Book Review: Misfits Like Us

I just finished the 10th book in the Like Us series, Misfits Like Us, yesterday. I’m finally at Luna and Donnelly’s love story and this first book did not disappoint!

Luna Hale and Paul Donnelly have had crushes on each other for over two years, but have not acted on it for a few reasons. 1) He’s her younger brother’s bodyguard 2) There is a 8 or 9 year age gap 3) Her dad doesn’t really like him because he keeps tattooing Luna (at her request) even though he keeps telling Lo that he won’t do it anymore

In a few of the previous books in this series it is revealed to various characters that Luna and Paul hooked up once for “scientific purposes” and nothing has happened between them since unless you count longing glances and some flirtatious dancing. Even though neither is willing to make a move on the other because they don’t know how the other feels and because they don’t want to mess everything up, they both secretly find it extremely hard to move on and date anyone else. As their friendship grows even more and Luna, who has always felt like the “weirdo” to the public since she was a little girl, the two realize they have more in common than they thought. Donnelly loves the sexy sci-fi stories that Luna writes under an anonymous name on a fanfic website, they like the same sci-fi and superhero shows and comics, and they both feel like misfits. The public and kids are school when Luna was growing up have always treated Luna as a weirdo and freak because of her interests like her love for aliens and because they say she’s probably going to be just like her mom Lily Calloway Hale, a sex addict. Donnelly grew up poor in Philly with a family that has been in and out of jail for making and selling meth. He cut ties with his family when he was a teenager, but they always pop back in his life.

Just as Donnelly and Luna get closer to getting together his family comes back again and this time they aren’t playing around. They want him to steal from the Hales, Cobalts, and or Meadows or they’ll go after him and the people he cares about most. Will they go after Luna? Can the two finally be together with the risks?

I loved this book and getting to know Luna and Donnelly better. This is a slow burn, but worth every minute because the yearning was perfect. The two have liked each other for so long so I became really invested in the development of their relationship and how much they mean to each other. I really felt for Luna with all the bullying she endured from the public. I think I feel especially tender towards her because I remember in Some Kind of Perfect from the original Addicted series when Luna was a little girl and went to her first slumber party only to have to get picked up by her dad and Ryke because she was bullied by the girls there. That scene always makes me cry and so Luna as an adult still has a soft spot with me.

I’m looking forward to the last two books of the series and more of Luna and Donnelly!

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