Book Review for Chasing Stardust by Erica Lucke Dean

 

Chasing Stardust by Erica Lucke Dean

Published:  November 1, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing

Taken from Goodreads:  A funny and heartfelt novel about learning who your parents are as people, finding yourself, and falling in love in the strangest places—with a David Bowie soundtrack of a lifetime.

A crazy promise is still a promise. Zoey Jones is spreading her late mother’s ashes along a path her eccentric grandma G-Lo followed in 1972: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour. G-Lo was no ordinary groupie. According to her, Zoey’s mom was conceived somewhere between Memphis and Malibu, and Zoey’s grandpa is the glam rock icon himself. Revving up G-Lo’s old Cutlass, complete with her mother’s journal and a Ziggy Stardust 8-track, Zoey hits the open road.

After breaking down outside Nashville, Zoey is weighing her next move when she makes an immediate connection with Dash Hammond at an all-night diner. Dash is a college graduate fleeing the expectations of his family just as fiercely as Zoey tries to make sense of her own family’s colorful past. He offers to drive Zoey on the remainder of a life-changing road trip, and it’s more epic than Zoey ever dreamed.

What lies ahead is a cross-country journey of self-discovery, first love, glittering revelations, and finding the heart of a rebel that’s been beating inside Zoey the whole time.

My Thoughts:  Chasing Stardust is all about finding yourself.  Zoey is the youngest daughter of a mother that could be the daughter of Ziggy Stardust.   Her mother’s final wish is to have her ashes spread on the same path as Ziggy’s last tour, the tour that she was supposedly conceived during. 

I am not a Ziggy Stardust fan and honestly, I did not even know who he was.  I truly thought he was a fictional character that the author made up.   Then as I read, I realized he was David Bowie and that this book is not as much about the singer but more about the journey that Zoey is on.    The journey takes Zoey across the country; I love that she was able to visit the places that her mother had been to.  She took pictures and had adventures that matched her mother’s. 

The romance of the book had me swooning.   I love how it all played out.  Having Dash as an adventure partner is perfect for Zoey.   He encouraged her and kept her in check at other times.   His own story was the perfect secondary story.  I like the two of them together and could not wait to continue their story.

Thank you to the author for a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author(taken from her website):  Best known for her engaging and relatable characters, Erica Lucke Dean specializes in crafting stories that explore the complexities of relationships and feature quirky young women navigating the ups and downs of life and love. For over a decade, her novels have captivated readers of romantic comedies and paranormal romances alike, thanks to her ability to blend humor and authentic emotions.

Erica was born in the Twin Tiers of Upstate New York and lived on both coasts before ultimately settling in the scenic North Georgia Mountains, where she and her family live with two ginormous English Mastiffs and a diabolical Frenchie hell-bent on world domination.

Represented by: Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

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