Stardust Family by Aki Poroyama

In a world where parents must be licensed to have children Hikari is an "inspector" a parentless child employed by the Japanese government to ensure that prospective parents are emotionally ready to take on the responsibility of being parents, a job he his beginning to hate. However, one day, he meets Daiki Hirokawa, who asks him the unthinkable: To fail him and his wife, Chisa.

Did I cry in an airport when I got to the end of this? Yes, yes, I did, and I don't care. This was an emotional roller coaster that asks not only what truly makes a good parent but what truly makes a loving family. As a parent, this is a question that is consistently at the forefront of my mind. But, if you've ever talked to anyone that's been in the Foster system, Hikari's story is just absolutely heartbreaking. As an inspector Hikari goes through countless potential families that always tell him that they love him, they spoil him, they make him apart of their existence for two weeks at a time and then at the end for them it's like it never even happened. For Hikari, it's just another wound on an already ravaged heart. To be have that level of psychological and emotional damage is heartbreaking, to know that it actually is happening right now to children in a broken foster system? Next level heartbreaking. 

Chisa herself has her own sad background story except in her case when she enters the "system" she ends up with an uncle that truly loves her and helps her to come to terms with the trauma her mother inflicted upon her and how the world sees her because of this. And of course Daiki does as well, having parents who excell at everything and expect him to do the same when all he really just wants to be is a kid.

Each of these characters brings a relatable trauma to a family that is certainly not perfect under any circumstances but in the short two weeks that Hikari is with them you see a "broken" family become whole because of the trust and love that they have in each other and it is beyond beautiful. I genuinely cannot recommend this one more. 

As always, thanks to NetGalley and Yen Press for the eArc!