Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

15 reviews

morainjay's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying

bialves's review

dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

One cute book that talks about serious matters. I was waiting for a very light book, but it had some dense stuff. Their relationship with her body had a huge impact on me...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Bullying, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

shector1's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Suicide, Infidelity, and Sexual content

virago's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This book was absolutely amazing!  The book follows Star and Moon Fuentes, twin sisters who couldn't be more different.  Star is the "pretty twin" and Moon is forced, by everyone, to live in Star's shadow.  

The summer after high school graduation, they go on an influencer's tour to expand Star's following and brand.  However, Moon spreads her wings and her own brand grows, and begins overshadowing Star's brand.  This, of course makes not only Star unhappy, but mama Fuentes as well.

Spoiler

Moon is the over-weight, "ugly" twin and has been the punching bag of her mother and sister for years.  When the ridiculously attractive younger brother of the tour's creator shows interest in Moon, and disinterest in Star, it throws both sisters for a loop.  Moon is a talented artist, photographer, and editor.  When head of the tour, inadvertently learns of Moon's talent, he promotes it on his own social media, and earns Moon many new followers.  It gives Moon such joy and confidence, but makes her sister jealous.  And of course she tries to sabotage her budding success.

This book really took me through it.  There were laughs, second-hand embarrassment, sadness, shock, anger, and joy.  The story was well thought, and well written.  They characters were loveable, and strangle-worthy.  The journey this novel took me on was incredible, and ended with great character developement.   

I would/will read this again!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

technicallyaly's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved almost everything about this book. 

Moon Fuentez is an incredibly charming protagonist. I love how she loves, and how she sees the world, and how she feels pain and anger and forgiveness. She feels so real to me; she has a special place in my heart.
In turn, I also adore Santiago —

Spoiler

a boy reeling from an accident, surrounded by influencers and models who thinks Moon is the most beautiful women in any room. I also just love a boy who has passions, bonus points that that passion ends up being cooking.

Gold stars all around, solid character design.

The progression of their relationship was great, from butting heads and personal jabs, to grudging coworkers, to reluctant friends, to something so genuine and touching. It felt organic and it's what made me fall in love with this book.

There are some things I take issue with;

Spoiler

personally, I am not a fan of the ~third act misunderstanding/breakup~, and this was no different. Santiago and Moon had developed their relationship so much up until that point, and I *know* Santiago was dealing with this own insecurities that we weren't always privy to thanks to Moon's POV, but the whole Moon following Andro online thing felt so trivial, especially to have such a huge relationship ending fight over. It felt like the stakes were thrown off, and I found it a little harder to believe their ending. 

Moon's resolution with her sister Star also felt a little flat to me, but also it felt right. In Moon's shoes, I wouldn't be so graceful, but her reactions felt very in line with who her character was growing to be. It made sense in the world, even if I disagreed with how it was handled.

Complicated feelings aside, I still loved this read. The language was beautiful and poetic (without sounding pretentious), and even though I have minor issues with the ending, the lead in / build up is so great, it eclipses everything. My feelings towards this book are overwhelmingly positive. 4.5/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny

panickat123's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I adored this book. Plus size character who overcomes her own insecurities and learns to stand up for herself while finding love? Sign me the hell up. Cherry on top that she’s Mexican too. Just adore. Some very heavy topics in this also so please read triggers if you want to know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/injury detail, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship and Racism

rjsthumbelina's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Bullying, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual content, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Car accident

amy_lynnn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 c u t e

Okay, there was a LOT going on in this story, but overall I would describe it as a coming-of-age journey of love--both romantic love, and learning to love oneself--with a lil magical realism sprinkled in. It is cute and I enjoyed reading it--it was one of those books that I totally DEVOURED in two sittings, so, there's that.

There were some elements throughout that I thought could have been better: ie, some of the plot was a lil on the nose, some of the stuff which was meant to be a ~big reveal~ was extremely obvious to me, and I felt like the situation with Moon's mom was sort of unresolved (though I suppose that's a pretty realistic representation). I also felt like the book was a little longer than it really needed to be, in part because the author was smacking you upside the head with the point she was trying to make. To be FAIR though, I feel this way about a lot of YA (and it obviously makes sense why YA is written this way/why I feel too advanced for it lmao, I am an elderly crone after all).

STILL, I appreicated so much about this book and the end had me tearing up.

Tldr I guess I don't hate every hetero romance book all the time hahaha 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Child abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Racism

imstephtacular's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual content, Mental illness, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicide, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, and Car accident

nitya's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Read for MLIS elective

This destroyed me in the best of ways, I don't know if I can write a coherent review.

Wish a certain character hadn't been redeemed so early/easily though. I don't care that they're family, what this person did was FAR more unforgivable. (Then again I hold epic grudges.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Toxic relationship is family related, not the main romance