Fifteen-year-old Nathan's life changes forever when his older brother, Al, commits suicide.
Nathan has no idea why Al took his own life and is certain that something must have pushed Al to do it.
Determined to find out what that something was, Nathan starts searching for answers.
He meets Megan, a friend of Al's who is as shocked and devastated by Al's death as Nathan is.
Nathan's search for answers reveals a terrible truth.
Why did Al take his own life?

Part of the reason I wanted to read this book so much was that I knew the author had tried to commit suicide because of bullying when at school. I was intrigued to see how her experiences would shape the book, and felt that they would add more gravity to it.
The book is told from two perspectives (Nathan and Megan's) and each chapter begins with a snippet from Al, which I thought was a nice touch.
Nathan and Megan were both likeable and relatable. I felt sorry for them both, and it was interesting to read how they both dealt with Al's death.
This is a very important read in the way it shows and deals with bullying and social media. It shows how easily social media can be used to hurt people, and it made me quite angry.
The plot was interesting, but the pacing was a little slow for me and I felt like the book didn't need to be quite as long as it was. I guessed one of the reveals early on, which was a shame.
I feel like I could have connected to the storyline and characters a lot more than I did, and I'm not quite sure what that was down to.
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more, but still found it to be a heart-felt, important book.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, important read.

Wow, just wow. It took me ages to finish the book because the subject matter is very triggering and should not be taken lightly if you plan on picking this book up, BUT with that being said, it was an emotional and unforgettable experience that definitely left its marks on me as a reader.
Bullying and suicide are tough topics and they need to be handled delicately and with utmost care and Danielle Jawando delivered on both those accounts.
At the end of it all, this is a book about love and about hope and finding yourself and knowing that you are a bright light that cannot be put out by others.

This book broke my heart and opened my eyes.

Unfortunately, I have experienced bullying in both my childhood and as an adult, in some form, but I believe bullying today is 100 times worse, with smartphones and social media.

To know that the Author herself experienced bullying to the point she wanted to end her life makes this book more real.
This book is not just about bullying and suicide, it’s about hope and love, and how, when you feel your life is over, there is always a light to be found. #BurnBright

This was a fantastic read, very thought provoking and I feel a lot of people would benefit from reading it. It highlights exactly why we should all think before we speak and act, and most importantly, why we should be kind to one another. 

The story itself is a tragic read, but the book also contains a note from the author stating why she came to write this story after her own struggles, which makes it all the more personal.

Tackling tough subjects, this book explores suicide, grief in all it's many forms, bullying, and LGBT themes. All brilliantly executed - There was nothing in this book that felt unnecessarily harshly written, but at the same time there is no sugar coating of what happened, to twisting it round to make a fluffier story. 

Nathan battles with sorrow and rage as he retraces Al's footsteps and conducts his own investigation in to what really happened. Struggling with the loss of his brother, he understandably wants answers, even if they wind up not being something he wants to hear.

Megans part in this book highlights another important fact - Guilt and empathy do not equal action, and standing by allowing bullying to happen can be just as bad as being the bully yourself. In this matter, she has her own demons to contend with as she deals with the loss of Al.

I would highly recommend this read to everyone - Particularly high school age, as it could help those who are struggling to understand they are not alone, and others to think twice about their actions.

This is simply stunning. Heartbreakingly difficult to read in places and puts you through a rollercoaster of emotions but it’s beautiful. I adore how this is told through the eyes of two people, Nathan and Megan, and it resonates so well with how society is today and the pressure on young people to get ‘likes’ and conform. This book will stay with me for a long time I have no doubt.

And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is a beautiful, poignant and utterly heartbreaking book. It deals with difficult topics of bullying and suicide, which may be difficult for some people to read, however I would urge you to read it. It’s one of those books that stays with you for a while after.

First things off - you need to be aware of what this book is all about before picking it up to read. This is not fluff. This is not light. This is not a book that will not effect you but it is a beautiful and important book.



I felt utterly empty after reading this book as I honestly think I cried throughout it all. That's never happened before.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a really difficult read but it was also an incredible and very important read. Everyone needs to read this but please check trigger warnings before reading.

It took me a long time to read this book, not because it wasn’t good but because it deals with very difficult and very sensitive topics and I had to take breaks in between reading them. The sensitive topics include bullying and suicide and Danielle dealt with these really well. She doesn’t hold back in showing the reality and consequences of bullying and how it affects the person being bullied and also how it affects their family and friends too.

This book is heart breaking to read as we slowly learn what Al went through, we see how much he loved creating art and all the things he wanted to do in life and how because of cruel classmates he committed suicide and now will never get to achieve any of his dreams and goals in life. It gets more and more horrifying as we learn more and more and it just made me think how absolutely awful it would be for those teens who suffer through this and no one realises anything is wrong.

