My expectations for this book were too high after reading Written in the Stars. I adore Brendon and his love of all things romantic, but I couldn’t connect with Annie at all. The set up of Annie coming to spend time with her best friend before she moves to London, but then ends up spending all her time with her best friend’s brother just didn’t feel right. I do love that we got to see what was happening with Darcy and Elle. I absolutely loved the epilogue because they really are a cute couple and I love how they play off of each other. This author has a fun writing style and I am looking forward to her next book about Margot!

OMG THIS BOOK! I absolutely adored this book. This is an all time favorite. I can identify with Annie so much.

Alexandria is a dream guest to have on the show.

This book was featured on this really popular episode.

I loved Written in the Stars, and I dearly hoped for a story about Annie and Brendon, and this is it!

Brendon and Annie have known each other since they were children, and he used to have a big crush on her. But it's been eight years since they last saw each other. Annie flies to Seattle as a last chance to spend time with her best friend (Brendon's sister Elle) before moving to London.

As the founder of a dating app, Brendon believes in romance and loves rom-coms and weddings. Annie is convinced romance is dead, and people don't care enough to try anymore. He sets out to prove her wrong. I laughed so hard. This book has hilarious comedic scenes and great banter.

I loved that it was in Seattle. It makes me want to visit again so badly. Seattle becomes another character in the book. Most of all, I loved both characters and their relationship. The incorporation of love languages and what romance means to each of us was an excellent addition.

This would work as a standalone, but my own enjoyment was higher since I had already read Darcy and Elle's story.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Collins and NetGalley for this ARC.

4.5/5

A special thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Annie is tired. She spends 30 weeks out of the year traveling for her HR job without feeling fulfilled. She spends more time in conference rooms and hotels than exploring the amazing locations she visits. So when a steady promotion in London becomes available, Annie jumps at the chance to settle down for a change. To celebrate, she visits her best friend Darcy in Seattle and becomes reacquainted with Darcy's baby brother, Brendon, that she hasn't seen in eight years. Brendon's changed dramatically. He's now the CEO of a successful dating app and is incredibly hot. A hopeless romantic at heart, Brendon is still carrying the crush he had on Annie all those years ago. When Annie proclaims that she's done with love and dating, Brendon makes it his mission to woo Annie by recreating all his favorite grand gestures and romantic moments from his favorite movies. Can Annie resist his charm? Throughout it all, Annie must decide the difference between what she thinks she wants and what she truly wants out of life.

When I picked up this book, I didn't realize that it was the second in a series. The book can be read as a standalone, but now I want to go back and read the first book, Written in the Stars. I LOVED this book. It pulled me in from the first page and I read it in one sitting. The Seattle setting, the characters, the themes, everything was so well-written.

I loved the easy, familiar, flirty vibe that flowed from the pages between Annie and Brendon. You can tell they have history, but eight years later, both have grown and they now just seem to fit. Brendon is seriously the cutest thing ever. He wants to set everyone up, he believes in true love and he is vocal with Annie about his feelings for her. All the dates were incredibly swoony. He's the optimist to her pessimist, the sunshine to her rain and I loved his character so much!

Annie's struggle with work and friendships was incredibly relatable. She's having a hard time going along with the status quo of her job, because she thinks it's what she supposed to do. She's so in the weeds of it all that she doesn't realize that she doesn't really have roots anywhere and no real true friendships other than Darcy. On the flip side, Annie is struggling with no longer being Darcy's person now that Darcy has a girlfriend. Annie grew tremendously throughout the book and I enjoyed her journey.

This book was so good and is a must read for the summer. I loved it and cannot wait to go back and read the first book in the series.

After reading Written In The Stars, I knew that I fell in love with Alexandria Bellefleur's writing and Hang The Moon did not disappoint. Brendon is just as adorable and quirky as he was in Written In The Stars, plus his love interest is Annie? Sold. There are two problems that are faced by Brendon: the idea that users of dating apps are no longer believing in romance and that Annie has given up on finding love. This leads Brendon on the idea of trying to prove to Annie that love exists while using his favorite Rom-Com's as a map. Annie, however, has had her heart broken one too many times and is afraid of risking it again. Especially when she has a job offer coming from London that offers stability and a chance to settle down. This romance novel is one that I can't wait for others to read, the characters are funny and so easy to root for. For fans of Written In The Stars, this is a must read.

This is a solid, adorable rom-com with plenty of cute nods to the genre’s classic films (AND bisexual rep AND a hopeless romantic male character, which I hadn’t even realized I desperately wanted until I had it).

