Star Father by Charlie Holmberg

It took me a while to write this review. I finished the book on release day but needed to spend some time with my thoughts pondering the whole novel. The story is vastly different from its companion novel, Star Mother, which I found to be one of the lesser of Charlie Holmberg's novels (as noted here). 

I never really connected with the love story in Star Mother. There really wasn't the push to finish the novel because I already knew how the story ended. (I will also fully admit to never having been a fan of star-crossed lovers.) The romance in Star Father felt more sincere and epic to me and actually had me wanting to ignore chores for reading.

The Sun has fallen to Earth having been wounded in his war with Moon. A young woman who has had to retreat back to her rural farm life from the big city finds him unconscious, face down in a river. She is an emotional wreck dealing with a lot of her life choices. He is a mystery. Naturally there is an attraction.

While they both begin to heal from the wounds the world has inflicted upon their souls, the rest of the population is struggling to survive in a world only illuminated by moonlight. Love is not strong enough to keep a god from his duties. And Aija is not selfish enough to doom a planet. Yet another love will end in bittersweet longing and hurt.

However, Aija is stubborn enough to sacrifice and hunt for way to not be left behind again. She sets herself on the path to become immortal and join the Sun in the sky. The entire quest was intriguing and alluring. I wanted to see how the story ended. I was invested in the journey. The story was bigger than the love or the characters. 

That's what I look for in a book, and why I usually love reading Charlie's works. Star Father did not disappoint. Personally I feel you can read the two novels together for a bigger picture, or just read Star Father for its epic romance that crosses eternity. Either way you will win on reading anything Charlie writes.