A beautiful YA love story centered on two Black teenagers. This is a story that many will enjoy and have been waiting for! Orion and Ray both have complicated relationships with their fathers and it is explored in depth in the novel which was a shining aspect of this book. The cover was what drew me into this book but I think it portrays first love in a beautiful and memorable way!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s for the eARC of Finding Jupiter in exchange for an honest review.


Finding Jupiter absolutely delighted me! It is a love story about two Black teens falling in love for the first time. They each have complicated relationships with their fathers. Jupiter and Orion are also both dealing with grief which seems to further tie them to one another. However, a huge secret involving both of their families could end their relationship before it really begins.

Kelis Rowe wrote Orion’s character with such tenderness that I immediately fell in love with him. Jupiter is a little more rough around the edges but she is equally lovable. I saw a little of my teenage self in both of them which was comforting and also validating.

It is commonly believed that teenagers are too young to understand anything about love. However, Rowe confidently puts that notion to rest through Orion and Jupiter’s epic first love. Orion’s affection for Jupiter is fierce, unwavering and all encompassing. He wants her despite her resistance to love or anything love-adjacent. I mean, she wouldn’t even give the poor guy her cell phone number at first.

Finding Jupiter takes place in Memphis, TN which is like a second home to me. I spent many summers there with family. Being familiar with locations and parts of the city made for a more enjoyable reading experience.

When I was Jupiter’s age I wrote some really horrible angst filled poetry that’s so embarrassing I cringe when I think about it. However, it was very cathartic for me at the time. The found poetry Jupiter creates that is spliced throughout the novel is magical! It gave the reader more insight into her feelings that she didn’t share with anyone even those closest to her.

Trying to figure out the connection between both families kept me intrigued from beginning to end. Every chance I got, I was picking up my Kindle to read this book! I knew what the big secret was when it was finally revealed and yet somehow I still was left with my mouth hanging open.

I applaud Rowe for tackling emotional topics without making the book feel heavy. Black love is a central theme of the novel! Rowe highlights it not only with Jupiter and Orion but through their parents as well. I look forward to what Kelis Rowe comes out with in the future.

This is exactly the kind of YA/romance book I love: it takes me right back to when I was Ray and Orion's ages and was falling in love, in not-quite-childhood but still a kid. Love it, love it, love it, love it.

I wanted to read this book solely because I thought the cover was gorgeous. I didn't even read the plot summary, just saw the cover and knew I needed to read it.

It's always so lucky when judging a book by it's cover works out. Reading about two teenagers, Orion and Ray, falling in love for the first time was truly out of this world. This book was so beautifully written. The beginning, when they are beginning to fall, it feels slower paced and scary, yet easy and comforting. It feels like the most natural thing in the world. It picks up rapidly in the last third of the book and is nearly impossible to put down. Their losses feel almost unbearable and it's hard to not feel like you're drowning with them. It's just so well written.

I had such a great time reading this book. I love the growth Orion and Ray had individually, together, and with their families. Seriously could not recommend this book enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book as a 4.6/5 rating on Goodreads, so it had me jumping at the computer keys to get this book on my reading list. I could not put this book down. It grabbed my attention from the very get-go and had me turning through the pages as fast as I could. Ray (F) and Orion (M) are two teens going through relationship pitfalls until they both fall in love, one of them begrudgingly, but before you know it, it is inevitable and necessary that they are together. And then, a twist, a shock so profound that even though you see it coming, it still hits you like a ton of bricks. These characters are authentic, dealing with grief, betrayal, secrets, trust, and forgiveness. I love YA, and read it often, but this story was so well done that I think even readers unfamiliar with the genre will find this book to be of interest. My kudos to the author on this one.

THank you to @NetGalley and the Publisher for this review.

I do not really review YA like that... but this book was amazing.A strong debut from Kelis Rowe. I fell in love with Orian and Ray and their love brought back so much nostalgia (the skating rink for sure was a high point of my teen life). They way they both worked through trauma and somehow it didn't make it a "trauma filled" /heavy book. It was about true love.. and can I say this use of The Great Gatsby and Poetry was sooo unique!

I wept. I cried. I laughed. I reminisced. This was everything. 4.5 stars!

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

What an amazing book! The characters were dynamic and seemed to lift right off the page, and the story was full of twists and fun!

I could not stop reading this book!! I loved the author's writing style and the connection between orion and ray! This is a perfect YA romance book about the mistakes that can happen when you love someone. Overall an amazing book!

The was a BEAUTIFUL book. I can't remember the last time I read a contemporary YA romance...so I went in with no expectations. I could not put this book down, I read it in one sitting. And it was amazing. A unique story about young love, mistakes, and grief. The characters were relatable while they worked through their own insecurities and fumbled through summer love. I laughed, I cried, and I finished the book with tear tracks, and a smile. BRAVO!

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 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.

This book was amazing. I love how it was two points of view. That ending was beautiful. Ray and Orion are just made of each other, but, Ray has to sort through some things in her life. I love that it wasn’t just once they meet that they aren’t just together. They work for it. Beautifully written.

Ray and Orion hit it off after meeting at a skating rink. When they’re with each other, they aren’t defined by their pasts, but instead they can be themselves and look towards the future. But family secrets reveal themselves and threaten to tear them apart.

This reads on the younger end of YA which is surprising because Orion is 18 and Ray is almost 18. Not that this is a bad thing, but it’s worth mentioning. It’s also an insta love situation which isn’t my favorite.

I really love that Orion loves swimming and Ray loves poetry. Props to the author for writing both a story and weaving in found poetry. I especially love that the images of the the found poetry are included instead of just the written poems. The young love is cute with an old school vibe and the conflict is interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown for the eARC!

I was nostalgic for my home town the entire time I read this book! I was also deeply connected to the characters and enjoyed the layers of poetry that added to the emotion Jupiter and Orion felt. The family secret slowly unraveled and kept me engaged. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next with Jupiter!

This was such an amazing story. Of course I knew it would be about two teens falling for each other. I just wasn’t sure how it wouldn’t feel like a story that I’ve read a million times before. Somehow it managed to keep me surprised and hooked the entire way through. I didn’t want to put it down and by the time I got to the end I was sad it was over. If you’re looking for a sweet romance with aspects of struggle and tenderness this is definitely the book to read. I loved it and highly recommend it. Five stars!

CW: death of parent and sibling


Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the ARC.

Finding Jupiter has to be admired for what it brings to YA: the centering of two Black teens in a love story. Rowe's language is also very ethereal and dream-like which matches the fall fast and hard during summer break context of the story. While these elements were great, this story is definitely more of a literary love story than a commercial love story (think more the Baz Luhrman adaption of Romeo and Juliet than To All the Boys). Their first meeting results in a very quick love and the characters aren't really ever established as individuals before they are put together as a couple-- which may or may not be for some readers--but the author does capture the thrill and intensity of teen romance without sounding too much like an adult relationship. Also, I would avoid reading the author's note at the beginning as it gives away a big plot point that occurs later in the book. Overall, readers who like Laini Taylor and Nicola Yoon style of writing with big, swooping feels of Moulin rouge-esque love story dynamic will certainly get lost in these pages.

I could not put this book down! It grabbed my attention from the very first page and just escalated from there! Ray and Orion start down the relationship path like most young adults do...slow and steady. As they grow to know one another, they fall in love. Each one is new to the experience of opening up to someone else and it's lovely to read about the progression of their relationship. Then, the explosive plot twist hits and it practically knocks the breath out of us all! I will definitely recommend this book to my young adult readers and add it to our classroom library!