This book was so unexpected. I think these characters are going to stay with me for a long time. The plot is simple enough: When her twin sister reaches social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepts her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the “merch girl” on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.

From that seemingly simple plot, I didn’t expect to find so much poetry, beauty and pain in this book. I shouldn’t be surprised about the lyrical prose since the author released two poetry books before this one but I was still in awe of the writing style. I loved how metaphorical and vivid it was and how everything was connected to the universe.

Moon is the real star of the book (you will understand this pun if you read the book) and reading about her journey of self-love and self-discovery was incredibly painful. She is the ugly duckling of her family, she has a twin sister who is perfect and who everyone constantly compares her to. I also have a twin sister and I am all too familiar with the constant comparison. But this made it so much more painful to read because the conclusions were obvious to everyone: Star won the genetic/life lottery and Moon lost. At least that’s what everyone thinks and what Moon has been taught. I felt very uncomfortable with the descriptions of the two, with Star being described as fair, pretty, thin when Moon was described as unattractive, dark and fat. This reinforced the negative stereotype of European beauty standards and the colourism that stems from it.
At first it’s easy to describe Moon as a drama queen who exaggerates everything but as the story goes on the reader has a glimpse of all of the abuse Moon has endured: physical abuse, mental abuse, gaslighting, neglect, etc. The list is endless. She has not had an easy life and yet she still tries and ultimately manages to see the beauty in the universe and in herself. I loved the focus on divination and the practice of tarot and ancient magic. It was so refreshing to read about that and it gave me a better appreciation for nature and the magic in it.
So much of Moon’s character is centered around Christianity, religion and how much damage it did to her. In this case it was extremely dangerous and the focus on the repression of sex was very present. Moon has always been taught that sex is a bad thing and that women under no circumstances should want to have sex (a character justifies marital rape). As she had sex before marriage, Moon suffers the consequences and punishment of her "behaviour". She is constantly slut-shamed and humiliated because of it. Being a black queer Christian myself, I know how harmful some beliefs are and how Christianity has hurt so many people me due to colonialism, patriarchy and homophobia. I was so conflicted as I read it because this book only showed the negative effects and I know this is a reality and I don’t want to challenge that experience but it still hurt so much to read. The twins are collateral damage of that education and this leads Moon to curse a lot using a lot of blasphemous sayings in order to distance herself from the practice of a religion that has harmed her. This made her search for a kind of "ancient magic" even more enjoyable.

When you have a twin, or a sibling it goes either two ways: you're very close or you don't get along. Moon and Star alternated between the two which made for some great drama and entertaining plot. I was saddened by their relationship because the author captured in an honest and good way how love is not enough in a family, that feelings, of the ugly kind can get in the way.

The romance was a slow-burn with a lot of angst and pining and was nothing short of beautiful. Both Moon and Santiago are insecure about their bodies; Moon because of her curves and Santiago because of his disability. They had the tendency to project their fears onto the other which created a lot of tension between the two. It was nice seeing them try to overcome their trauma and trusting each other. I loved the moments they shared together - from their banter, their "cooking show" and everything in between.

Overall this was a story about hope, about finding yourself and the people who genuinely care about you and love you. It was a very emotional book and I had to physically take a break from reading but I really ended up loving it even if the topics in this story were darker than I thought.

A combination of feel good and hard hitting, this book has a lot to say – and that’s a really good thing. It manages to make you laugh while addressing some really serious issues, yet finds the balance perfectly.

Moon is essentially ordered onto the road trip that Star has been given a place on by Star’s manager: their mother. Given no control over how she can spend her summer, Moon is resigned to the situation, and quickly finds herself in close quarters with someone she is sure she hates, and hates her in return. While part of the story focuses on that dynamic and its shifting sands, the other part looks at how Moon has become the person she is now; the good, the bad, and the very very ugly.

I found the ending a bit abrupt and thought an extra couple of chapters could have made all the difference, but I did really enjoy the book. It’s written beautifully, and is hugely character driven, which works perfectly in these circumstances. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to snuggle down, and hope for a happy ending.

Moon is an incredible main character- she is resilient, she is determined, and she is sure of who she is. I thought the discussions of child abuse, religious trauma, and mental illness were done well, and I greatly appreciated Moon’s self love journey. When I read in the author bio that Raquel is a poet it all made sense- the imagery in the story is incredibly strong, especially that very last scene! The scenes involving child abuse and religious trauma were hard to read, but I think the fact that I read the story in a day speaks for itself!

