Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsén

Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsén

Shoot the Moon

by Isa Arsén

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Oct 2023, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

An evocative debut novel about one ambitious NASA secretary's relentless drive to live and love big life in a world that would keep her small ...

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, urgent, and immersive, Shoot the Moon tells the story of one woman's quest to honor both her head and her heart amid the human toll of scientific progress and the persistent, unignorable yearning for home.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Innovative ... Arsén expertly navigates the back-and-forth of the story's time-travel events, threading them into the highlights of women's scientific achievements. Readers who relish strong female leads will be riveted." —Publishers Weekly

"Explorations of love, loss, science, and the edges of the universe and what is—and is not—possible in the space-time continuum collide in this story; it's reminiscent of the thoughtfulness, matter-of-fact science, and female strength of Connie Willis' well-known time traveling series beginning with Doomsday Book (1992) as well as the world portrayed in Margot Lee Shetterly's Hidden Figures (2016). A delightful and surprising story of a woman drawn through life by curiosity." —Kirkus Reviews

"If you're looking for a book club pick, this is it. Isa Arsén's debut ... is drawing comparisons to Lessons in Chemistry and The Time Traveler's Wife." —Country Living

"A romantic and dazzling journey into the mystery of time, space, grief and loneliness. Arsen's knowledge of mathematics and physics is truly impressive, and brings authenticity to the world of exploration she has captured. A lovely debut." —Charlotte McConaghy, author of Migrations

"A uniquely tender and beautiful book.....A novel of wonder and in-betweens that asks us to consider grief, hope, love, and ambition in equal measure." —Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation

"Utterly original and overflowing with love in its purest form, Shoot the Moon is a one-of-a-kind journey through space, time and history." —Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter

"Part historical fiction, part science fiction, part moving love story, Isa Arsén's Shoot the Moon will surprise you at every turn. Prepare yourself: Shoot the Moon is a book like no other." —Jennie Fields, author of Atomic Love

This information about Shoot the Moon was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

LWS

Wonderfully written heartfelt coming-of-age story of Annie Fisk's unbending desire to work for NASA
Shoot The Moon is a wonderfully written heartfelt coming-of-age story connecting Annie Fisk’s journey from New Mexico during her beloved father’s development of the Atomic Bomb, to realizing her dream of becoming a NASA scientist working on the Apollo 11 moon landing project.

Isa Arsen's brilliant pros tie it all together by moving back and forth in Annie's life in a nonlinear style that builds a natural sense of suspense in her story. Through that she reveals Annie's grit and determination, her fearless unconventional romances, and brings it all together with an unexpected Sci Fi twist that happily caught me by surprise.

You are going to love this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Isa Arsén is a certified bleeding heart and audio engineer based in South Texas, where she lives with her spouse and a comically small dog. She's published several shorts and pieces of experimental interactive media. Inspired by her own childhood summers in New Mexico, Shoot the Moon is her debut novel.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more historical fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Our Evenings
    Our Evenings
    by Alan Hollinghurst
    Alan Hollinghurst's novel Our Evenings is the fictional autobiography of Dave Win, a British ...
  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.