Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur

In this follow up to Written in the Stars, a hopeless romantic must prove to his childhood crush that romance isn’t dead. Brendon Lowell loves everything about love, so much so that he created the successful dating app, OTP. He believes everyone has a person out there, and he won’t give up until he finds his. When his sisters best friend travels to Seattle for a surprise visit, he gets the opportunity to spend time with her again. Annie Kyriakos’ visit to see her best friend after over a year is also when she has to break the news she’s moving to London, permanently. She’s given up on love, but the dorky brother of her BFF she remembers is now a 6-foot-4 man with a heart of gold, determined to prove to her romance is alive. They can’t deny the sparks between them, but Annie’s two week deadline on moving away complicates everything.

It’s official: I will read Alexandria Bellefleur’s grocery list at this point. I loved everything about this. Swoon-worthy and heartfelt, this is the perfect romcom. Not only did I love the main characters, but it was also so fun to see characters from the past too. It was addictive and fast-paced, I could barely put it down! This is definitely more of character driven story, (with a beautiful cast of queer characters!) focusing on their own conflicts and growth. It was amazing exploring Seattle with Annie and Brendon and watching the chemistry between them develop. I thought the main conflict in this story was really refreshing from the typical break up scene most romances deliver and really realistic too. I literally don’t have a single complaint! Bellefleur has mastered the perfect combination of romance, laughter, steamy scenes, and friendships. I absolutely cannot wait to read the next installment!

Rating: 5/5 Stars!

I adored Hang the Moon, as it featured all of my favorite tropes: friends-to-lovers, there's only one bed, where one is disillusioned by love and the other sets out to change their mind. I loved reading of Annie and Brendon's romance and character development. However, I did feel the ending was rushed, and that Annie and Brendon didn't necessarily have to break up in the last act. I would highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I enjoyed Bellefleur’s first queer romance, but I think this one shines even more brightly. Plot points that could have gone very, very wrong and felt very, very awkward (the Ferris wheel scene, good Lord) are used superbly so that we really feel these two very different characters being pulled closer and closer together. The climactic moment is very Seattle, and was absolutely exquisite. A fun, sweet, sparkling summer read!

It was very cute but it lacked angst in order for me to fully love it. Laughed and enjoyed all of the characters and the story. This book had me smiling and laughing out loud. I adored spending time with Annie, Brendon, and the rest of this group so much. Here I am, feeling warm and fuzzy and full of cheer.

Sorry for the short and sweet review but I've just been released from the hospital so here goes. There's no such thing as " Romance is dead" with this book. The characters stories was perfect blend of reality and fantasy. Take a chance on this Alexandria Bellefleur book, you won't be disappointed.

What a wonderful follow-up to Written in the Stars! I’ll admit I was really looking forward to Brandon’s story because he’s such a romantic at heart, so seeing him face off against someone more skeptical in regards to love like Annie made for a terrific read. Bellefleur definitely has the rom-com down to a T, with hilarity and heart throughout, and neither one overshadows the other too much at all. The central emotional conflict felt believable and real, and I’m a huge fan of the friend group in these stories too, so it was nice to pick up with Darcy and Elle from the first book while also knowing Margot gets her own love story coming up!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Just as heart-meltingly cute as the first one. I may have swooned a little for Brendon. This isn't a super drama-filled book, but rather it has mature protagonists figuring out life.

3 Stars

This is the second in the Written in the Stars series. The first book, “Written in the Stars” was a f/f romance and I enjoyed that one. “Hang the Moon” didn’t hold up quite as well, unfortunately. This is a m/f romance, which admittedly, I don’t read very often or at all really. I wanted to read this one because I wanted to be able to follow Elle and Darcy’s story.

Annie, Darcy’s best friend, has unexpectedly shown up in Seattle on a two-week vacation. However, Darcy and Elle are on a vacation of their own so Brendon, Darcy’s brother, is tasked with entertaining her while they’re gone. Brendon had a childhood crush on Annie and it quickly reestablishes itself. Their attraction is immediate and Brendon uses his time to woo Annie and get her to believe in romance again.

This is a steamy romance with high sexual interest. Unfortunately, the emotional connection just wasn’t there. They spend all their time thirsting after the other and then once they get together, all of their time together is spent in bed or on the floor or on the couch or maybe a counter…you get my drift. I don’t mind some steam but if there isn’t an emotional connection then it just doesn’t do much for me and I found myself skimming ahead. Surface interest without any substance ends up boring me after a while.