We see Al’s story from the point of view of his brother Nathan and his friend Megan who are each battling their own issues while also struggling to deal with their grief and complicated feelings about Al and his death. It was really interesting to read the story through their eyes as we get to see Al from two different parts of his life.

Megan was his friend but she has many regrets and also struggles with peer pressure and body image issues. She wishes she had just been open about the fact that she was Al’s friend as he had such a big impact on her life and helped her see that she could go to university and achieve so much more than she thought she was capable of.

Nathan is dealing with so much guilt, he feels guilty about how he felt he wasn’t there for his brother and that he can’t work out why his brother took his own life. It was heartbreaking going on this journey with him where he slowly finds out what was happening in his brothers life and slowly piecing it all together. It was incredibly difficult learning about what Al went through and that he didn’t know how to reach out to someone and suffered in silence and alone.

Danielle’s writing is incredible and despite it being an incredibly difficult topic she did a wonderful job. It was such a real portrayal of what can happen when someone is bullied. This is a book that everyone should read and we all need to have more honest discussions about these issues as they are literally taking lives.

Just please read the trigger warnings before reading.

A tale of a tragedy! Written in beautiful lyrical prose and populated by vivid and compelling characters who you can't help but feel for. This is the Al's story - Al who took his own life and, for a young adult book, that is a deeply difficult and important story to tell - and the story of his brother Nathan and his friend Megan, searching for the truth behind why he did it.

The novel seems to me to be trying to balance on the tightrope between compelling narrative and 'giving a message' - and giving a message (however vital) can easily get in the way of the story. Here, that tightrope is navigated generally very well, not falling into the trap of becoming 'preachy'. And the message about mental health (especially among boys where it is chronically underreported and still somehow seen as taboo, but within the whole young adult community) and bullying and abuse is so so important!

Fantastic read - go and buy it!

A beautiful young adult book, to be read not only by young adults but by grownups too. Beautiful, poignant and heartbreaking. Worth a go.

This book takes on the dangers of social media to mental health, and the darker side of the on-line world - fuelled by dislike, jealousy, for likes, or someone being different. It discusses how our relationships/ friendship change as we grow and become ourselves, and the challenges this presents in a world of shame culture and on-line bullying. On the other hand, Jawando celebrates our differences and how they make us special. Through Al's story she reminds us how hope comes with every tragedy.

Al is 17 years old and had a promising future, on his way to Cambridge University next year, until he takes his own life.
Nate his younger brother wants to know why, fuelled by his own guilt he's looking for clues.
Megan, Al's secret friend, is also trying to come to terms with Al's death and what her life is going to be like without him.

Through this dual narrative the story slowly unfolds, what is this symbol Nate keeps seeing? Why did Lewi and Al fall out? What do Eli and Cole have to do with all of this?

Danielle Jawando's story comes from her own personal experiences and you can tell. It is written with such insight that people who have been bullied or felt hopeless will see themselves in this book, I certainly did. It was an emotional rollercoaster that I couldn't get off.

I received a copy of this book via netgalley and Simon and Schuster Childrens UK. First of all let me say this is definitely not my description of a children's books. Its themes are far too dark and deeply explored to be suitable for anyone under 13 (in my opinion). Goodreads has it as a young adult book and this sits better with how it reads for me. Even with these readers i think it is a book that should be read or discussed with an adult whilst reading.

The author has written a book that carries a message deeply personal to her and this is apparent in the beautifully scripted narrative. It has a multitude of thematic lines - not just bullying but also the emotions surrounding death such as guilt and despair. This is all wrapped up in something which is almost an homage to individual beauty and the meaning of individual lives. I loved the imagery of the stars.

Perhaps from personal knowledge she has captured the desire to conform, the horrors of the web used wrongly and the characterisation perfectly. This is a powerful novel and should form part of the literary oeuvre in senior schools.

And The Stars Were Burning Brightly is a book that I struggled to get into. It is not an easy read but it is definitely an important read to bring awareness to the many topics it tackled.

When Al takes his life by suicide his brother Nathan is left heartbroken and is left desperate to find out why. We get to see the story from two perspectives, Nathan and Megan. I am not usually keen on books from different perspectives but I think it was great to be able to see how each of them feel.

I wasn't sure about Megan's place in the book at the beginning but as the book went on the character really grew on me and she gave an interesting and at times more rational perspective of it all. I feel Nathan's was harder to read and a lot more drastic in his actions but it really shows the devastation it can have on family and the grief they are left with.

With social media such a big thing these days it is so important for a better understanding of the effects it can have and I think this book does a great job of showing how what you type behind a screen can seriously effect others. This is a hard read but one I think everyone should read, it really shows the importance of being kind.

And the Stars Were Burning Bright is such a wonderful, heart wrenching story with important topic (bullying) more people should talk about.

It explores the dark side of human beings and the ways to recover from loss.

