Lane Tanner has always lived in the shadow of her sister Faraday, a genius whose inventions and unrelenting drive led to the founding of the moon's first independent colony. After Faraday is murdered by the Royal Corps, a paramilitary group that took over the world after the fall of nation-states, Lane is wracked by grief and feelings of inadequacy. She questions her role as a lunch lady on the lunar colony – whether she's good enough to be there. However, when increasing acts of sabotage threaten to ruin her sister's legacy, Lane must uncover the truth before their lives and dreams are destroyed for good.

At its core, this is a story about loss: the furious, desperate, all-encompassing ways that grief manifests and resides in the body. Lane's grief is incredibly raw, real, and visceral, and she struggles with how she – and those around her – should be feeling and coping. After Faraday's death, Lane also struggles with strained family dynamics, parents who cherished their golden child while infantilizing and dismissing their autistic daughter.

This novel features a diverse, mostly neurodivergent cast of characters who I quickly grew to love. I also adored the realistic exploration of polyamory – in a world where that has become normalized, this novel also explores the beauty and challenges of loving expansively and communicating honestly and openly. Unfortunately, with so many characters in play, some of their relationships and personalities weren't as fully developed as I'd have liked.

While I enjoyed the novel's cosy slice-of-life elements, I found the tone incongruent with the high-stakes threats that the lunar colony faces. This novel tackles a range of complex topics including climate change, the decline of the nation-state, corporatism and militarism, and it feels far too simplistic to see a lunar invasion easily resolved by our plucky cast of characters. Ultimately, it made the main conflict and antagonist feel trite and superficial – if they were so easily defeated, why was anyone even scared of the Royal Corps to begin with? Nevertheless, this is a debut with a lot of promise and I'm looking forward to seeing future works from J.R. Creaden.

A refreshing, delightful sci-fi full of diversity, queer characters, and the difficult yet healing journey through grief.

Moon Dust in my Hairnet follows Lane, an autistic 20-year-old lunch lady who recently lost her sister who is the reason Lane is living in the first independent colony on the moon. Lane is the opposite of her sister and in the aftermath of her death has to navigate living up to her parents and colony members expectations of her. The new colony is her sister’s dream but things start going awry. Supplies are missing and equipment is tampered with. Lane must work together with her boyfriend and new friends to help save the colony.

The cast of characters in this book were so fun to read about. It’s incredibly diverse and full of sweet and important messages and topics. It’s definitely a perfect read for anyone struggling with feeling different as this society the author created boasts inclusivity of everyone. I felt so much for Lane and the struggles she has to go through and the grief that plagues her. But her character arc was so well done and I loved reading about her new and old friendships and relationships. And I loved reading about Lane n the kitchen! The food descriptions were mouth-watering!

The political plot was really interesting and added a layer of tense intrigue and drama to the cozy, diverse sci-fi vibe Creaden created with an action-packed, heart-warming ending. Overall, it’s a great installment to the sci-fi genre and anyone who loves sci-fi will devour this book!

This book was a fun read and I managed to finish it in around 2 days. The writing style wasn’t entirely my cup of tea and I felt myself drifting into my own thoughts more than I’m used to while reading, but I’m also aware I’m probably not the target audience so there’s that.

Here’s one paragraph that made me pause for a second:

"I dragged my gloved hand over the window, wondering if I could bring myself to cover the planet just for a moment. It should be harder to erase eight billion people, a whole planet, millions of years of human history, billions of years of plates shifting, plants growing, evolution to extinction."

It’s not often I find myself ruminating on how small we actually are in the grand scope of things while reading YA, but consider me pleasantly surprised.


Then came one of the most important parts of an enjoyable book for me personally: the romance. I’m a big sucker for a good romance, and didn’t think I’d enjoy reading a book where polyamorous relationships are at the forefront (being a monogamous person myself), but was pleasantly surprised. The slow-burny thing Lane and V had going on managed to hook me in, and I came to really like all the other characters just as much. It did sometimes feel like Lane’s feelings for some of them came out of nowhere, but I think that’s just based on my preferences as someone who likes it when things are drawn out to the last possible second. At some point the relationships began to bore me a bit, but the story itself together with the MC’s narration made up for it.

The twists were hit or miss, and I guessed some of them pretty quickly. The big-bad that loomed over the characters never really felt very threatening while reading (I’m not sure if I somehow missed it, but the RN’s crimes weren’t explained very clearly at the start and towards the middle/end of the book, aside from the whole Faraday thing) and so I failed to feel the dread they felt along with them. The story also moved a bit too slowly for my liking when it came to the action, and only around the last 100-150 pages did it really take off.

This book, while light and witty at times, did have many heavy depictions of grief and mental health related problems. Lane has autism, and has a bad case of being on the opposite end of Golden Child syndrome, with her late sister’s achievements looming over her and causing feelings of inadequacy and survivor’s guild. I felt it really did a good job of explaining her feelings and thought process, and I especially enjoyed how honest and steadfast she could be even through her insecurities. There really was no “misunderstandings” trope with any of her relationships due to her just being upfront constantly, and that certainly felt like a breath of fresh air while reading.

All things considered, I really did enjoy reading this story, but it just wasn’t entirely my cup of tea. Thank you to Netgalley, and of course the author and publisher for the ARC!

