This book wasn't a good read for me. It felt like it stayed sad the entire way through, and through in enormous pain & suffering, to really kick you while you were down.

That's not to say sad books can't be good, they can. This book wasn't one of those books.

I felt like the emotions of the characters were always jumping around, and didn't make sense. Again, that can happen in real life too, but it never read a believable to me. Just dramatic.

I would not recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book started slow, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. Layla, an anesthetist and mother of two, is juggling an affair, work problems, and a troubled mother in remote Tasmania who is threatening suicide. With Christmas approaching, she must choose between her lover, ignoring her mother, or going home to keep the peace. As secrets come to light, Layla faces hard truths about herself and her family. A sad yet honest story, told with beauty and depth.

Megan Rogers’ The Heart is a Star follows Layla Byrnes, a woman overwhelmed by the many demands of her life. As an anaesthetist with a crumbling marriage, two young children, and an affair that adds to her emotional exhaustion, she is also burdened by the constant instability of her mother. When her mother unexpectedly hints at a long-hidden truth about Layla’s father, she decides to return to her childhood home in Tasmania, determined to finally get answers and confront the past. The novel explores themes of family dysfunction, personal identity, and the weight of unresolved history, unfolding as a slow-burning story of self-discovery.

While the premise of the book suggested an intriguing emotional journey, I found the execution lacking. Layla, as a protagonist, felt tedious, and her internal struggles dragged on without enough momentum to keep the story engaging. The pacing was slow, and despite the promise of a central confrontation with her mother, it took far too long for the narrative to reach that point. The writing was good, but the story itself failed to hold my attention, and I ultimately did not finish the book. While some readers may appreciate its introspective nature, I found it dull and lacking the tension needed to sustain my interest.

This book delves into fractured family dynamics and friendships. It's a slow burn at first, but around the halfway point, secrets start to unfold, revealing the reasons behind the strained relationships. I didn’t see the twist coming, but once it was revealed, everything made sense. The ending was absolutely fantastic—it tied everything together perfectly and truly made the book for me.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I finished it a few weeks ago and am still trying to process my feelings on the twist, which I perhaps should have seen coming but didn't fully. But overall, I thought it was well-written and I would read another book by Megan Rogers if given the chance.

This book was an absolute masterpiece. It started off slow but as you follow Layla through her struggles with her marriage, family, and career all the secrets begin to put out. Watching Layla take control of her life, her relationships is so beautiful. Navigating life and taking ownership of struggles is hard and this book is a reminder that there's more to everyone's story than we know.

I tried to give this book a chance, but I failed to read it. The first chapter alone was dull, and the main character was not interesting to me based on how she reacted to her clearly depressed and suicidal mother. I had no desire in reading further.

This is an exploration of family secrets and personal discovery. Rogers masterfully looks at the themes of memory, identity, and the complexities of familial relationships. She crafts a narrative that is both poignant and thought-provoking.

Ok, firstly….This cover! Wow, such a pretty, eye catching design. Whoever designed this really knew how to make it stand out on a shelf.

Here, we follow our main character, Layla. Layla is a Wife, a Mother, has a hard and intensive job as an anaesthesiologist and is doing her utmost to manage them all.
We follow Layla as she tries to navigate her way through life and the variety of challenges it sends her way. As she faces an uncertain future in her marriage, she’s also presented with a host of other issues. And none of them are of the superficial kind.
The author has given us a story that is full of interest & has a depth to it which at times verges on the disturbing.
In Layla we find a character that isn’t what I’d call likeable, but she is real, flawed and relatable.
This book seemed to be a bit of a mixed bag regarding reviews, but for me, I really enjoyed it. I found it immersive and at times it gave me pause for thought.
I can see how it might be divisive, but I’m in the “happy to recommend” category.
I hope to see more from this author in the future.

Megan Rogers' Heart is a Star is a poignant exploration of identity, family, and self-discovery. The novel follows Layla, a doctor whose life is unraveling as she struggles to balance her career, marriage, and role as both mother and daughter. Rogers captures the emotional turbulence of a woman searching for clarity in the midst of chaos, creating a protagonist who is deeply flawed yet profoundly relatable.

Layla’s journey is framed by her deep bond with her late father, a doctor and astronomy enthusiast, whose influence shapes her aspirations and view of the world. His untimely death during a storm left her without the closure she desperately needed, and the void has defined her relationships ever since. This unresolved grief compounds her sense of isolation from her remaining family—her mother, sister, and aunt—who harbor secrets meant to shield her from a painful past.

As Layla uncovers these hidden truths, she realizes the life she thought she understood was built on a foundation of omissions. Her belief in the guidance of the North Star—a metaphor instilled by her father—gives way to a deeper understanding of herself. The novel’s central message emerges: true direction comes not from external symbols, but from listening to the heart.

Rogers excels in weaving themes of astronomy and familial bonds into a narrative that feels both intimate and expansive. The prose is lyrical, with vivid descriptions of the night sky mirroring Layla’s inner journey. The emotional weight of the story is balanced by moments of quiet beauty, as Layla learns to navigate her own path.

