Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced copy of this audiobook.

“…it was hard to resist a good love story - especially one that had so shaken the universe, like a pair of dice between cupped hands, watched by invisible eyes to see how they would tumble and land.”

AN ARROW TO THE MOON is a young adult fantasy romance novel, a mashup retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the story of Chang’e and Houyi (the goddess of the moon and her heavenly archer/husband, depending on the legend) from Chinese mythology. It’s a beautiful, gently magical story set in the US in the 1990s and told through Luna and Hunter, two Chinese American teens who each have their own supernatural experiences; they fall in love against a backdrop of their rival families. I adored Pan’s first book, THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER, and her writing shines in this novel as well.

Luna and Hunter are strong characters and their romance is so tender and earnest. It’s a very high school first love, meeting in the hallways and flirting in gym class, sneaking out behind their parents’ backs and discovering each other under moon and starlight. They are both lonely in their own way, having dealt with isolation as some of the only Asian American kids in their white-dominated classrooms, both growing up with unexplained chronic illnesses, both navigating their parents’ expectations and judgments, both learning how things can be more complicated than their families have explained (for example, differing perspectives on Taiwan’s relationship to China). Watching their love unfold was just so lovely.

The story is told from multiple perspectives, including the main pairing and their family members, which was interesting and helped flesh out the side characters. There’s also some mysteries in the town where this is set, a divide opening in the earth, etc. I’m a bit torn about how well the double modern retelling worked; it’s an excellent book but there was missing something for me, something unresolved, or maybe too much going on? Maybe the ending just made me a bit sad. I love Pan’s work though; I would recommend both of her books and I can’t wait to see what she brings us next. Thanks to Little, Brown Books For Young Readers and Hachette Audio for the review copies!

Content warnings: racism/xenophobia, child abuse, chronic illness, bullying, death

when a book you waited years for…. misses the mark 😭
plz excuse me while I go cry for the remainder of the day.

I’m so surprised I didn’t absolutely adore this book after falling in love with The Astonishing Color of After.

An Arrow to the Moon lacked the depth that her debut had, and ultimately felt incomplete. I wasn’t given enough exploration into anything: the rivalry, the romance, the magic, the past.

Overall, I think the writing was beautiful and the story was unique but with too many POVs and not enough information, nothing felt quite tangible enough to really capture me.

I quickly found the story lacking appeal and did not see why this was being related to Romeo and Juliet.

This was such a beautiful story. Full of rich Chinese mythology and love. I absolutely loved this magical take on Romeo and Juliet! And the audiobook is wonderful!.

I really just couldn't get into this one. I think it's because I was looking for a bit heavier fantasy influences rather than magical realism. I also just get very tired of teenagers of the opposite sex mooning over each other. It took way too long for the plot to actually kick in; while this was, ostensibly, to set up the characters it really just made the first half drag.

I liked the direct way Pan handled questions of identity in the form of several conversations with explanations and detailed apologies when applicable. But otherwise... I was bored.

Both audiobook narrators are fantastic, though. I've been a fan of Natalie Naudus for a while and she continues to be worth a listen!

Plot read like a middle grade novel except for the sex. I liked the beautiful lyrical writing and mythology. There were obvious info dumps on culture which could have been done more naturally and at times seemed to be oddly placed. Overall loved the love story, characters, family relationships, magic and mystery of it all.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I really did not enjoy this book at all. I couldn't wait for it to be over, and if it wasn't an ALC, I would've DNFed it. The characters and their motivations weren't well developed, and the fantasy parts felt very disconnected from the contemporary storyline. I REALLY wanted to like this book; the concept sounded so good, but it was way off the mark.

I hated most of the characters, and the strange circumstances that Hunter and Luna kept finding themselves in felt extremely contrived and out of place. Their relationship was also awkward; they didn't feel like they were "meant to me", even though that's how they were billed in the story. Also, the feud between their families just... didn't make sense.

I wouldn't recommend this one, but I will eventually try Astonishing Color of Ever After.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for providing me with an early audio copy of this book!

