Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing Written in Starlight by Sloane Brooks. This was a book that wasn’t on my radar until the publisher reached out to me with a widget. The premise sounded so interesting that I couldn’t pass it up. Am I glad I accepted the ARC? Read on to find out!

For fans of Tusk Love and The Spellshop comes a romantic portal fantasy with a cosmic twist about a storybook chambermaid and an intergalactic bounty hunter whose worlds—and hearts—collide through a magical book, threatening to rewrite fate.

Della Farley has always known her place in the scrubbing floors, keeping her head down, and dreaming of something more. But when she stumbles upon a strange book that seems to be writing itself—a story about a man named Ansel Tulzok, a wanted fugitive traveling the stars—her quiet life turns extraordinary.

Light-years away, Ansel finds a mirror copy of the same book. Page by page, the story unfolds with details of a woman he’s never met—one whose words feel achingly familiar. As the two begin writing to each other through the mysterious pages, they open doors not just to each other’s worlds, but to their most vulnerable hopes and fears.

When Della takes an impossible leap of faith and writes herself into Ansel’s story, she soon finds herself aboard his ship, surrounded by stars, danger, and a crew of outlaws who might just become her family. Together, Della and Ansel strike a she’ll help him clear his name in exchange for passage to the planet that holds the cure for her mother’s deadly illness.

But every story has its price. And as their worlds entwine and their hearts collide, Della and Ansel must decide how far they’re willing to go to change the ending fate has written for them.

***Thank you to Atria Books for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

I absolutely adored Written in Starlight. It had Cinderella meets Star Wars vibes, and the mix of cozy and action elements somehow had the perfect balance. The story was paced well, and I never found myself bored. Things ended up going in directions I didn’t expect, and the author did a good job of using different narrative formats to keep things interesting, as well. Perhaps most importantly, I just really love stories about books/stories, and this was such a unique one.

Written in Starlight started off with Della and Ansel finding books that were narrating each other’s lives. Then they discovered that they could communicate with each other through the books. It created such an interesting dynamic because they could see not just what happened to each other but also all of their internal thoughts, as if they were reading each other’s POVs. This helped to build the intimacy between the characters rather quickly because they couldn’t hide anything from each other. The two characters had great banter, and it was so fun to read a boy from the stars and a maid from a small town getting to know each other in such a weird way.

Things in Written in Starlight changed abruptly once Della was transported to Ansel’s world. Della found an Ansel who was completely closed off to everyone around him, which now included her. Their easy intimacy was gone, and Della struggled to gain the trust and respect of the crew while tiptoeing around Ansel’s attachment issues and working out a plan to clear Ansel’s name of the bounty on his head. The crew was so fantastic, and I loved getting to know them and their found family dynamic. I also never expected cosmic dust to be a new favorite “creature” companion, but here we are. lol. The change in how Della and Ansel communicated, or rather the lack thereof, was quite stark in relation to the first part of the story, and their relationship development seemed to be paused for a large portion of the middle of the book. I didn’t mind it, though, because I loved the crew and enjoyed exploring different parts of Ansel’s world.

The end of Written in Starlight packed a massive punch that left my head spinning. It retroactively made earlier parts of the novel even better. So much of the weird energy between Ansel and Della and the decisions Ansel made about putting distance between them made a lot of sense once everything was out in the open. I don’t want to say anything else because I don’t want to spoil stuff, but their whole situation definitely had me misty eyed.

All in all, Written in Starlight is a perfect choice for anyone looking for a genre-bending love story that defies the laws of reality and contains plenty of action paired with adorable cozy moments. Also, anyone who loves stories within stories should definitely give this one a shot! All things considered, I rate this book 4.25 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on Written in Starlight by Sloane Brooks. Have you read this one yet? Does it sound like something you’d enjoy? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments!