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

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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sofitzgibbons's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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lelder301's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Rep: Columbian mc, Fat mc, disabled mc, sapphic side character

This book gets dark, but you almost don't notice it is until you're explaining it to your friend at 11 pm and stop and realize how fucked up the plot actually is

The inner monolog of Moon, the main character, is insightful at the best of times and annoying at the worst. She is highly self-critical, and goes through the same character arc multiple times. Weirdly enough, in the context of this book that's not a criticism.

While I was often annoyed by Moon and her insistent self hatred, I found it frustratingly realistic. Her body image issues and her sexuality were handled well, though did get repetitive.

This book really excelled in its discussion of the darker topics it portrayed. The abuse Moon suffered felt fleshed-out and unfortunately very real. The religious trauma was also portrayed very well. I won't spoil every topic, but for each one the author took care to be accurate.

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betweentheshelves's review

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emotional slow-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

4.0

This book snuck up on me. In the beginning, I wasn't quite hooked into the story, but the characters are what pulled me into it. By the end, you're rooting for them to make it, for Moon and her sister Star to get out of a toxic situation. I do think the book didn't quite have to be this long, but it was still so heartbreaking. By the time I got to the second half of the story, I couldn't put this book down.

There's a lot of great diversity in this book as well. Moon and Santiago have the best chemistry, and the side characters were just as fleshed out as the main ones. Definitely worthy of all the praise it has been getting!

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nadoski's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted 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

4.0

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christinesreads's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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obscurepages's review

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challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

OKAY, I AM SCREAMING I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. I guess I have another new fave?? 😂

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!)

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