In Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender, Logan Gray is known as the bad boy of Hollywood, a great actor but not a great person. And then there’s Matthew “Mattie” Cole, the up-and-comer who everyone loves. So they’re an unlikely pairing when they’re cast as the two main characters in a queer romcom movie, especially when Logan insults Mattie’s acting on a red carpet. Publicity for their upcoming movie tanks, and the studio comes up with a plan: if Logan and Mattie pretend to be in a relationship, this will create much better buzz. They reluctantly agree, and a few weeks into filming start to have genuine feelings for each other, as they get to know each other better both on screen and off. However, the public is watching, and with the poisonous attitudes of Hollywood all around them, their relationship might be too much for either of them to handle.

I love when an audiobook has a bigger cast! This one was good, especially André Santana and AJ Beckles as Logan and Mattie.

As for the story itself, I liked this. Seeing Logan slowly open up to the possibility of being vulnerable, while Mattie grapples with all that his new partner is dealing with was interesting. I appreciate the focus given to how communication is vital to a relationship, as well as things like consent and boundaries. Sometimes the dialogue around these topics perhaps felt a little unnatural at times, but not overly so.

I also enjoyed seeing just how toxic an environment like Hollywood can be, highlighting how public scrutiny of people’s private lives to that level can be so damaging to mental health. Callender is astute in exploring how one’s public image is both curated and also somewhat uncontrollable, with the media often taking small occurrences and building entire narratives around them. It’s interesting to see Logan in particular cope with this.

In addition to Logan and Mattie, I liked the other characters, too, though none particularly stood out to me. A couple of the ladies who were in Logan and Mattie’s circle I kept mixing up. But maybe that’s a symptom of me doing the audio this time; mea culpa.

Moving on, the end of the story was actually quite moving. This is a love story, in a way, but also a story of finding a better purpose, a healthier mindset. There is certainly drama, but the way the relationship progresses between the protagonists seems more realistic than a typical romcom, which in a way was refreshing. I do think that them jumping to the conclusion that they’re fully in love felt a little fast (they’d only known each other for the duration of the movie shoot), but the way things panned out after that was quite good.

In the end, Stars in Your Eyes is a touching story. The protagonists are decent and their relationship ends up in a lovely place. There’s tons of drama and navigating the awful world of being in the public eye, as well as handling harmful people and situations, but ultimately this is a story about healing and hope. It’s not the most fun time, but it also seems quite comforting and cathartic in a way, too.

Stars In Your Eyes will be published on October 10th, 2023!

Also, I wanted to mention that due to the themes and the plot in general, there are some pretty serious topics here. Logan deals with drug and alcohol abuse (though the former doesn’t take place on the page), as well as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation on a couple of ocassions. There is also a bit of physical violence, notably one moment of sexual assault (not between Logan and Mattie).