Let’s break it down, starting with everything I loved:
- Annie, my emotionally unavailable bisexual queen
- Brenden, who’s literally just a puppy dog obsessed with cheesy romance
- Childhood friends to lovers
- The Seattle vibes
- THE ONLY ONE BED TROPE NEED I SAY MORE
- Margottttttt (I need a Margot book asap)
- The incredible amount of pastries and take out they’re constantly eating, I'm so jealous

There were a few things that bumped down my rating a bit:
- The beginning of the book was a tad slow, and it took me a while to get invested in the characters
- I wasn’t a huge fan of Written In The Stars (gasp!) so I didn’t really care for all the Darcy/Elle cameos
- I felt like Annie’s whole career dilemma was too drawn out, especially when we could guess pretty easily what she’d end up doing—this is a fluffy rom-com we’re reading, after all
- Kind of first point-adjacent, but I just felt like the pacing was slightly off throughout the whole book—it rushed through cute, important moments and then dragged out too many internal monologues and less notable scenes

Overall, I thought this was an enjoyable read, though far from perfect. I didn’t devour it immediately like I do with a lot of romances, but once I did finish I found I had really enjoyed the story and the characters. I definitely feel like Bellefleur is finding her footing in the world of rom-coms, and her future books will probably still make it on my TBR.

This is the follow up to the delightful Written in the Stars. Here we have Darcy’s best friend Annie who comes to visit and finds that Darcy has gone on vacation. Annie finds herself hanging out with Darcy’s brother Brendon. It’s a best friends brother romance but here it is Brendon who has been nursing a long time crush on Annie. Brendon wants to restore Annie’s faith in dating so he comes up with dates from movies.
It’s a fun story with interesting characters. Brendon is a romantic and pursues Annie with fervor. They find themselves falling in love and they both have to decide how to balance career opportunities with the possibility of a relationship. They have tremendous chemistry. This is a fun romcom to read and leaves you smiling when you are done.

I simply adored this follow up to #WritteninTheStars. I was delighted to see the continuation of Darcy and Elle. As much as I love them I equally love Brendon and Annie.
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Annie takes a spur of the moment trip to visit her best friend in Seattle before she moves to London, however her best friend isn’t in town. Instead, she is left with Brendon, her best friend’s brother who she hasn’t seen in years. The one time nerd is now a 6’4 hot nerd ready to prove to her by recreating famous movie dates that love is not dead. He’s just a guy who wanted to be Hugh Grant and live in a Nora Ephorn movie. He decided the best way to beat a skeptic is to use his favorite romantic movies as a blueprint. This includes a Ferris wheel ride, drive in movie and a love fern!
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Romance is not always like the movies but the beauty of true love comes in the small little moments and all you truly want is someone that looks at you like you hung the moon.
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This has one of the most satisfying epilogues with a special treat for Disney lovers. Coming from someone who spent their honeymoon at Disney I couldn’t have loved this more!
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This book comes out May 25th!
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Thank you #NetGalley and #Avon for an arc in exchange for an honest review

After reading and enjoying Written in the Stars, I was excited to get Brendon and Annie’s story in this book! The premise sounded very cute, and I really liked the cover. Hang the Moon depicts a romance between a hopeless romantic and someone hesitant to fall in love.

All his life, Brendon has been chasing love; he’s even created a successful dating app for people looking for their one true person. Meanwhile, Annie, his sister’s best friend, comes into town on vacation to visit Darcy. When she tells Brendon about her reservations about love, he makes it his personal mission to show her that romance is real.

This book takes place in Seattle, with Brendon playing tour guide and showing Annie around town. It was interesting reading about the places they went to; I always like when a book intertwines a setting into the story!

I really liked the characters! This is a companion novel, so we still get to see the characters (Darcy, Elle, and Margot) from the last book often, in addition to Brendon and Annie. Brendon is a hopeless romantic, but not to the point that it’s ridiculous; I would say Annie is cynical towards love but not so much that she and Brendon are complete opposites. Darcy is the person who connects Brendon and Annie, and I really liked seeing her relationships with her brother and her best friend and how she helps both protagonists realize what they want.

The romance was so good. Brendon is Annie’s best friend’s brother, and they’ve known each other for years. He had a crush on her for so long, but I liked how, even though they haven’t seen each other in eight years, he isn’t hung up on her nor does he have this idea of who she is from eight years ago. This book also has a set time limit because Annie is moving to London in two weeks. Usually, I dislike books that progress a romance in such a short time, but this book acknowledges this. In fact, the short time span is Annie’s biggest reservation about their relationship since she knows she’s not the type of person to move cross-country on a whim.

