Love Among The Planets by Isabel Scheck is a fiction novella that follows the “heart” of Selena, the soul of the moon. Written in its entirety as a freestyle poem, we are first introduced to Selena and the love she shares with the soul of the sun, Aurora. It is Selena who narrates, describing how over billions of years the two eventually met and fell in love. Aurora is warm and self-confident and adored by all who know of her. There is also Pearl, the soul of Pluto, who they visit on their many escapades throughout the heavens. Pearl is Aurora's best friend and similar in outlook, emotion, and temperature to Selena...and when Aurora passes away, the two old souls turn to one another for comfort and support.

“...both were covered in the night, the darkness, whereas Aurora was soaked in sunlight...”

Love Among The Planets by Isabel Scheck is a unique tale told in creative stanzas that read exactly like a story should. It's clear and heartfelt, mixing pain and pleasure in lilting lines that ebb and flow freely, much like the moon directing the ocean. The narrative, as it is provided from the point of view of Selena, is both descriptive in its building of the universe as they know it, and emotional in the way they portray it. This is an exceptionally anomalous book that takes no time at all to get into. I genuinely enjoyed reading it and believe it will do well with teenagers and young adults just as easily as it will for those readers who are equally young at heart.

Love Among The Planets is a work of novella-length fantasy and emotional storytelling for young adults, penned by author Isabel Scheck. The work is also accompanied by illustrations from the author. The premise of the tale begins when Selena, the soul of the moon, falls in love with Aurora, the soul of the sun. In a seemingly enchanted existence from its very opening, Aurora’s passing hits Selena hard, and it seems she will never find love or happiness again. So when Pearl, the soul of Pluto, arrives to offer emotional support, things develop and we learn important lessons about love, grief, souls, and spirituality.

The free-verse style of this epic and poetic novella displays author Isabel Scheck’s talent for wordplay, beautiful imagery and an unending commitment to the wonder and heartbreak of love. As the plot itself winds among the relationships and heartaches, we see Selena and Aurora connect in a spiritual way, adventuring through the heavens together with an intimate connection that speaks of pure love and emotion. This in itself is captivating, so when Selena’s story turns to that of grief and seeking comfort in loss, the emotional investment created for her character is all the more effective and heartfelt. Though the book will certainly suit young adults for its poetic and romantic notions, any older reader of the great classics and metaphysical poets is sure to find delight in its excellent wordage and pacing. Overall, Love Among The Planets will earn a place in the heart of poetic dreamers everywhere for its tale of real emotions and hope after loss.

Selena, the soul of the moon, discovers such radiant beauty in Aurora, the soul of the sun. Even her voice, when she first greeted Selena, was “angelic” and “dreamy”. How could love not develop with such beauty? Their love grows as they explore the universe, visiting other stars and planets. But when Aurora dies, Selena is bereft. She feels compelled to tell the story of Aurora and her beauty. But it makes her sad. Until she finds love again, with Pearl, the soul of Pluto and Aurora’s best friend. Selena misses the warmth of Aurora’s love. In Pearl, she only finds a coldness like her own. Can she hold onto Pearl’s love? Does she want to hold onto it?

Isabel Scheck’s poetic narrative, Love Among the Planets, is a charming love story told in free verse. The author, the poet, has a gift for words, metaphors and similes and the power of simple description. The love story is written with an author’s flair for vibrant prose and a poet’s gift of words. There is so much elegance in the poet’s use of description. Every phrase, every word, is heavy with significant meaning. This is more than a mere love story, but an expression of pure beauty. The story, the poem, is both haunting and eloquent.

