Where the Forest Meets the Stars

Jo, a woman doing birds nest research in rural America meets girl who claims to be an alien sent down to witness 5 “miracles” before she returns home to her planet. She ends up co-parenting this child with neighbour Gabe, as they debate whether they should hand over the child to police.

Jo and Gabe both have a lot of backstory (illnesses, a tragic past) but it's presented to the reader through the two characters basically word vomiting this out to each other. I felt like the author was trying to give flavor to these two characters but it didn't quite land right.

Jo and Gabe's romance feels very rushed, and Jo comes across as very pushy towards Gabe and it's like she just magically cures him of his mental illnesses.Also it's actually quite creepy how Jo and Ursa are so obsessively attached at the end. Jo kinda goes nuts, surely that sort of erratic behaviour wouldn't make a good candidate for foster parent? That problem isn't really addressed and it all ends happily every after. I will admit I actually thought the girl was an alien until it was revealed at the end that she was not. Looking back, how can a 9 yr old pull off the deception that well??