Amazon | Goodreads

Synopsis:

She emerged as innocent as any newborn. The party of starbursts and sparkles came to a standstill. In awe, millions of heavenly beings paused. Shine Star, Princess of the Universe, was the most precious and rare of all creations. As an expression of perfect happiness, thus was the king’s daughter born.

A magical love story unfolds in Vikrant Malhotra’s wondrous debut, The Stories of Goom’pa: Book One.

Meet Goom’pa. He is a Poofy, a small furry creature who resides on Earth in a place called Palidon, on the edge of the Miron National Forest.

His world is a quiet one—until he spies Shine Star, a glorious star in the sky and the daughter of Prime Ray, the king of the universe. Enchanted by her elegance, Goom’pa knows he is willing to do anything to win the love of this celestial beauty.

As the two meet and fall in love, Shine Star’s father worries about his only daughter. Exploiting that concern is the Star Lord, Rath, who wants nothing more than to wrestle control of the universe away from Prime Ray.

Will Goom’pa and Shine Star find a way to be together? Or will Rath’s evil plan doom them all?

Review:

Reviewed by Cianna for Sunshine & Mountains

Grade: B+ (4 Stars)

I mostly enjoyed this book. I felt like it was a a unique idea for a kids book, kinda along the lines of Stardust, but more tamed down. Shine Star is a star and she wants to be with Goom’pa a little Poofy she met in the forest.

First off, I want a poofy! Actually, I’d like a whole tribe to come live in my house, I’d accept it because they sound so darn adorable.

Second, this was a really interesting book, but I did only give it 4 stars because I felt a little lost at times, as the chapters were so short and characters switched so quickly, so I worry if an adult gets lost, how will a little kid fare? That’s really my only critique of the book. I’d love to know more about Poofy’s too, but I’m hoping that might come in a later book. I felt really involved in the story, I was rooting for Shine Star and Goom’pa’s love to win over the villains and work out! There’s a lot more deep meaning to this book then compared to some children’s books. It really deals with the feelings of loneliness, which is a great for a child, because depending on life and situations, child can get lonely easily.

I felt Shine Star was a fun character, she’s always interested in learning, which lead her to Goom’pa, and I think it’s another great message for children. She had a very interesting life, but again, we didn’t get too much of her world and her people in this book, and I’d love to learn more, but her transformation at the end of the book was very beautiful.

Overall, this is a really catchy and well written kids story. It interests the reader, it’s unique, and deals with some deeper themes which would be good for the adults reading as well as the kids listening. I hope in book two we get more from the two worlds and more of their chatacters that flew by too fast in this one!

** I was given a copy from the author & Rebecca’s Reads in exchange for an honest review