Moon Dust in My Hairnet was an excellent read; the unexpected title (and premise) drew me in and then I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my favorite books of the year! It is sweet, serious, funny, sad, and a compelling page turner with excellent representation across the board. I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. This was overall a heartwarming and sweet novel with explorations of deeper topics such as grief and trauma for added emotional depth.

The setting: an apocalyptic (not too distant) future where the climate change, natural disasters, and political upheaval have turned the Earth into an unpleasant and unsafe place to be. The story begins at the establishment of the first (hopefully) permanent settlement on the moon designed to escape the problems of Earth and follows Lane, the younger sister of the genius Faraday who inspired a generation to reach for the stars while inventing the technology needed to do it. Initially, Lane struggles with the grief of Faraday's recent and tragic murder, settling into her new role and environment, navigating complicated new relationships, and her autism, all while being the least qualified individual in the colony. Before long things get worse as colony supplies start going missing, systems get sabotaged, and external forces threaten the colony and Faraday's legacy.

The Great Parts:
-This was a rich and believable world that felt real and lived-in. The author included just the right amount of detail to be immersive without going overboard and getting the flow of the story bogged down. This was especially true of the Sci-Fi elements as there was enough detail to make you believe they were on a lunar colony full of fancy technology, without devolving into Star Trek style technobabble.
---Continuing on: They successfully juggled a lot of elements throughout this novel, weaving together the story and struggles of the MC, the daily life in the colony, exploring the futuristic setting, explaining the history of earth and the characters, the politics, the side characters, etc..
-The plot was solid. There was the right amount of stressful suspense to keep me turning pages without too much to be off-putting. The mysteries and twists kept me guessing; not too obvious but with great foreshadowing. There was great balance between the main plotline and the side adventures of our characters, as they tried to simply live their lives in this world.
-Some of the best representation I have come across in a novel, particularly regarding the autism spectrum, with several autistic characters who all present differently, Add in a range of sexualities, disabilities, and mental health struggles, and this novel knocked it out of the park.

The Downsides (if there really were any):
-The resolution of the main plotline was a little fast and easy. Not a big complaint as sometimes important things do happen quickly, but this felt a little bit rushed. It still ultimately worked though, in the story.
-As it was so good, I wish I had more! Kind of a complaint, somewhat a compliment? I wish we had more of the main characters interacting throughout the book so we could see their relationships develop further. A few excellent characters were under-utilized and we hardly explored the colony. I would love to see how things continue to develop after the end of the book as well; both what happens to the colony as well as the characters who I grew attached to. I know that the main plotline of the story ended, however I don't want to be done with these characters and the world they live in. Even a short epilogue that gives us a snapshot down the line to see where the MC and the colony end up would be nice. I would personally read an entire sequel that was just daily life in the colony following this novel where the characters continue along their journeys.

Thank you to NetGallery for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.75

Moon Dust in My Hairnet is full of heart, humour, and hope. It's a feel good romp on the moon wrapped up in some social commentary and the pain of losing a loved one.

Lane is the only person in the new lunar colony who isn't a genius. Her sister Faraday was the genius, the one who came up with the technology the entire colonization program is based on, and the leader of the settlers who dream of peace and freedom. However, Faraday was murdered by the corporate interests that control Earth before her dream could be realized, and now Lane and all Faraday's genius followers must follow through on her dreams without her. However, getting the new colony up and running is proving to be a monumental task. Far from the trust filled utopia of Faraday's dreams, they are immediately targeted by sabotage from the same group that killed her, and it is up to Lane and her newly formed and still uncertain polycule to stop them. But everybody has their own secrets, trauma, and suspicions to contend with, and stopping the biggest evil in the solar system is a big ask for a 20 year old autistic lunch lady.

This book is sweet, there's no other word for it. The characters are lovable, the storyline is feel good and a bit silly, and the messages feel like a hug.

My favourite part of this book was the way it handled Lane's grief over the loss of her sister. It delves into a lot of issues, including how personal grief for a public figure can feel commodified, survivor's guilt, and how different grieving processes can come between people who have the best of intensions. Additionally, it touched on how grief can look different for autistic people, and how that can impact their healing journey.

I also generally liked the autistic representation in this book. With almost all the main characters being on the spectrum, it was interesting to see how the author represented different facets of autism coming out in different ways. I recognized pieces of myself in all the characters, in their stimms and their masks.

On the more critical end, I found that this book was a bit disjointed in some of it's arcs, especially a few of the romantic relationships. The characters would change how they felt about one another quite quickly, or changes to dynamics would come in to play without much build up. This may have been a facet of a relatively short novel trying to develop many different relationships at the same time, but it made it more difficult to be fully invested in the romances when they seemed to arbitrarily change.

Additionally, this book was trying to tackle some very heavy topics for a feel good novel. It's central conflict centres around corporate takeovers of the government and hostile invasion of an independent colony. To avoid spoilers I won't go into too much detail, but suffice to say this whole plot is wrapped up rather easily with a bow, which fits the vibe of the book, but feel a bit strange.

eARC provided by NetGalley and Mythic Roads Press in exchange for my honest review.

A cozy, post-apocalypse, queer space romance… while I didn’t love the writing of this book, I did really enjoy it. The representation was fantastic, the lightness of the story intermingled with real political drama and some adventure, I didn’t want to stop reading. While there were twists and turns, it was a bit predictable, but I hardly count that as a drawback when so much of this read felt like a hot-take of what self-care through crisis looks like.