A review by tanya_tate
Moonlight Memories (Moonlight Series Book 1) by Michele Inoue

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

0.5

Book Stats 

Stars: 1 Star

Start Date: 09/21/23 

Ending Date:  12/08/23 

Genre:  Fantasy 

Form: Epub 

Page Count: 452 

Publishing Date: 09/01/2023 

Point of View: 1st Person 

Setting: Tokyo,Japan 

Edit: The whole review with full spoilers and extra commentary is on my blog. This is the now the meat of the review aka the actual criticism.  

Spoilers Galore 

You can also read it on my blog. 
https://tanyasreading.wordpress.com/2023/12/11/moonlight-memories-by-michele-inoue/

"There were so many unanswered questions that I wanted to scream."- Alya 

If it's one quote that can wrap up my whole experience I have with this book, it's this one. As I write this review, you will understand why I picked that quote because it will become clear... 
  
So Moonlight Memories is about this young woman Alya with her childhood best friend Terra who traveled to Tokyo, Japan from Hawaii to participate in a foreign exchange program at one Tokyo University. Along the way, they met three other women Amaya, Skye, and Bridgett who are also participating in the exchange program. Due to some unseen circumstances, they all will be living in a house that is near the campus instead of in the dorms. Along with the three girls, Alya meets Kurenai Myoujou, a Japanese student at the university who will be her guide for her classes. Which they hit it off "instantly" along with other students that will help Terra and the other three. While she is trying to navigate through classes and Tokyo, the dreams of two ancient civilizations that are called the Moon Kingdom and Pangea that she was having since she was eight years old, become more and more frequent as she spends more time in Japan. She is having dreams about a Moon Princess, Four Maidens who serve the Moon Princess and An Earth Prince who are all supposed to be bound together to keep the balance of power between the Moon Kingdom and Pangea. If it doesn't happen then things as they know will fall. As she unrevealed the meaning and secrets behind these dreams, the past and present collide and the future is uncertain. 

I mean it sounds good does it? I wish it was as good as I try to make it sound which honestly it could have been and that's the worst thing about it. 

Ok So 

Why didn't I like it? 

Let’s talk about it. 

Character Development 

Character Development? What is Character Development? 

You barely knew any background information about the characters if it wasn't Alya, Terra and main love interest. Amaya, Skye and Bridgett were just there. 

Let's talk about the fact none of these characters but one have a last name! 

No Characters have last names. Which Supposed to be a part of character building/ development. The only character that has a last name is Kurnai that really matters to the story and that's it.  But it’s funny enough that she did give the past lives in the 1900’s last names tho… 

I am really hype focused on the last name because a big part of the characters the Main Character met are Japanese since it's set in Japan. Japan as well as other countries highly regard last names/surnames because they are a part of family history. It's where you come from and a huge part of you. So if the majority of the characters don't have last names, who are they for real? Especially the fact that if you are developing these characters and the etymology of their names have hinted at what element they are (like Skye and Terra), their last names will do the same thing if you do your research. When the love interest has a last name but not even the Main Character whose head we are in 99% of the book doesn't have one along with the four other girls who are supposed to be the focus of the story.. That is a big problem. 

The lack of the development of the five girls since they are supposed to be maidens. It feels like the author just put them together so they can have a five girl team like Sailor Moon and then in 50% of the book you found out along with Alya they were having dreams of the past life. You barely know anything about them. 

You didn't know simple things like 

What is their Favorite Color? 

What are their likes and dislikes? 

What do they want to study and why did they come to Japan? 

Their birthdays and ages which you found out like 65% into the book when it matters to the multiple reincarnation plotline. Which you found out all was in their 20's but not yet 23 yet. 

You don't even know if Skye and Bridgett even have a family because they are really just there and barely have personality. 

Simple things that could have been talked about during the first couple interactions when they were at the house eating pizza and shopping. It's ridiculous that for half of the book, the only thing I knew about two of the characters was one from London and the other was from Sydney and their hair color. Also the fact one of them likes spicy fae books and that's it. 

Skye and Bridgett are pretty much just there because I guess the author needed five girls since this story was inspired by Sailor Moon. They really didn't do anything the majority of the book and barely got speaking lines until towards the end. It's almost the same for Amaya but she had a little bit more to do than those two but not by a lot. 

I barely knew anything about the MC except for she lived with her mom since her dad died and she had powers. The only one with personality was the MC aka Terra best friend who is undoubtedly the most flesh out character in the whole book but was still underdeveloped. She was almost the comic relief for the majority of the book until the end when her character felt like a different character. Then gave her a love interest in 60% of the book that had really no screen time and lines. 