If you haven’t read Written in the Stars, you can still read this book without being confused. It helps establish the characters in this book though! For example, Darcy is a lesbian and both Elle and Annie are bisexual.

Hang the Moon was such a sweet romance with protagonists who have have instant attraction. I really liked returning to this group of characters. If you’re looking for a cute romance, I think you’ll like Hang the Moon!

Hang the Moon is supremely precious. Brendon's story about a dating app owner with a White Knight complex who can't find love, who re-connetcts with his childhood crush had my heart swooning. It's not that Annie doesn't believe in love per say, but she's skeptical of romantic gestures and love proclamations. Hardened by disappointment, people who cannot handle the distance, and who move on. Hang the Moon is dual POV and allows readers to witness the lingering and new feelings of their relationship from both sides.

It's so stinking cute and will make your heart melt. One of my favorite notes from Hang the Moon is, "it's not a real relationship until your embarrass yourself or pee in front of someone". I stand by what I said. Hang the Moon examines how not letting people in is a form of disappointment control. How we can sometimes predict how we think it will end, before it even begins. The feelings when we realize we're more invested than someone else and this leaves us vulnerable.

Mein Leseerlebnis

“Hang the Moon” ist ein Folgeroman zu “Written in the Stars”, die beiden Hauptcharaktere sind Darcys jüngerer Bruder und ihre beste Freundin.

Die beiden könnten auf den ersten Blick nicht unterschiedlicher sein. Brendon ist ein großer Romantiker, liebt kitschige Sachen und glaubt an die große Liebe. Annie hingegen hat Beziehungen nach vielen kleinen Enttäuschungen aufgegeben, glaubt nicht an große romantische Gesten und ist auf ihre Karriere fokussiert.

Darauf aufbauend entwickelt sich eine schöne, flott entwickelnde und unterhaltsame Geschichte. Annie und Brendon verbringen zum ersten Mal als Erwachsene Zeit miteinander und schnell wird klar, dass es zwischen ihnen knistert. Diese Spannung war auch für mich als Leser:in spürbar. Dadurch waren meine Emotionen beim Lesen schnell involviert und ich habe mit den beiden richtig mitgefiebert.

Der Schreibstil der Autorin ist locker und wirkt auf mich sehr einnehmend. Die Dialoge zwischen ihren Charakteren fühlen sich authentisch an und sind oft sehr unterhaltsam. Zudem gibt es im Buch ein paar Szenen, die wirklich sehr komisch sind.

Alexandria Bellefleur erzeugt interessante und zugleich sympathische Charaktere, über die ich sehr gerne lese. Beim Lesen habe ich immer wieder mit Begeisterung feststellen können, dass ich am Lächeln war, weil ich solch eine gute Zeit hatte.

Das letzte Viertel des Buches war für mich einen Tick schwächer als der Rest. In diesem Teil der Geschichte wurden Probleme in einer möglichen Beziehung von Annie und Brendon thematisiert. Ich verstehe, dass das ein Stück weit notwendig war, habe in diesem Teil aber trotzdem die zumeist heitere Stimmung des Rests der Geschichte vermisst.

Alles in allem hatte ich mit “Hang the Moon” trotzdem eine sehr gute Zeit und freue mich schon darauf, dass auch Margot eine eigene Geschichte bekommen wird (ihr Buch soll 2022 erscheinen). 🖤🖤🖤🖤1/4

What happens when your childhood crush is back in town and you only have 2 weeks to prove to her that love exists? This hilarious and sweet rom com is the result. This is a sequel to the first book and features characters from the first book but you can read this book as a standalone. The story follows Annie, a girl who decides to spend two weeks with her best friend but said best friend is away on vacation with her girlfriend so Annie is stuck with said best friend’s younger brother as a tour guide, i.e. Brendon. Brendon is in charge of a dating app and when his childhood crush is back in town and his sister makes him her tour guide, Brendon thinks it’s time to prove to Annie that love exists. The story follows both of these characters as they travel around Seattle and slowly fall in love with each other (though to be fair it takes span in 2 weeks). It’s a sweet love story and definitely adorable. I loved Brendon and Annie as a couple and their chemistry was great! From game nights to critiquing romance movies to figuring each other’s love language, this is the perfect romance read for anyone looking for a sweet read!

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Can we just talk about how phenomenally CUTE this book was. I was laughing and beaming and swooning right along side all of the characters. Brendon was adorable and totally swoon worthy. Annie was hilarious and totally jaded. I love how we got to see the relationship between the MC’s and the side characters in depth and how those relationships added to the main one. And let’s not forget about the one bed troupe. Automatic love.

I do wish that Annie’s bisexuality had been talked about just a tad bit more. Annie’s sexuality was so briefly mentioned that it could be very easy to miss and for the reader to assume she was straight.

If you’re looking for an adult romance novel THIS IS THE ONE FOR YOU!!

I didn't realize this was a series but thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was the perfect sweet and fun romance book that I need in my life. I can't wait to go back and the first book in series.

I was first introduced to this author through the previous book in the series, Written in the Stars, which I loved. I was very excited to get my hands on this title and it didn't disappoint. Bellefleur has a knack for dialogue and humor that is right up my alley, and I find the sex scenes to be well-written, which is always one of the bigger challenges in romance. The relationships are believable and characters from the previous book (Elle and Darcy especially) are consistent and it's nice to get to continue to see them interact with the cast of characters. I'm really looking forward to book 3 which I am assuming will focus on Margot. I found Brendon and Annie's relationship very sweet and I was rooting along with everyone for Annie to make the choose to move to Seattle. Highly recommend this one.

I love that Bellefleur told Brendon's story. The complete fool for love, so pure in ways that I haven't seen a man be in other romances that I've read. His whirlwind time spent with Annie is wonderful and funny, and I loved this book even more than the first.

Thank you for the free review copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Such a cute story! I haven’t yet read Written in the Stars, the first book in this series (although I do have it waiting for me on my kindle now), and I had no problems getting through the book. It’s a great standalone but probably does equally well as part of the series!

I do have to say that of all the characters in this story, Annie was probably my least favorite. Brendan was adorable and I loved his friendship with Margot and back-and-forth sibling banter with Darcy. Something about Annie just bothered me a bit through - she was too unsure of herself. This didn’t detract from the story at all, but I think I would enjoy Darcy/Elle’s story more. And if the next book isn’t about Margot, I might cry, because she is my new favorite character :).

Overall, a cutesy romance that I would definitely recommend whether it’s part of a series read or a standalone. The astrology theme was cute but not over the top, and I loved the 80s/90s romcom movie references.

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Hang the Moon is the second book in the Written in the Stars standalone series by Alexandria Bellefleur. I was excited to jump into Brendon's story because I knew from the first book that he is a hopeless romantic. He believes in hearts and flowers and romantic gestures, just like in romantic movies. When his sister's best friend/his former crush, Annie, comes to town, he is tasked with showing her around since his sister can't. Annie reveals to him that she has given up on romance and dating and Brendon makes it his mission to convince her that true love and romance are real.

I love the unrequited love romance trope! It's so cute that Brendon had an obvious crush on Annie for many years while they were growing up. Now that they're both older, the two year age difference doesn't feel like much of a difference. I loved Brendon's optimism about love - he is a man after my own heart. The romance movie references were cute and gave me a nostalgic feeling.

I wish there were more scenes between Brendon and Annie and less scenes between each of them and their friends. I felt like the friend scenes took up a lot of the book. Brendon and Annie had great chemistry and I wanted to see more of them together.

This book had the PERFECT HEA that was so clever and sweet! That scene is going to go down as one of my favorite epilogues!

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for a digital arc of this book!

In a companion novel to Written in the Stars, Brendan finally finds the happily ever after he's been looking for.
When Annie goes to make a surprise visit to her best friend Darcy, she has an ulterior motive--telling her that she is moving to London for a new job. But Darcy is out of town for the first few days of Annie's visit, so Brendan offers to show her around Seattle. The two begin to develop feelings for each other, but Annie has sworn off romance because of past disappointments, and there's the tiny matter of her moving to London in a month.

I really enjoyed this book as a companion to Written in the Stars! I think that it would still work if you hadn't read the WitS, but you will be missing out on a lot of details that might richen your reading experience. Darcy and Elle play a large role in this book (though they are not main characters), and it is nice to have their backstory. Also, the info you get on Brendan in the first book will help you better understand his motivations in this one.

This romance was so sweet. Honestly, a lot of the time I feel like the m/f romances I read are overly sexualized and there isn't enough focus on the actual romance, but that isn't what's happening here at all. Annie and Brendan are both very sweet characters and their relationship felt natural and realistic, if fast-moving.

I love the writing! I really feel like I know the characters so well throughout the book. They really all stand apart from each other and have very distinct personalities. I loved that about this book!

Pub Date: May 25, 2021
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content

After adoring Written in the Stars, I was so curious about how much I'd like or dislike this book. A not-quite-sequel in the same universe, I'm so happy to be able to say I was able to enjoy it so much! It's such a cute romcom of a book and I can't wait to read it again and be sucked right back into this story!