Name: Hang the Moon
ISBN: 9780063000841

Alexandria Bellefleur

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.

A Novel

Hang the Moon

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.

I like brendon less as a main character but Annie more than makes up for it

Treyden Talbot

Filipa Carvalho

I would die for Brendon, he's so fucking cuuuuuuteeeee

Murphy-Ann Craig

This was good and cute and great and impeccable for getting out of a slump. 

Keira 💫

Cute but not super memorable, except for the (TW) public urination on a Ferris wheel scene. I’m still firmly in the “romance is dead” camp.

Liz Griffin

Not the romanticization of breathe-right nose strips 

Syrina

grace richards

3.5,, that one line about being the obi wan of oral has physically given me the ick for brendan and annie

Adorable ending, almost had me crying (I'm a softie) 

Margaux Vandevelde

Carrington Kinslow

2.5 stars. This wasn’t horrible, but I’m not a fan either. I just thought this was more cringe than romantic. Over the top silliness. I didn’t really see much chemistry between Brendon and Annie and I wish Darcy and Elle had played a bigger role. I also thought the sentiment behind Annie’s friends begging her to stay in Seattle wasn’t executed very well. They kinda got borderline cruel with the stuff they’d say to her. I’m a bit disappointed in this because I adored Written in the Stars. Maybe F/M romcoms just aren’t my thing anymore? Still looking forward to the third book because that is sapphic at least!

kate humphreys 

it was so comforting to visit these characters again and annie was absolutely adorable, abother very comforting read - but i am yet again perpetually annoyed by darcy and brendon and some of the shit they do that i can’t help but see as a teensy bit manipulative and selfish?? maybe that’s just me though - i am SO looking forward to picking up the third in the trilogy because a) it’s sapphic so duh. and b) margot has been my favorite character and i can’t wait to learn all about her 
(stayed up until 5 am to finish this which hasn’t happened in a hot minute so there’s that)

Alyssa Huffman

books that give me unrealistic expectations of love for 600 alex

this was so cheesy oh my god i was literally GRINNING like an idiot the whole time i was reading it but that's exactly what i was looking for so good job hang the moon!!!!!!

Kristi Brockelsby

Annie decides to pay a surprise visit to her best friend - just one problem - Darcy is out of town. Who else can show her around town but Brendan, the little brother that always held a flame for her? As Brendan shows Annie around Seattle, he decides to also convince her that romance is not dead.

I LOVED this book. It was everything that I want in a contemporary romance - fun, funny, sweet, a little hearbreaking. The characters were alive and full fleshed out. I haven't read Written in the Stars yet but it wasn't needed. I'm sure it's every bit as wonderful as Hang the Moon, but Alexandria Bellefleur did a wonderful job of introducing the characters again so it's not a required reading.

sydney

i received an arc through netgalley.

oh my gosh, this book is everything. it just kept getting better with every page. the one bed trope, the grand gestures but not grand gestures.

Steph L 

I’m not usually a romance reader but this book was so cute. I didn’t know it was the second book in a series when I picked it up on a whim a few months ago, so now I want to read the first one, and I’ll read the third coming out next year. I loved the characters in this book, they were sweet, and you could tell how much they cared about each other. I loved the story, I’m sure that the brother had a crush on his sisters best friend has been done before, but this was so well done. The writing in this book is excellent, the banter was so funny, and the heavier scenes were heartfelt. There were two couples in this book, and I loved reading about both romances. I recommend this book if you enjoy Contemporary Romance, as well as a great story, with awesome characters.

marie

brendon and annie i love you very much so much 3k much ♡ sorry late review xD

Dawy

Okay, I say this a lot but this is going up there as one of my all-time favorite contemporary romances. I related to Annie's character SO MUCH. She's living in a city that doesn't feel like home, working in a job/career track she doesn't really like, and she's just kind of settled with life. But then she goes to Seattle to see her best friend Darcy for a couple of weeks and is basically embraced by Darcy's friend group/family, falls for Darcy's brother Brendon, and is feeling all the good warm gooey emotions she's been craving and deprived of for so long.

This book is literally EVERYTHING TO ME. The found family vibes, the romance, the grown up communication between Annie and Brendon, the way Seattle and the Pacific Northwest shine through. Also, the shoutout to romcom tropes and grand gestures was a nice touch. Highly recommend for a fluffy, but also really emotional, read.

(PS there is an evil charades game in which someone has to act out doggystylle. If any of my friends ever pulled that on me I will likely sever ties.)

I ended up skimming this book in the end. I made it a little over halfway through before my eyes finally glazed over. I loved the first book in this series and was excited for some expansion on this friend group, but this one just didn't do it for me. Annie and Brendon weren't as strong of personalities as Darcy and Elle were, imo. I also didn't really feel a huge pull to their connection. 

The first book was (and I say this with love) was so corny and full of cliche lines but the plot was SO good, and built so well to me. It also read more like a romcom which.. I loved. This one just felt like cover to cover cliches, bad lines, and honestly really odd metaphors/descriptions? What is a pregnant pause? What happens when someone's stomach pretzels? The Obi-wan of WHAT? What?

The two stars come from getting to read a bit more about what Darcy and Elle are up to. They get quite a bit of mention in this, if you're interested in following up with them! Brendon also is an adorable character in theory but wasn't a STRONG one, for me.

However, I will still be reading the 3rd one. I excitedly bought #2 and #3 after reading "Written in the Stars" and I know the potential is there.

Katie Kite

More like 3.5! But the last couple of chapters really had me welling so I’ll leave it at a 4 :) It hits you over the head over and over again with sentimentality which, at times, can get a little nauseating but I only ever wanted to finish it and hopefully see these two happy ever after

Alora

Done!! Okay, Brendon and Annie are such a freaking adorable couple and I love them so so much! So many good tropes/things were included in this book without it feeling forced... Best friend's brother, childhood friends to lovers, one bed, going to a wedding together.... Everything was just *chefs kiss*. I love books that are connected but not the same story and so I am loving these books.... Can't wait for book three!!!

