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harasnicole's review against another edition
4.0
The last quarter of this book had me all in my feelings.
Jupiter Moon Ray Evans -- Ray for short -- is skeptical of love. You learn pretty early on that this is a product of her dad dying on the day she was born, and watching her mom look at their wedding photo and cook his favorite foods, among other things. Ray would rather not go through the trouble of loving someone and letting someone love her because she believes there's no point in it when the love just ends, anyway. So, she keeps her heart protected. But she apparently still has needs, so she has someone she can call for a quick booty call that will give her what she needs without any strings attached. She's 17, and while I'm not naive to know that teens have sex, I did sometimes forget that Ray is going into her last year of high school before college, because she's so cavalier about all the sex she has. I don't know. Might just be a "me" thing.
Orion, though. He's so sweet. He's a black boy who wears his heart on his sleeve, and so many times in this book did I want to jump into my Kindle Fire tablet and just hug the poor boy because of everything he had to deal with when it came to his swimming and his dad seemingly caring more about his swimming and less about his son. Orion meets Ray at skating rink on Ray's birthday, and you know pretty much right away how far gone he is when he sees her for the first time. He flubs the first meeting, stumbling over his words, trying to implement the advice his best friend Mo tries to give him, and Ray seems to want nothing at all to do with him because she knows right away that Orion is different than any boy she's ever met. She sees how he looks at her. She sees that he's dangerous in the way that he can potentially make her feel, and that terrifies her.
A majority of this book is watching two black teens meet and fall in love, one of them dragging her feet all the way. But then, the more you get into the story, the more a small mystery starts to reveal itself, and it involves both Ray's and Orion's families. Both of them have parents that are less than thrilled for them to be seeing each other in any capacity, but none more so than Orion's dad. At first, it seems like his dad disapproves because he views Ray as "that girl" who's distracting his son from his swimming, but you learn later that there is a much deeper reason why he was against their dating, and it's a big secret that he's kept from his family for 17 years, and the only person who seems to know any amount of the truth is Ray's mom.
When the big reveal happened, I saw it coming from a mile away, and yet still my jaw dropped open in shock and I kept repeating, "Wow," over and over again until I could wrap my head around what I had just read.
The only things I really disliked in this were all the times when Ray would lash out at Orion over something he said that she seemed to have twisted to make sound more ... I don't know what word I'm looking for, malicious? then he intended, and I think all the times she lashed out, she knew his intentions were never bad, but she was so dead set on not liking him at all that she just lashed out anyway. She'd always apologize, like, a page or two later after lashing out, but I just feel like she didn't need to at all, but I also understand that she was afraid of these new feelings that she was feeling for him, so her emotions were heightened and not all of it was because of what Orion was making her feel, but because she was learning that her mom was keeping secrets from her and any time she tried to initiate a conversation about said secrets, her mom would find some way to dodge the questions.
All in all, I very much enjoyed this debut, and I am looking forward to more stories that this author may have yet to tell.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me access to this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I honestly did not think that would happen, but I'm so glad I got to read this when I did.
Jupiter Moon Ray Evans -- Ray for short -- is skeptical of love. You learn pretty early on that this is a product of her dad dying on the day she was born, and watching her mom look at their wedding photo and cook his favorite foods, among other things. Ray would rather not go through the trouble of loving someone and letting someone love her because she believes there's no point in it when the love just ends, anyway. So, she keeps her heart protected. But she apparently still has needs, so she has someone she can call for a quick booty call that will give her what she needs without any strings attached. She's 17, and while I'm not naive to know that teens have sex, I did sometimes forget that Ray is going into her last year of high school before college, because she's so cavalier about all the sex she has. I don't know. Might just be a "me" thing.
Orion, though. He's so sweet. He's a black boy who wears his heart on his sleeve, and so many times in this book did I want to jump into my Kindle Fire tablet and just hug the poor boy because of everything he had to deal with when it came to his swimming and his dad seemingly caring more about his swimming and less about his son. Orion meets Ray at skating rink on Ray's birthday, and you know pretty much right away how far gone he is when he sees her for the first time. He flubs the first meeting, stumbling over his words, trying to implement the advice his best friend Mo tries to give him, and Ray seems to want nothing at all to do with him because she knows right away that Orion is different than any boy she's ever met. She sees how he looks at her. She sees that he's dangerous in the way that he can potentially make her feel, and that terrifies her.
A majority of this book is watching two black teens meet and fall in love, one of them dragging her feet all the way. But then, the more you get into the story, the more a small mystery starts to reveal itself, and it involves both Ray's and Orion's families. Both of them have parents that are less than thrilled for them to be seeing each other in any capacity, but none more so than Orion's dad. At first, it seems like his dad disapproves because he views Ray as "that girl" who's distracting his son from his swimming, but you learn later that there is a much deeper reason why he was against their dating, and it's a big secret that he's kept from his family for 17 years, and the only person who seems to know any amount of the truth is Ray's mom.
When the big reveal happened, I saw it coming from a mile away, and yet still my jaw dropped open in shock and I kept repeating, "Wow," over and over again until I could wrap my head around what I had just read.
The only things I really disliked in this were all the times when Ray would lash out at Orion over something he said that she seemed to have twisted to make sound more ... I don't know what word I'm looking for, malicious? then he intended, and I think all the times she lashed out, she knew his intentions were never bad, but she was so dead set on not liking him at all that she just lashed out anyway. She'd always apologize, like, a page or two later after lashing out, but I just feel like she didn't need to at all, but I also understand that she was afraid of these new feelings that she was feeling for him, so her emotions were heightened and not all of it was because of what Orion was making her feel, but because she was learning that her mom was keeping secrets from her and any time she tried to initiate a conversation about said secrets, her mom would find some way to dodge the questions.