I am very, very glad this book exists. I think it’s an absolutely beautiful look at art, self-love, religion, and forgiveness, and it’s going to mean a lot to a lot of people.

This book was gorgeous. I requested the ARC because I follow the author on Twitter and fell in love with the cover and the plus-sized rep. The cover’s beauty only serves to prepare you for the beauty of this prose. The descriptions are lush and vibrant, and the main character, I found, is very relatable and likeable despite her many flaws. One of my favourite things about Moon is that she makes no pretences; she does not claim to be perfect, just as no one around her is perfect. The enemies-to-lovers romance was sweet, and this book had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. I also really liked how characters are held accountable; even though both Moon and her sister suffered different kinds of abuse at their mother’s hand, they don’t explain away their negative behaviour as being out of their hands. This book delves into some seriously heavy topics at times, but the prose is beautiful and I loved Moon’s development as she learned to come into her own instead of languishing in the shadow of her sister. Some of the miscommunication issues between Moon and her love interest were frustrating, but I’m willing to overlook those based on how much I enjoyed the rest of the story. Overall, I give it 4/5 stars.

I loved this story. Moon is my favourite person - she is a strong, funny and genuine person. I especially love when she babbling and spitting weird insults. A true Gem is Moon to the core! She has endured a childhood full of trauma but despite that, she can know what is truly right and what is truly wrong with her super Christian upbringing.

This book displays some serious mental health issues and how religion and radical thoughts can make a person unreasonable.

Santiago is grumpy and unfriendly but the closer he gets to Moon the more we see the sweetness of his personality.

I loved the view on the bad side of Christianity, the falseness of social media and a girl attempting to be different then what was taught and make a happy life for herself

Moon discovers that she is not a bad person, she has talent and value. She has a way to go in shake the abuse she has suffered but throughout all this, she can find the bright side and live life as best she can.

Add in some interesting family curses and you got yourself a super intriguing storyline. Loved!

How Moon Fuentez Fell In Love with the Universe follows Moon, a plus size Mexican American teen and her famous sister Star. Moon struggles with the favour her sister is shown by her mother and Star’s platform and is neglected emotionally. Star gets the opportunity to go on a tour, but their mother forces Moon to go as well to help Star. Moon discovers along the way that she is worth more than her mother’s opinions.

This was a light story of romance, Identity and self worth. I usually do not enjoy first person narrative, but found that it was not only necessary here, but gave more depth to the characters. There were so many adorable moments and great banter. The characters were well done and had distinct personalities: I did find the ending rushed and too neat, but that is a personal preference.

I do recommend this book, but I give a couple content warnings before doing so; Religious trauma and purity culture, internalized fat phobia in the mc, and emotional/physical abuse in a family dynamic.

4.5 stars rounded up!

How Moon Fuentez fell in Love with the Universe follows the story of Moon’s summer after graduation. Her sister, Star, is a high-profile celebrity and Moon agrees to spend the summer on tour with her working the merch table. Much to her dismay, she has to spend the summer working with Santiago, who she initially doesn’t like, but learns to see eye to eye with.

Upon hearing this premise, I immediately knew this was a book I wanted to get my hands on, but what I didn’t expect was the way it would impact me. This book is beautifully written and tackles a variety of social issues, all with the care that they deserve. Additionally, this book is incredibly diverse. I was impressed to see representation in terms of body size, mental health, sexuality, religion, ethnicity and disability.

I’ll start by getting my few complaints out of the way so I can talk about all the good in this book. Personally, I found the first half of this book to be a 4 star read. It was good, but it I felt like it didn’t dive deep enough into the issues it presented. Additionally, the romance had a slow start. The banter between Moon and Santiago often felt forced, and I felt like they kept repeating the same argument over and over. Essentially, the “enemies” aspect of the enemies-to-lovers arc felt forced. That being said, the “lovers” part was great. The tension is absolutely there, but more importantly, the characters feel like real, loveable people, so naturally I wanted to see them get together.

At about the 50% mark, this book became a 5 star read for me. All the serious topics that had previously been mentioned were explained in depth. This book really is the perfect mix of romance and coming-of-age. As I mentioned, this book tackles a variety of social issues, but I’ll talk in brief about the ones that stood out to me.

