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anna_wa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Okay, I wasn't going to write a review for this book, but after scrolling through other reviews, I feel the need to offer my two cents.
In this third book in the Moonstuck series, Chet has an internship with Newpals, a website that has been in existence since the 90s and which they love to death. They're sad to leave Julie behind for a few days, but they tell her "have fun at [the mermaid festival], but not more fun than you would have if I was there." She promises to try.
Julie goes to the mermaid festival with Selena - or, she intends to go with only Selena, but one of Selena's friends is in town and so she invites said friend to go along with them (without telling Julie in advance). Julie tries to be a good sport about it, but it's hard when Selena seems to want to spend more time with her friend than with Julie. And things get even harder when Julie passes out and has an encounter with Cass, the fortune teller.
Cass tells Julie something about her future that she doesn't know what to do with - and although Julie tries to just ignore it and enjoy the mermaid festival, more things get in her way. Including a new character who is attracted to Julie because she 'brings chaos'.
So, I mostly made this review because I was reading negative reviews and I just felt like they had a completely different experience than I did with this book. If you don't want spoilers, stop reading right here - but if you've read the 'most helpful' negative reviews on Goodreads then you already know what I'm about to talk about.
I see a lot of people saying that this book series "supports a toxic relationship" and although I can see their POV, I definitely didn't get that vibe at all. ESPECIALLY in this book, specifically. Let me explain:
In the second book (which you probably have read if you're looking at this review), it ends with clear indications that Cass is trying to get Julie and Selena to break up. I remember ending the previous book thinking "what are Cass and CT up to? Why do they want to break up Julie and Selena so badly?" and in this book we get clear confirmation that this is what they're trying to do. In the vision that Cass sends to Julie, Cass says "You need to break up with Selena. I can't see your future if you stay with Selena." CLEARLY, the narrative is TELLING us that this relationship is doomed! Clearly SOMEBODY is trying to tell Julie that Selena is not the right one for her. And if you go back to the very first book, you can already see that being foreshadowed - when they get into their physical fight over the Pleasant Mountain Sisters book, Cass is having a vision that implies their destruction.
And then... (major spoiler alert) they broke up in this book. Just like Cass was trying to tell us needed to happen. So when people say that this book is encouraging a toxic relationship I just have to stare because where? Where do you see that? Even before Cass delivers Julie that vision, we see Julie feeling awkward around Selena and her friend, clearly feeling like Selena cares more about her friend than about Julie. The seeds were already being planted, trying to show us "this relationship is not good."
Now, I think the reason a lot of people are saying that this book "encourages" a toxic relationship is because Julie herself wants to hold onto hope that Selena is a good person, Selena is meant to be her girlfriend. And that's not an unrealistic thing to think! When you are IN a toxic relationship, you can't often SEE the red flags. It's only when it's OVER that you see the red flags that were always there. So like, OF COURSE Julie is going to be biased towards Selena. She doesn't see what other people see. And my prediction is that in the 4th book she will finally see what was there all along (perhaps with CT's help?): Selena was a toxic person.
And all of this also goes for Mark's toxic friendship with that woman whose name I forgot. After the break up with Selena, Julie literally asks Mark "why are you even friends with her? She's terrible" (which I interpretted as a call back/comparison to why Julie even wasted her time with Selena). Like, to me, that's the narrative telling us that we're not SUPPOSED to root for Mark and that woman to be 'friends'. We're SUPPOSED to hate their so-called friendship. But Mark is so deep in self deprecation that, just like Julie, he doesn't see what other people see, he doesn't think he deserves any better.
And finally, the big twist at the end. Again, I don't think we are meant to believe that this is going to fix all of Julie's problems. I think she is making a bad, impulsive decision because she just got broken up with and THINKS this is the solution when it ISN'T. Has no one else in the world made a rash impulsive decision after someone broke up with them, thinking it would make them more worthy of love when really they already are worthy of love and this is just a bad idea??? Seems pretty realistic to me.
To sum it all up, I think a lot resides on how the fourth book goes. I am not saying anybody HAS to like this book, but I am really wary of people saying that this is promoting toxic relationships as good relationships to children. I definitely think we're SUPPOSED to hate these relationships and we're SUPPOSED to root for their demise.
I love Chet, Julie, Mark, and the authors and artists of these books. I am excited to see where the fourth book goes. I have high hopes for it.
