Pieces of Stars

So Glimpse is the story of Zellie (Hazel Grace) Wells: pastor's daughter, high school girl, love interest of the hottest boy in town, Avery. It's an easy read, this book. I'll admit, after the last book I read, this was a dream. The author sets the scene and the characters right away and spends about a third of the book setting the story. Very nice. I'm so tired of these books that start with action and just keep piling it on until you feel like you need a break or you'll explode.The characters are likeable, although I'm not into this whole exasperating best friend thing a lot of YA books have going on. Claire was no exception and I wanted to kill her more than I wanted to read about her.I loved the switch between first person and third person and I thought it did a much better job conveying viewpoint then a lot of YA books out there, so kudos to the author for that!The love story was more like a lust story, but they are both teenagers, and the way it unfolded seemed pretty honest to me. Besides, they'd known each other for a long time, so I didn't have to suspend belief too much.Here is where the book went south for me: the end. The end was so strange that half the time I was shaking my head. **********Spoiler Here************First the grandmother is dead, but then she's not. Then Zellie meets another rewinder, a boy —who isn't supposed to exist, but does. The author goes so far as to mention his name, dismisses him as gay, and then we never hear from him again. Um, WHAT?? Now, I haven't read the second two books, but it seems to me, some foreshadowing is in order, like I don't know a GLIMPSE at the end?But wait, there's more. Zellie's Mom turns out to be pregnant. From AVERY'S dad. Oh, and Zellie and Avery are still hot and heavy. I'm sorry, but that's just all incesty. I get that it's not Zellie or Avery's fault, but now they will both have a sibling that's related to the other person. Honestly, I just don't understand what the author was thinking here. As a beta reader I would have said..."You might want to lower the creep factor there!"But wait, there's more. Avery's dad died towards the beginning of the book, but now Avery's mom can see him and they've decided to live together as ghost and wife. That's right. She and her GHOST lover are going to raise their bastard offspring together. That's. Just. Odd.***********************EndSo yeah, what started out as a great typical YA read turned into this crazypants festival of events that had me baffled. I can't complain too much, though. I'll probably read the next one, just out of curiosity! :)One small side note:One of the reasons I picked up this book was because the main character was a pastor's daughter and I am also a pastor's daughter. I have to say, I didn't think her portrayal of Zellie as a PK (pastor's kid) was particularly realistic.First of all, I'm not saying PK's are perfect. Nope. I've met my fair share of rebels, but the rebels are pretty obvious about it. Zellie is painted as the typical first born, participates in everything pastor's kid and it just doesn't fly with me that on her first DATE with a boy, she'd be taking off her shirt and making out with little to no guilt. Being a PK is ALLLLLL about the guilt. That's how they get you. Everyone in the congregation is watching you, your parents have unrealistic expectations of you, and sometimes you feel like you want to burst out of your skin and fly away.But you don't. That's the key point here. I NEVER NEVER heard a PK (and I went to convention's for heaven's sakes. All my friends were PKs) say Je**s H. Ch***t. NEVER. Or OMG for that matter, unless the G was gosh. Hell, yes. Damn, yes. But using the Lord's name in vain is right up there with the big no-no's. You don't even do that around your friends.My parent's weren't super conservative or anything, but man, Zellie's dad is like the coolest dad I've ever met, never MIND the pastor part. I don't think there is a dad out there that would say that to his kid. There is NO WAY a pastor would. Sorry. I guess if Stacey is a PK and her life was like that, I will believe it, but if she's not, then no dice. Totally unrealistic to my world.