This review was first posted on http://rubysreads.com. 
 I've never been so happy to be proven wrong about self-published books. And All the Stars is the kind of book I'm always searching for, regardless of who published it. Well-written, tightly plotted and titillatingly characterized, here lies a masterwork. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that this book hasn't gotten more buzz. I heard about it on The Booksmuggler's blog (it was featured on their Radar and then Ana reviewed it), but it was sheer happenstance that I saw it on NetGalley. I requested it on a whim-everyone probably knows by now that I'm on a NetGalley ban-and was lost in the story before I even knew it. 
 And All the Stars tells the story of Madeline Cost (not Maddie, Leina only to her cousin Tyler), and how she survives the apocalypse by shucking her loner status and binding together with a motley crew of teenage survivors. As the story opens, Madeline is in an underground station, at the center of the apocalypse. Unbeknownst to her parents, Madeline snuck away from home to meet her cousin Tyler at his Sydney apartment. Too bad this act of rebellion coincided with the apocalypse. All over the world, in the most populated cities, mysterious spires have erupted from the ground. These spires (which I imagine look like the Swiss Re building in London, left) are like ginormous mushrooms. They've sprouted from the ground and emit a thick cloud of dust (to continue the mushroom analogy, I thought of them like spores). 
 Madeline escapes the underground station and makes it to her cousin's Sydney apartment only to experience dramatic changes as a result of inhaling the dust. Most of her body turns midnight blue, dusted with sparkling white stars (the cover makes sense now, doesn't it?). Her metabolism drastically quickens and she discovers that she has new, frightening powers. Maddie's instinct is to huddle up and wait, but it's the hunger that drives her out, where she meets a string of teens also affected by the dust. 
 Among these teens, Madeline discovers the girl who will become her best friend and the boy who just may be first love. Unfortunately, they're all on the run for their lives. Those spires, it turns out, are the work of an alien race intent on using humans for their survival. Though Madeline (as the one with the most "stain" on her body), is the aliens' most-wanted human, the bewildered group of teens bands together and forms a close-knit group. This, perhaps more than the apocalyptic storyline, is the heart of And All the Stars. 
 Before I give anything else away, I better shut up. I couldn't possibly unveil all the layers of this book in one review. I wouldn't even want to. Like all good books, it's a thing best discovered for yourself. There are a few curious elements (cell service and electricity during the apocalypse?!?!) and the epilogue is a bit schmaltzy and baby-studded, but well-deserved. Just trust me when I say that this is the book to cure your apocalyptic ennui. Think you're over them? Think again!