Book Review: "Of Sunlight and Stardust" by Riley Hart and Christina Lee

Tanner’s wife used to dream of them moving into an old house on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They would restore the dilapidated barn; she would paint and he would make his own beer. But she died before he could buy the house, so he bought it anyway and planned to make the renovations they discussed. One year later, he’s still too consumed by grief to do anything.

Cole spent some time in prison for looking the other way while things went wrong at the garage where he worked. When he got out of jail, he was homeless and as a felon, had little chance of finding a job, so he traveled to the town of Red Bluff to try for a fresh start.

When Tanner meets Cole, he can see his pain and his need for someone to give him a chance. Tanner offers Cole a job to fix up the barn in exchange for a place to sleep. The barn was rumored to have been damaged years before in a fire allegedly set by the son of the previous owners before he apparently ran off with his best friend.

Under the barn floor, Cole finds an old journal which apparently belonged to Tom, the young man accused of setting the fire back in 1948. As Cole and Tanner read the journal, what they find is the story of a young man in love with his best friend Charlie, at a time when those feelings were enough to get you hurt or killed.

At first, Cole and Tanner bond over their shared loneliness and grief, but over time, they develop a strong friendship. And the more they read about Tom and Charlie’s story, the more they’re drawn to one another, until friendship turns to passion. When they discover the truth of what happened to the barn and the young men, they know they must seize their chance at happiness.

I thought this was such a beautiful story, full of emotion, romance, and steam. These characters—as well as Tom and Charlie’s story—really found a place in my heart and my mind.