I adore this book. The narration by the two narrators was impeccable, they captured our two main characters as well as the other POVs in the book with such ease and grace. I was fully immersed in this story which was incredible retelling that I have never seen before - a blend of two different stories, one from Western culture and one from Eastern culture. It was so incredible to see the parts of Romeo and Juliet with parts of The Tale of Chang'e and Houyi. The story was strange with magic blending with the real world in such a visceral way but feeling as if the magic was not fully rooted in reality. It really felt like a myth coming to the real world.

It is not your typical narrative with multiple POVs to discuss how the parents and the antagonist were feeling at different times throughout the book. It wasn't necessarily straightforward but it added a magic to the story that was done so well.

The descriptions were beautiful and each scene had a purpose in explaining the characters, the predicament, or relating it to the myth that was certainly a part of their lives since birth.

Truly I am a sucker for anything about the moon and the descriptions of moonlight bringing colour back to Luna had me so hyped. And the descriptions of Luna's breath relieving Hunter of his pain were gorgrous.

Hunter's little brother Cody had me in the palm of his hand and each of the little parts of mythology coming to life were so fun to read about.

And yet, this book had a melancholy to it, written in the undercurrents of the story when not expressed outright. Even though I do not know the Tale of Chang'e and Houyi fully, I knew how it ended. And it made the trajectory of the story even more tragic.

If you are looking for a book that is strange in its execution but works well on so many levels, please try this out. I enjoyed listening to this book every second it was in my ear.

Honestly, I picked this one up for a committee at my library knowing it wasn't my cup of tea but hoping it would pull through for me. Sadly, I didn't end up loving it, though there's nothing wrong with it, I just don't love Romeo and Juliet based things.

The narrators are great and engaging, but I found the plot to fall a little flat. I'm unsure if it's because I'm not super familiar with the source materials. Additionally, I found the side characters chapters a little hard to follow. I suspect this would be easier on paper than on audio.

Overall, this was a perfectly fine book, but just not something I was interested in.

Wow. I was not expecting that ending. Like I knew the story behind the moon goddess and the sun archer. But this was kind of wild. It was really good and I highly recommend this book for those who either know the legend or who aren't familiar and want to listen to a different version. Really appreciate the chinese and Taiwanese representation in here and how parental pressure is very common.

I really enjoyed Pan’s first book and loved the slight magic woven into the contemporary world, and this book is just as good! The little hints of magic in the story makes it so fun. I loved that this is a Chinese mythology / Romeo and Juliet retelling. I really enjoyed the multiple POVs in this book. I love multiple POV books as they make the story more encompassing of everything going on and it was great to hear a bit more from the smaller characters. Hunter and Luna are really interesting characters and I loved following their storylines play out and join together. The ending was a little bit of a let down but it was still a great retelling. I really enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to see what Pan writes next!

I loved the author’s previous book but had a harder time with this book. I am currently DNF ing it and will try it again in the future

Billed as ‘Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology’, I was intrigued by the concept and happy to receive an audio copy to review through NetGalley.
I enjoyed the two main characters, their narrators did a great job, and I felt their relationship developed in a natural and believable way - although Hunter and Luna feel an instant connection to each other, they still take time to get to know one another and are initially cautious of each other.

However…
For the majority of the book we were plodding along with a fairly standard ‘YA contemporary with a little fantasy twist’ (our female MC attracts fireflies, and our male MC is somehow connected to the wind), however unfortunately the closer we got to the end the more rushed and - slightly bizarre - the story felt. The conclusion came about very quickly and I was left confused about exactly what was happening and why, with very little explanation. Although the epilogue does provide some context, for me it was ‘too little, too late’, and by the time it was somewhat explained I was already frustrated and bewildered by the lack of information.
Overall, An Arrow to the Moon had promise as a fairly standard YA novel, but unfortunately, the ending let it down.

An Arrow to the Moon is a Romeo & Juliet retelling with the addition of Chinese Mythology. I received the audiobook arc from #netgalley and Hachette Audio.

Romeo & Juliet can be hard to take a fresh approach on since it’s such a often told story. I’m this book the author actually improved on the Romeo & Juliet story. The addition of the Chinese mythology gave it a fresh approach. I really loved the ending.