To start, I loved the sex positive attitude of this book. Over the course of the book, Moon accepts that there is nothing wrong with having sex. Additionally, this book discussed slut-shaming and purity culture in a very considerate way. This is an important discussion to be made in Young Adult media, as it’s vital that young girls who might have grown up in situations similar to Moon are shown that the decisions they make with their body are completely their own.

Next, this book did an incredible job tackling the complexities of family relationships. To keep it brief and spoiler free, I was impressed that this book did not just give one overarching message regarding family. Instead, it acknowledges that sometimes you need to leave an unhealthy relationship, but some mistakes are not end all be all, and can be worked through. In terms of family, Star’s character was particularly interesting. Initially, she felt somewhat one dimensional, and her selfishness was downright cruel, but as the book progressed, we got a look at what made her this way. It’s important to note, her actions were never condoned, only explained. This book did a good job explaining how the media compares women and makes us believe that we are each other’s competition. I did find Star’s arc to be a bit rushed towards the end of this book, but as a whole it was very well thought out. On the topic of family, I was floored by how well Moon and her father’s relationship was presented. I find that normally it is hard to invoke an audience reaction when discussing a character who has little page time, but in the glimpses we get of it, Moon’s relationship with her father is honestly beautiful.

Lastly, this book did an incredible job with the message of self-love. I find that authors often fall into the trap of having the final point of a character’s arc regarding body image to be that they acknowledge the world, or men, find them beautiful. That was not the case with Moon. This book distinctly notes that yes, people find Moon beautiful, but much more importantly, she sees the beauty within herself. This is what self-love is, and I loved seeing this message depicted so unabashedly.

Overall, the first half of this book was good, but the second half was incredible. The romance progressed in a natural and cute way, and the more complex aspects of the plot all wrapped up nicely. At the end of the day, if you are going to deliver your messages as beautifully as this book does, of course I’m willing to overlook a couple moments of awkward dialogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A book that I know a younger preteen audience would really love and relate to. Great for younger audiences looking for a teen book that deals with insecurity, body image, popularity and social media. I personally was not a huge fan of the book, some of the details surrounding the use of social media came off as a little shallow and the protagonist felt a little immature at times. I did not believe the central romance was developed fully and many characters did not have fully realized personalities.

2.5/5

Parts of this were absolutely beautiful. I loved Moon as a character, I loved the descriptions of things in this book, I loved the magical elements.

If I was in a different mood I may have been better at tackling this book. In my mind I was so excited to read it, but I just found Star and Moon’s mother so infuriating. Like to the point where there abusive behaviour was just too much for me.

Ultimately I had to DNF, but I’m sure the book redeems itself in the second half. I just couldn’t get there this time.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had no clue what to expect when picking up this book but I was so pleasantly surprised. This is such an emotional story yet also extremely heartwarming. I love Moon as a character so much. She’s such a real character and has many aspects to her that readers can relate to. This is a story that really makes you think and it has some deeper topics but also has that light hearted and sweet moments that make your heart just melt. I will 100% be recommending this book to many people as it is a phenomenal and unique YA read that I think everyone can take something from

Moon Fuentez’ twin sister Star is an influencer and she gets invited to go on a Charity Tour, Moon being both her sister and photographer is forced to accompany her on the tour. She gets hired on as the merch girl, working and bunking alongside Santiago Phillips. I went into this thinking it was just an enemies to lovers YA romance. But this is so much more than just a YA romance, while we get the enemies to lovers trope in all its glory we also get so much more. We get body positivity, sex positivity, representation of all sorts. This is what the book was about at its core. It wasn’t necessarily just a romance it was about Moon and her coming to terms with herself and the romance was a lovely plot point that hooked me. The family based conflict in this book raised my blood pressure - I just want to talk to Moon’s mom, and by talk I mean fight. I want the world for Moon, I want to wrap her up in a blanket and keep her safe from her mother. I love this book, I cried like twice.

Oh, wow. This was... so much better than I expected. I actually teared up a few times, and I genuinely cannot believe this is marketed as a romance. (Not that it isn’t one— it is. It’s just... so much more than that.)