In this third book in the Moonstuck series, Chet has an internship with Newpals, a website that has been in existence since the 90s and which they love to death. They're sad to leave Julie behind for a few days, but they tell her "have fun at [the mermaid festival], but not more fun than you would have if I was there." She promises to try.
Julie goes to the mermaid festival with Selena - or, she intends to go with only Selena, but one of Selena's friends is in town and so she invites said friend to go along with them (without telling Julie in advance). Julie tries to be a good sport about it, but it's hard when Selena seems to want to spend more time with her friend than with Julie. And things get even harder when Julie passes out and has an encounter with Cass, the fortune teller.
Cass tells Julie something about her future that she doesn't know what to do with - and although Julie tries to just ignore it and enjoy the mermaid festival, more things get in her way. Including a new character who is attracted to Julie because she 'brings chaos'.
So, I mostly made this review because I was reading negative reviews and I just felt like they had a completely different experience than I did with this book. If you don't want spoilers, stop reading right here - but if you've read the 'most helpful' negative reviews on Goodreads then you already know what I'm about to talk about.
I see a lot of people saying that this book series "supports a toxic relationship" and although I can see their POV, I definitely didn't get that vibe at all. ESPECIALLY in this book, specifically. Let me explain:
In the second book (which you probably have read if you're looking at this review), it ends with clear indications that Cass is trying to get Julie and Selena to break up. I remember ending the previous book thinking "what are Cass and CT up to? Why do they want to break up Julie and Selena so badly?" and in this book we get clear confirmation that this is what they're trying to do. In the vision that Cass sends to Julie, Cass says "You need to break up with Selena. I can't see your future if you stay with Selena." CLEARLY, the narrative is TELLING us that this relationship is doomed! Clearly SOMEBODY is trying to tell Julie that Selena is not the right one for her. And if you go back to the very first book, you can already see that being foreshadowed - when they get into their physical fight over the Pleasant Mountain Sisters book, Cass is having a vision that implies their destruction.
And then... (major spoiler alert) they broke up in this book. Just like Cass was trying to tell us needed to happen. So when people say that this book is encouraging a toxic relationship I just have to stare because where? Where do you see that? Even before Cass delivers Julie that vision, we see Julie feeling awkward around Selena and her friend, clearly feeling like Selena cares more about her friend than about Julie. The seeds were already being planted, trying to show us "this relationship is not good."
Now, I think the reason a lot of people are saying that this book "encourages" a toxic relationship is because Julie herself wants to hold onto hope that Selena is a good person, Selena is meant to be her girlfriend. And that's not an unrealistic thing to think! When you are IN a toxic relationship, you can't often SEE the red flags. It's only when it's OVER that you see the red flags that were always there. So like, OF COURSE Julie is going to be biased towards Selena. She doesn't see what other people see. And my prediction is that in the 4th book she will finally see what was there all along (perhaps with CT's help?): Selena was a toxic person.
And all of this also goes for Mark's toxic friendship with that woman whose name I forgot. After the break up with Selena, Julie literally asks Mark "why are you even friends with her? She's terrible" (which I interpretted as a call back/comparison to why Julie even wasted her time with Selena). Like, to me, that's the narrative telling us that we're not SUPPOSED to root for Mark and that woman to be 'friends'. We're SUPPOSED to hate their so-called friendship. But Mark is so deep in self deprecation that, just like Julie, he doesn't see what other people see, he doesn't think he deserves any better.
And finally, the big twist at the end. Again, I don't think we are meant to believe that this is going to fix all of Julie's problems. I think she is making a bad, impulsive decision because she just got broken up with and THINKS this is the solution when it ISN'T. Has no one else in the world made a rash impulsive decision after someone broke up with them, thinking it would make them more worthy of love when really they already are worthy of love and this is just a bad idea??? Seems pretty realistic to me.
To sum it all up, I think a lot resides on how the fourth book goes. I am not saying anybody HAS to like this book, but I am really wary of people saying that this is promoting toxic relationships as good relationships to children. I definitely think we're SUPPOSED to hate these relationships and we're SUPPOSED to root for their demise.
I love Chet, Julie, Mark, and the authors and artists of these books. I am excited to see where the fourth book goes. I have high hopes for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Toxic friendship
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