Review:There Will Be Stars

Title: There Will Be Stars
Author: Billy Coffey 

 No one in Mattingly, VA ever believed Bobby Barnes would live to see old age. Drink would either rot Bobby from the inside out or dull his senses just enough to send his truck off the mountain on one of his nightly rides. Although Bobby believes such an end possible—and even likely—it doesn’t stop him from taking his twin sons Matthew and Mark into the mountains one Saturday night. A sharp curve, blinding headlights, metal on metal, his sons’ screams. Bobby’s final thought as he sinks into blackness is a curious one—There will be stars. Yet it is not death that greets him beyond the veil. Instead, he returns to the day he has just lived and finds he is not alone in this strange new world. Six others are trapped with him. Bobby soon discovers that this supposed place of peace is actually a place of secrets and hidden dangers. Along with three others, he seeks to escape, even as the world around him begins to crumble. The escape will lead some to greater life, others to endless death . . .and Bobby Barnes to understand the deepest nature of love.      
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 For the most part this book was confusing to read, it was definitely organized chaos from beginning to end. Bobby is your typical good’ole boy from the south, who is probably suffering from PTSD but drinks his problems away. Bobby gets in a car crash, and finds himself re-living the day of his death. In this limbo so to speak Bobby finds others, who like him have tragic stories. Everything is not what it seems, Bobby and the others learn they must face there past, if they wish to move on. This was not a light read like I thought, it was very real. I finished this book in one day, I loved the redemption, atonement, love, and reconciliation themes, in this book. At first I didn’t understand why Bobby would accept this truth but as Bobby begins to tell his story we find out why, limbo was easier to believe than his reality. Some of the book was written like, lessons? Some of this book left me in dark, because the themes were very heavy, and not what was expected for a YA book. This lead me to believe that this book is more for an Adult audience. 2.5/5