The stars have aligned for your next book club hit.
Underhanded? Maybe. But when aspiring journalist Justine Carmichael meddled with her magazine’s horoscopes, she only had the best of intentions. The trouble is, messing with destiny is a dangerous business. And the unforeseen ripple effects of Justine’s actions are sure to make for a hilarious reading group discussion. Here are some talking points to get it started.
Discussion points and questions:
- What meaning does astrology have in your life? How much or little do you feel that your star sign reflects your character?
- How wrong was it for Justine to meddle with the horoscope column of the Alexandria Park Star? Just a little bit? Terribly? Or wasn’t it wrong at all?
- Have you ever made a serious decision based on what you’ve read in a horoscope? Do tell…
- What do you think Justine sees in Nick? What does Nick see in Justine?
- Justine’s advice to Nick is often to follow his dreams. What do you think about people being encouraged to chase difficult creative goals?
- In the ‘cusp’ sections of Star-crossed, characters make big decisions based on their horoscopes. Which of these decisions, do you think, is the most significant?
- With which of the ‘cusp’ characters did you feel the most affinity? What was it about their story that appealed to you?
- Do you ever feel moved to correct errors of punctuation and spelling that you see on signs, the way that Justine does? What are your pet English-language peeves, and why?
- Now that you know how Star-crossed ends, do you think the book has a ‘message’ about whether or not there is such a thing as ‘destiny’?
- And finally, did you notice any small details in the story that reflect the symbols, characteristics or constellations of the twelve star signs?
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