I mean did the Author even do an outline for each girl to figure out what makes each girl tick?? 

I came up with this to help Amaya, Skye, and Bridgett since they got the chewed end of the stick. 

Amaya- Likes the water which she surfs in Hawaii which brings her peace and she also sees visions when she is in the water of things to come. She loves sea turtles and other wildlife like whales which is the reason why she wants to be a Marine Biologist.  Her favorite color is Caribbean Blue which reminds her of not only the ocean but her grandmother who tells her stories of the moon princess when she visits from Japan... Her visions become clearer during the full moon because always felt a connection to the moon along with the water but didn’t know why. 

Skye- Like the sky and the weather so she wants to study to be a meteorologist or follow in her Mother footsteps and be a pilot for Sydney Airlines  When she was small, she used to go on some flights with her where she used to tell her stories about a Moon Princess as well. At high school, she was a track star because she felt when she was running, it was closest she got to being in the air if she wasn’t with her mother. Her classmates always say she runs like the wind. Her favorite color is sky blue which her name comes from. 

Bridgett- Comes from a family of circus performers in London whose specialty is archery with flaming arrows. When she was young during a performance during a full moon, somehow she got close to the flaming arrows that were fired by someone else but the fire didn’t burn her hands. She told her family that the fire felt like an old friend to her thus they started training her in working with fire.  During the full moon she has visions of things that happen in the past and recurring events she sees in the fall of the Moon Kingdom. Her favorite color is red just like the color of fire. 

That took me ten minutes to do on the fly. 

The Author could have really foreshadowed what maiden each girl was more before the reveal if she developed them more. We are not going to even talk about if the characters had any growth which was not. 

The Plot 

"There were so many unanswered questions that I wanted to scream."- Alya 

This is where this quote comes into play because I found myself saying the word “Why?" so many freaking times during reading this book. 

The plot was underwhelming and overwhelming at the same time. It was like trying to throw everything in a blender to make a mix and see if the mix was going to stick to the wall to make sense...Honestly I was frustrated because there were so many questions that were not being answered that could have been easily answered and explained when they popped up in the story. 

For Example 

You say that it's a mark on their neck saying they are Maidens. Just go ahead and say what the mark looks like and not wait 20 or so more pages to say what it looks like. 

The pacing was so slow in this book and felt like everything was rushed at the end. Like I said those last three chapters were a blur which I can't tell what the hell was going on because I was so clocked out and was ready to finish so I can rant. 

These are the Questions I have that have still not been answered. I wrote these when I was 80% in and was about to finish the book. 

1. Why does the moon princess have to have four maidens from the Earth to protect her?
2. Why do they have to leave their home at seven months old to go to the moon?
3. How often does this special moon happen for the maidens to be born on?
4. Do all the maidens have to be born on the same special moon or do this happen many times in the year this special moon happens?
5. Why does a prince from one of the kingdoms have to be selected to bound the princess and lose their Earth citizenship?
6. Why do four maidens of earth have to be bound to the princess in order to get their full powers at 23 years old?
7. Since they leave at seven months old, who does the training in their powers?
8. How do their powers start to manifest and what age?
9. Do the maidens learn of their home kingdom culture while they are at the moon?  
10. Do they have tutors and trainers from each kingdom to teach them?
11. Do the Queen’s Maidens train and tutor them?  
12. If so, how did they learn if they were taken from their homes at seven months of age?
13. Why does the Moon Queen have a thousand year life span when she is bound with an earth prince and her four maidens?
14. Once Moon Princess is bound with her Princes and Maidens does she become Queen if the present Queen still is living?  Or is she just the Moon Princess until she dies?
15. Why does the Earth have to give up four girls from different kingdoms and a prince from one of the kingdoms while it seems like the Moon gives up nothing in return?
16. Do the Moon Kingdom offer protection or resources for this lopsided trade?
17. What is the Golden Age? Is it the name of the time period they are in?
18. Why will it end if the Moon and the Earth Princes don't bind?
19. Why do the Moon Princess and Earth Prince have to be bound to keep the balance of power when it’s certainly none when it comes to holding the most political power?
20. Was it a war between the Earth and Moon and that’s why this came about? To keep the balance between the two?
21.  How do they travel from the Moon and the Earth Kingdoms? By ship? Teleport?
22. Is there a communication system between the Earth and Moon?
23. Why did the Fire King attack the Moon Kingdom and kill the king when the king was from the Water Kingdom??
24. So since the Queen lost her powers when the Fire Kingdom attacked the moon and went dark, does that mean she loses her power during a new Moon?
25. How does that work anyway when they are on the moon and not on Earth?
26. Who is the villain? ( that one was answered)
27. What is the major conflict between the kingdoms and the Moon?
28. What is the great calamity that is supposed to happen in the present? Is it just an ice storm?

