Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney

book cover of Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney

Title: Starry Nights
Author: Daisy Whitney
Release date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 288
Source: BEA
Reading level:  YA
Challenge(s): None

Seventeen-year-old Julien is a romantic—he loves spending his free time at the museum poring over the great works of the Impressionists. But one night, a peach falls out of a Cezanne, Degas ballerinas dance across the floor, and Julien is not hallucinating.

The art is reacting to a curse that trapped a beautiful girl, Clio, in a painting forever. Julien has a chance to free Clio and he can’t help but fall in love with her. But love is a curse in its own right. And soon paintings begin to bleed and disappear. Together Julien and Clio must save the world’s greatest art . . . at the expense of the greatest love they’ve ever known.

Starry Nights, Daisy Whitney’s first non-contemporary book, kind of let me down.  I was expecting the amazing writing, setting, and story from Daisy Whitney’s previous books and I just didn’t get that.  I enjoyed Starry Nights but it’s not something I’d ever read again.
Starry Nights starts off slow and doesn’t really pick up.  There’s not a lot of action or suspense and I found myself enjoying reading it but never really wondering where it would go or speeding through it to see what would happen.  There’s magic and curses and fun stuff like that but I never felt a sense of urgency regarding any of it.
Another thing that was odd to me was the writing.  It was a lot less fluid than the writing in Daisy Whitney’s other books.  Also, Julien just didn’t seem as authentic as Daisy Whitney’s other characters.  She definitely got the male voice right but he was a little too romantic for any teenage boy I know.  Maybe that’s just because I don’t know any French teenagers.  Sometimes he just seemed a little fake to me.
There were some good things about Starry Nights though.  I’ve never been all that into art but I felt like I learned a lot and it actually made me really interested in it.  There was also some really fabulous history thrown into the story which really intrigued me since I’m such a history buff.  I know that won’t appeal to everyone but to me, it was probably the best thing about the book.
I also really enjoyed the setting.  Anything set in Paris is fabulous and Daisy Whitney definitely didn’t write about the typical parts of Paris.  She showed readers a very different side to the city and I really enjoyed that.  Paris came alive in Starry Nights.
Overall, if you’re looking for something quick to read on a rainy day, give this one a shot.  It won’t be for everyone but it is a pretty fun read.
What others are saying about Starry Nights:
Mundie Moms’ review: “I love it when a book blurs the lines between reality and the exciting “what if”.” 

The White Unicorn’s review: So, while I have to say that I wasn’t a fan of Starry Nights, I think that I am a fan of Daisy Whitney.”

Refracted Light Reviews’ review: Overall, Starry Nights is an intriguing glimpse into France and its rich artistic collections.” 

Other reviews for this author:
The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
When You Were Here by Daisy Whitney
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8 comments

  1. I’ve been hearing mixed things about this one. I haven’t read anything by Daisy Whitney, but in general I’ve heard she’s great. Maybe having not read any of her previous books, I won’t be so let down?

    Anyway, thanks for the review, and I love the new design. 🙂

  2. I really liked this one, thought of it as magical realism and took the tone as somewhat storytelling fairytale-type.

    The concept was fascinating and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the art references:)

    Lovely review 🙂