Written in the Stars (Mothers and Daughters Collection) by Angela Christina Archer – Review by Jennifer Bartholomae
Written in the Stars by Angela Christina Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“Written in the Stars” is the second book in Angela Christina Archer’s Mothers and Daughters Collection. In this book we follow, Betty, an unwed and pregnant teenage girl in the 1950s. At that time teen unwed moms were sent to homes for wayward girls to finish out their pregnancies and put their babies up for adoption – whether they wanted to or not. Then they could return home to their families and life could go on as normal. Or at least that’s the idea. We follow Betty’s story as well as that of a grown-up Marlena, her daughter, through the journey of discovering she is adopted and all the emotional entanglement that brings.
The story is written in flashback sequences and from the viewpoint of both Betty and Marlena. Both characters are well developed, though in a lot of instances I feel like Betty has more depth to her story than Marlena. It was interesting to be able to see the situation from two viewpoints, but I honestly would have liked to have seen Charlie’s viewpoint written in as well. I think it would be interesting to hear the viewpoint of an unwed teenage father and what goes on in their minds in a situation like this. We do find out some of Charlie’s viewpoint toward the end of the book, but it is a very small excerpt. I think the beginning of Marlena’s story could have been positioned a little differently because I felt like that first transition between viewpoints was a bit clunky.
Overall, the storyline held my attention enough for me to keep picking it back up every time I had an opportunity. I am not generally a huge fan of books with a lot of flashback but this was written well enough that it didn’t get confusing. If you are looking for a sweet love story based on the enduring power of love, this would be a great one to pick up!
