The book, Reaching For The Stars, is a Dramatical Teen Fiction written by romance1n. The book follows Aaliyah as she trudges through life with an abusive father and a dismissive mother with her only support system being her twin brother, Austin. She is just your average teenager going through the motions of high school when she's met with the new kid, a delinquent young man named Martinez that won't leave her be.

The story is written in first person, primarily through Aaliyah's perspective. Aaliyah is a quiet and reserved person who enjoys solitude. She does not like any physical contact, even if it is from her brother. She is also described as being distrustful of people. We know of her past and we know of her present but we want to find out about future. This character is believable and relatable, however, her actions seems to somewhat contradict what her personality is described as. She does not trust people but she readily 'abandons' her brother, someone she has a connection to by blood, to sit with someone she only just met hours ago. She does not like to be touched by others or to touch others but she helped her father, who had just beaten her, up and into bed-- kissing him on the forehead.

Martinez seems like your typical bad boy getting into trouble enough to be expelled from school. He claims his troubles stem from other's misunderstandings in him. He does not seem to be disrespectful in general but rather rebellious. He has no respect for authority figures (e.g. when he refused to shake the principal's hand when they first met) but has some semblance of morals as he helps Aaliyah when her books fell when they first met.

I like the subject matter being addressed. It is something I think needs more PSAs. Abuse is a huge thing -- and in situations like this, the 'system' never seems to know how to handle it, if they even bother to do it in the first place. It is too early in the book to be much of a judge on anything, but I do enjoy Austin and Aaliyah's close relationship. I am glad to read that she is not entirely alone. The story moves along in a somewhat fast pace, and sometimes gets a little confusing. The lunch scene is very confusing as I'm not sure where the extra people came from. Were they already sitting there? Did Martinez invite them or was it Austin that they were with? Why were they there?

I'd like to read more of this story but the characters need a little work. The lunch scene needs to be tweaked. I like Aaliyah but her personality is a little bit confusing.

(Rating ⭐️/5)

Originality ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

The concept of the story seems to me to be: high school drama. It is too early on in the story, in my opinion, to draw a true conclusion on originality.

Vision ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

Vision of the story is memorable, however it is very confusing at times. The chapters don't necessarily flow well. The introduction of characters don't seem to be too natural. They just suddenly appear in thin air without rhyme or reason. The lunch scene is very confusing, but other than that, it captures my attention well. 

Impact ⭐️ ⭐️  

Does it move me? Not really. It may just be too early in on the story, but the characters didn't really speak to me, other than Aaliyah. I understand Aaliyah but I do not know who Austin is besides her twin. I don't really know Martinez all that well (maybe pizza will help).

Technique ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Your grammar could use a bit of work. Commas, commas, commas, commas, commas, commas! Commas are everyone's worst nightmare -- they are MY worst nightmare. Remember the old  saying "when in doubt, leave it out". You need to work a little bit on your word choices, sentence structures, and punctuations. Dialogue tags are also a good thing to read up on. Having too many can hurt a story just as much as not having enough.

Cover ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simplicity is beauty. You cover stars the main character with an all blue filter -- The sky. The title is written in bold yellow letters -- The stars. It is simple yet beautiful and fitting for the title.

Summary ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The summary gives us a graphic and morbid glance into part of the life of Aaliyah. The part she wishes would end but wishes to hide from everyone, including her brother. The reason I rated this 3 was because the summary contained a few grammatical errors that actually make the summary confusing to read. You have commas in places were periods should be.

Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5