What an infuriating, inspiring, gripping verse novel about the ups and downs of being an adolescent woman in the age of the meme. Cuthew's Frankie is a kaleidoscope of courage and insecurity as she experiences the thrill of new love, the pain of a friend's betrayal, and the exhaustion of trying to overcome the shame that can accompany the biology of womanhood--getting her period.
Many thanks to Lucy Cuthew, NetGalley, and Edelweiss for providing this ARC in exchange for my review.

This one was a big surprise for me, as I didn't expect to like this story at all. When I saw it was written in poetry-style, I was even more sceptic, but this book shows that you should not judge a story without actually giving it a chance. Due to the writing style, the pages flew through my hands. It was easy to follow, which made it more enjoyable for me. The story, however, exceeded all expectations. I absolutely loved it. It gave off such a powerful message, and towards the end I even got a bit teary-eyed. Can highly recommend this one!

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I actually loved this book so much. In the beginning, I wasn't that sure about it, but after I had read a little bit more I was SOLD. It captures that stage of just starting to view and experience things sexually, and shows how these girls are dealing with and exploring that said sexuality. It also captures some of the greatest challenges today: social media and the internet. Everything can happen, things go out of control really fast and suddenly you might actually ruin someone's life. And although this deals with exactly this: slut-shaming, telling girls they should be ashamed of their bodies etc, it does so in a great and realistic way, while also being sex-positive. I also REALLY appreciate that this highlighted how they had sex but not PIV sex. Not talked about enough!

An amazing book about period shaming, cyberbullying and the true power of friendship, #girlpower. I read this in 24 hours. Very well written as a novel in verse. I didn't want it to end. Why young men think that a menstruation cycle is a bad thing is beyond me. Girls menstruating is a normal everyday occurrence, not a reason to slut-shame someone. It's the reason those boys were able to be born! The cyberbullying aspect of the story drew me in and kept me reading late into the night. The power of social media and how everyone believes what is posted blows my mind every time. Why not use social media for the better, not the worst. Every girl needs to read this book.

I don't normally read novels in verse, but this defied my expectations! I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the opportunity to read this.

I enjoyed this book very much. I thought it was very well done, and it being written in verse was an awesome idea!
It explores the shame associated with periods and women's sexuality in a brutally honest way that shows the profound impact it can have on teen girls.
everyone needs to read this asap because it’s so real, raw and emotional, heartbreakingly honest but also empowering.

I am happy to see menstruation being discussed more in teen books. Periods happen and should not be so stigmatized.

This book was everything!!!

I don't read a whole bunch of YA because I just don't connect to it. But this one made me feel things I haven't felt since high school. I love that such important and heavy topics were covered in this story. I also really enjoyed the focus being on friendship rather than "young love".

So, yeah, I don't really read YA or books written in verse but that may be changing after this one! Excellent job!!!

This was a powerful YA novel dealing with social media period shaming. Written in verse it has a good pace, the story moves forward convincingly and the characters are both well developed and interact in believably. Sensitively written, I found this raised increasingly important issues within a compelling story about love, trust and friendship. A truly great read!

Not really too big of a fan of poetry, but this one I'd definitely recommend! Such powerful story and beautiful words.

This is a gut-wrenchingly perfect description of what it's like to be in high school. The plot of this book isn't anything particularly unique, but that is all the more reason why it sits in the pit of your stomach while you read it. This book is about Frankie and her friends, and the struggles of being not only a teen girl in a world that hates nothing more than teen girls, but also of being the internet's current point of ridicule and cruelty. Frankie becomes a meme on the internet, and not a funny one. She gets death threats and rape threats and becomes paralyzed with forced shame for being human. I felt this book deep in my stomach. It's a short read, because it's in verse, but the very real and common feelings contained in the pages are so palpable. This book is exactly what it's like to be a girl in high school, and I commend Cuthew for capturing it so perfectly. The love and the hate, the pain and the happy firsts. The events in this book are so real there was something very similar at my high school, and that was years ago. I recommend it for anyone who didn't grow up a girl in our current age of technology, and also anyone who wants to feel righteously angry and sick along with Frankie.

