Review Summaries

• Reader response tends to value the accessible subject matter and the authorial perspective, while reactions vary depending on genre and form.

Reviews

• Beautiful Book

  I got the hardcover version of this story simply because of the cover & it did not disappoint! It was carefully wrapped when it was delivered & arrived safely, with a fun bookmark. Both the jacket and the hardcover are stunning & I feel like showing it off every time I take it out

• The most poetic book I've read

  It's a really beautiful book, the cover is a bit strange tho, when arrived it had some strange dots of blue on the yellow moon. The writing is beautiful, it is poetic and fantasy even if it isn't fantasy. It's like reading a fairy tale.

• A strange and magical read

  Adored this book

• Good

  The book was in a fine condition, I got a signed version... but the story was not so attractive and plus too many unsolved things, was not easy to follow... I can recommend the company but not the book

• Lush Magical Realism with Compelling, Queer Main Characters

  I avoid books that I know are going to make me feel way too many things and cry. Time and time again, I put off books I know I’m going to love because of this. Way back in February I started When the Moon Was Ours. I quickly knew it was going to wreck me. Naturally, I decided to stop reading it and come back to it later. Here I am now, in April, a crying mess having finished and loved it. I am in awe of what Anna-Marie McLemore was able to accomplish. I cannot truly express enough how much I loved When the Moon Was Ours as it means so much to me. When the Moon Was Ours follows Sam, a Pakistani trans boy, and Miel, a Latina girl, whose wrists grow roses. Sam and Miel are inseparable best friends, but Miel is holding onto secrets from her past, and Sam is lying to himself about who he really his. Once Chloe, the eldest Bonner girl, comes back to town, the Bonner sisters set their sights on Miel’s roses, bringing Miel and Sam’s personal struggles, and their feelings for each other, to the forefront. Sam and Miel have become my favorite Young Adult couple. I love these kids with all my heart. They came straight out of a fairy tale with the circumstances under which they met and how they grow close. I wish I could read hundreds of pages about their daily lives. I’m not that big on Friends to Lovers, but when I do like it, Sam and Miel are the exact formula I’m looking for. Stories about characters who become in universe legends or folklore are my favorite. That was a big aspect of When the Moon Was Ours. Throughout, there are mentions of what people would call Sam and Miel down the line when telling their story. I loved that. There’s even a direct reference to them becoming a fairy tale. Besides my obvious love for Sam and Miel, I was also enthralled by the familial relationships in When the Moon Was Ours. Complex relationships between families is one of my favorite themes. Exploring it is the number one way to my heart, and McLemore does that. Miel’s relationship with her family was fascinating. As the story progressed, what led to Miel being in the water tower is revealed piece by piece. I loved the reasons why things happened the way they did and why her family member’s acted the way they did. Sam’s relationship with his mother was another highlight. And, of course, the relationship between the Bonner sisters. I did not think I would care a lick about them, but McLemore made me care about their story resolution by the end. The cultures that Sam and Miel come from play a vital role in their stories. The Magical Realism genre itself is deeply rooted in Lantix culture. It was so cool to see how that influenced the story, and how Miel’s heritage impacted how she saw the world around her. Inheritance played a large role in her story. On Sam’s side there were the fairy tales that were passed down through his family, and the practice of bacha posh. The writing was superb. I don’t like purple prose. It’s very difficult for books with purple prose to keep me engaged. The style makes it hard for me to focus, and the word choices get me distracted from what is actually happening so I have to put in a lot more effort into reading these types of books. I had to restart When the Moon Was Ours because I was a little lost at the beginning. After I sat down and got engaged, I loved McLemore’s writing style. Her words were magic.

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