Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
7 reviews
technicallyaly's review against another edition
- 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
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.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.
Graphic: Fatphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Suicide, and Grief
Minor: Misogyny
imstephtacular's review
- 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
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
- 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
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.)
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 romancefunkylitchick's review
- 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
Graphic: Fatphobia, Child abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Suicide and Misogyny
Minor: Racism
shaunashares's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, and Misogyny
Minor: Suicide
obscurepages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This was just beautiful! It's funny, it's heartwarming, it's poignant, it's moving, it's simple.
What I thought was simply going to be a fun, enemies-to-lovers romance, turned out to be this beautiful, hilarious, profound, sex-positive, body-positive book about seeing yourself and loving yourself, dealing with the good and ugly sides of family, and falling in love. It challenged fatphobia and misogyny; it talked about mental illness, domestic violence, prejudice against sexually-active women, how religion can sometimes trigger worst in people; it also had a bit of disability rep and queer/sapphic rep.
Also, Moon Fuentez as a main character is already a compliment itself. I loved her! I loved her character, her personality, her character arc, everything. She made this book so lively and definitely relatable.
This book has it all. It's an instant favorite for me. 😭
CW: fatphobia, bigotry mostly influenced by religious views, misogyny, domestic violence/child abuse, unstable mental health, parental death, implied suicide, slut shaming, sexual harassment (minor/mild), sexual content (mild to graphic)
Please look forward to my tour stop on August 14th with TBR and Beyond Tours! (https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2021/07/08/tour-schedule-how-moon-fuentez-fell-in-love-with-the-universe-by-raquel-vasquez-gilliland/)
(And seriously, please go preorder/request this book!)
Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicide, and Body shaming
Minor: Racism
slut shamingspearly's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
all the god-loving stars.
We are all ancient. And it's bananas to me, how the holiness of this earth was attempted to be contained in a church, forcing people to feel bad about the sacred and ancient and wild of our bodies, our senses, our glorious impulses to make mistakes, some of which turn out to be the best things ever.
How Moon Fuentes Fell in Love with the Universe made ME fall in love with the universe. Made me want to dance in poppy fields and chase dragonflies and feel the ocean's salt between my fingers.
This book is like a warm hug, in the most heartbreaking, devastating, lovely way. Moon was an incredible protagonist. I felt for her ever step of the way. Her anger, her loyalty to her family, her self-deprecation, her humour, her journey to finding herself despite all her traumas.
I wasn't expecting that, going into this. I wasn't expecting the deeper conversations about religion and purity and rape-culture. I wasn't expecting facets of mental illness and emotional and physical abuse. And not once did the story feel contrived, feel like it was trying to shove in a whole bunch of hot-button issues just to tick some boxes. Everything was so personal and nuanced and I'm not sure how we got from a story of Instagram-esque influencers on a tour bus for the summer to one of a girl living her twin's shadow, under her mother's thumb, as she overcomes deeply-rooted and toxic religious teachings, as she deals with abuse at home and from peers, as she struggles to accept love. And yet here we are.
Even the parts of the book that made me angry for Moon, I understood. Even the parts where I was angry AT Moon, I understood. I HATED
Spoiler
the way Star treated Moon around her influencer friends. I hated her for her cruel jokes, her passive-aggressive comments, her judgement.... and yet, i felt for her. I can't pretend to know how internalized homophobia affects someone who is so deeply indoctrinated in the church, but I know that Star was troubled. Not blameless. But dealing with her own insecurities and traumas and I can almost, <i>almost</i> forgive her like Moon did.Also *chef’s kiss* to 3-Dimensional side characters! Sometimes a rarity in the NA genre, especially in a romance. Tía. Santiago. William. Even Star (and she definitely had her classic Insta-bitch moments!)
I think I resonated so much with Moon because I too - though at a much lesser extent - know the journey of breaking free from religious and conservative values. I know how hard it is to question what you’ve been taught, to feel like you have no-one in your corner.
This is a love story. A self-love story. A story of acceptance and beauty and finding the tiny miracles in life and the words that run over your skin like honey.
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicide
Minor: Blood, Infidelity, and Racism