I am very, very glad this book exists. I think it’s an absolutely beautiful look at art, self-love, religion, and forgiveness, and it’s going to mean a lot to a lot of people. It means a lot to me, even as someone who definitely isn’t in the demographic this book was written for. And regardless of the type of background you have and how that affects your reading experience, it’s simply the type of novel that makes you feel things.

So, yeah, I really loved this. Like I said, I think there are so many merits to it besides the romance— I’d go into more detail but will refrain for the sake of spoilers. It’s simply amazing and so incredibly written, with so, so much heart. The romance itself was perfectly fine and I think it could really work for a lot of people because of how much respect Moon and Santiago have for each other. Personally, I don’t really think it added as much to the story as it could have, and I sort of wish Moon’s character development via her relationship with him had happened a little differently, because it does sort of come across as a “fall in love and it fixes everything”/“other people will fix you, especially a significant other” thing, which I don’t appreciate, which is part of the reason this was 4 stars instead of 5.

The other reason is Moon’s relationship with Star. Don’t get me wrong, I actually thought it was a brilliant idea, the way their relationship worked. But the end of the novel felt kind of rushed, and I wish there had been more self-reflection on page for Star and more time before Moon forgave her. It does feel, to an extent, like a situation where they are both trying to move on way before they’re ready, and I wish there had just been a little more time between point A and point B.

Despite these flaws, I truly think How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love With the Universe is one of the best books of 2021, and I am so excited to see it out in the world. Highly recommended to everyone.

This was just lovely, emotional and now I want to grow all the flowers. Really thought this would be a standard YA romance but it surprised me with the depth of sadness that ran through it as well as the femme power! Go Moon. Loved reading her story.

4.9/5 :)

This. Was. Beautiful. WOW.
This is now my new favorite book.


One of my favorite things about this book is the little bits of humor everywhere —especially Moon with her smart mouth. I can feel empathy for Moon and understand how she’s feeling through her thoughts. I understood her character and she just felt so REAL.

If I annotated this novel, almost every page would be tabbed/bookmarked because that’s how entertaining I found the story to be.

I usually find the first-person point of view somewhat annoying, but with Moon, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am so glad it’s written in first-person POV.

This book was just written so beautifully and I loved the descriptions of everything! I can almost imagine the details and how it must've felt in my head, whether it's Moon describing the food, the ladybugs/dragonflies, the woods, her memories (I especially loved the ones with her dad), and even her feelings.

This is definitely more character-driven and I really enjoyed getting glimpses of Moon's life in between chapters of the tour; The 'sisterly' bond she had with Star, how she felt about her parents, and how she felt about herself.
It’s entertaining, sweet, and serious at times. And even the supposedly cringe topics are not-so-cringy when it’s in Moon’s head.

The characters we saw more of are all dynamic and changed as the story progressed. The relationships between everyone developed in different -good and bad- ways.

There are just so many different emotions that I felt while reading. I cried, I laughed, and I truly FELT everything. Moon is just a great character overall and I love her. I don't think I said that enough…


This is a story about self-acceptance and learning to love yourself, knowing your self worth and understanding that you are so much more than you give yourself credit for (especially in Moon's case). This is one of the most diverse books I've read in a long time and I think it's definitely worth reading.

04/27/21


p.s. Moon and Santiago are SO cute ahhh (i loved them when they were enemies too ;))
And yes, this is an enemies-to-lovers in case anyone was wondering :)

TW: child abuse, suicide
I haven't read a YA romance book that wasn't a genre novel (fantasy, dystopia) in a while because I find some of them cheesy now as an adult. When the opportunity came to read this book, I expected a typical cheesy YA romance but using the contemporary concept of the influencer lifestyle. While I admit I liked the cheesy romance, this story was more than that and I think that is what I appreciated the most. It's a book that is also about self love and appreciation, sex positive approaches to education, and connecting with nature in a way that is spiritual and healing.

