I don’t think I’ve done a YA Bound Book Tour in a while, and I was excited for this one! This is also the first Medina book that I’ve read, so I was also excited to experience a new-to-me author. Thanks again to YA Bound for the opportunity to join this tour. Click on the banner for more information and the rest of the schedule.

Natalia Morales has a secret…she’s kind of a superhero. Natalia dreams of joining the Action Team, the newly banded and young heroes that protect Angel City, and just may stop at anything to make it happen.

Alyse Morales knows her sister’s secret, and wants Natalia to give up on her dangerous dream. When Alyse gets hurt one night while Natalia is crime fighting, Natalia promises to end her run as a hero. But when the Sorceress appears in Angel City, and Captain Force, the leader of the Action Team, enlists in Natalia’s help, she may have to break her promise in order to protect her family and friends.

Will Alyse ever forgive her? Is Natalia actually capable of saving the day? All the Stars on Fire is the story of following your dreams, what it truly takes to be a hero, and leaping into the unknown.

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Beck Medina is a California born and raised author and podcast host. Beck’s work includes 2016’s A Fantastic Mess of Everything, 2017’s Or Best Offer, and her highly anticipated fantasy novel All the Stars on Fire (December 2019).

When Beck isn’t writing, she’s the host of the My Best Life Podcast, a health, wellness, and business podcast for creative entrepreneurs. A few of Beck’s favorite things include pop music, iced coffee, teen dramas, and her two cats, Olivia and Dupree.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to YA Bound Book Tours, and 1537 Press for this free copy.

This one was… pretty interesting to get my head around. It reminded me of Renegades in that we have kids trying to play superhero in a dystopian kind of world, except these kids had their DNA altered by the government through something called Project 451. They were called The Action Team, and we had some teenagers like Natalia wanting to be a part of this team because she’s already been playing vigilante at night like she’s not going to get hurt or something.

Okay I think I went into a little rant during that part because apparently I had some thoughts about this novel.

There were some parts that were hard for me to wrap my head around, and I think it was really because I didn’t understand why there would be a whole government program devoted to having child / teenagers develop the ability to change someone’s emotions. I get that having that kind of power is… well powerful. And from Natalia’s letter to the Action Team in the beginning, it seemed like Project 451 had some other plans involved with that, but then they ended up getting shut down? I felt like that was too quick honestly, or something happened that made that program lose their funding way too quickly for how soon they implemented the program. I feel like that’s more of my realistic policy mind thinking than just wanting to actually make sense with what is going on, but also thinking that this is pretty realistic in a dystopian kind of world. I can see money being put into a program but not enough money being put into it to actually see it to fruition.

Also, Natalia’s sister Alyse knows that her sister is sneaking out at night basically to kick some booty and all that, but hasn’t told her that she knows. And then also, the three Morales kids are pretty much orphans because their parents died – but it doesn’t tell you how yet (spoilers) – so why would Natalia intentionally put her life in danger like that when they just experienced a death of the worst kind. You know? I feel like that would really hurt her brother and sister to know that every single night there was a chance that she wouldn’t come home because she was trying to be a superhero.

Then there was something else that I didn’t really understand yet, about the Spirit thing that “Seven” deals with when he breaks into this facility and all that. Again, spoilers so I won’t say anything. How were they able to see a spirit like that? And is it a spirit in the traditional sense? So interesting.

I definitely feel like this had some potential, but I would maybe fix some of the pacing issues as well as some of the backstory of the plot. Maybe having a little bit more explanation earlier on, not enough to give away the twists or anything but just enough that the reader isn’t left confused would help.