I have to admit, I didn't know about And The Stars Were Burning Brightly before it was READ NOW on Netgalley, but as I noticed it, and the premise sounded interesting to me, I couldn't help myself. I had to read it.

And I am so glad I did give it a shot. I read it few months before it's publication, but because of technical difficulties I wasn't able to review it before (aka I postponed it because my computer broke).

The story follows two main characters: Nathan (who's brother Al killed himself) and Megan (who was friends with Al but kept that friendship secret).
As they lost the one they loved, their lives intertwined.

The story is written in somewhat unique way.
It has two POVs written in first person: Nat's and Meg's, but every chapter starts with Al's thoughts, that often includes space and stars, but also life.
I am grateful for Al's parts.
However, I have to admit that Meg and Nathan sounded too similar at times.

This is emotional story, which is understandable because it covers serious topic, so be aware that it could make you sad.

I would recommend this book, and I would like to read more novels with the same theme because bullying and suicide is something we should all be more aware about.

Heartbreaking and incredibly touching, this debut novel is an emotional rollercoaster for the reader. Make sure you have tissues ready for certain tears. How difficult must this wonderful book have been to document, surely a must-read for school-age children and up. The scourge of bullying has damaged many lives and is often the pre-cursor to struggles with mental-health issues. A triumph over adversity! Certainly Danielle Jawando does not need to look back.

What a beautiful written book about a very difficult subject. Nate is struggling with the suicide of his brother Al. Al was the one with all the hopes and dreams so why would he take his own life. As Nate tries to comes to terms with the death of his brother he is determined to find out why. Nate ‘finds’ Megan who was Al’s friend and both share a feeling of guilt for not doing more to save Al. Together they discover the depths of cyber bullying which eventually pushed Al over the edge. This book oozes reality especially since The author has been really honest about the fact that she has drawn on her own experiences of school as inspiration for this heartbreaking novel.

This book deals with some very difficult subjects, and I think it handles them well.
Diving into an area that needs to be spoken about, and showing how harmful words and actions can be.

There were some parts of the book that I couldn't get into and some of the language was off putting to me, but otherwise it was a good, emotional read.

Wow! You must read this book.

The voices of the characters were so vivid. I could see them as real people. Even Al. These people will stay with me forever.

The story was heartbreaking and expertly written. I had to find out what happened next and sometimes I had to calm down before going to bed. I had no idea how it would end. I was shocked by the revelations but it made sense.

Never has a novel caused me to shake with anger, fear and sadness all at once. OMG! As a writer I want to learn from Danielle’s mastery. As a reader I am desperate for more!

Despite all the sadness and ugliness the novel still has a happy ending. But, there is also a strong message about bullying and suicide. This book should be read in every high schools and discussed. This book could save lives.

Painful and oh-too-relevant teen suicide tale. Hard to forget.

Two narrators lift the curtain on one teenager's life and death. Nathan is still reeling and angry after discovering his older brother, talented artist Al, has killed himself. There's no note, he feels guilt, he just wants to understand what happened. Megan, classmate of Al and fellow artist, knew him. She meets Nathan as he tries to investigate Al's life, and, struggling herself with friends caught up in social media worlds, feels that maybe she could do something to help, to honour the misfit friend she barely acknowledged in public.

Snippets from Al's diary, his thoughts for his little brother and his friend, give us insight into an enquiring and optimistic mind. His unexpected death has affected his family badly, though Nathan is the only one asking questions (which I found hard to believe).

There seem to be no reasons for his suicide. Though things are clearly not right, the students at Al's school are all the same as anywhere else - obsessed with the number likes on their photos, sharing videos, trolling each other online. It's a familiar and depressing adolescent world. One that both Nathan and Megan are caught up in, in different ways.

I found this a hard read, the further I got into it, as more and more was uncovered. Both Nathan and Megan undergo some transformative discoveries, and the reader is shown in some fairly graphic detail exactly what did happen to Al. It's fairly upsetting, and unfortunately all too possible.

Very very powerful. Very very sad. Every secondary school needs copies, teachers will want to try and include this in various subjects, with its highly relevant social themes.

For ages 14 and above, some graphic and upsetting content.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.

This is a beautifully told story of two teenagers dealing with the aftermath of suicide and about what it means to be yourself. After ignoring his phone call, Nathan is the one to find his older brother Al, a bright student and talented artist, determined to better himself and go to university, has committed suicide, leaving behind no note. Full of guilt that he might have stopped it had he answered the call, and sadness at losing his brother, Nathan is determined to find out why Al did it,
Megan was Al's friend, though she never acknowledged it in public. She starts to wonder what she could have done to have made a difference. Questioning her choices, and those of her friends, her paths cross with Nathan and a tentative friendship begins.
I love a story told from two perspectives, and this didn't disappoint. We see the two characters questioning their choices, their friendships and their place in the world. I really enjoyed it, and loved the positive message it gives young people.