That's almost 30 questions that are not answered in an almost 500 page book. Only a handful of them were answered like in the last five chapters in the book. The majority of these are dealing with world building, political systems, magical systems and lore of the book.  

The main conflict is supposed to be between the Moon and Earth kingdoms since they are trying to kill the princess after killing her father but WHY??
 
Why is there tension between them?
 
The author could have really hammered home on the possibly that the Kingdoms of Pangea didn't like the fact they have to give up four daughters' at an early age to the moon kingdom to intend to their beck and call and then turn around and give up an male heir to one of the four kingdoms to marry/bound with the Moon Princess. They are tired of being under the thumb of the Moon Kingdom while they give up people in order to receive powers that don't even explain how they fully work.
 
It was sitting right there with the Water Queen being upset that her child was chosen as maiden which she had to give her up to the moon and the author did nothing with it! We could have dreams where Alya saw Marina talking to the other Kings and Queens of each kingdom trying to get their support for her cause because they also feel the same which the Fire Kingdom agrees with her and allies with her. You see her trying to get the support of the Earth King and Queen who is losing a son but still supports the Moon Queen for the sake of their son. Then seeing the Air Kingdom King and Queen who are trying to be the peacemakers and try to reason with Marina and not cause a scene.
 
There was so much potential wasted.
 
The past life in the moon kingdom I can deal with but when you start to say there were multiple reincarnations over the years/centuries when you have barely explained the political, magical, and conflict between the Earth and Moon Kingdom, it gets too much.
 
The Romance
 
I could write a whole essay about this but I think I'm already getting long so I say this. The romance between Alya/Selene and Kurnai/ Terran was not good. After three interactions, which one of them they went on a date with, they start serious dating after like two or three days of knowing each other. They barely have any chemistry with each other at all. In all their scenes I really just rolled my eyes because it was getting to the point that he was getting more screen time than the other three girls (in which he did).
 
It's bad enough that Alya got mad at him when she found he was the prince because he was happy to find the princess aka her that she stormed out of his apartment. Since she thought he was only with her there was the possibility of her being the princess. But didn't question when he left a video on her phone before they properly met when she lost it on the train. When he started flirting with her when they just met, asked her on a date after knowing each other for 48 hours, and started dating when they barely knew each other for three days .This was after she went through his things without his permission to find his manga drawing book where he keeps all his drawing of his dreams.
 
And when they died in the past?
 
Just watch Romeo and Juliet or the First season of Sailor Moon.
 
Oh speaking of Sailor Moon, the names Serena and Darien make an appearance as well...
 
One More thing
 
This book really needs a table of terms and phrases if you are going to use a lot of Japanese terms and phrases and not expect your readers to use google. If you take the reader out of the story every five seconds you have to look up what this Japanese word means. You can't expect every reader to use context clues to figure out what the term means. Especially if you are going to use that term repeatedly in the story. It's a lot less hassle to just flip to the back instead of the reader whipping out the phone every five seconds to figure out what this word means. As the course of the story went, I honestly stopped looking up words because I stopped caring. 

So in summary 

Things that need to be better developed 

1. Characters
2. Plot
3. Lore
4. World Building 
5. Conflict 
6. Romance
7. Pacing

The only thing I will give the author is that there weren't many grammar mistakes. 

This was hard for me because this is a self-published book which for the longest time no other person has reviewed it on Goodreads or on Amazon. So I couldn't see if other readers felt the same way I felt about it. But I just didn't enjoy it and I was hoping it was going to get better but it got more frustrating and confusing at the end. I was going to give it two stars because of the fact that it was self-published but coddling instead of being honest and critical is not going to help anyone.
 
If you want books where the author is inspired by Sailor Moon or just a fan of the Series. If you are a fan of the series yourself you will most definitely see them.
 
The Lunar Chronicles Series- by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella Retelling but it is HEAVILY inspired by Sailor Moon)

 The Nightmare-Verse Series by L.L McKinley (It’s Alice in Wonderland but it got some nods to Sailor Moon)
 
Guardians of Dawn Series by S. Jae-Jones
 
Effigies Series by Sarah Raughley
 
If you want books just inspired by the Moon Goddess Legend in general
 
The Celestial Kingdom Series by Sue Lynn Tan
 
Red Winter Trilogy by Annette Marie
 
Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean
 
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter aka The Tale of Princess Kaguya