Werewolves?  Baristas? Magic? Gay best friend? Young Adult?  I had been wanting to read Moonstruck for a while, ever since I heard about it really, because of all the awesome things I had heard about it and the themes it explored.   While I am glad I finally got to experience, I found that the idea and concept turned out better than the reality.  I thought it was fun and a quick read but ultimately wanted more.

Julie is a werewolf barista who works with her best friend Chet (who happens to be a gay centaur).  When Chet, Julie, and her new girlfriend Selena attend a magic show, they find themselves in the middle of a nefarious plot to remove magic from the world and they need to find a way to stop the magician before he strikes again!

I really wanted to like this book more than I did.   I liked some of the characters, but wanted more of others and less of some.  I loved the artwork, especially the use of color, but sometimes found it confusing to figure out what was happening from page to page. The romance between Julie and Selena was sweet but I wanted to see more of it and also felt like some of their interactions needed more background to them.  I love the idea of the story and always appreciate when young adult books that feature people of color and LGBTQ characters.  This was a great book in that regard because it didn’t make a big deal about the fact that there were lesbians and gay characters, they were just characters in the story.  It just felt like the story was all over the place and needed to be more focused.

I would recommend this book to teens and to people looking for a quick, fun read but are ok with not a lot of story development.  I could see teens and young adults liking this more than adults—maybe it just wasn’t my type of book.

Author:  Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle

Published:  2018

Rating: 3.5 Stars