life. Although it is fiction you can definitely transfer it in to real world situations in a way if that makes any sense at all? or is that just me ?
My insta is @lisadoeslife_ picture has been uploaded
I love Dean!!!! ??? Sorry….. Love that gif?❤️
As a vegetarian I liked the question Sheetal got “How could mortals eat dead animals” ?
I wrote down the sentence from Charumati: There will always be those who speak in darts and spears. You must not allow yourself to be pierced by their ill will.” Loved that one.
I’m wondering if Sheetal will be able to return back home to earth if she wins… ?
I still don’t like Dev and the way Sheetal is kinda obsessing over him. Every time my thoughts go to her dad and I want her to think about him. Don’t know if she should accept Rati’s offer…… maybe she should!?
I’ve entered the giveaway.
My Instagram handle is beppie125 ?
ahaha Dean for the win, love him! and Yes I love that quote too!
I just finished the book today. I still love all of the beautifully descriptions (definitely the library), but couldn’t really connect to many of the characters. Probably cause a lot of them act so cold.
I’ll be placing a picture soon (handle is @thefantasticalworldofreading)
Looks like the star that was captured by Dev’s ancestor was a member of the Pushya family, maybe even the firstborn daughter or Nani’s sister. And now her apartment is empty. That would explain why Nani didn’t like the idea of Charumati living on Earth.
This family that chose a descendant of a star hunter as their champion seems fishy to me. Doesn’t matter who you are as long as you give us an advantage? Or maybe they’re planning something sinister like hunting the other stars if they don’t win. I wouldn’t trust them.
But I’m curious to see what’s the story behind Rati. Is she just ruthlessly fighting for her family’s victory? Maybe she is also one of those half-stars.
Not sure what to make of Dev, though. His cousin clearly is the overly ambitious type, that’s what qualifies him as a champion. But maybe Dev will have some conflict of loyalty later in the story.
And I’m so rooting for Minal and Padmini. Hope they can find a way to make it work, although they literally live in different worlds.
Magical libraries and book lovers in books are kind of an overused trope. But I loved this variation. To sing a song to find a book, after a magical book taught you the melody, what a fantastic idea. Plus it’s beautifully colour coded. I want to go there.
Why does her family keep so much from her? If they like Sheetal, they shouldn’t hide other half-stars. I really have a problem to like those grandparents. I hope, at least Charumati secretly opposes them and is just waiting for the right moment to rebel, but so far she seems to be just like her parents. Except for that “misstep” with a mortal man.
I KNEW DEV WOULD ARRIVE THERE AS WELL! Haha, I‘m always a happy gummy bear whenever I guess something right!
I really hope they can at least talk things out – I don‘t like all the tension and Sheetal surely already has enough on her plate!
I‘m so mad at her nani for not allowing anyone to help Sheetal! Why would she do that? That’s not how you work on a healthy family relationship you evil thing! Ugh.
But I loved the library so much! The concept was so magical, I loved that everything was organized by color and I really hope we‘ll get some more scenes in there! ^^
And I gladly take part in the little photo challenge! I posted my entry today and my handle is @moonlessreader
Thank your for the opportunity <3
Yeah that was so unexpected from nani right? And I was intrigued to see how Dev would make a comeback tbh
We’re finally on day three. And of course Dev has to show up. He is basically a side character, not even like a love interest. He feels so unimportant to the story and just plain. Also he acts like a butt. And there’s no history for us to like the guy, we didn’t get to see their relationship from the beginning and that just makes me not care about him. Honestly, I thought that we were finally going to be rid of him.
Now we got to do a lot of dialogue, and it is a killer. It is beyond juvenile the way they speak to each other and there’s no excuse for that. If this book would’ve been released +10 years ago, it would’ve been fine. But we’ve come so far, that letting something like juvenile dialogue go, isnot something that I can do. I’ve been a part of this community for the better part of that 10 years when I started to truly got into reading. And reading back to some of my old books that I truly love that got me into YA I see a lot of similarities between the dialogue of this book and certain books from the past.
Now we get more Dev and I’m really curious why Sheetal likes him. We never got information about it or why dev like sheetal for that matter.
We get our hall of mirrors scene which I actually really think is a cool concept, I’ve always thought that a giant mirror or a ball like thing that you could view your loved ones through is kind of cool. I know it’s creepy af but without putting that in there it’s kind of awesome to have technology like that.
through the mirror she sees her aunt speaking and it’s humbling to her because she’s asking questions like “what if she actually ends up failing?” Which I don’t know how she hasn’t yet considered.