My main reason for being disappointed with this was Darcy. In “Written in the Stars” Brendon ignored all of Darcy’s boundaries and meddled and Darcy is the meddling one this time. I couldn’t believe she did exactly what she complained so much about Brendon and then she’s kind of shitty to Annie at one point. She was trying to make a point but she could’ve gone about it in a different way and I found it to be so out of character for her.

While this didn’t really work out for me, I do think there’s an audience for this. This is full of fluff and flirty banter; also, as I’ve mentioned there are plenty of varied steamy scenes. With the lack of angst this would be a perfect summer read for a fun, hot read.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review.

I liked Written in the Stars, and Hang the Moon was just as good. It was a fun read that celebrates romantic comedies!
Annie and Brendon were adorable. I liked that there was a bit of a gender shift making Brenden the hopeless romantic and Annie the one who has given up on love. I also enjoyed seeing Darcy, Elle, and Margot again. They were a decent part of the story, and I feel like that doesn’t happen much in these interconnected books. I also really appreciated Annie’s take on romance. It was refreshing to see that Annie didn’t need these huge romantic gestures and the discussion about love languages. Brendon is just adorable, and I can see why Annie fell for him so quickly!
The plot was good, and I felt like there was great pacing. I did have issues with certain plot points, but I won’t go into detail as they are a little spoilery. Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it was an adorable read. I am certainly looking forward to reading Margot’s story in the next book.

Gosh, I loved her Written In The Stars so this was an obvious choice to request (thank you Avon for this incredible opportunity). This didn’t disappoint. I just ADORED the astrology/astrology aspects of this book (just like book one). As someone who loves to check my astrology sign on a frequent basis, I just adore this series. The author is so talented with creating characters who you can connect with and making such rememberable scenes. Which just brought me into the story so easily and why you’ll be able to recall this story long after finishing the story. Highly recommend for anyone who loved book one. Especially since I think this author is one to keep on your radar. She’s an all around talented writer.

As someone who loved Bellefleur's previous book, Written in the Stars, this was a delight. I'm always a fan of friends-to-lovers, and the tropes used were perfect within the setting of someone who is so involved in the world of romance.

I'm giving this *only* a very tentative four stars right now because the eARC copy I received had some formatting issues. The texts were either unreadable or simply nonexistent and a few chapters ended out of nowhere. I was able to piece together about 90% of the plot I would say, but I would love to know the full 100%. I'm sure Alexandria Bellefleur tied everything together nicely--she did in Written in the Stars which I loved. I'll write a more comprehensive review once I get my hands on a physical copy but I loved Brendon and Annie waaaaaay more than I even expected to. I loved the snippets of Darcy and Elle that we got to see. And I loved that Margot was explored more (and I can't wait for book three 😉). A great read!

Beautiful story of characters being seen in the way that they need to be by their romantic partner. I did feel like the story had a slow start and I was struggling a bit but once they really start to spend time together, I was in for the long haul with Annie & Brendon. Great themes of found family and belonging.

Thank you to Net Galley and Avon for giving me the chance to read this book.

This was such a fun, fluffy romance! I wasn't aware when I picked it up that it was a companion to another book, it didn't make a difference that I hadn't read the other book though so that was good. All of the characters are enjoyable and the rom com references a lot of fun. A fun, relaxing read!


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4060172498?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Annie has a new job half way across the world and decides to visit her best friend for a few weeks before her big move. She has never been lucky in love, and is ready for a fresh start in a new place. Brendon is the founder of OTP a dating app where people find their soul mate. He has been trying to find "the one" for years. Seeing others find love, sometimes from his own matchmaking. When Brendon's sister asks his to let Annie into her apartment the two catch up after years of not seeing each other. What starts as just a way to enterntain Annie while she's in two starts to turn into something more. Faced with Annie's move across the ocean, Brendon tries to woo her as a way to keep her in Seattle.

3.5 stars. This was a perfectly okay romance story. It however was a dissapointment after Written in the Stars which I loved with a passion. I am assuming my dislike slightly came from the hetero couple staring in the book. It also felt a little cheap because I found this book on a list of upcoming LGBT+ romances. And even though Annie is Bi/Pan (it is not really definied in the story) it is not really mentioned in the story and truly felt like it was thrown in to remain "diverse". It also took me forever to read, I read Written in the Stars in a little over a week, this one I just couldn't get into enough to read beyond a chapter or two at a time.

When starting this I was in some sort of a reading slump, but this book completely pulled me out of that reading slump. The writing was beautiful, the characters were very well developed. I am kinda obsessed with this book.
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5

Romance
The romance in this book was amazing. I was a fan of how it had LGBTQIA+ rep with multiple characters being part of that community. This book is a own voices queer book and I loved that. I enjoyed that Annie was bi, but she didn’t end up with a woman. I enjoyed this because in media when a character is bi they end up with a woman because that is how bi is portrayed in a lot of media (not in all) and I really liked seeing that, as I am bi myself.