The audiobook was a little hard to get into at first. I realized it’s because there are 8 characters in this multiple view point story. The short chapters made it hard to keep track of who was talking at first. Once I had the characters down it was really enjoyable.

two and a half stars rounded up to three
Luna dreads the future with graduation just around the corner. She rebels by breaking the rules. Hunter is perfect with a bow and arrow, but everything else in his life isn’t so perfect. He’s tired of his family’s past following him and would do something about it if it wasn’t for his brother and the girl he just met.
I listened to this book through Netgalley. This book is broken into multiple point of views. I loved the characters and their flaws which made me feel like they were real. Based on the book summary I was interested in the book, but once I started listening to it, I found it difficult to enjoy. First, the chapters were short which made it hard to really enjoy the book. Then the romance between the main characters was rushed. My biggest issue was the ending and how it left me wanting more. I usually love books with magic, but this one did not do it for me sadly.

An Arrow to the Moon follows high school seniors Hunter and Luna, both struggling with their parents expectations and rules. Hunter longs to escape his family's mistakes, but his younger brother keeps him from leaving. Luna is overwhelmed by her parents dreams for her future. As they grow closer together, secrets are revealed and their world is in danger of falling apart.

This book was beautifully written. It's pitched as Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology, but it's so much more. It's a look at the immigrant experience, at parental expectations and familial obligations. It's a love story and a tragedy. It's about finding your place and your purpose.

I love Hunter and Luna, and how their relationship slowly grows. The book also had the most precious character I've read in a long time and I want only good things for Cody, Hunter's younger brother. It's told from multiple POVs, which is actually great for slowly revealing all the secrets surrounding the Yee and Chang families. And the audiobook narration is gorgeous, with multiple narrators who all do an excellent job. Overall, this is a gorgeous, sweeping book and I loved it.

AN ARROW TO THE MOON by Emily X. R. Pan is a YA modern-day Romeo and Juliet retelling with Chinese mythology woven in. I’m not sure what the official genre is – contemporary fantasy? Fabulism? It seems contemporary at first, but there are little bits of magic, and more of them as the story goes on. And it is utterly magical.

It follows Hunter Yee and Luna Chang, who meet randomly when some kids play 7 minutes in heaven, and then they run into each other a long time after. Since this is a Romeo and Juliet retelling, they’re parents are of course enemies. This makes Hunter and Luna a little hesitant at first, but they can’t resist their connection. I loved the way they became friends and then slowly fell in love. It was so tender, sweet, and real, and I rooted for them so much, and just wished they could be safe and happy forever.

Even though Hunter and Luna were my favorite part of the story, the writing is incredible as well. Emily X. R. Pan has such luscious writing that is breathtakingly beautiful. If that is something you look for in books, you definitely need to pick this one up.

Another thing that surprised me was that there are multiple points of view. The main ones are Hunter’s and Luna’s, but we get to see the perspective of their parents as well. While this isn’t something I typically enjoy and I prefer only the main characters’ POVs, it made sense for this story and added something to it.

Overall, this is a beautiful and magical story, filled with emotions raging from sadness, joy, love, hope, and a lot more. I definitely recommend it! I also think that if you loved THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER, you’re going to love this one just as much. They’re both very different but have some of the same qualities.

Gave up on this one- unfortunately, it wasn't my cup of tea. I was excited to get into this book because of bringing Chinese mythology to modern times, but the story was really slow moving and the characters fell flat for me.

Wrote a review on Goodreads but didn't give it a star rating so the average doesn't go down.

By far my favorite book of 2022. The story, the characters, the plot, the struggles, the love... everything touched my heart and soul deeply.
The villain was absolutely fascinating and I loved that we got a chance to see from that point of view– even if it was wicked.

I loved the love story between Hunter and Luna. How they discussed and debated topics such as identity, especially as immigrants. Their chemistry was so natural and their communication was so good– I wasn't left stressed with them.

The secondary love story in the book that I adored the most was the brotherly love between Hunter and his little brother Cody. I have all the warmth in my heart for that little boy and his amazing mind.

If I could give this book ten stars, I truly would.