Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett (review)

Control freak Zorie is not looking forward to a weekend camping trip with her best friend, and she's especially not happy when Lennon, the boy who broke her heart last year, joins their group as their unofficial wilderness guide. Still, best pal Reagan is having a rough year, so Zorie's willing to go along with it out of BFF loyalty, and as an astronomy nerd she's excited about seeing the upcoming Perseid meteor shower. A spat leads the rest of the group to split off from Zorie and Lennon, but Zorie still hopes to see the Perseids, so Lennon is game to guide her on the long trek to the highest viewing spot. The book is loaded with contrivance: it's unclear how the rest of the group makes their way back through the woods without Lennon since they needed him in the first place, Zorie's decision to hike days to the peak is wildly out of character, and her inability to do anything right camping-wise is grating. That's mostly backdrop to Zorie and Lennon's reunion story, though, which is one with witty love/hate banter and plenty of intense make-up sex. There's humor in Lennon's background (his parents run the sex toy shop next to Zorie's parents' acupuncture place), drama in Zorie's family life (her dad is a serial cheater), and plenty of non-sexual thrills in the various forest threats, making for an acceptable romance read, especially under starry skies. KQG