After If You Could See the Sun, we had to read this contemporary spin off. You don’t have to have read the first as well! This dramatic and swoony story is about illusions and trying to avoid our fate. Keep reading this book review of I Could Give You the Moon for my full thoughts.
Summary
Everyone loves Chanel Cao—except Ares Yin.
While Chanel has spent her entire life curating a picture-perfect social media personality—from her body to her hair to her camera-ready smile—Ares has spent his trying to hide in the shadows. But Ares’s brother is missing, and Chanel’s parents have secretly separated, and their only hope is each other.
Ares is willing to do whatever it takes to find his brother, and Chanel will do anything to keep her parents’ secret. When the two meet and share a vision of the future—where Ares’s brother appears, as Chanel’s house burns to the ground—they are determined to use each other. Ares believes Chanel is the key to finding his brother, but Chanel is convinced if she gets Ares to fall in love with her, she’ll save her family house—and her parents’ crumbling marriage.
But Ares isn’t interested in the fake personality that Chanel has used her entire life to get affection and adoration. If she’s going to save her reputation, she’s going to have to let Ares get to know the real her—and risk real feelings.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I Could Give You the Moon is an action packed contemporary about finding the ones we love and avoiding our fate. If we knew the future, how would we avoid it? For Chanel, she sees the destruction of her home and decides that if she makes Ares fall in love with her she can avoid the future. But as she continues to play her old tricks, she realizes that Ares isn’t like anyone else. That he cares about seeing who she really is and not the illusions, the tricks, or the manipulation. For Ares, he’s determined to find his brother no matter the cost, but what happens when he starts to love someone else?
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While I felt like I Could Give You the Moon was more devoted to Chanel’s character journey, this book is so swoony. I loved this line of fake and real as we see Chanel let down her walls. And there are some seriously swoony passages here. But something was holding me back from Ares and I’m not sure if it’s because of how guarded he is, but man he seriously fell first and for real. I can definitely appreciate that! But I Could Give You the Moon, while swoony, is certainly packed with danger and action. It’s about these games of betrayal and sacrifice while also trying to unpack these illusions. It feels like a gut punch with a candy swoony center. Find I Could Give You the Moon on Goodreads, Storygraph, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.