Blood Moon
Author: Lucy Cuthew
Genre: YA Poetry/Contemporary
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ / 5
Reviewed: Maya

I binged this book in half a day because it is un-put-down-able. At first, I was a bit worried about whether I would enjoy this as much because it is written in poetry, but it actually made the book so amazing. Brutally honest (and heartbreaking), Cuthew displays how toxic society, high school and the internet can be around women’s bodies, menstruating and sex, something which is such a taboo and is not tackled enough in books, especially for YA audiences.. I felt so sorry for Frankie and there were parts where I wanted to throw the book out of the window and into a pool. This book is packed with so many important messages and themes which Cuthew handled in a realistic and honest way which really hits home. Although there were some very heavy parts, Cuthew integrated some light, funny details too which helped to balance out the book. I smiled through the ending because it was so amazing and empowering. It did wrap up in a very clear-cut, neat way when I thought it could have been a bit unrealistic, but it didn't really bother me. I believe everybody should read this book and I would love to see it studied in schools, no matter what the gender of the class is.

This review will be published on Instagram (@thebibliophilebuddies) and Goodreads (thebibliophilebuddies) at the end of October or the beginning of November. When it is published, the links will be added to this review.

What a powerful story and the verse format really worked for it. Frankie's feelings of unworthiness and shame were so believable and had me crying for the loss of her innocence to vile people. I do feel that she was a little bit judgmental when it came to her friend Harriet's problems. However I remember being a judgy teen who though I knew everything and was always right. I also felt like her ability to overcome her public shaming happened too fast and was therefore less believable. Years of therapy would be needed in real life. All in all it was a good book that brought to life the dilemma girls often face being villainized for being sexual beings. This was a very emotional read.

this is a pretty powerful novel in verse about period shaming, and i really liked that. it doesn't shy away from "taboo" topics, and it definitely shows the harmful impact that cyber bullying can have on someone. I particularly liked that it was told in verse though, because it was a fast read and the formatting made it even more interesting. i will be honest, i did not realize this book had anything to do with sex or going viral, so that was a minor shock, but definitely more on me than the book's fault.

in addition to discussing periods, sex, and cyber bulling, there is also a lot of discussion surrounding high school friendships and familial bonds, first love, stigma, shaming, and sexism, which i think are all important topics and most of them were discussed really well. i loved the concept of this book, but i think ultimately, the execution had highs and lows.

in particular, the beginning of the novel was much slower than the rest of the novel, and i found myself bored and cringing at parts of the dialogue between friends. the plot talks about period shaming, but it's never really discussed outside of menstruating during a sexual encounter. i think it would have been much more interesting to discussing the stigma surrounding periods even on a regular daily basis - such as asking a friend for a menstrual product in whispers or the shame surrounding even talking about periods casually. instead, the beginning of this book focuses on a weird teacher crush drama that is barely challenged by the protagonist.

there's also just weird instances of dialogue between characters involving things like "cooch quivers" and "meaty thighs" and it was not what i wanted to be reading. i understand wanting to show that it's okay for teenage girls to experience sexual attraction and desire, but the language used was just cringey to me. i swear the phrase "meaty thighs" was used so many times i stopped counting.

my biggest issue with this book was the resolution, though. it all happened so suddenly, and while it was a heart-warming scene of everyone standing up to period shaming, it just didn't make sense that everyone who had been bullying Frankie was suddenly supporting her and pretending like none of that had just happened. like these people all contributed to the meme of her going viral in the first place, but that's never addressed, and everything is just fine and dandy at the end. idk. again, this is probably more of a personal qualm with the plot.

overall, i would definitely still recommend this because it deals with topics that i think are so important for young people to be reading about, and i think things are mostly handled in a good way.

Great idea for a story. It just did not play out for me. The execution just did not feel like it was there. I truly do love the idea and potential this plot had.

