‘The Centre of the Universe’ by Ria Voros – eARC Book Review

Blurb from Goodreads

Grace Carter’s mother — the celebrity news anchor GG Carter — is everything Grace is not. GG is a star, with a flawless wardrobe and a following of thousands, while Grace — an aspiring astrophysicist — is into stars of another kind. She and her mother have always been in different orbits. 

Then one day GG is just … gone. Cameras descend on their house, news shows speculate about what might have happened and Grace’s family struggles to find a new rhythm as they wait for answers.

While the authorities unravel the mystery behind GG’s disappearance, Grace grows closer to her high school’s golden boy, Mylo, who has faced a black hole of his own. She also uncovers some secrets from her mother’s long-lost past. The more Grace learns, the more she wonders. Did she ever really know her mother? Was GG abducted … or did she leave? And if she left, why?

Author Ria Voros (Nobody’s Dog, The Opposite of Geek) reaches for the stars here, deftly combining mystery with a passion for science and themes of mother-daughter bonds, celebrity, first love and best friendship.

Facts about astronomy and astrophysics are seamlessly woven into the story and are supplemented by an interview with real-life astrophysicist Elizabeth Tasker, making this the perfect book for readers who love STEM. And even readers who don’t have stars in their eyes will love this smart, suspenseful, relatable and literary novel. 

Review

I breezed through this book in less than a day because it was just so enthralling. The story hooked me from page one.

It’s a book all about the relationships between mothers and daughters and examines it through the eyes of teenage Grace Carter. 

Grace is such an interesting character in that she feels very ordinary. And I don’t mean that in any negative manner but so frequently in YA the leading character is of the ‘special snowflake’ variety but Grace just felt very authentic. Yes she had a passion, for astronomy in her case, but it wasn’t overdone to the degree that it was a shoo-in that she was gonna be a future Nobel laureate.

Grace was just Grace…

She geeked out at times, she fell hard for a boy, she struggled with her relationship with her mother GG and maternal grandmother Patricia, she felt guilty about that relationship with her mother after one day her mom inexplicably disappears, she trusts, she mistrusts, she has a well-rounded and believable friendship with her best friend Iris…

She was a 100% relatable character.

This book is the best kind of coming of age story all wrapped up with an intense mystery storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from this author in future. 

Four and a half stars

*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher, Kids Can Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*