Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Jak Moon Fuentez zakochała się we wszechświecie

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Jak Moon Fuentez zakochała się we wszechświecie by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

38 reviews

wanderlust_romance's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.25

What the blurb doesn't tell you about Moon Fuentes' popular, beautiful, and seemingly perfect sister...is that she's a social media influencer who has built her following on purity culture. To that effect, if purity culture, fatphobic bullying, slut shaming, and religious bigotry/gaslighting are hard limits for your reading...then this is not the book for you.

I could appreciate that the messages in this book are meaningful for a young person working through similar issues. Moon recounts how she has used sex in order to seek validation, in light of the bullying and abuse she receives from her mother and sister. You see her struggle to break free from the internalized messages of slut shaming and how it has contributed to her low sense of self. Moon engages in a lot of negative self talk, especially when it comes to her body. At the same time, she constantly plays the comparison game; believing that her sister has it all. But Moon also has a plan to make her own way - if she can just get through this summer influencer tour slinging merch with a very grumpy and very attractive Santiago Phillips. There is a decent amount of sex in this book, mostly addressed through Moon's memories, her reflections on how it made her feel, and the eventual social stigma it caused her in school (partially because of her sister's social media prominence).

Outside of the "sex stigma" and purity culture aspects, How Moon Fuentes Fell In Love With The Universe took on A LOT. The death of a parent. Grief. Manipulation & gaslighting by a parent. Serious verbal and physical abuse by a parent (and sometimes a sibling). Magical realism. Social media. Influencer culture. Rejecting harmful conservative religious principles. Developing a healthy romantic relationship.

This reminded me quite a bit of "Kiss Me, Mi Amor" by Alana Quintana Albertson, which also dealt heavily with conservative, patriarchal, and harmful interpretations of religion.

Content Warnings

readingwithtemperance's review against another edition

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emotional 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 want to give Moon the world's biggest hug. She absolutely did not deserve the way her Mother, sister, peers, etc treated her. This book had me FUMING.

I found myself crying out of anger so many times. Everyone was just so cruel to Moon. The abuse and bullying was overwhelming at times.

It always pisses me off when purity culture is forced onto girls. Telling them they are dirty and impure and should be ashamed of themselves/their bodies. The way it absolutely uprooted Moon's self esteem was heart breaking.

Her mother is probably one of the worst characters I have ever read about.

I'd like to take a knife to HER and see how SHE likes it. Also I'd of cheated on her too. She makes everyone around her miserable so i can't fathom being her partner.

Moon and Star both deserved better.

The wrong parent died imo.

Moon's journey to self acceptance was beautiful to watch. It was so nice seeing her self esteem raise and having some time to actually heal.

Her Tia is an absolute blessing. I'm so happy she and Star are with her now.

I really hope that Star does better in the future. Personally I'd love to see a sequel where she's the MC redeeming and accepting herself.

This book had me so hungry! I don't know why I've never thought to put honey on pizza, but I'll be doing that ASAP.

Content Warnings

apierlessbridge's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.5

This book was so hard to get through but ultimately so powerful and beautiful and healing. the catharsis at the end is so perfect. I absolutely adored moon and santiago and the journey they both went on.

star and everyone else (except Tía not so much)

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haylee_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I really enjoyed How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe. I thought it was a beautiful coming of age story about learning to love yourself and self-acceptance. I loved Moon’s narrative voice and thought she was so funny. I really loved watching her learn to accept herself and figure out that she is worth so much more than the boxes her family, and strangers on the internet, put her in. The magical realism that was included was unexpected and I thought it was really interesting to learn about. While I loved the story and message, I thought it was really long for a contemporary YA romance novel and found that it dragged at times. I definitely think it could have been a bit shorter, but I am not complaining too much. I am glad I finally read this one!

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snailservice's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.25

i really enjoyed this book and found myself often relating to Moon! she was written beautifully and the way the author showed and described thoughts, emotions, and actions was so beautiful. i really had fun with it!

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective tense 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

4.25

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful 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

This book hit me in the heart 💜 Moon’s story is heartbreaking, and her struggles with abuse and grief moved me to tears. But her journey of self-discovery and self-love moved me even more. She is soft and powerful, angry and sweet, broken and healing and so many wonderful and complicated things. The relationship she develops with Santiago is so full of hope, and the relationship she discovers with her self worth is even more so. This book is beautiful.

Content Warnings