Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe

Overall, this was a phenomenal read, Somehow I managed to push through this in a day and cried, laughed, felt my heart break for Moon, and cheered her on throughout the novel.

Moon Fuentez is a nobody in the social media world unlike her twin sister Star who wants nothing more than to be the top influencer on the summer tour. Moon has accepted her fate as the summer "merch girl" and knows it will be all bad. Bring in grumpy, snippy, sometimes combative, attractive Santiago Phillips to change Moon's mind.

About Moon:

We met moon as a hidden in the shadows sister and daughter with not a lot clearly laid out about her family other than she's the black sheep. Even though she is the black sheep, Moon is the singular person in her family that will speak the truth about things without consequences. She doesn't live her life for others. She lives it for her and her alone. That's power.... in a way.

I absolutely loved how we get to know Moon. She's real, she's not some faked out character who is "perfect". Moon is not a size 2, she's not a virgin, she wants her own life away from her sister, and she wants to be loved for her.

The dynamic in the family is evident from the very beginning of the book. It is clearly outlined that Moon is the outcast and Star is the favorite. Yet, we get to know Moon in ways that show she's been cast in the roll as outcast for so long that even she has started to believe it. She goes above and beyond for her sister's career by taking and editing her photographs, yet she is never given a choice or a compliment about the hard work she's done.

In some moments of the story, it was painful to hear the degrading comments about Moon because she is not a virgin and not a size 2. Yes because people should not be shamed for those things but also its because its coming from a person who should love her unconditionally, but doesn't.

The twists and turns and her friendship with Santiago is what kept me turning page after page. While you think this might be a Teen YA RomCom, it is don't worry, it doesn't feel like an overplayed RomCom. We learn more about Santiago and Moon as disinterested co-workers, then friends, and then possibly more. Yet we see their insecurities and we see them work through how you're supposed to work through those in a proper manner. We also see the downfall of Star and Moon's relationship and how being put on a pedestal can create immature jealousy that does more damage than realized.

Content Warnings

amy_lynnn's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

imstephtacular's review

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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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akchanda's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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 stumbled upon this book and am so, so glad I did. I couldn’t put it down! The descriptions of nature are beautiful, and I loved Moon’s character and was constantly rooting for her. The plot is engaging and I personally love hate-to-love romance tropes so that worked really well for me. I also really enjoyed the magical realism elements of this book. Definitely recommend!

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nitya's review

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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.)

Content Warnings

megmaxreader's review

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dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

funkylitchick's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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