We also finally get to learn how stars inspires. Finally after halfway through the book, I finally got an answer that I was looking for. And honestly it is not even interesting, they sprinkle dust and wow everyone’s effing inspired. And they have a Grand old library.
Now I’ve got to say that the author has tried to put several types of representation within the book. One of which she has done very well. However everything else has sucked. Now the only representation that she’s done well is that throughout the book consistently our characters have been people of color, written by a person of color. Which is something that I actually have enjoyed seeing. So I do appreciate that, however every other representation that she ever tried to do in the book has fallen flat for me because it was not thoroughly discussed or even mentioned upon again.
This book is just extremely flat, and I would DNF however I’m gonna pull through and just finish this thing.
Forgot to mention but I posted my picture and my handle is @readingpirates
I’m really gutted that Minal seems to have abandoned Sheetal for Padmini – when Sheetal needs her most, she’s just not there, and I was so in love with their friendship.
Like most others, I’ve really gone off Dev – he’s doing nothing to redeem himself at the moment, but I am still holding out hope that he will at some point – I feel like Jeet is going to try something awful against Sheetal, and maybe Dev will stop him.
Still not impressed by Sheetal’s star family – they’re so cold and unfeeling, and very manipulative.
I will be posting a photo – my Instagram is @tinasparkle04
I know! Where is Minal when sheetal needs her?
This thing with Dev and Jeet is getting more confusing by the minute… I really have no clue whether to root for Dev and Sheetal or to side against them.
Also, the grandparents are getting more offputting the further this thing goes. It seems like they really don’t care about Sheetal and her feelings.
Oh, and I posted my photo… my instagram is @annkapohl 🙂
Awww man I am really not here for Dev. He seemed cool at first but YES to the first post-er (postee??) Who called him manipulative. I’m really not invested or convinced by their love story.
And her family…. Wow! i think there are some starry political coups brewing there and all the secrecy is enticing. I get that many are labelling them as cold but… I mean they’re near immortal status, soI understand this kind of standoffishness as a trait differentiating them from humans.
If her ultimate goal is to save her dad, i think she should’ve taken Ratis offer and run! By staying she’s risking so much… But of course then the book would be much shorter and less intriguing!
Can’t wait to see what happens next for Sheetal and Minal. (Obvi the 2 best!)
haha yes it would have been so much shorter if she accepted Rati’s offer ?
Oh, and my ig is @fullybookedkatie !! Posted my pic today
Hello everyone!
We’re back again to the book today to read how the story continues!
Firstly, I love the way stars give inspiration to humans; it sounds so magical to be touched by starlight to create beautiful things. I don’t know how I feel for Sheetal’s grandfathers… I guess they are the kind of people who will try to please and coax you as long as you don’t say anything they don’t like, and I don’t really like that because Sheetal has every right to have her own voice (specially on this situation!).
I did expect to see Dev on future chapters, but I didn’t expect him to appear in the sky palace itself. I still think they are over-complicating things with their relationship (don’t be such hot-headed and listen to each other, miscomunication is awful!), but I guess the angst is necessary for the development of their plot (and tbh when you are in love you are completely blind and stupid so I get it). The appearance of Jeet, on the other hand, I expected it. I don’t really like him… he looks too charming and nice for me to trust him, especially knowing he was the one who wanted to spy on Sheetal and also literally told everyone he would do anything so he could win the competition.
The Hall of Mirrors was enchanting but a little creepy. I hoped to see Charumati react seeing her husband on the hospital but… nope. But… hey, I still love Minal and Padmini!
The Library was the best thing ever! That system of calling books to you by singing songs is amazing (I love to read AND sing so I may be biased…). I also liked Padmini’s brother a lot (and the other bunch of kids), and it intrigued me how he was half-star but now he isn’t. I hope we can know more about that! I did not see Rati’s offering coming tbh, I thought she would be the bully type and not the intelligent type and it was a nice surprise (there’s other bullies around anyways). I’m not surprised Sheetal doesn’t say yes right away, however, as I feel she’s very confused about her family and loyalities.
There were various scenes painful to read in which I felt bad for Sheetal… the panic attack scene was awful (thanks to Minal for being there) and seeing Dev ignoring her felt like a punch in Sheetal face!
And still I think the girl is doing so great considering she’s 16, she almost killed his dad, she’s surrounded by people who don’t really like her or who want to use her, she’s on the middle of a competition she is afraid of and her boyfriend is a descendant of a star-killer that doesn’t even speak to her now. That’s a lot!
See you tomorrow for the next part of this story in which (hopefully) Sheetal can fix some of her problems, because she’s getting to many!
