An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

Reviewed by Sam!

What I drank prior: Parker and I watched Ted Lasso and Scrubs and I drank a whole bottle of wine. I will also say like I said before, I screwed up my finger and have a bandaid over my fingernail so typos are going to be hilarious

Goodreads Overview:

Hunter Yee has perfect aim with a bow and arrow, but all else in his life veers wrong. He’s sick of being haunted by his family’s past mistakes. The only things keeping him from running away are his little brother, a supernatural wind, and the bewitching girl at his new high school.

Luna Chang dreads the future. Graduation looms ahead, and her parents’ expectations are stifling. When she begins to break the rules, she finds her life upended by the strange new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across the town of Fairbridge.

As Hunter and Luna navigate their families’ enmity and secrets, everything around them begins to fall apart. All they can depend on is their love… but time is running out, and fate will have its way.

Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology in this magical novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After

Drunk Overview: so this is sort of like Romeo and Juliet meets another Chinese myth in modern times. Hunter has this weird breathing thing and his parents are clearly in hiding for something. And there’s Luna she’s… fine? Not sure what her story is except that when she gets near Hunter, he can breathe again. So naturally they fall in love and their parents hate each other. Also some weird crack shows up in the ground across town, which is weird AF.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: this was fine. I don’t think I like YA fiction. Yes I know there are elements of fantasy in here,but not any more than a traditional magical realism book does in the Latinx universe. It was just so fast.

Characters: These characters weren’’t super fleshed out. I just don’t think there was enough time for me to believe their love/story whatever. Which follows my feelings on Romeo and Juliet anyway, cause they fall in love and die in like a week. Hunter just wants to get out but i still don’t quite understand why. Luna has her weird thing but like, it’s just fear of growing up so like, it doesn’t really make sense why they gravitate towards each other. I loved the brother, i thought he was super cute. I also liked the bad guy sorta. He was at least mysterious enough to be. Intriguing.

Plot: This was so. Damn. Fast. I think i listened to the audio in like one sitting. It seems pretty normal for a YA romance but it’s not for me.

Writing Style: nothing to say here. In theory it’s beautifully lyrical but i just don’t see how it compares to some others like Ann Marie MacLemore or Laini Taylor…

World Building: meh

What to pair it with: this is like a heffeweisen beer. Light, a little sweet, a little bitter, but ultimately won’t get you many places

Rating: 2/5

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam