It’s the summer before her senior year in high school when AJ gets a job at the local video store. Her plan is to watch her favorite show, a cult comedy from the 1960s called “Astronauticals,” and write fan fiction about the show. She’s surprised to find she’s getting a coworker, Noah, whose family is an acting dynasty, including his aunt Eudora, who starred in Astronauticals.
The two become friends and confide in each other about things no one else knows. As they become acting partners taught by Eudora, they forge a connection—almost an intuition—that deepens their bond. And then one day, Noah leaves town without a word, and leaves AJ to wonder what happened.
Seven years later, AJ is working in production on an HGTV reality show; Noah has become a megastar. Somehow she gets cast in a sci-fi show that will be totally improvised—and Noah is one of her costars. Acting opposite each other reawakens feelings between the two. But every time they try to move beyond their past, they can’t. They go their separate ways, only to reunite again and again, as their career paths intertwine.
“Empathy was not predictive. Being able to feel or even influence a person’s emotions was not the same as being able to influence their actions. Noah’s love for AJ was absolute, his desire to leave her nonexistent, but their future didn’t hinge on Noah’s heart so much as his capacity for uncertainty. For that was the true cost of happiness: never knowing when it might be lost.”
Emma Brodie’s debut, Songs in Ursa Major, blew me away, so I’m not surprised how much I loved this. She is an incredible storyteller, weaving humor, romance, serious steam, and complex emotions. This will definitely be one of my favorite books of the year.
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