I’ll upload my photo tomorrow! My IG: @tamii9s
The Hall of Mirrors is kinda cool but weird right?
and yes Jeet is for sure shady
Ok, Dev is only Dev…but Kaushal, jest so sweet and I guess he felt the same wha Sheetal experiences now.
Library was great and this kind of catalog when you’re singing and receive the book.which you need. What if you are not a really good singer? XD
Priyanka is interesting character, even if I don’t like her. I think she has her own reason why she is acting like that and hates Sheetal so much. I’m curious that we will receive more information about her family and her situation.
Olso I will participate in the giveaway challange. My Instagram is @motive_of_the_witch.
Hmm… I’m still not sure I’m sold on this one?
I just don’t like Sheetal’s Star family, which I was expecting as that sort of “god family isn’t human and therefore won’t understand humans” is deeply common, but it feels like its not intentional? Because they’ll do nice things
And it ends up feeling uncomfortable and disingenuous….
I feel Sheetal is flip-flopping on Dec too? Like is she mad? He obviously is now?
I did like the glimpse of the other champions though!
And intrigued by the mention of Nani’s sister…
My IG handle is BookDragonBrew!
I love all of the side characters being fleshed out right now! Also the honesty about her family being pretty authoritarian and terrible was refreshing. Sheetal doesnt have a lot of support right now and I was disappointed to see Minal not being there for her in this section, being caught up in the glitter and glitz.
I’m excited to see where this goes next, as I am finally getting into it!
I posted my photo! My instagram is @rosiesoho . I’ve recently cleared out previous photos in order to start over. Considering becoming a bookstagram account so I wanted to delete all the private photos of my kids lol!
I posted my photo at my account @Alwaysbookishbecca – haven’t quite finished the Day 3 chapters but will come back when I have 🙂
Hi, I posted my photo for the giveaway! My handle is @birdsong.books 🙂
I really like how this competition is about art, this book is so different from what I expected!
I don’t really like the drama between Dev and Sheetal… Don’t really know what to think about the characters, but I like the plot.
Gonna read for day 4 now!
Well, that was not as fun as I thought and a bit intense.
I am having fun reading this story so far!
I love Minal and Padmini. <3
I LOVEDDDDDD the magical library! My favorite scene so far! I loved it when Dev showed up because I was sad if he wasn’t gonna be in the rest of the book. His cousin is a bit of a drag though tbh. I’ll enter the photo challenge on my account @bookish_princess !
My photo has been posted to my IG jenthebookishbakernz
I continue to not really trust anyone except for the best friend and maybe the boy in the library
I have entered. My instagram handle is @journeythroughthechapters
A tad late to the party, but here nevertheless 😀 Joining the give away. My instagram handle is The_b00kish_elf :3
I have entered, @penguinograce
Okay but am I the only one who isn’t into this book? I love the idea but so far the book hasn’t really grabbed my attention, I keep putting it away… 🙁
I’m joining the giveaway!!
My Instagram is @bookswithjayjay ?❤️
Wow so many Dev hatters. Well I am not one of them. He has a right to be hurt as does Sheetal. I mean they both had secrets and neither of them new how to tell the other. Yes he started with her because he was spouse to be a spy for his cousin and not a good one since he didn’t tell him anything but he genuinely liked her and wanted to be with her and maybe he still does hopefully. So does Sheetal have the right t be upset she to had a secret that yes was to protect her life and did not know if she should share it wit her I mean for both of them it wasn’t un easy secret to tell. But since finding out she has done nothing but blame him for everything which is not fair but yet it is such a teenage behavior. They just need to talk it out and really listen to each other because the on that are at fault here are his cousin which seems crazy and shady to me and both her families for keeping so many things from her.
Which brings me to her star family. Why the hell are they so cold and why is victory so important to risk her fathers life seriously makes me so mad. like all they care about is the damn competition and nothing ales.
And where is Minal she is spouse the be there for her and yet she is nowhere to be seen . Not cool Minal not cool
But all and all I cant wait for Sheetal to sine like I know she can
OH yea I enter the competition and my Instagram is danica.brnot
A bit late in the Readalong but still valiantly attempting to finish ?
Instagram is @esquaredreads
So much has happened, and I can’t even guess as to where it’s all leading!
All I can say though is that I’m finding a lot of the characters to be pretty frustrating ? Mainly Sheetal’s star family. Manipulative, and prioritizing the competition…. I’m kind of hoping they lose, and Sheetal takes Rati’s deal ?
At this point I’m not a fan of her family. I’m getting sinister vibes from them, but maybe it’s just me ?♀️
I have entered and my instagram handle is: @thebooknerd90