Stunning photo by @bookishly_kenia
Welcome, welcome to the last day of our Star Daughter readalong. This has been a rollercoaster of a read and I hope you all have enjoyed my first readalong.
Let’s grab some snacks and dive right back in, today we’ll be reading chapter 27 till the end.
Please be warned, the following will include spoilers for Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar! Read only if you’ve finished the book!
-!SPOILERS!-
Sheetal is all dressed in shadowsilk, looking like a star princess. The Competition is coming up but first, time for the ball.
WOW what a party, and all those flowers and sweets ?
Sheetal is dancing away with her mother and grandparents, oh no Padmini caught sight of Kaushal, who shouldn’t be there.
Oh no, Rati is up to no good, and Jeet is being a douche! What secret is Nani hiding?
Woah Nani knew about Rati giving Jeet the blood? And about the marionettes?? ?
That was intense and looks like Rati was involved in more than one mishap and Rati isn’t going to let this go and I feel like the secret is going to come out at not the best time…
Time for the competition, the judges are in place, 5 stars and one mortal.
First up, Priyanka and her marionettes and so she begins her puppet show and what a story she tells, right?
Next up, Lila and she’s inspired to paint the loss of innocence. And with that painting she wows the judging and the audience!
Time for Sachin to sculpt something out of metal…. Oh noooooo, Priyanka called him out. Rati had him steal her marionettes! Sachin tried to sabotage them!
As the judges decide what to do, he still has to create his sculpture and despite it being a masterpiece, he’s dismissed! Damn ?
Now it’s time for Jeet and his storytelling.
OH NO, Jeet is telling a complete different story to what he wrote …. This was Rati’s plan all along. A story so real, one of Nani’s secret. Well played Rati!
Nani’s sister had a child and Nani gave the baby away! Half star, with the fire all too consuming, and a mothers despair to find the child ? and that is why Nani wanted the gates closed.
Wow this is so intense! Charumati finally announces her plan to help and inspire mortal to do good, trust Dev and Minal to show Sheetal that’s not the right way to do thing because mind control!
Sheetal has something brewing in her head as she announces she’s ready to perform!
Sheetal wants Padmini to bring her the Circlet when she comes to inspire her..? but that’s to make her full star!
And BAM Sheetal puts the Circlet on and becomes a full star!!!! And she’s asked Dev to be the champion? To sing for House Pushya. ?
Oh my god, Jeet cut Sheetal!!! And all he wants is a drop of her blood. Sheetal stops him and this is wild.
WOW Sheetal just stopped Nani from practically obliterating him. Instead, no more inspiration and he will have his memories of his time to remember his deed and consequences.
Sheetal finally convinces everyone to have Dev as the champion and she is the one to inspire him and the song is truly magical.
And Dev Merai is the winner! House Pushya has won. And his prize, which he never wanted, Eternal Renown, is bestowed upon him!
Part 3 – Back on earth, Sheetal heals her dad. With Charumati and Radhikafoi by her side. Her dad wakes up and reunites with Charumati aww ?
Before life gets back to normal, with PSAT’s and chores, Sheetal is back at the Night Market. With all the stars surrounding her, Sheetal sings with the Harp Siters, Dev finally heard her sing, as he comes bearing ice cream (YUM).
Dev’s new found fame will be his new normal and as the try to come to terms with everything, they spend the rest of the day singing stories.
wow what an ending! I hope you all enjoyed this readalong.
Comment down below your favourite quote. And we’ll see you soon for another readalong.
Favourite quote – “Desi Cinderella, off to the ball,” Minal cracked. She took a picture with her phone. “But no glass chappals for you. If one broke, how bad would that slice up your foot?”
Love,
Shaz
Ok, so this is a weird book. The writing and the worldbuilding was just mesmerizing – truly magnificent – but I can’t really say I liked everything else. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and the romance just didn’t click with me.
It makes me so sad because I wanted to like this book so badly, I’ve always loved stories with central Asian representation, but I just didn’t ? however I will buy more books by Shveta Thakrar in the future, because, as I said, her prose is just beautiful, in my opinion she just needs to improve character building/arcs.
p.s. I don’t have a favourite quote, but any description of the star palace would do! Just so beautiful~
I’m glad I’m not the only one felt like this! I love the style, the fantasy elements, but couldn’t relate to the characters and didn’t really “feel” the romance.
I’ll definitely check out some of the writer’s other books in the future!
My favourite quote was:
“People had to grow on their own, make their own decisions, good and bad. It was those mistakes and the choice or refusal to learn from them that gave life—and ar —their texture, their meaning. It had to be a choice.”
Thank you typo… 😀
“People had to grow on their own, make their own decisions, good and bad. It was those mistakes and the choice or refusal to learn from them that gave life—and art—their texture, their meaning. It had to be a choice.”
Totally agree with this!
well well well.. what an ending.. I ended up seriously disliking Nani more than i expected. I knew she was a stubborn woman but what she did was just .. i cant even imagine. And she seemed to have zero remores for what she had done.
