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Luna  By  cover art

Luna

By: Julie Anne Peters
Narrated by: Elizabeth Evans
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Publisher's summary

Regan's brother Liam can't stand the person he is during the day. Like the moon from whom Liam has chosen his female namesake, his true self, Luna, only reveals herself at night. In the secrecy of his basement bedroom Liam transforms himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be, with help from his sister's clothes and makeup. Now, everything is about to change - Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon. But are Liam's family and friends ready to welcome Luna into their lives?

Compelling and provocative, this is an unforgettable novel about a transgender teen's struggle for self-identity and acceptance.

©2004 Julie Anne Peters (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Luna

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    1 out of 5 stars

It just doesn't work

I would not recommend this story to any person trying to understand what it is like growing up trans. It voices a lot of the fears of what it is like, but only through the narrator and not the actual trans character. Luna is all about fashion and makeup and that seems to be it. That's what being a girl is to her. I found it a bit insulting.

I could be wrong and this whole story is based on true experiences, but I can't see any of these characters behaving this way. The trans girl is self-involved and obsessive. I understand there is a period around transitioning that is selfish, but in my experience it is that way because of all of the insecurity and anxiety and not to do with a complete personality shift and denial of reality. At one point her sister is sobbing and Luna asks to go shopping. Girls be shopping, right? Also she is a savant for some reason.

The sister is written as very adult and wise, but also as immature and dumb. It seems her character changes to fit the story instead of the other way around. The dad seems relatively grounded in reality, but the mother is just a sociopath. I don't mind an antagonist, but the motivations for the mother are nonsensical. Either she's an extreme narcissist or a weird caricature. It doesn't much matter either way, because she's almost a non-entity in the story, which being a story about a family is bizarre.

I may have missed the exact year, but it feels this is set during the same years I was a kid. Cellphones and pagers coexist. America West Airlines was a thing. I was in the closet in high school in the early 2000s. I figured this book would likely reflect my experience at least a bit, but its wildly off the mark. Also, and this is a small thing, but why do the characters go to a Blockbuster to buy cds at the mall? I'm assuming they meant a Sam Goody.

I can't go into one of the worst and most offensive moments in this book without spoilers, but I sided with the people furious at Luna and not the actual trans girl. I am wired in every way to want to root for Luna and still, I never could. I do not and will not speak for all trans people. However, I will say that I, a trans woman, found this book woefully wrong about what being trans is to me.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This book hits home

Let me start out by saying that I loved this book. If that's the only bit of information you require, then read no further. If you would like to know why, then let me tell you.

As someone with a transgendered sibling, I was instantly drawn to the premise of this book. I went into this expecting a story like my own, with a sibling that did what she pleased no matter how it angered everyone, maybe even to cause such anger in everyone just to spite them for making her feel so different. Luna's story was not like that, and I'm glad. She was still a believable character in every aspect. Each person who goes through something like this, some form of alienation from peers and family, will react differently, and I appreciated the perspective of someone who tried to hide themself away until they felt ready to express who they really were, something that will probably resonate with most people, no matter what you've experienced. I adored Luna's spirit, and I despaired every time she hurt (though sometimes it was her own doing). The courage it took to be herself in the end is admirable, and the strength she had to walk away from a potentially damaging situation is something every struggling person can strive for.

The other characters were incredibly realistic as well. The parents were probably the closest to my own experience. I too had a father who used to be successful and really, really wanted a boy, and a mother who made the money in the family and sort of pretended nothing was wrong so she wouldn't have to deal with the backlash. The sister, Regan, while very unlike me in how we handled our siblings, was a wonderful, encouraging narrator. She was naive and stubborn at times, but she showed continual love for Luna, even when Luna did things that negatively affected Regan's life. It's the type of support everyone deserves, and the sort of family member someone like Luna desperately needed.

The story itself was incredible, and even though the narrator wasn't the main character (Luna is the main character), we still saw Luna's very real struggle and how she coped with her life. While hearing from Luna's perspective about the difficulties she faced would have been fascinating, I did appreciate the message this book chose to send instead. The narrative was more about how others/society need to come to accept transgendered people as, well, REGULAR PEOPLE instead of labeling them and othering them as something that isn't normal. That is a powerful message in a y.a. book.

My only complaint is the guy who reads this book. I understand the point/meaning of a guy reading a book that's supposed to be from a girl's perspective. It was a nice touch in this audiobook about a transgendered girl. While Brad Raimondo did a fantastic job with his interpretation of Luna, and most of the time he did a very good Regan, he made some of the other characters into caricatures. The dad was always a stiff jock type, the mom was an overworked busybody, and the girls in Regan's class all seemed stuck up. I suppose if we take into account that they're all supposed to be shown as Regan interprets them, then he did a fine job, but I felt there could have been a bit more depth to those other voices.

All in all, this is a wonderful book, and well worth the listen. Use your credit on something else and straight up buy this book. You need it.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Forced read for class

The over all book and story was superb, It's no wonder why the book popular. The narrator was spot on and made it even better. The actual story is something I would never pick up or read again. however I don't wish to judge the entirety on my personal preference. it was good and I'm sure would be amazing for those that are interested in this sort of strife stories

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not a homage to the LGBT community, but worth read

What other book might you compare Luna to and why?

Brian Katcher's Almost Perfect, but this one is FAR better.

Any additional comments?

Warning: minor spoilers.

