When The Stars Come Out (CottonBloom Book 5) by Laura Trentham Review

Hey ForeverBookers, 

I’ve just finished “When The Stars Come Out” by Laura Trentham. It’s the 5th book in the CottonBloom saga and it was good! It’s a contemporary series. I reviewed the 4th book on here a year or so ago. 

I read this for the Popsugar Reading Challenge of “Book the involves a bookstore or library” because it briefly does feature a library. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review this for you all. 

2.75 Stars!

It follows the same characters as “Leave The Night On” , except we get insights into a different romance, this time. In “Leave The Night On”, we followed Wyatt and Sutton, but in this story we follow Wyatt’s twin brother, Jackson and an employee at their garage, Willa.

“When The Stars Come Out” includes some explicit sex scenes throughout the second half of the novel. I don’t think it would be suitable for anyone under 17 years of age.

Spoilers Below...

Willa has worked at the garage for a while before “When The Stars Come Out”. She was there in the previous novel. She lives in a trailer so she’s not had the best life. Attraction starts to build between Willa and Jackson straight away. There’s always been something between them. 

“While she’d learned the ins and outs of car mechanics from her father, she’d gained an appreciation of the classics over the last two years working with the brothers. Jackson in particular”

I could tell in the previous novel that they’d probably end up together but this quote solidified that this novel would be about Willa and Jackson’s relationship. 

“She wasn’t cute, godamnit, she was beautiful. Yet she was hiding under coveralls in their garage. The clamp around his heart ratcheted higher” 

This shows that Jackson is in love with Willa. Seeing her as beautiful rather than just an employee, how he used to see her makes his heart speed up. The “their” refers to Jackson and Wyatt’s garage because they’re twins. Jackson wants to see all of Willa, which he’s able to do later in the novel. 

There are more sexy times in “When The Stars Come Out” than “Leave The Night On”. The author didn’t seem afraid to write them, here. Maybe because Jackson and Willa have known each other longer than Wyatt and Sutton had and so they trusted each other before they started dating, I’m not sure, but as I said above it shouldn’t be read by anyone younger than 17, I don’t think. 

Another significant thing to note about this novel is that Willa isn’t who she says she is.

“He didn’t know her real name, and she was good at disappearing”

She’s been on the run for years and lives in a trailer. It’s only when Jackson sees this that he delves deeper into Willa’s past. To be honest, I didn’t think this part really added anything to the story. Yes, it gave Willa some backstory but was it central to the overall plot of the book? No, I didn’t think it was. Jackson would have ended up with Willa, no matter what. 

“Pack. She needed to pack up and move on”

When Willa thinks that Jackson doesn’t trust her, she decides to move away and start her life somewhere else. Of course, Jackson isn’t going to let her go, easily.  

The point about Willa not being her real name is brought up a lot in “When The Stars Come Out”. I thought that when her real name was revealed it would be shocking, but it wasn’t. The reason why she’s on the run, because her ex killed her friend by selling her drugs wasn’t the thrill ride I thought it’d be, either. I couldn’t work out why Willa felt guilty about that aspect. Derrick, her ex was to blame, sure, but Willa wasn’t. 

Willa was a quite a weak character to me. She didn’t have any get up and go. When things started to get tough she just wanted to pack up and move on. She wasn’t interested in staying for Jackson. It was Jackson that came running after her after all, all the time. The relationship seemed quite forced at the end. In the middle it was fine but the end put me off, unfortunately. 

At the end of “When The Stars Come Out” when Willa is reunited with her dad, everything is just okay. There’s no ruckus or rowing, like there would be in real life. Her dad just accepts Jackson, too, without any questions. 

“Jackson’s my boyfriend”...

“Nice to meet you sir” 

Her father nodded but his attention was squarely on Willa. 

This is basically the only interaction Willa’s father and Jackson get. I didn’t think this was at all realistic, so although I did love the romance in this book, the family dynamics could have been written about better, I think.

As a side note, this novel follows Wyatt and Sutton’s still ongoing relationship as well. They get engaged in “When The Stars Come Out”. 

What did I like about “When The Stars Come Out”?

* I liked how characters from previous books were involved. This series is a little like a soap opera, I think. 

* I liked how we got more emotional development in this novel. I think this was because the main characters already knew each other. 

What didn’t I like about “When The Stars Come Out”

* I didn’t like how weak Willa seemed as a character. Jackson seemed to do everything to move them forward. Willa did nothing except complain about her past it seemed. 

* I didn’t like how the big mystery was a let down. Would Willa have been a spy sent on a mission, no. But could there have been more of a reason that she had run away? Yes.

* I didn’t like how Willa’s dad didn’t seem interested in who Jackson was. I don’t think a parent would just turn a blind eye to the guy that their daughter calls their boyfriend. There would be questions before acceptance, at least.

* I didn’t understand what the title had to do with the actual story. 

I’m a romance reader at heart so did I like this “When The Stars Come Out”? Yes! Were there problems with it? Yes!! Will I be reading the next book in the CottonBloom saga? Yes. I think that the next book, which is about Mack, Wyatt and Jackson’s elder brother finding love will be better. I just didn’t like Willa much here. I thought she was more a tool to move the plot along, rather than a character you’re meant to root for! 

Stand by for my next review, coming soon...