Lauren Sullivan

I loved the author’s debut book (the absolutely delightful f/f Written in the Stars) and could not wait to read this one, especially after I saw the gorgeous cover. And I was not disappointed! This book is best friend’s sibling and sunshine/grumpy perfection. It’s an ode to love (and to Seattle) as Brendon tries to convince a skeptical Annie that romance isn’t dead, and I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Brendon loves love, so much so that he founded his own dating app designed for people to find their one true loves. So when he finds out his sister’s best friend, Annie, who’s visiting Seattle, doesn’t believe in love, he decides to not just show her around Seattle – he’s going to show her, through a series of rom-com inspired dates, that true love exists. But it’s not too long before feelings get involved, and Annie’s set to move to London soon. Can true love concur all?

“How can you possibly say romance is dead when these movies are proof that it isn’t?”
Her laughter filled the car, sharp and sweet. It tapered off when she realized he wasn’t laughing with her. Her eyes widened. “Are you serious? Oh my God, you are. They’re movies. It’s all fake. It would be like using Jurassic Park as proof that dinosaurs are real.”
“Dinosaurs are real.”
“Were real.” She stared at him pointedly. “And now they’re dead.”

Normally in reviews of m/f romances I start off talking about the heroine, but Brendan is just *chef’s kiss.* He’s such a cinnamon roll that he’s almost unbearably sweet, a little bit impetuous but so good-hearted that it’s hard not to smile every time he’s on the page. I mean, he tries to convince Annie love is real because rom-coms exist. The logic is a bit sideways but it’s utterly adorable. It is a bit ironic that the founder of a dating app hasn’t found his perfect person yet, but he remains optimistic that they’re out there for him. While Brendon is the sunshine and rainbows romantic, Annie is completely cynical. It would’ve been easy to make Annie completely awful, but while she’s a pessimist about love thanks to a series of bad first dates, she does open up to Brendon. She’s terrified of risking her heart, of dealing with the cycle of hope and disappointment as each relationship either crashes or just fizzles out slowly. Annie’s arc is her deciding whether to stay with what’s safe or to take a chance on something that might just make her the happiest she’s ever been.

“I’m having trouble wrapping my head around someone meeting you and getting to know you and not wanting to spend as much time with you as possible. You’re like . . . Lay’s potato chips. You can’t eat just one.”
A sunbeam of warmth flared inside her chest. “Did you just . . . compare me to a potato chip?”
He nodded, face twisted, looking pained. “I think I did?”

Annie and Brendon’s relationship is sweet and slow, with Annie opening up slowly to the possibility of romance, and specifically romance between Brendon and her. She’s still cautious, though, and that caution is one of the primary barriers to their relationship. Should she accept the promotion and the international move for the job she’s realized she doesn’t really like, or should she take the risk of moving to Seattle without a job or a place to land? Are Brendon’s feelings for her real or just a remnant of the crush he had on her years ago? It’s sweet, it’s heartfelt, and the whole thing is relatively low angst.

While the romantic relationship is absolutely swoon, for me, the friendship between Darcy and Annie stole the show. While they haven’t stayed in touch as much as either wanted, and though they’ve both changed, they still care deeply about each other, and the impending move weighs heavily on both of them. In fact, in a complete reversal of the usual “best-friend’s-sibling” trope, Darcy actually encourages Brendon in his pursuit of Annie, to try to convince her to move to Seattle instead of London. It almost felt like Seattle itself was a secondary character. It’s obvious that Brendon loves where he lives, and the book is full of delightful touristy (and not so touristy) vignettes. It was an amazing vicarious experience and it’s got me longing to book a trip to Seattle later this summer.

“You’re telling me you’ve never stumbled across something great? Maybe you weren’t looking for it, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to you? Don’t you think that’s possible? That sometimes we just get lucky?”

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to see what the author writes next! She’s definitely earned a place on my auto-buy list!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Jaylene Guerra

This is my new favorite book. I have nothing more to say

Yaneli | @aquariusbookadventures 

4.5 stars

No because I love this series😭 i love the characters😭 I love the writing😭

I need to own all the copies of these. I can't believe I read through it so quick. I need to reread immediately

Tatiana Alvarez 

Alexandria Bellefleur has officially become an instant buy author. Her writing is just so effortless and easy to read. The storylines are always fun and cute and the romance is always electric. I'm so here for it.

I had no idea this book existed until recently. I LOVED Written in the Stars so when I saw that there was a book two featuring Darcey's brother and best friend, I was all over it! Brendon was such a cute character in book one and I really wanted to explore him more, so I'm glad I was given the chance in this book!

Brendon is a hopeless romantic and Annie just feels helpless. What happens when a love strung guy and a girl ready to call it quits get together? Magic, that is what happens.

Annie has been burned a few times and disappointed in her previous relationships. She is lonely, but doesn't feel as if there is anyone out there who would be a match for her. Brendon, who has crushed on Annie since they were kids, wants to prove her wrong. The only problem is that Annie accepted a job it London and is only in town for two weeks. But Brendon is determined to show her that she could be perfectly happy in Seattle with him.

I loved the nod to all things romantic comedies this book has. Brendon is cheesy in the best way, but he has the biggest heart. I also loved the character of Annie. She really resonated with me because she never really felt as if she belonged in anyone's life. So I loved seeing her come out of her shell and value herself more as the book progresses.

I can't rave about this book enough! So good! So are we getting a Margo book yet orrrr?

Hang the Moon A Novel