Love Among the Planets by Isabel Scheck is an unconventional and symbolic love story. Selena, the soul of the moon, falls in love with Aurora, the soul of the sun. As nothing in this world, even in the heavens, is permanent, Aurora dies and leaves a desolate Selena hungry for affection. Pearl, the soul of Pluto, is there to console her and to keep her company. This bonding, forged by friendship and mutual admiration, evolves into something more profound for Selena. Will Pearl manifest the same feelings for Selena, or will Selena forever suffer from the agony of abandonment? We are led to believe that these planetary characters are representations of real people, and we can subtly guess that the author is writing about an episode in her life.

Scheck’s story is written in easy to digest narrative poetry. A free verse in construction, her tale proceeds from point to point. Though Selena’s visits to other planets are quick in sequence, there is a slow drift of longing and sudden revelations. It is a humble yet confident expression that identifies Scheck as a master poet. We are haunted by this idea of Selena not finding the love that she deserves, and we are prompted by the reality that people in our lives come and go, and the only thing we can do, should they leave, is to set them free. Scheck's writing is stable in its simplicity, with no shocking phrases or attempts at pretentious wording. Her tone then becomes exuberant. When she writes about the romance among heavenly bodies, she throws in her artwork of heavy ink lines that give the tone of childlike confession. Any reader who needs a break from reading epic tomes will find Love Among the Planets a relaxing break.

Love Among The Planets by Isabel Scheck is a collection of forty-two short, freestyle poems written as if Selena, the soul of the moon, is telling her own story. The theme is love, though only Blue, the soul of Uranus, is male, and he was Selena’s first love, but she muses on this retrospectively in poem twenty-four. Selena’s passion is for Aurora, the soul of the sun, and her tragic loss when the sun burns out. “Her body was consumed by the sun and the flames engulfed her.” Selena is bereft, cold, for the moon is cold, and lonely until Pearl, the soul of Pluto, the dwarf planet the others dismiss as not being one of them, arrives with love and comfort. How long does it last? The answer lies in the last poem and none of them have giveaway titles.

Isabel Scheck has injected romance into the universe. Freestyle poetry works best when it tells a story and this does, counting time in billions of years. The death of Aurora is touching, heart-breaking, and Selina uses her beloved Pearl for company as she tries to escape the cold of the moon and life without Aurora. “Our first kiss; It was like a galaxy had exploded.” I particularly liked Gaia, the soul of the Earth with her habit of sitting on the clouds. Selena watches the birth of a new sun from the icy moon – “four or five sparks of glowing embers ended up spraying on my cheeks” – but rejects Ella until poem forty, the only one to include speech. Love Among The Planets, illustrated with Isabel Scheck’s own sketches, is intriguingly different.

Love Among the Planets by Isabel Scheck is a story about love and loss told through a poetic style. Selena is the soul of the Moon and the last thing she expected in her billion years of existence is to be awestruck by the beautiful Aurora, the soul of the Sun. Where Selena is cold, Aurora is warm and bright with the two sparking a romance that would change everything Selena knows. When Aurora’s light burns out, she doesn’t know if she’ll ever move on with her life until her relationship with Pearl grows from a supportive friendship to a sweet romance.

Isabel Scheck has a lovely writing style with a lyrical quality to it, giving the story a sweet poetic aspect that brings out the beauty of this love story. The story is told through the unique cast of characters being personified planets represented by a soul with the main perspective being the soul of the moon. The emotional core of the story is the love that Selena finds throughout her life in her relationships with Aurora and Pearl. The tone is reflective with the focus being on her looking back at her relationship with Aurora, her relationship with Pearl, the experiences she had when trying to move forward in her life, and the many adventures she had on other planets. Scheck weaves throughout the story a reflection on losing love, grieving, opening your heart again, and allowing yourself to move on with your life.

Each of the love stories in Selena’s life is important and gives equal meaning to her life with each of them having a special place in her heart, giving her just what she needs at the time. Scheck hits upon the theme of loving two people during your lifetime in different ways and explores this theme through the progression of grief and closure. Love Among the Planets will appeal to those who love tales of romance and those who enjoy poetry with personified characters, beautiful writing, and a journey about love.