How Moon Fuentez fell in love with the universe

Review by Booklist Review

Moon Fuentez lives in the shadow of her popular, social-media influencer twin sister, Star. At a size 16, Moon is constantly comparing herself to model-thin Star, longing for a day when she, too, can be in her own kind of spotlight. Two weeks after high school graduation, Star lands an opportunity to go on a life-changing, cross-country trip led by Andro Phillips, a good-looking, social-media app founder, and Moon is roped into going with her to work the merch table, taking comfort in the knowledge that she'll earn enough money to attend Tulane's art program. Behind the merch table, she meets Santiago, the snarky (and attractive) younger brother to Andro, who seems to have taken an interest in tormenting Moon. Little does she expect that he will change her universe, helping her to finally realize her own worth. Filled with lyrical prose, Gilliland's take on the road-trip novel offers a fabulous journey of self-discovery that also celebrates its characters' Latinx heritage (Moon and Star are Mexican American and the Phillips brothers are Colombian and white). Themes of sexuality, grief, trauma, abuse, and disability are sensitively incorporated into the story, which remains entertaining and will impart beautiful, lingering lessons to its readers. Amazingly realistic, this book is the coming-of-age story that teens need, wrapped in a gorgeously poetic package.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Mexican American Moon Fuentez, 17, is dark-skinned and round; her twin, Star, is light-skinned as well as "willowy and still curvy." Model and purity crusader Star is their single mother's favorite; Moon, who has had sex, is "the unwanted, ugly sister." Though talented photographer Moon takes the photos that Star's 900,000 Fotogram followers love, her other talents--she's also an earth artist and tarot card reader and designer--don't attract much notice. But now Moon is spending the summer before college as the "merch girl" on "The Summer Fotogram Influencers for Charity Tour," which invited Star. Adding insult to injury, Moon is sharing a bunk with merch boy Santiago Philips, the hot but grumpy half-Colombian, half-white brother of Fotogram's founder. Santiago, who lost a hand in an accident, also has issues with his place in the world, but as he teaches Moon to cook, they develop a bond. In Vasquez Gilliland's (Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything) poetic hands, Moon's strong voice shines amid magic and indigenous knowledge, even as she struggles with her mother, colorism, and fatphobia. Readers will cheer for Moon as she learns to embrace her own beauty and power. Ages 14--up. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Aug.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Moon accompanies her twin sister, Star, a wealthy influencer, on a life-changing cross-country tour. Seventeen-year-old Moon Fuentez is used to being her stunning twin's designated photographer and size-16 shadow as well as their cruel momager's less-loved daughter. Two weeks after their high school graduation, Star, a religious model whose brand is purity, lands a lucrative gig for a summer charity tour arranged by Andro Philips, a sexy, young social media app founder. Moon is coerced into working the tour, earning money to help fulfill her dream of attending Tulane's art program. Her partner at the merchandise table is enigmatic, gorgeous Santiago, Andro's younger brother. After a disastrous first meeting, Moon and Santiago slowly get to know each other through bickering and banter. She's a flower lover who's designing a deck of tarot cards; he's an incredible gourmet cook. Their initial animosity turns to attraction and affection in a simmering but steamy slow burn. As in her debut, the author's prose is lush and lyrical, emphasizing the natural world and ancient spirituality. The story's magical elements are integrated beautifully, as is the main characters' Latinx heritage: The Fuentez sisters are Mexican American, and the Philips brothers have a Colombian mother and presumed White father. In addition to important sex-positive messages, the book sensitively explores grief, trauma, abuse, disability, and sisterhood as well as the negative impacts of homophobia and purity culture. Readers will fall in love with this poignant, powerful, and poetic coming-of-age tale. (Magical realism. 14-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Chapter 1: The Wild, Cosmic Beginning of All Beginnings 1. The Wild, Cosmic Beginning of All Beginnings EVERYTHING HAS A beginning. And I'm not just talking about things like the shop I ordered my moonstone necklace from, or where it was made, or where the stone itself was quarried. Though that is lovely to think about, isn't it? Perhaps it's from some deep, wild cave pebbled with lakelike stones of moons.... But no, that's not what I mean. I'm not even talking about me, or my twin sister, or yuck , the birds and the bees. What I am talking about is everything. I mean, everything in this whole wide, wild universe has one beginning. One place where everything, all of matter, converged into a speck one trillionth the size of a period. Let me repeat that, because I can scarcely fathom it myself. Everything that exists in all the billions of galaxies, including Earth, with our salty, whale-skimmed seas and herds of elephants strewn on the horizon like gray beads and piles of electronic junk gathering here and there since, what, the eighties? And blue-trimmed plates of arroz con pollo and the nearly fuchsia slices of smoked salmon over a bagel and all the smooth and metallic skyscrapers and the billions of microscopic organisms in a teaspoon of dirt, everything--every last atom and electron and scoop of strawberry cheesecake ice cream--was once a fraction of a fraction of a period. I don't know how scientists have figured something like that out with any certainty, but they have. I mean, if I'd kept reading Astrophysics for People in a Hurry , I might know, but I couldn't, not after that sentence. I had to put the book away, and then next thing you know, my library loan was up, and I can't bring myself to touch it again. It's so overwhelming. I mean, a period! A period! Probably font size ten, too, or something. Can you imagine how heavy that thing was? How, if you'd picked it up, it would've cut a hole right through you? Your mom might have been like, "Oh, Moon, what have you done now?" You know, if she'd cared. And you'd say, "Oh, yeah, just tried to see if I could lift this speck of All-That-Is. I'll be okay." You know, as if she'd care. Sometimes I think, what if I could go back to the beginning? What would I do? I could try to touch it, that molten-hot little speck, just to say I'd tried. Or maybe I'd look at it, at this beginning of all beginnings, and ask it, Why the heck do the women in our family still have La Raíz? You know, the whole reason why I'm the unwanted, ugly sister. I may allow myself another related question: Why, why, why didn't I leave La Raíz in the carved milk jar, right where Mom banished it, on the windowsill in her bathroom? I can still picture the moment. Despite Mom warning us, with one hand on her Bible and the other basically on the graves of all our ancestors, to never, ever, ever touch the milk jar, I got on my tiptoes, grabbed the white bottle, and pulled the top off. And released all the yuck back into our bloodline, apparently. Like a little Pandora-in-training. Of course, nothing happened at first. I spent years thinking Mom outright lied to us. And then I had sex for the first time. But that's another beginning for another time. You know what, though? This whole beginning is super important in the context of, like, my whole freaking life. So... Excerpted from How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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