Shoot the Moon

4 4 out of 5 stars | 58 ratings

Price: 15.75

Last update: 12-26-2024


About this item

How far would you travel for love?

Intelligent but isolated recent physics graduate Annie Fisk feels an undeniable pull toward space. Her childhood memories dimmed by loss, she has left behind her home, her family, and her first love in pursuit of intellectual fulfillment. When she finally lands a job as a NASA secretary during the Apollo 11 mission, the work is everything she dreamed, and while she feels a budding attraction to one of the engineers, she can’t get distracted. Not now.

When her inability to ignore mistaken calculations propels her into a new position, Annie finds herself torn between her ambition, her heart, and a mysterious discovery that upends everything she knows to be scientifically true. Can she overcome her doubts and reach beyond the limits of time and space?

Affecting, immersive, and kaleidoscopic, Shoot the Moon tells the story of one singular life at multiple points in time, one woman's quest to honor both her head and her heart amid the human toll of scientific progress.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Happy Camper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
    Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2024
    Good Read
  • Terrie D. Robinson
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning Debut Novel!
    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2023
    "Shoot the Moon" by Isa Arsén is a Blend of Historical, Science, and Romance Fiction!

    This debut novel has completely taken me by surprise. And, as far as surprises go, it's up there close to the top...

    "Shoot the Moon" centers around Annie Fisk, who narrates this story in a first-person voice sharing her dreams of space exploration, two love relationships, and a discovery that became the best and worst of both.

    Annie is a well-rounded and likable character who idolizes her scientist father and struggles in her relationship with her mother. Highly intelligent, she earned her degree in physics, just like her dad, and is driven to succeed in a career where few women did.

    As the protagonist and primary character, Annie has a strong backstory. However, the same can't be said for the secondary characters. Annie's parents and her two love interests feel underdeveloped and I wanted more substance and history about each of them.

    Initially, I found the writing a bit overly descriptive, but soon, I fell in love with the author's lovely prose and creative story. The first and last chapters wrap the story together perfectly, which took me by surprise. How did I not see that coming?

    The audiobook is narrated by Kristen Sieh, whose voice feels like Annie's first-person narrative. Her gender voicing of all characters is believable and distinguishable. Although I prefer audiobooks, I find it hard to choose between the digital copy and audiobook, as both are equally satisfying.

    "Shoot the Moon" is a book I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did but I fell in love with the author's incredible writing style and imaginative storytelling and I believe Isa Arsén is an author to watch. I highly recommend her debut novel to those who enjoy a unique blend of Historical, Science, and Romance Fiction and I'm excited to discover what's she comes up with next.

    4.5⭐

    Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons, Isa Arsén, and Shelf Awareness for a DRC of this book through NetGalley. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review. The audiobook is from my personal library.
  • Donna M. Clerico
    3.0 out of 5 stars Trinity project, Apollo space project and wormholes
    Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2024
    Isa Arden’s debut novel ‘Shoot the Moon’, was an enjoyable read with many twists and turns. She incorporates the Trinity nuclear project, the Apollo space landing and time travel through wormholes resulting in quite interesting story. Kudos Ms. Arsen.
  • JoAnn
    5.0 out of 5 stars A huge surprise
    Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024
    A complete shock, the story did not proceed the way I expected. Can't say any more or I'll spoil it for others. I loved the ending.
  • Kelly Gottschalk
    4.0 out of 5 stars Historical woman in STEM/Astronomy takes a sci-fi bent
    Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2023
    So admittedly, Shoot the Moon both was and wasn't what I was expecting. I kind of feel like it's kind of a mash-up of elements of Contact and Interstellar - and while the Contact part didn't surprise the Interstellar part did. Without giving too much away, Annie, the protagonist, is a physicist that ends up working as a programmer for NASA during the Apollo mission race to the moon. But her time at NASA and what she does becomes more than just being a part of getting a man to the moon. This element of the story will explain why the story is being told back and forth across different periods of her life, which is confusing in the beginning of the book, but makes so much more sense at the end. The story is also about the deep connections we form with each other. Annie loses her father at a relatively young age. Her time with him even before that is limited, as he's a physicist that is part of the nuclear testing going on in New Mexico, but she loves him more than anything else in the world. When he dies, she becomes terrified of loving anyone else that much, which strains her relationship with her mother and makes it difficult to tell the woman she has a relationship with in college that she loves her. Against her better judgment she falls for one of her coworkers at NASA - a man that in a time where women didn't receive a lot of respect for their skills in STEM fields loves her as a person and respects her as a colleague. And that leads me to an element of this book that I think was well done, if slightly unusual in that it's done in a historical fiction novel. This is one of the first books I've seen where an author explored a character that's bisexual, and didn't just touch on one element of it to focus on a relationship with one person. In exploring Annie's romances with both Evelyn and Norman, Arsen shows a character that falls in love with people for who they are and how they make her feel, not based on their gender. I felt like this element of the book, in particular, finally portrayed a bisexual character and what drives their attraction to other people.

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