Writing
The writing was phenomenal. The written kept me intrigued the whole time. It makes me really want to read other books by this author. I am really excited that there is going to be a companion novel following Margot.

Characters
The characters were really relatable. They just made you connect to them. Which is something I love when reading. The characters were just amazing.

Conclusion
I love this book. My rating is 4.5/5. It is really good and I don’t really have any complaints.

Hang the Moon is the second book in the Written in the Stars series, and I enjoyed both books! This was a cute story, but I had a little more fun with the first one.

I like the characters in these books as a group, but Annie is the main character in this one, and she irritated me after a while. Sometimes it felt like she was being unnecessarily dramatic for no reason, and I don't understand why she was so dead set on doing something she didn't want to do (you'll see it when you read it). Towards the end, she was being more immature and at times she was cruel.

That being said, these books are still really cute, and I liked it overall. I'm looking forward to reading Margot's book next.

I did not realize how much I needed Brendon's story! For a man who is a hopeless romantic and dreams for life to be just like the movies, this man truly found his match in every way. Annie helped him widen his perspective on love and how people can love each other to the fullest. I loved how the idea that everyone needs to be loved in their own way was such a big part of their story because I think that is such a big part of relationships. There is nothing I didn't love about this book: their fast paced relationship, the failed grand gestures imitating movie scenes, how genuine their love was for each other and their banter and chemistry. Alexandria Bellefleur has become an autobuy author for me and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Hang the Moon is a delightful second book in the Written in the Stars series. Both books are adorable, closed-door romances with interesting and relatable characters (other than everyone seems to be wealthy enough where money doesn't matter in a fairly expensive city- but, fiction). Although a stand-alone book, you would get more out of this book if you read the first before this one. Perfect for someone looking for a beachy-romance read about a diverse cast of characters and sexual orientations and gender norms.

I really enjoy book series where the next book takes a secondary character from the previous and gives them their own story, especially when the MCs from the previous book are in the background of the story.

Make sure your TBR pile has some room this upcoming February as book #3 is on it's way! Margot gets her own book!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After reading and loving Written in the Stars, I was highly anticipating Breden Lowell’s happy ending. He was such a wonderful and sweet side character in the first book. Let me tell you, this book did not disappoint one bit. This book wasn’t trying to be too complicated and I loved that. This story focused on the MCs breaking down barriers, grow themselves, and learn to love.

Hang the Moon is a perfect example of how you don’t need to have a complex plot or a dramatic conflict to make a romance. I love when books stray from romance norms and show you it still works. Bellefleur didn’t give me an unnecessary conflict or break up at the end, she didn’t give me a complex side plot to follow. Some reviews mentioned how this book is, “no plot, just vibes” and I totally agree.

Brendon Lowell is such a sweetheart. I loved Annie too, but Breden just stole the show. He was so loving and sweet. And he made everything sound sexy. (He is great at sexting btw 😏) He calls Annie a potato chip at one point and he even makes that sound sexy. He is such a hopeless romantic who just wants to spread love and make the others around him happy and I loved that. I loved how he used romcoms to show Annie how to love, it gave me a movie version of Bromance Bookclub vibes. I love seeing heroes who believe in romance, especially ones who are paired with heroines who don't believe in romance. Pining heroes are the best too. Brendon was both. I love the "old crushes die hard" kinda trope. When characters get to be with the person they have loved and pined after for years, I get so happy. Getting to read Brendon secretly pine and love and then get Annie's POV where she's admiring him was so great to read.

Bellelfeur is so good at writing grumpy women. In the first book she wrote Darcy so perfectly and in Hang the Moon, she graced us with the wonderful character of Annie. She is used to hopping from place to place, she doesn't believe in romance, and she doesn't want to fall in love. Watching her slowly fall in love was beautiful. It is very easy to write cynical characters that are annoying but Bellefleur writes them perfectly and I find her grumpy women to be relatable and charming.

I loved getting to explore Seattle through the characters' eyes. Very rarely do you see an author integrate the beauty of the setting the book takes place into the story so wonderfully. This book made me want to hop onto a plane to go and explore Seattle. Books are often said to have transformative qualities, whisking us away to new worlds and lives. Hang the Moon is a testament to that.

This book was amazing. If you haven’t read this book yet, please do. You will not regret it.

If that still hasn’t convinced you....it has the “only one bed trope” 😏😏

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars | 🌶🌶/ 5 steam

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Alexandria Bellefleur for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.