Sirius: Twin Stars by Ana C. Sánchez
It was always Dani’s dream to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a tennis star. Everything flies out the window when she has a heart attack during the tennis match that was supposed to launch her career. Now that Dani’s recovering, she’s been sent to her family’s vacation home to live with her cousin. Away from her home and her career, Dani feels lonelier than ever. She realizes that, at some point, she lost sight of her dream while under the extreme pressure that her mom placed on her. Dani feels like she lost her mom as well, since she feels like she disappointed her. Things start to change when she meets Blanca, a girl who lives with her head in the stars and dreams of becoming an astronomer. Through Blanca, Dani learns that her life isn’t over, and that her relationships can be repaired.
I read one of Sánchez’s other books and thought, hey. I wonder if anything has English translations since I last checked and discovered this book. I absolutely loved it. We follow Dani, a teenager whose life has been turned upside down, after she’s been sent to live with her cousin at the family vacation house. We see that Dani is crushed by multiple things, but the main ones being the loss of her tennis career and the sheer disappointment and loss of her mother.
One of the things I found interesting about this book is that we see Dani struggling with her family relationships. Her mom retreated into her own space after the heart attack, and Dani is struggling with the never ending feeling that she disappointed her mom. First, she disappointed her as a tennis player and now she disappointed her by having a heart attack. Dani believes she’s been sent to the vacation house not for herself, but because her mother can’t look at her, and that is a heavy burden for someone so young to go through. Her poor dad is trying to be the link between the two of them, but Dani isn’t interested in trying.
Things change when Dani meets Bianca. Of course, their first meeting is a disaster, but every meeting after that leaves Dani watching in awe. Bianca is full of life and is always talking and is very animated. She reignites that spark that Dani thought she lost long ago, and we watch Dani realize that she’s stumbled upon her first love at the worst time of her life. I loved the conversations the pair have that seem like just your average conversation on the surface while actually digging deep at times. It’s also nice to see Dani discover through Bianca that things aren’t over, and that sometimes you just need to look at things with fresh eyes.
The romance part of the book is cute. It’s fun to see the two fall in love and realize their feelings for one another. It’s even more fun to see the characters around them rooting for them even before they realize what anything means yet. It’s also nice to see both Dani and Bianca live in supportive spaces, especially since Dani already has a lot of doom and gloom in her life when the story starts.
All in all, it’s a beautiful story with wonderful artwork and a great cast of characters. I’m excited to see what Sánchez puts out next.
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