While the novel delves into complex relationships and personal struggles, some readers may find the pacing uneven, with certain revelations feeling rushed compared to the detailed introspection elsewhere. However, this minor flaw does not detract significantly from the overall impact of the story.

Heart is a Star is a moving novel that reminds us of the importance of self-reflection, forgiveness, and embracing the truth—even when it is painful. Megan Rogers has crafted a deeply emotional tale that resonates long after the final page.

This was just not the book for me and I found it a real struggle to finish. I have seen a lot of good reviews for the book and recognize that I may be in the minority here, but this one lost me from the beginning and I felt that it lacked believability. Due to the serious nature of the themes in these plot lines I thought it was a real shame that these topics were not explored more fully, I also feel that fewer plot lines would have served the book much better, For example, Layla and Lucas felt farfetched to me and their relationship seems like a gratuitous plot line that was included in the book as part of Layla's midlife crisis. While I didn't jive with this book, there are plenty of others who did enjoy it and I thank Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Heart is a Star focuses on Layla and her struggles as a mother and anesthesiologist with an uncertain marriage, and a mother and past she needs to confront. The book covers a breadth of topics, some of which are very disturbing. Overall it held my attention and is an interesting read.

This is a very slow read, and eventually I gave up. Layla is not a sympathetic character, I could not warm to her at all. She makes some very questionable choices, and comes across as cold and unfeeling. There is way too much introspection and navel- gazing for my taste. Not for me this one, sorry. A DNF.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

I absolutely requested this book first because the protagonist is an anaesthetist, and second because it takes place at Christmas in Australia and I’m a sucker for a summer Christmas. These are not plot points, they are just a setting, a milieu, and that is not a bad thing. If you don't feel like reading a medical novel, don't worry, because medicine barely features. And it's also not stereotypically Australian (like it doesn't use cringey over the top colloquialisms, thank goodness).

The Heart is a Star is about love and marriage, childhood and parenthood, and how they all converge in middle age to knock your wind out (truly I can’t wait). It’s a little slow to get into, but I kept coming back because it leaves an aftertaste like a grapefruit - it quenches your thirst while making you more thirsty at the same time.

Megan Rogers writes lyrically and sensitively, as introspective about life as she does about love. It[s hard to pen down exactly how The Heart is a Star draws the reader in, but it does, and when you reach the end it feels like an end you’ve been dreading, but a welcoming respite, too.

Well this book was another just okay read for me. The characters are all together just unlikable. And I always struggle when I can’t find even one character to connect to.
Laylas life is falling apart……probably because she’s made some pretty awful decisions…….her mom is narcissistic…….and even after all is revealed I just couldn’t find a ton of compassion for the characters.
If you’re someone who doesn’t mind characters with little to no redeeming qualities and a story of family abuse in all its forms then you will like this book.
I received an ARC of this title, all opinions are my own.

This is a perfect fit for readers who crave a deeply emotional and introspective journey, as it explores the complexities of midlife, family dynamics, and self-discovery with lyrical prose and a powerful narrative that will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to navigate the intricacies of love, family, and identity.

For readers who:
- like middle-age novels where female characters find themselves
- love a good drama movie/book

Layla is an exhausted mum (set in Australia), working full time as an anesthesiologist, and feeling like she's missing out on her children's lives. Plus, her mentally instable mother calls her, constantly threatening to off herself.
One December, though, the phone call is different. Layla flies to her mother and finds herself reckoning with everything she ever thought was the truth of her life.

My Thoughts: It took me a bit to get into, but then I couldn't stop turning the pages. There's a lot of grief and trauma and heaviness to this book, but there was something beautiful about reading about Layla's world falling apart and how she pieced it back together again.

I know many loved this book, but I disliked the main character, Layla, and did not find her to be a sympathetic character at all. There was too much drama and frankly, I was happy when I finished it.

“The Heart is a Star,” by Megan Rogers, Central Avenue, 288 pages, Jan. 7, 2025.

Dr. Layla Byrnes knows Nora, her unstable mother, will call her just before Christmas, although Layla has already told her that the plane tickets have been purchased. Her mother lives in a remote part of Tasmania.

Layla is an anesthesiologist who lives in Queensland. She has been suspended because she gave a patient a wrong medication. Her marriage is coming apart. She and her husband Gabe have two young children. Layla is also having an affair. Gabe wants her to work, but he still wants her to do everything at home.

Her mother tells her that there’s something she wants to tell her about Layla’s late father. Layla drops everything and goes to her childhood home.

It is slow-moving. I didn’t care for the characters. The plot tried to cover too many themes and became disjointed. Warning, there are sexual and abuse scenes.

I rate it three out of five stars.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This was a struggle book for me really couldn’t get through this book, didn’t keep my attention. I tried multiple times to get into the story and it just didn’t hook me. Sorry