To break these down without spoilers, the main character Moon is constantly in the shadow of her more beautiful sister Star. Star is a religious influencer who is thin, blond, beautiful and pious while Moon is fat/curvy, (still beautiful), and is no longer a virgin. Moon lives her life thinking she is inferior to her sister because of the ways she is treated by their mother and by other people. While I think it took someone else to be the catalyst to spur her journey to self appreciation, over the course of the novel Moon develops an appreciation for her skills, her humour and personality, and her body.
Another part of the novel that I think was done really well was the emphasis on sex positive thinking. Because of her religious upbringing, Moon thinks of herself as a 'slut' or a 'whore' because she's had sex with multiple partners and before marriage. There are a number of characters in the book that stick up for her, both adult and youth, to debunk the idea that women who enjoy and have sex are sluts/whores. There is even a point where Moon has a conversation with an adult where the adult says that sex is not a bad thing! As a comprehensive sex education advocate it made me so happy that there's a book like this that talks about sex with young people in a positive way.
And lastly, the connection Moon and her aunt have to nature is a large part of the story in their passions, in what brings them peace, and what grounds them to the earth. The way the author wrote these parts felt whimsical, peaceful, and sometimes unreal - in a good way. The way she words Moon's thoughts make you fall in love with the universe too.

Wow. I absolutely adored this book! I always love a good hate to love romance but this book is so much more. How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe is full of love, pain, family ties and spirituality. It's about finding out who you really are and loving that person. Realizing that they deserve to be loved.
Moon Fuentez is one of the most relateable characters that I have read in a long time. She is fierce and passionate and she knows what she wants despite having an abusive mother who constantly compares her to her "perfect" famous sister. It's her journey to learn to love and be loved despite it all and I could not get enough.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC for review!

All the god-loving stars.

"We are all ancient. And it's bananas to me, how the holiness of this earth was attempted to be contained in a church, forcing people to feel bad about the sacred and ancient and wild of our bodies, our senses, our glorious impulses to make mistakes, some of which turn out to be the best things ever."

How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe made ME fall in love with the universe. Made me want to dance in poppy fields and chase dragonflies and feel the ocean's salt between my fingers.

This book is like a warm hug, in the most heartbreaking, devastating, lovely way. Moon was an incredible protagonist. I felt for her ever step of the way. Her anger, her loyalty to her family, her self-deprecation, her humour, her journey to finding herself despite all her traumas.

I wasn't expecting that, going into this. I wasn't expecting the deeper conversations about religion and purity and rape-culture. I wasn't expecting facets of mental illness and emotional and physical abuse. And not once did the story feel contrived, feel like it was trying to shove in a whole bunch of hot-button issues just to tick some boxes. Everything was so personal and nuanced and I'm not sure how we got from a story of Instagram-esque influencers on a tour bus for the summer to one of a girl living her twin's shadow, under her mother's thumb, as she overcomes deeply-rooted and toxic religious teachings, as she deals with abuse at home and from peers, as she struggles to accept love. And yet here we are.

Also *chef’s kiss* to 3-Dimensional side characters! Sometimes a rarity in the NA genre, especially in a romance. Tía. Santiago. William. Even Star (and she definitely had her classic Insta-bitch moments!)

I think I resonated so much with Moon because I too - though at a much lesser extent - know the journey of breaking free from religious and conservative values. I know how hard it is to question what you’ve been taught, to feel like you have no-one in your corner.

Even the parts of the book that made me angry for Moon, I understood. Even the parts where I was angry AT Moon, I understood.

This is a love story. A self-love story. A story of acceptance and beauty and finding the tiny miracles in life and the words that run over your skin like honey.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I think this may be the most beautiful book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. The way Raquel writes is absolutely stunning. There’s a line in this book that talks about things that made people fall in love with the universe and I think this book is it for me. I am sitting here crying as I write this because this book genuinely felt like it was digging into my soul. It has made me excited about the world. The way Raquel talks about the universe in the book opened my eyes to so much. The appreciation for nature and spirituality was so incredibly beautiful. I wish I had better words to describe how I feel about this book. I couldn’t stop thinking about in between reading chapters. It made me look at the world differently and appreciate the tiny things that people take for granted. The family relationship, both good and bad, were so well written and felt so personal. It felt like I was hearing a close friend’s life story. I genuinely could not recommend this book more! Prepare for tears and I hope other people can have a similar experience that I did with this book. It has earned a chunk of my heart and I am very grateful I was able to read this masterpiece.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe.

I'm officially obsessed with Raquel Vasquez Gilliand. She somehow manages to perfectly balance in the realm between endearing relatability and cringy pop culture references to write characters who feel like actual, easy to root for teenagers. Moon Fuentez is a contemporary with a few magical elements and her narration perfectly fits that. It's real and grounded while simultaneously managing to be larger than life in the best way possible.

Also, YA relationships that go through actual, gradual development? We love to see it.