Friday, 23 January 2026

Lies we Tell About the Stars by Susie Nadler

✦ BLURB ✦

Celeste Muldoon is alone when the Big One finally hits San Francisco, because, for the first time ever, her best friend, Nicky, stood her up after school. The two of them share a birthday, matching tattoos, an obsession with the upcoming Mars mission, dreams of MIT, and pretty much everything else. So why didn’t he meet her the way they’d planned?

The earthquake has a huge death toll, and Nicky and Celeste's parents fear the worst, but Celeste doesn’t buy it. Nicky spent their senior year selling essays to rich kids and was about to be exposed. Celeste knows he had a plan to vanish, reinvent himself and escape the disaster he’d created, but can’t convince anyone else that he could still be alive. Only Meo, a mysterious boy Nicky was somehow mixed up with, seems to believe, but she has every reason to distrust him – even if her heart races every time he shows up.

When Celeste finds Nicky’s notebook, it sends her and Meo on a quest across her broken city, up the coast through towns sheltering quake refugees, and eventually all the way to Florida, where the mission to Mars is about to lift off.

✶ PRE-READING ✶

Show me a catastrophe - especially one with messy interpersonal dynamics - and I'm there. The thought of a huge earthquake hitting San Fran pulled me in.

✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... It's tense, it's difficult, there's a lot going on. It was interesting to see who came together and who fell apart.

It surprised me by... having long stretches where things were normal, or almost normal. Bits of it were even approaching - not boring, I can't think of the word I want, but it felt strange that after such a huge earthquake people went back to school and work and shopped for groceries.

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

Featured Song:

“Control” – Halsey
Raw, desperate, fierce; excellent for Celeste’s determination and grief.
Also: disaster-girl energy.

Vibe Album:

“Wiped Out!” – The Neighbourhood
Moody, coastal, hazy, cinematic.
Matches both San Francisco aftermath and the long journey to Florida.

Artist Recommendation:

Mitski
For all that aching loyalty, complicated friendship, and “I don’t know if I’m in love or in denial or both.”

🎨 Vibe Check

Colour Palette: Charcoal, emergency-red, petrol blue, driftwood grey, neon-lilac
Soundtrack: Synth pulses, distant sirens, wind across broken concrete, low rhythmic road-trip beats
Season: Earthquake summer - hot, grimy, restless
Mood: Desperate hope wrapped in suspicion
Scent: Ash, wet pavement, old notebooks, sea air from the ruined coast

📚 For Fans Of

Book: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
(end-of-the-world mood + messy friendships + personal reinvention)

TV/Movie: The Society
(missing people, unreliable allies, tense teen power dynamics, hope under pressure)

★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

🔮 Death (Sugar Skull Tarot)

In Sugar Skull, Death shows a figure lying in a coffin, surrounded by flowers and sugar masks - a gentle yet striking reminder of endings, transformation, and the mysteries hidden beneath appearances.

For Lies We Tell About the Stars, it mirrors Celeste’s emotional landscape perfectly: Nicky is presumed dead, leaving her to navigate grief, uncertainty, and the chaos of a city shattered by disaster. The sugar masks hint at deception and hidden truths, reflecting the lies, secrets, and unexpected twists that drive the story forward. Yet as always with Death, this card is also about renewal - the possibility of new paths, revelations, and hope, perfectly echoing the journey toward connection, discovery, and the Mars mission waiting at the horizon.

Read and Reviewed