Not a fan ofhow Charumati felt that controlling people was a way to make things right either.. Sheetal, although young, seemed to be the wisest one( with a little nudge from her mortal bestfriend and love interest)
My opinion of Dev changed by the end but he still seemed to me off with Sheetal when then went back down to Earth and something about their relationship just didnt sit right. Not sure about that one
They story started slowly but ended with a bang. Even though it was a slow starter i still enjoyed the book very much. Fantasy is one of my favourite genres to read but it definitely did leave me wanting more.. not sure what was missing but something was
The story towards the ending was fun to read and I enjoyed the part 3. However, this story was not as fun as I expected. I just wasn’t happy with the characters, petty politics and the ending just missed something. It felt underwhelming. What with all the hype with the competition…
My favourite characters were Minal and the harp sisters. None of the other characters left an impression, it felt like we were watching a sitcom without any context and just for passing some free time with no intention to watching it again.
I loved the way author has written her acknowledgments.
So, I’m not sure what to say.
Sachin being the culprit was a surprise. Good thing Sheetal decided not to take his offer of a drink, then. Not sure if I feel sorry for him though. All those champions were somehow overambitious, maybe except for Leela. But she is old enough to be wise.
And what was Sachin thinking trying to steal Jeet’s notebook? I can get all the other attempts at sabotage, but it’s not like a writer can’t write without his notebook.
Nani turned out to be even more cold-hearted than expected. And she’s too proud and stubborn to own a mistake. But Charumati is not so different from her mother as she might think. She convinced Sheetal of her plan, but luckily her mortal friends were there to save humanity.
Definitely not sorry for Jeet. Sure, he had a rough time. But unlike Priyanka he had no reason to be so determined on winning. At least she did it to honour her grandfather and keep up the family tradition. Even Sachin had a reason for his ambition, to make his lover happy. But Jeet did everything just for fame and personal gain. It’s hard that he will always remember what happened and that he will never be inspired again, but I still hope and wish for him to grow as a person. And after all, as Dev said, you don’t need the stars’ inspiration to create art. Maybe he’ll learn that.
Poor Dev is famous now. Fun twist to see him compete and actually win. In the end, he got the girl, but somehow Nani punished him for winning her the rule over the star court. And Charumati agreed. They both don’t care about humans, really. Nani not at all and Charumati only for her husband. It’s sad, actually. But at least Minal and Padmini seem to have reconciled.
All in all I would rate the book 4 of 5 stars. It’s not that I was unable to put it away, but I really liked the world with its magic and beauty. It was fun to read.
Hello everyone!
I’m back here for the finale! This was my first fairyloot readalong and also my first readalong in English (I’m Spanish). I enjoyed the experience so much! I loved reading all the comments, forming theories with the help of other person’s thoughts and being able to see the differences in our likings and dislikings about the book.
I liked the ending, but it wasn’t anything mind blowing, it was just okey. I feel like the author could have told us a little bit more of what happens after Sheetal heals her dad. What about her grandma, how is she deciding things on the sky as the ruler? What about Rati, did she run away to die on Earth? What about Padmini’s and Minal relationship? And Charumati and Sheetal’s father?
Anyways, this book was a high 3 stars read for me. I enjoyed the atmosphere the most, being, in my opinion, the best part of the whole book. There were characters I enjoyed, like Minal and Padmini’s brother, but most of them feel average. I did care about Sheetal, but I didn’t feel attached to her relationship with Dev. In my opinion, the book would have been better having them as best friends or developing the relationship during the book.
And that’s all I can say for this one! It was fun, but unfortunately I won’t add it to my top favourites. I will keep an eye on Shveta’s work on the future though! I think her atmosphere’s working on this book was amazing!
See you on the next readalong!
I was so excited by the plot twist how Dev won and sung to her and then ending of her being able to be back on earth and them be together :<3
I was a bit….underwhelmed by this book. The world building and descriptions were just…stunning Gorgeous and magical. But everything else fell flat for me. There was less compition then I would have liked, and any sort of ‘conflict felt forced and had no shock effect. I, personally, enjoyed Dev and Sheetals romance, and I also like Sheetal and Minals friendship, but the actual plot could have do with a bit more work.
Lovely to do the teadalong with you all tho and see your different thoughts and comments!!!
*readalong. Lol
I like that quote! I haven’t written one down this last day. (almost forgot commenting on the last day of reading as well. ?)
I expected more from this book…. I had trouble getting into the story, thought it would be more exciting/thrilling. There were no big surprises. But hey…. you can’t love every book ?♀️
Thank you for having the read along! I liked it, although this wasn’t my favourite book. But I adore the artwork ?❤️
See you next time!
Such a gorgeous book, but the ending left a lot to be desired. I feel like it left things too open ended and wrapped up way too quickly. It felt like nothing happened yet nothing was resolved either. But so gorgeous!!! Especially the exclusive FL artwork. Just stunning.
My favorite quote was anything to do with those moon lotus flowers. Absolutely breathtaking.