***Starred Review*** First published September 1, 2020 (Booklist).

Frankie is a bright, friendly physics aficionada who is obsessed with astronomy the way her girlfriends are with boys. Her best friend, Harriet (Harry) loves to tease Frankie’s lack of interest in romance by calling her a nun, which their other friends laugh off. When Frankie takes up with Benjamin, engages in her first sexual experience, and discovers her menstrual blood on his fingers, she is em-barrassed despite Benjamin taking it in stride. Then memes about Frankie, sex, and her period go viral, making her the victim of slut shaming. She can only imagine Benjamin is the culprit, because no one else knows what happened. Frankie’s life goes to hell, and only after she gathers the courage to talk with her parents about the incident does she reclaim power over it, propelling her to discover who was behind the memes, fight back, and regain her good name. Many important issues are addressed in this novel-in-verse, and each is tackled with honesty and without sensationalism: the complexities of friendships, maturity, and solid parental support; the painful toxicity of cyberbullying and slut shaming; the thrill of one’s first boyfriend and first sexual experience. This is, at its core, a must-read novel of empowerment that attempts to normalize periods and offer strength to the innocent who find themselves the center of viral humiliation.

Lucy Cuthew's Blood Moon is a powerful and empowering novel in verse about bullying, menstruation, sex positivity, and feminism, all wrapped up into one. I loved this.

Blood Moon is an excellent YA contemporary in verse that I'll be recommending to teens at my library. I love that this book is period positive and sex positive. Frankie gets her period one day during her first sexual experience, and she and the guy both agree that it's just blood. But when other teens at their high school find out, Frankie becomes the subject of a viral meme. Suddenly, she's being slut-shamed, period-shamed, and body-shamed--and she feels abandoned by her friends and the guy she thought cared about her.

Blood Moon touches on so many important things: sex, bodies, menstruation, friendship. There are so few YA books that talk this openly about periods and I love that this one is centered around the shame and stigma of periods. Frankie's experience of going viral is also incredibly timely. I'll be recommending this to fans of Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold (a very different book but one that also deals with the shame & stigma of periods!), Go With the Flow, and The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me.

I wasn't expecting this book to deal so much with friendship and that was such a nice surprise! Blood Moon follows a female friendship that gets messy; I loved reading about Frankie trying to find her way back to her BFF while so much is pulling them apart. I also loved that Frankie was a science nerd who loves outer space. The verse format makes this a super quick read that teens will love!

wow, im actually blown away. The premise of this book had me really interested to read it, and I was pleasantly not disappointed. The talks of cyberbullying, what it means to be a feminist, and friendships, were just perfect. I didn't stop reading this book, nor have I stopped thinking about it. it's a great story with fantastic writing and even better characters. Highly recommend it!

Another book written in free verse that talks about the importance of menstruation as well as the stigma attached that every single female goes through, no matter what future she is a part of!

Frankie, a young teenager lives a normal average life - she loves her books, her boyfriend and her best friend. Recently she has been toying with the idea of having her first sexual experience with her a boy she likes. She feels as if it’s time. What she doesn’t expect is that she would get her period during her first sexual experience. Neither she nor Benjamin are bothered. After all, it’s only blood.

No. What it was, was menstrual blood 1 and when a bloody meme goes viral, taking what was a sweet and fulfilling experience for Frankie, becomes a horrifying after experience as becomes the object of bullying, ridicule and torment.

Raw, gritty, abjectly horrifying and emotional - Blood Moon is all about the bullying and torment a young girl goes through in our society where the topic of menstruation is considered not only taboo but also gross and shameful.

But how Frankie handles the bad hand dealt to her - was not just commendable but also shows the bravery and intelligence she and all the young girls need to emulate her. And while it ends on a high hopeful note, it also shows that the society has a long way to go before it normalises everything about a girl’s body.

Blood Moon is an important read - it *SHOULD* be on every reader’s TBR. Read it. Please.