Gr 9 Up—Moon, a Mexican American photographer, has always played second fiddle to her social media influencer
twin. But accompanying her sibling on a cross-country bus trip results in a journey of self-discovery. This poignant
coming-of-age story deftly weaves first love, religion, emotional abuse, purity culture, and familial jealousy into a rich
narrative.

From the book jacket: When her twin reached social media stardom, Moon Fuentez accepted her fate as the ugly, unwanted sister hidden in the background, destined to be nothing more than her sister’s camerawoman. But this summer, Moon also takes a job as the merch girl on a tour bus full of beautiful influencers, and her fate begins to shift in the best way possible.

My reactions:
This is a pretty typical enemies-to-friends-to-lovers scenario. It’s also a YA coming-of-age book that deals with bullying, body-image, and self-confidence. Moon and Star’s Mom is a religious fanatic who has always favored Star, the fair-skinned, blonde “good girl.” It takes a group of strangers, and one in particular, to get Moon to recognize her own gifts and talents, and to help her find her own path to success.

The up-and-down, on-and-off romance drove me a little crazy, but it’s part of the package for this genre. Although the sex scene was still unrealistic, I’m at least glad that Gilliland chose to have them get to know one another over several months before they acted on the attraction.

As for Star … I’m not sure I would have forgiven my sibling so easily for behaving the way she did. ( )

I don’t typically like books that make assertions about Jesus that are untrue. Call me brainwashed or whatever. And I certainly don’t like Mexican culture always being conflated to witchcraft and superstition. Call me proud or whatever. That being said, I did love this book. Moon is genuinely lovable and her description of photography made me want to go out and buy a camera. I hated the mother and sister because they represent exactly what is wrong with religion and it’s application. But Moon’s love for nature and creativity is a reflection of what it means to be a child of the creator. Love it. ( )

Moon overcomes her trauma and low self-esteem to come out from her sister's shadow and let herself find love with a hot guy who does the same. This book celebrates food, spirituality, art, and finding the beauty in the world and in yourself. This book broke my heart and healed it. I very much enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it.

Read the full review, and the list of trigger warnings, at https://fileundermichellaneous.blogspot.com/2023/02/book-review-how-moon-fuentez... ( )

And why did I wait so long to jump into this book? So so good. I laughed out loud so many times, wanted to scream at Moon’s horrible mother more times than I can count and wanted to go to culinary school after reading about all the amazing meals Moon and Santiago made together. A beautifully written story about finding yourself and truly falling in love with your universe. The enemies to lovers trope was not overdone, it was done with sensitivity and true feelings. The envious sister relationship is one that many can relate to. Definitely a top 10 book for me!! The author shined a light on body shaming, family violence, mental health issues and the grief of losing a loved one, among other issues ( )