Brighter than the moon

David Valdes Greenwood

Book - 2023

When online friends Jonas and Shani meet for the first time, they along with Shani's best Ash, find they are all keeping secrets, and coming clean will require them to figure out who they really are, which is not easy when one's identity goes beyond labels.

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Subjects
Genres
Romance fiction
Novels
Published
New York : Bloomsbury Children's Books [2023].
Language
English
Main Author
David Valdes Greenwood (author)
Physical Description
304 pages ; 22 cm
Audience
Ages 12+.
Grades 10-12.
ISBN
9781547607167
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Valdes (Spin Me Right Round, 2021) calls his new novel "a love(s) story." And why not, for three 17-year-old hearts are involved. Consider: Jonas is head over heels for beautiful Shani, even though they have only met online and through texts and evening phone calls. Shani is intrigued by Jonas but uncertain of her own feelings. Then there is Ash, Shani's flamboyantly gay best friend, who is trans and, like Shani, mixed race. When Jonas finally finds enough courage to ask out Shani, she wonders if he is telling her the whole truth about himself, and so she turns to Ash to investigate. But when Ash meets Jonas, he falls hard for him and--what's this?--Jonas seems to reciprocate. To make things even more complicated, Ash then realizes he has feelings for Shani, too--feelings that she shares. Confusion reigns as the complexities pile up, but readers will be rewarded with a sweet solution. Decidedly modern in his handling of themes tied to love triangles and polyamory, Valdes handles his intensely romantic--and perhaps controversial--material well, and he creates principal characters in whom readers will be fully invested. The heart wants what the heart wants, and Valdes artfully gives all involved their heart's desire.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Valdes (Spin Me Right Round) thoughtfully crafts a jam-packed story about three teens learning the importance of honesty and struggling to understand their identities. Sixteen-year-old biracial (Black and white) beauty YouTuber Shani has been burned by boys before, but she thinks she's ready to open her heart again, this time to 17-year-old artist Jonas. The only issue is that they've never met IRL; their friendship has blossomed exclusively through Instagram DMs and phone calls. Jonas, worried that Shani won't accept his foster care upbringing, keeps it secret from her. Shani, sensing he's hiding something and nervous about getting catfished, enlists her best friend, trans 17-year-old Ash, who is Indian and Cuban, to uncover the truth about Jonas. When Ash strikes up an online friendship with Jonas under the guise of commissioning art, their romantic chemistry takes them both off guard. With friendships in turmoil, the trio must maneuver their budding romances while balancing their individual struggles of self-expression. Discussions of identity and privilege occasionally become muddled amid the teens' clashing traumas, but an overarching theme of forgiveness and lifelong discovery provides valuable insight. It's a sweet story that positively explores the validity of online friendship and romance. Ages 12--up. Agent: Annie Bomke, Annie Bomke Literary. (Jan.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Three 17-year-olds--an illustrator, a beauty vlogger, and a TikTok star--orbit a queer love triangle in greater Boston. It's been six months since Shani, a YouTuber who specializes in Black hair care, hired Jonas to draw her an anime avatar through his Instagram. Jonas wants Shani, who is mixed and identifies as Black, to be his online girlfriend but is anxious she won't like the real him. He was raised since age 7 by a loving foster mother and doesn't know his racial background, a mystery soon to be solved by a 23andMe DNA kit. Jonas has lived in a subsidized studio apartment since his foster mom moved into hospice care. After being catfished twice, Shani becomes suspicious when Jonas doesn't want to meet in person even though they talk every night and live only 6 miles apart. She recruits Ash, her Indian and Cuban trans best friend, to uncover the truth about Jonas. Ash poses as a client commissioning him to make gay Marvel backdrops for his TikTok, and sparks begin to fly between them as well. All three eventually fall for each other, clouding their relationships with doubt and duplicity. The bloated plot is held together by corporate name-dropping and pop-culture references. Told through alternating third-person perspectives, the sexually fluid trio's story is depicted with an attention to detail that sometimes conveys warmth but too often weighs down the story without adding substance. A convoluted soap opera. (author's note) (Fiction. 12-17) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.