All in all, I very much enjoyed this debut, and I am looking forward to more stories that this author may have yet to tell.
Thanks to Netgalley for giving me access to this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I honestly did not think that would happen, but I'm so glad I got to read this when I did.
thenextgenlib's review against another edition
3.0
A first love story marred by grief and growth in Finding Jupiter.
maryyyyykate's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
4.0
afro8921's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
It was so refreshing to read a teen romance where the guy was the emotionally self aware character. I loved the relationship between the two central characters. It hit all the right emotional notes for me.
mezu_641's review against another edition
4.0
A beautifully written book, mostly written in prose, with extracts of deep and meaningful found poetry. Worth a read.
sam_xmc's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
romanaromana's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5 stars.
(Here are some content warnings. Nothing in this review).
Realllyyyyy struggling to put my thoughts together for Finding Jupiter, but overall I think I just stopped caring about the characters too quickly and found a lot of their story unconvincing.
Let's start with Ray, who I thought was an ok leading protagonist. I liked that she had clear hobbies and a clear mind, but as harsh as it sounds, I just didn't get on with her particular traits or interests. For instance, I thought Ray's aversion to love felt more convenient than real, although admittedly I'm often sceptical when protagonists are of this opinion. What's more, the poetry didn't do much for me, but again, poetry is usually a hard and heavy miss when it pops up in fiction for me.
Moving on to Orion - I at least felt that he was a bit more of an original character than others I have read recently. It was sweet and refreshing to have the guy in a pairing be the one who is less confident, hesitant to move forward physically, and very open about his emotions. In this sense, I really liked Orion and warmed to him quite quickly. Having said this, I still felt somewhat disbelieving of his very sudden connection to Ray, which was too close to insta-love for my liking.
I was quite disappointed by the supporting cast in this novel too. Ray and Orion's parents weren't too bad and I liked how they contributed to the story, but I was surprised at how lacking and absent the friends were in Finding Jupiter. Bri and Mo start off strongly and set themselves up for good supporting roles...but then they disappear. The occasional texts or phone calls we see from them felt like insincere attempts to make their presence and friendship seem constant, but it didn't seem that way at all to me, and every time they popped up it seemed like the protagonists were needing to 'fill them in' or give 'updates' about their lives. In Ray's case especially, I thought this was an easy fix as Bri and Cash didn't need to be separate characters - they could have just been one close friend living nearby and thus contributing much more.
I remain unsold on a lot of the motifs and themes in this book. For starters, all the stars and planets stuff was tenuous and sucked the reality out of the romance, making it all feel a bit false and temporary. Grief was another huge theme that didn't feel properly balanced, in my opinion - Ray's grief is given heaps of attention to the point of being over-explained, which I thought was only done because of its supposed connection to her feelings in love. By contrast, Orion's grief was barely given any time to the extent that I actually forgot about it a few times (including just now).
I can see why others might enjoy this a lot more than me, as I'm sure my connection to the characters is subjective. But yeah, not for me!
(Here are some content warnings. Nothing in this review).
Realllyyyyy struggling to put my thoughts together for Finding Jupiter, but overall I think I just stopped caring about the characters too quickly and found a lot of their story unconvincing.
Let's start with Ray, who I thought was an ok leading protagonist. I liked that she had clear hobbies and a clear mind, but as harsh as it sounds, I just didn't get on with her particular traits or interests. For instance, I thought Ray's aversion to love felt more convenient than real, although admittedly I'm often sceptical when protagonists are of this opinion. What's more, the poetry didn't do much for me, but again, poetry is usually a hard and heavy miss when it pops up in fiction for me.
Moving on to Orion - I at least felt that he was a bit more of an original character than others I have read recently. It was sweet and refreshing to have the guy in a pairing be the one who is less confident, hesitant to move forward physically, and very open about his emotions. In this sense, I really liked Orion and warmed to him quite quickly. Having said this, I still felt somewhat disbelieving of his very sudden connection to Ray, which was too close to insta-love for my liking.
I was quite disappointed by the supporting cast in this novel too. Ray and Orion's parents weren't too bad and I liked how they contributed to the story, but I was surprised at how lacking and absent the friends were in Finding Jupiter. Bri and Mo start off strongly and set themselves up for good supporting roles...but then they disappear. The occasional texts or phone calls we see from them felt like insincere attempts to make their presence and friendship seem constant, but it didn't seem that way at all to me, and every time they popped up it seemed like the protagonists were needing to 'fill them in' or give 'updates' about their lives. In Ray's case especially, I thought this was an easy fix as Bri and Cash didn't need to be separate characters - they could have just been one close friend living nearby and thus contributing much more.
I remain unsold on a lot of the motifs and themes in this book. For starters, all the stars and planets stuff was tenuous and sucked the reality out of the romance, making it all feel a bit false and temporary. Grief was another huge theme that didn't feel properly balanced, in my opinion - Ray's grief is given heaps of attention to the point of being over-explained, which I thought was only done because of its supposed connection to her feelings in love. By contrast, Orion's grief was barely given any time to the extent that I actually forgot about it a few times (including just now).
I can see why others might enjoy this a lot more than me, as I'm sure my connection to the characters is subjective. But yeah, not for me!