Reviews for Blue Star Bound

This book was insightful, heartbreaking and honest. This protagonist was the type of hard worker that inspires the reader to take on new adventures in life. Wholeheartedly give 5 stars!

I’m not a big reader yet I finished this quickly and I didn’t want it to end. At times it was hard to believe and painful to realize that the story is true. It is a tale of incredible ups and downs, and one woman’s ability to keep going no matter what. Very inspiring to anyone who’s ever had a big dream. Highly recommend!

Worth the Read!
This memoir was fast moving and easy to read. I felt transported to hot, sweaty, tropical Costa Rica with the author's experience of being a business owner and a foreigner. She is honest and reflective, thoughtful and self-aware, plus very likeable as a narrator to her own experience.

Raw and honest memoir about life abroad

I was one of the teachers at Bethany’s school in 2019 and it changed my life! Teaching there was an awesome way to get integrated with the Costa Rican community and culture. I couldn’t put this book down. Having lived there, it was refreshing to read such raw and honest experiences with the challenges that come with living abroad. I had no idea the school had been through all that it had before I got there. I left being even more inspired by Bethany’s grit than I already was!!

Authentic and Heartfelt memoir!

I know Bethany personally from Costa Rica!

This book took me right back there..The ups and downs she went through would have sent me running for the hills...

I also learned a few things I didn't know..

How she kept it all together I do not know.

I do know she was a determined and hard worker who grew a successful business in a foreign country alone...

I have always been in awe of Bethany's outlook on life and determination..

Kudos chica..

I loved this book!!!

This memoir was so genuine..

A raw look at what it takes to start a business in a different country. The author is refreshingly candid and venerable as she navigates personal struggles and cultural differences. The issues compound into a surprising tension with extremely high stakes, but I don’t want to spoil it.

Bethany was an undergrad student of mine in the late 90’s. Her exuberance and drive were evident then. I started reading “Blue Star Bound” book on our drive to Tenaya Lake in Yosemite and a few hours of leisurely reading on the beach… and finished on my patio with this sunset the following evening. Wow! Her story leapt off the pages because I could hear her voice and see her face. That was a decade and a half of challenges, triumphs, restarts, love, loss, and finding her strengths.

Female Power!!

Bethany Kirk is a young woman of many talents. Read as she walks you through her honest and emotional journey of the personal and professional parameters of divorce, new love, and female entrepreneurship in a foreign culture steeped in machoism and betrayal. Follow her indomitable spirit in surmounting all the negatives with determination and motivation wrapped in the creation of long lasting friendships, ongoing gifts to her adopted culture, and becoming the person she is today!

All the nuts and bolts of starting and running a business in Costa Rica.

Anyone who is considering moving to Costa Rica, for any reason, needs to read this book first.

This is an honest, detailed chronicle of the author's decision to make Costa Rica and its people her home for 16 years, refusing to give up despite hardships and heartbreaks, and ultimately achieving her dream. She shares the courageous journey of building a language school from scratch, training teachers, founding a non-profit for marginalized children, falling in love, getting married, becoming a victim of fraud - and so much more.

Although the story ends with her decision to sell the school and return to her native California, it is obvious that the author has left part of her heart in Costa Rica. This is the story of how one woman with a vision can truly make a difference in the world. Told in personal, entertaining, and informative stories, everything you want to know about living and working in a foreign country is in this book.

Inspiring story about determination and beating the odds

This book is an inspiring story and a testament to where resilience can get you in life. The story is so compelling you don’t want to put the book down and just want to know what happened next. It is well written, fast-paced, and has many twists and turns to keep the reader heavily invested in the story.

It is a book with ups and downs, surprises and heartbreak but in the end a story which encourages and gives hope that when reaching for your dreams and goals in life you can succeed even through the toughest times.

I highly recommend this book.