Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

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

44 reviews

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 —

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;

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.

Content Warnings

panickat123's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

theromanticace's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

Content Warnings

joreliz12's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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 will read anything Raquel Vazquez Gilliland writes because it’s always so lyrical, emotional, and just beautiful. This book somehow perfectly combines a sweet, funny romance with an emotional story about the main character recognizing the abuse she’s faced in her life and learning to love herself. Such a good story, would highly recommend, but definitely check the content warnings.

Content Warnings

rjsthumbelina's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

calamitywindpetal's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Content Warnings

legalplanner's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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

half_bloodreader's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

5.0

I'm loved, I'm fat, I'm beautiful.

🌛YA Magical Realism
🌜 Mexican-American plus-size rep
🌛 Colombian-American amputee rep
🌜Themes of trauma, religion, grief, abuse, self-love & acceptance, sexuality, identity, all kinds of prejudice, fatness and the joy, connection & healing power of food/cooking
🌛 It's also about nature & how wonderful the universe is amidst the human cruelty
🌜 Lyrical writing

My dad didn't think Star and Moon were as pretty as Estrella & Luna, because, honestly, they're not.

As an Iberian who speaks both Portuguese & Spanish: agreed. This is a joy I get that many of you may not experience. Whenever Moon speaks, thinks or searches words in Spanish, many times so similar to my own native language, I am already hearing them & feeling them on my tongue in double. Ivy, hiedra, hera. Beautiful, breathy, magical.

This is the story of How I Fell in Love with Moon Fuentez. She is connected to her roots, trying to learn more. She's a photographer who sees the simple pleasures, the beauty in nature, my little witch, and she feels the difference between how a word feels in different languages. Like me. She is witty, funny, free spirited. And lonely, insecure, carrying a lot of childhood trauma. Despite all that, she is still unapologetic - I love her for it.

I always ask the plant before taking. And I always thank it too. Just like Tía taught me. I don't care how that sounds. Plants have been here for 6 zillion years longer than us. That makes them sacred in my book.

Her abusive mother is the extremist religious type. Moon's relationship with her perfect twin sister is also complex. I can't honestly forgive Star for everything she's done, always diminishing her sister. I kept calling out crocodile tears.

Santiago & Moon's romance could be described as enemie-friends-lovers, but it hit different. Their dynamic is affected by the insecurities they carry due to living in their siblings shadows.

This book hurts, then spreads a soothing balm on your heart.

Cw: sl*t shaming

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

Content Warnings

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