Genre 📚: YA Contemporary Fantasy, Romance
Tropes 💁♀️: Fighting fate, Rich girl x Bad boy, Golden retriever x Black cat, “Touch her and die”
Rep ✔️: Full cast of Chinese characters
CW ⚠️: Messy divorce, emotionally distant parent, violence, child exploitation, house fire
Rating ⭐️: 4/5
It truly feels like we’ve come full circle (full moon cycle?) with I Could Give You the Moon, the long-awaited companion novel to Ann Liang’s debut If You Could See the Sun. Here, we follow the young socialite Chanel as she crosses paths with the new boy in school, Ares. They both experience a strange phenomenon at a lake, in which the moon reflects on the water and shows them visions of the future. To Chanel’s horror, it looks like Ares is fated to ruin her life.
Chanel’s logic is simultaneously smart and hilarious, as she figures the best way to change her future is to get Ares to fall in love with her. Then, he can’t possibly hurt her, right? Right?? 🤨 She pulls out all her usual tricks, but he’s not interested in playing along. He’s dealing with his own shit, trying to decipher the visions to solve the mystery of his missing brother. The more they unravel, the more danger they find themselves in…
Chanel was such a great FMC. She wasn’t exactly relatable as a person (y’know, being a mega wealthy public figure), but her vulnerabilities and fears were easy to relate to. Due to her upbringing, and her current family situation, she couldn’t trust anything — people, love, the future, anything. But, with Ares, she reaaally wanted to let go of all doubt. And I don’t blame her. Ares was all bad boy vibes with all the good boy qualities. Their chemistry was perfectly intense and fiery, much like all the Ann Liang romances. But this book did feel more mature, like it was IYCSTS’s older, experienced sister. ❤️🔥
**Much thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I Could Give You the Moon will be released on April 14, 2026.
Sara Bechtol 