I tried to get into this book, but I ended up DNF-ing about 30% in. It just didn't hook me, but I might have to try again at some point because the concept sounds interesting.

I have so many mixed feelings about 'The Night and Its Moon,' I scarcely know where to start. This book has potential to be truly great. You can feel the author's passion for the work oozing out of every page, and she really puts her knowledge of more fantastical aspects of folklore to use. But even after professional copyediting for the 9/20/22 edition, 'The Night and Its Moon' still very much reads like an overambitious debut that just doesn't quite measure up for me.

The heart is there in the character relationships, the knowledge is obviously there on the material used for inspiration, the world is cool in concept, and the main beats of the plot are solid. There is a lot to love about Piper CJ's debut in this current iteration. However, the prose feels less thorough and lyrical and more rambling, the pacing is all over the place, and there's still the overuse of redundant metonymy.

All that said! I'm putting this one at a safe three stars because there a lot of other series I have loved at the time that I am now (as a more adult reader, or someone who now reads with reviewing in mind, or whatever) hesitant to recommend because they "are a debut and it really shows." If you're a fan of high fantasy, or of the author's tiktoks, I definitely recommend you give this one a chance. It's just as likely the aspects that make 'The Night and Its Moon' not quite for me will barely even register for other readers; everybody has their preferences.

I will absolutely be keeping and eye on Piper's work going forward, I can't wait to see where her growth as an author takes her.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Sourcebooks Bloom Books, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

I had been following Piper’s journey since her post of how she was forced to come out of the closet to her family because she wrote this book, and was explaining the plot to them. I had been all for the “bi fantasy” book that she was marketing on booktok, the fantasy genre needs more lgbtqia+ representation. Piper also marketed this as being “very diverse”, I don’t see it.

I believe the idea of this book, plot and representation, was wonderful, but I do believe the execution fell flat.

Between all the problematic situations surrounding this book/author, eg. the situation back when the book had been recently self published, even with the more recent backlash she received because she didn’t like readers/reviewers calling this book a sapphic romance will impact readers choosing to pick this book up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing book and a wonderful start to a series. The author took great care in the execution of this book.

Loved it. I have loved watching Pier on TikTok and knew she would create something fantastic. I’m a sucker for Far stories and throw in dragons, succubi and witches and I was hooked. Fantastic world building and set up for a unique series. So good.

So. I follow Piper on tik tok and I love her content. When I saw this book up for grabs, I jumped at the chance. But I just can’t finish it.

I have a DNF rule where at any point if I just can’t get into a book, I shelf it and move on. And unfortunately, at 10%, I’m tapping out.

The plot has whispers of being interesting. The characters have the beginning of depth to them. But the world building is vague and gives me nothing to hold on to while I’m getting my bearings.

Maybe eventually I’ll finish it, but for now I’m out.

Nox spent her entire childhood protecting Amaris at the "orphanage" they grew up in, determined that she would not let her be sold to the highest bidder. So when a madame of a notorious brothel arrives to buy Amaris, Nox takes her place, and Amaris flees to the mountains to train as an assassin. But they never forget each other and the bond they formed. So when a mysterious new conflict erupts between the humans and the fae, the only thing that may save the world is the love between the two orphans and their determination to reunite. I was a little hesitant going into this book because of all the Booktok drama surrounding the author, but I was pleasantly surprised! I loved the world-building and that it was a bisexual fantasy that was entirely focused on two female characters! I read an ARC of the traditionally published book, which was revised and edited to avoid some of the editing issues I heard about from the self-published copies. Overall, it was a delightful fantasy, and I can't wait for the rest of the series!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloom Books, and Piper C.J. for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. It was a very exciting and enjoyable fantasy!

I'll be honest that I was nervous when I started this book because I was already a fan of Piper CJ on TikTok and had come to know her and this book because of the folklore content she posts and the occasional promos she would do for the upcoming pub. Knowing how BookTok/Bookstagram and the publishing industry in general prioritizes followers and views over quality and talent, I wasn't sure what to expect from Piper's writing.

I'll also say that I felt that the book dragged a bit in the beginning, and I would find myself taking forever to pick the book up again between sittings because I wasn't feeling all that absorbed in the storyline. That being said, however...

By halfway through the book, I was absolutely in LOVE with Nox, and now I'm convinced she's one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. I appreciated the empowerment that went alongside her work at the Selkie, however controversial others may find the sex-work inclusion, and I also really loved the vivid descriptions. While there were definitely some points where I felt like the prose was a little dry and dragging on for too long, that was rarely a true problem for me, and I found that I really liked that writing style during the steamy parts because it was truly made for some of the best-written smut out there (especially if you're like me and can't stand the cringey euphemisms and awkward sex that make up SJM's smut).

