Score: 4/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆🍆/5

Thank you to Avon and Harper Audio for gifting me review copies of Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur. This is the second book in this series, and I adored the first book, Written in the Stars.

Brendon is completely, head-over-heels in love…with love. He even created a dating app to help people find their person. So when he meets up with his childhood crush, who he hasn’t seen in eight years, he’s determined to show her what wooing really looks like.

Annie is feeling a bit lost, she is in a job he doesn’t particularly love, and has just accepted a promotion because isn’t that just what you do? But she’s so busy with work she hasn’t connected with anyone in a long time, hell, she can’t even keep a house plant alive! But on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Seattle to visit her best friend she runs into Brendon (who happens to be her best friend’s brother) and boy oh boy has he grown up gooood.

As determined as Brendon is to get Annie to fall for him and stay in Seattle, she’s equally sure it’s a bad idea to get involved.

I had a really hard time rating this one, for several reasons. The author can really write, the book was super cute and honestly it was a pleasure to read. Plus, I always love a book set in Seattle. But nothing really interesting actually happens, and the characters are fairly unmemorable. I think if you asked me in a month to tell you about this book I’d remember the scene on the Seattle wheel and that’s probably about it. So that was a bit of a let-down. After loving Written in the Stars so much I had high expectations going into this one but afterward I sort of shrugged and said ‘well that was nice’ but it didn’t make me feel anything. I didn’t laugh, or cry, and there wasn’t anything unexpected at all.

Also, while I really enjoyed Darcy’s grumpy personality in the first book, she just came across as a manipulative !&@# and a terrible friend in this book, which was a shame.

My favorite parts of this book were probably the little astrological playlists, quizzes etc. sprinkled throughout the book, but they felt really out of place here, and like they should really have been in the first book instead. They were cute though, and included things like:

What Romantic Movie Gensture Are You Bsed on Your Zodiac Sign?

• Aries—Sweet home Alabama’s kiss in the rain

• Taurus—Pretty Woman’s fire escape serenade

• Gemini—Never Been Kissed’s first kiss on the baseball field

• Cancer—The Notebook’s dream house

• Leo—10 Things I Hate About You’s bleacher serenade

• Virgo—Love Actually’s cue cards

• Libra—Notting Hill’s Chagall painting

• Scorpio—The Breakfast Club’s diamond earring gift

• Sagittarius—Beauty and the Beast’s library access

• Capricorn—Pride and Prejudice’s Darcy paying for Lydia’s wedding

• Aquarius—Say Anything’s boom box serenade

• Pisces—Bridget Jone’s Diary’s undie run + diary gift

Is this book still worth a read? Absolutely. As I said, the author can really write and it was overall a very cute book.

Plus, the audiobook is very, very well narrated by Lauren Sweet (who you’ll recognize from Written in the Stars). As always her performance is flawless and she’s such a pleasure to listen to! The audiobook is 10 hours and 50 minutes, and you can grab a copy here, or get a physical copy via the button below.

Synopsis:

In a delightful follow-up to Written in the Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur delivers another #ownvoices queer rom-com about a hopeless romantic who vows to show his childhood crush that romance isn’t dead by recreating iconic dates from his favorite films...

Brendon Lowell loves love. It’s why he created a dating app to help people find their one true pairing and why he’s convinced “the one” is out there, even if he hasn’t met her yet. Or... has he? When his sister's best friend turns up in Seattle unexpectedly, Brendon jumps at the chance to hang out with her. He’s crushed on Annie since they were kids, and the stars have finally aligned, putting them in the same city at the same time.

Annie booked a spur-of-the-moment trip to Seattle to spend time with friends before moving across the globe. She’s not looking for love, especially with her best friend’s brother. Annie remembers Brendon as a sweet, dorky kid. Except, the 6-foot-4 man who shows up at her door is a certified Hot Nerd and Annie... wants him? Oh yes.

Getting involved would be a terrible idea—her stay is temporary and he wants forever—but when Brendon learns Annie has given up on dating, he’s determined to prove that romance is real. Taking cues from his favorite rom-coms, Brendon plans to woo her with elaborate dates straight out of Nora Ephron’s playbook. The clock is ticking on Annie’s time in Seattle, and Brendon’s starting to realize romance isn’t just flowers and chocolate. But maybe real love doesn’t need to be as perfect as the movies... as long as you think your partner hung the moon.