Back in the 70's, the gay novels were the controversial ones, usually with sad endings up to the MC commiting suicide. Nowadays, the transgender novels are the contoversial ones, where the TG character is the one whom nobody understands and whom struggles to find his/her identity. Both in the 70's novels and in the present days ones, there's an acceptance and tolerance message towards the gay/transgender character that is contrasted with other characters' lack of understanding. It's implied that the TG character has the right to "transition" (as mentioned in this novel) and the rest of the world has to accept his/her decision as if it were everyday stuff, like changing socks. Whether the rest of the world has a vision and values that openly crash with being transgender or even gay (e.g. many religions are openly against homosexuality, not to say transgender people) it doesn't matters. The TG characters have the divine right to do their transition.


Luna/Liam, an obsessed 17 yo boy-transitioning-to-girl teenager, is a very selfish character who only thinks in herself. According to her, she's a girl in the wrong body and everybody else must accept it not mattering what they think. Not mattering whether the situation is driving her mother nuts up to the point that her mother needs to take pills. Not mattering whether her father is incapable of understanding her--mainly because she never comes clean explaining him what the hell is going on. Not mattering whether her sister is permanently stressed and even lacks sleep because every night she goes into her sister's room to dress like a girl.


Luna is so obsessed with transitioning that she is incapable of thinking in her family and friends. In the end, she destroys her family (it's not explained, but after the way in which the novel ends, I would expect her parents to divorce), she hurts her best friend (a girl who was actually in love with Liam in his masculine form), and she deeply hurts her sister and novel-narrator Reagan.


Is the novel worth reading? It certainly is! Don't expect a homage to the LGBT comunity, but a rough account of how being TG affects other people. Yes, nowadays it's politically correct to be in favour of gays and TGs, except that there are many people that because of their religious or personal values cannot accept the idea, and even get deeply hurt when a relation openly accepts his/her gay/TG state. The fashions is to cry that acceptance must be excersised. However, inmersed in this acceptance-overall politicaly-correct fashion, nobody stops to think how difficult acceptance may be. Whether being gay or TG is good or bad, I don't know. What I know is that accepting gays or TG is very difficult for many people, and even more if deep religious beliefs are in between.



This novels presents the struggle of those people closely related to a TG person. Also, how selfish the TG person can be, inmersed in her/his idea which turns in his/her exclusive goal. It's not like Wendy Darling saif, that Reagan is selfish, but on te contrary. This is a very well narrated story that shows that there should be tolerance and understanding... from both sides.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

still one of my favorite stories.

Issa good listen. I loved the narration and subject matter. 😍 ❤️ ♥️ 😊

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Thank you

I was captivated from the start, I shared all Luna’s
Feelings and frustrations. She beat my courage. I’m
65 & just started hrt 2 months ago. Been living a lie all my life. Thank you for writing this story,

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, though dated

Julie Ann Peters’s LUNA, published in 2004, was one of the first stories about a teenager transitioning.

Liam is transitioning from his birth gender to her desired identity as Luna. Only her younger sister Regan knows. Regan tells the story of her brother’s transformation, suicidal feelings, eagerness to live authentically, bullying and parental gender expectations. Regan risks everything to support her brother (she uses brother and sister/he and she, interchangeably depending on whether her sibling is dressed as a boy or girl).

As sympathetic as I was to Liam/Luna’s struggles, my heart went out to Regan. Her entire life revolved around supporting Liam, whether he woke her up in the middle of the night for fashion advice, protecting him from their father, concerns for his mental health, lying to friends and family. At times Regan realized her sacrifices, though Luna was in so much pain she put her own needs ahead of her sister’s every time.

Their parents her a hot mess, dysfunctional with a capital D. Their father pushed gender stereotypes onto Liam, their mother pretended everything was fine. Both parents threw passive aggressive barbs to each other.

Readers who only understand transgender rights and life from a 2018 perspective may see LUNA as very dated. Calling 15 years ago a period piece may seem premature, but those who remember 2004 know that gays weren’t allowed to serve openly in the US military (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) and couldn’t marry. A few states had domestic partnership laws, but they were far from the norm. Transgender was about as foreign to most families as if a kid said he was actually a pilgrim from the 1600s who wanted to dress in pilgrim garb and spout puritanical beliefs. I’m not equating mental illness and transgender, just using a hyperbolic simile. At least in 2018, most people have heard of transgender and many teens have classmates who are gender nonconforming. They may enjoy a story that shows how far we’ve come in their life time while still knowing how far we still need to go.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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I want to like it, but I hate it.

First things first, why is this told from Reagan’s perspective? Other than adding the most boring and generic hetero basic high school girl love story, I can think of literally NO reason why Reagan needs to exist at all. She adds so much shallowness, and Luna is a much more interesting and compelling character, and it’s a damn shame we barely get to see the world through her eyes. I want to like this book. After my second listen, I just can’t force myself to. The shallowness that it portrays Luna in, all makeup and wigs, completely neglecting that there are other things that come with femininity. I am very tempted to make some sort of fanfoc re-write where I can improve on some of the genuinely good ideas I can see that the author had at one point. I could go into a lot more detail about things I don’t like, but I think this is sufficient

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

meh

couldn't finish, being a Trans woman named Luna, I thought I'd connect to easily. but not really. I know it's supposed to be a true story, but it feels like the same cookie cutter trans story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • MJ
  • 08-19-20

loved it!

I read this book when I was in high school (2006). I thought it was a great story. This book also gave me more knowledge understanding about the transgender community.
I just happened to think about this book randomly 14yrs later, and decided to listen to the audiobook version this time. It is still an amazing story.

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