Furthermore, I felt like The Night and Its Moon was the fantasy book I never knew I needed. It had all the fantasy elements I could want-magical protagonists, interesting creatures, fae-but it also had bisexual representation, a sapphic love story, and beautiful insights about love. Because the book really is a love story, albeit a complicated one that features lots of fighting with swords. I love the depth and purity of Nox's and Amaris' love for one another, and the protection that they provide for each other, at all costs, makes for a really epic story. I am very much looking forward to the sequel next year.

To start - I was not aware of the TikTok drama (or drama on other platforms?) that was surrounding this book and this author when I requested to read this book on NetGalley. I only learned about it when I was perusing this book's GoodReads page and saw a link from the author to a YouTube apology video. But that's besides the point -

My HONEST review of the book is that I DNF'd it about 20% of the way in, not because I felt like it was a bad book, but just because it was clear it was not going to be the book for me. It was written in a bit of a flowery or "purple" way that I don't always love, and the characters felt far from me. There's not an option on NetGalley to leave no star rating, so I go with a 2. I'm sure there's an audience out there for this one, but this book is just tooooo damn long to push through when I have 30 other books on my shelf that are calling my name :)

This was one of those were I really went back and forth with giving it a 2 or 3 stars. While I think the overall story has promise and the bones to be a great novel, there were too many things working against it to meet it's potential. The author style is very much purple prose, but unfortunately not in a good way. Some of my favorite authors tend to write this way and when done correctly it, it can make a novel extraordinary. In this author's case, she just got too wordy, wrote extremely long descriptions and spent a lot of time focusing on text that could have easily been eliminated from the story and it wouldn't have changed anything. There were times where she was able to do this well, I just think more should have been edited down.

I also wish more had gone into the world building. There was a lot of focus on Amaris and Nox, which didn't leave a lot of time to explore other characters or the world around them. I wish she had spent more time detailing the different cities and kingdoms, the actually political discourse between the north and south, talked more about the queen and her son. All of these things don't come up until we are most of the way through the book and there is still a lot that wasn't gone over or just seemed to be thrown in.

I didn't hate the book, and like I said, it has the bones of a good story line and the author does have the ability to write well. I think maybe as she writes more and works more closely with editors, she will be able to hone her skills.

I think there's potential in this story but it felt rushed and it didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This unfortunately ended up being a did no finish, wasn't a fan at all. The structuring seemed confusing for someone to try and follow, hope to see better in the future.

After seeing some of the things regarding this book, the author and the editor, I will be giving this a miss. I can’t in good faith go into this book without knowing what I know now.

I tried really hard to get into this, but the beginning was too slow for me. I gave it about 50 pages before giving in. The writing was up to par and the characters were unique, but something about it didn't click with me.

I was extremely excited about this book's release, and when I received a digital ARC I was ecstatic! The Night and Its Moon's prose is wonderful and descriptive, however sometimes I found that it was too descriptive or too much and lured me out of the trance reading usually puts me in. I was unsure of the age of the main characters at the beginning: I was led to believe this was a YA book but the characters acted too young to be teenagers. The order of some of the prose was awkward and too reminded me that I was not in this world, I was only reading, which I dislike and know some other readers do as well. On the other hand, the plot was vague in the beginning but eventually delve deeper, which I enjoyed. Thank you again for the ARC!

The Night and Its Moon has the potential to be a great fantasy adventure. The characters and world building are interesting but I found the pacing and wordy descriptions to be distracting and ended up skimming much of the book.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

TNAIM has had my heart since it was indie published, with the traditional publishing house polish it has taken this book to new heights and I am so honored to have read this book. It is a huge step for queer authors and readers.

I didn't really care too much for this story. The description drew me in as something I would like, but I just couldn't get into it like most other books. The author has a nice writing style and the potential was definitely there, but the book tended to be overly wordy so by halfway in I was hoping the story was almost finished. There were also some scenes with the characters that I didn't particularly care for. I personally wouldn't recommend this book, but some people may like it.

DNF

I was hesitant about this book after the controversy around the author and her editor attacking reviewers, but when I saw that she fired her editor and was getting it re-edited, I thought I'd give it a chance. I did really want to enjoy this one, but I just really didn't. I found the writing style to be unnecessarily wordy and in some cases, difficult to read. As a result, I have chosen not to continue reading The Night and its Moon.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The Night and its Moon follows Amaris and Nox on their journeys together and apart. I loved this book! I could tell this book was written from a place of love and passion. The characters grow so much throughout this book and I cannot wait to read the next books in this series to see how much more these characters develop. There were times, like with many books I read, where I would shake my head and think of the things the characters should be doing in the moment. However, I never let that interfere with my perception of a book because I know it is very easy for me to say this should have happened or the character(s) should have done this knowing I do not know what I would actually do in this situation.
One thing, I know the book has been described as Sapphic and personally I think this is a mistake. Yes, the characters of Amaris and Nox love each other, however there is really only one scene and it is brief where these two characters admit to more than friendship with each other. There are individual thoughts from each character though out the book, however I believe someone picking up this book because it is described as Sapphic would be highly disappointed, again that's my personal opinion.
I truly loved this book overall and cannot wait for the next one.