All It Took Was One Look

Blue Moon #1

by Robokitt

Aiden is your average seventeen year old senior with crazy best friends and a very supportive familiy. aiden is what most people would like to call a 'closet gay' for his own personal reasons. He's goes through high school being what he knows best; being invisable. But everything changes when his cousin comes to stay while his parents are on some sort of business trip together which could be weeks even months. Now his whole world is turning upside down... Again and the only person that can help him is Liam Jacobs the star quarterback and most popular and most straightest guy in school. Theres NO WAY!
But what aiden doesn't know is that liam has a secret and he's trying his best to fight it but how long will that last?

Genres: M M Romance, LGBT, Shapeshifters, Romance, Young Adult, Werewolves, Paranormal

340 pages, Unknown Binding

First published February 25, 2012

Reviews

[Ay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh God, why did i keep reading? The plot basically. But I skimmed once the screaming and shrieking became repetitive.

This is one of those weird books where all the females, from 7 year olds to parents, behave like 2 year olds. In the sense that they spend all their time screaming and pouting. Not that I was ever allowed to behave like that when I was a 2 year old, nor anyone else I know. There’s even scenes where the MC’s mother is screaming and bouncing in her seat - at the dinner table. This is what ejected me out of the book. I have come across this stuff in another book I read based on watt pad. Maybe the author is very young and considers this sort of behaviour by anyone acceptable?

Maybe the author’s youth explains the behaviour of the adults, for instance the MCs parents, and their astonishingly poor judgment in this story.

Some of the pillars of the plot are bad. The MC does not tell anyone what is happening with his cousin, for no reason. Then towards the end of the book, the MC cannot go back to his own home because of a situation which ... just no. Everything around that situation is just .... no. And his mother having a weird screaming tantrum because she wants him home even though....just no.

But it was the ongoing shrieking infantile frenzy of all the female characters for no logical reason all the time which made this book intolerable.

And the plot being driven by people being really really stupid. On and on and on.

Such a shame, because there was potential here. It’s one of those books where the author’s plot structures are based on shithouse premises (everyone being incredibly stupid and making the worst decisions, and the world not functioning in any way like it actually does) and there being a failure of editing and judgement.

I should have known from the opening scene when the MC hits his head and loses consciousness at school, and it’s basically dismissed, and he isn’t even seen by a doctor. And he mentions in passing to his father, “oh yes, I’ve also sprained my wrist” - wouldn’t it be in a sling? If a kid loses consciousness for a prolonged period, would’t They call an ambulance? Wouldn’t the school brief the parents in detail? (That’s what I mean about the world in the book not operating the way it actually does).

I should have known.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

All It Took Was One Look is about Aiden and Liam. Aiden is gay and has known that for a long time. He's only told his family and best friend. Aiden is scared of what the school and Eric (one of his other really good friends) will think of him being gay, because of the way some of his family reacted. Particularly his cousin (I think) Brent.
Brent's harrasment is violent and cruel. I wanted to chop his head off!
Liam is handsome, on the football team, has a gorgeous girlfriend, and is popular. He did not expect that he would literally land on the love of his life. A male one.
But this scares Liam, because who would like the future alpha of the werewolf pack to be gay?

What did I like about this story?

Avery. I so wanted to know more about him. It only took one look for me to love him! *giggle*

I liked that there was instant attraction, but they didn't just act on it. Though it was killing me sometimes! But, I like the torture...

The plot had multiple conflicts. Not just the 'I'm not gay so why am I in love with a boy'.

What didn't I like about this story?

The grammar. I'm warning all grammar nazis out there. This will be torture for you, but it is worth it in my opinion. My grammar isn't the best either, so it was okay-ish for me.

That Liam didn't break it off with his girlfriend immediately after he fell in love with Aiden. It wasn't fair to her! He used her as a cover and that is simply NOT okay in my opinion. But I know he was insecure and bla, bla, blah. Still! Not. Okay.

All in all I'm giving this 4 LiamXAiden 'shipping stars.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a pleasant surprise: I am normally not really a fan of YA books (with some exceptions). I think I really liked this one because it felt more like a NA book although both MCs are only 17 ... but as I said, for me it felt like mid-20s which was a much better fit for me.

Aidan and Liam are both interesting characters which I enjoyed. the story is darker than I imagined - especially the part about gay bashing and abuse was a bit difficult but very well done.

I enjoyed their relationship and how the book was written although it could have been a bit longer in some parts and shorter in others.

Nevertheless, I really liked this book and will read the next one as well ( but not the book about Kyle I think because I really did not like him )

[TrickLolly · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
I couldn't read more than a few pages of this, which is a shame because I was really interested in the premise. I don't know how old this author is, but this book read like it was written by a first time fanfiction writer. Not downing fanfiction, there are some seriously good fanfics out there, but something about the tone of this book just felt unfinished, or immature.

[Stfnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf @ not even 10% in! This book really has potential, but damn this is bad.
Every step is written, the language is juvenile, and the story could’ve been half the length because the author basically fills up with uninteresting and unneccassery shit, just no ...
i really can’t understand how this book has 4,5 stars, I really don’t. It’s maybe worth 1 for effort.

[DeeNeez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked main characters and the premise of teenage werewolf falls in love with a human. But the book needs serious editing. So many wrong words used in sentences. I would come to a screeching halt to re-read sentences trying to make reason. It was extremely disruptive.

[Yashoda Jaikaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Wattpad book I read in 2016 and I’m glad to reread again now❤️

[Kevon Hosein-Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

All It Took Was One Look is one of the best same-sex romance / fictional novels I've ever read. T. Lanay has a way of writing that brings the reader into the story.

I fell in love with the characters. I cried when they cried and laughed with them. For the few days I read this book Liam and Aiden were my best friends. And while they were the focal point of the story Lanay managed to bring in other characters to cater to the preferences of different types of readers. There was someone for everyone.

It was a story that demonstrated that love always wins in the end. There are no boundaries - race, creed, gender or age - that could really come in love's way.

A truly captivating story. I didn't want it to end.

I've read all of the books in the Blue Moon series and they are all great reads.

[Kei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it for the most part, I just felt it had too much going on at times. While some of it was interesting, other stuff bored me to the point of skimming.

[Cary · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at approx. 15%

This was one of those stories where the individual elements was enough to intrigue me. I like the idea of the big bad werewolf having a thing for the unsuspecting human and how to craft a believable connection between these two characters. I like the idea that this is a young adult story, so not only do they have to navigate their feelings for each other, but also how they grow and mature while navigating high school. Character dynamics? Check. Premise? Check.

The shaky start gave way to a lot of questionable narrative decisions, though. If Aiden's family really cared for him, how could they allow someone like Brent to stay with them, knowing just how Brent could make things difficult for Aiden. And couldn't they actually hear Brent beating Aiden while they were under the same roof? I couldn't buy it. And another thing is that if David was Aiden's favorite uncle, and Brent was his son, wouldn't there be any influence David had over Brent as a parent to soften that antagonism? Sure, there's Aiden's paternal side of the family being homophobic, but I also don't buy the idea that Aiden's father and uncle would be completely free of prejudices, given their background.

Either Aiden's father was an oddball and so was his uncle David, and they managed to raise their families to at least be more openminded in regards to Aiden if Aiden's only fully out to his family, OR Aiden still has issues with his family fully accepting him. This story cannot have it both ways. I say this as a gay man, and having known of other queer people's backgrounds with their families. At best, this story can try and convince me of ignorance from Aiden's family, but that's it.

The characterization is also awful. I thought the other reviews saying that the female characters were poorly written were exaggerating, but the more I read myself, the more I kept asking why the writer seems to slot female characters into simpering mothers, bitchy girlfriends, or insufferable extroverts no better than the stereotypical gay best friend, but the other way around?

Then there's Aiden himself. I really wanted to like him. I really do. But I don't buy the idea of him ditching school all because he's hurt by the idea that Liam (who he had only crushed on for a short time) has a girlfriend. That left an awful impression on him as a character- as in, he lacks strength of character just because of his infatuation with Liam. I would've preferred to see him deal with his hurt in ways that didn't jeopardize how he went about his daily life- he could've just moped, snapped at his friends without realizing it, etc- he'd still be possessed of emotions, but at least he's not flying off the rails just because of his attraction to Liam. To be fair, I tried to rationalize this as maybe this might be a side effect of being Liam's mate, but it falls under the same rationalization as "this happened because... well, because of magic!".

I can't even get started on the drug addiction. That just... happened. Out of nowhere...

Liam came off flat. Also tried to like him- he's got tall, dark, and handsome werewolf in high school uncovering more of his sexuality and following in the footsteps of his alpha werewolf dad. But I kept thinking, yes- but what else is there? We've seen this character before- give us a remix. Why isn't he more of a himbo? If he's still a young werewolf, why couldn't the writer think of subverting this trope and making him more eager to get Aiden's attention like a puppy would, while trying to rationalize what this might look like for him as a high school senior with a sterling reputation to uphold?

It's a shame. I really wanted to like this story. I really think there was potential in this story. But I think I can only chalk it up to this being possibly the author's first book. I wish them all the best- maybe their next book or so, after having learned a lot from this one, they'd have something way better. I bumped the rating up to two stars because it's NOT horrible, but I couldn't overlook the glaring shortcomings.

[Jae Pritchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books I read on Wattpad and the one that made me fall in love with the werewolf dynamic. 10/10 will read again!

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this book when I first read it on Wattpad years and years ago. I recently signed back into wattpad just to read it again, only to find out that it had been published! I was very excited, especially since I thought that the book being published would mean that it would have been edited and fixed, since I remembered it wasn't written that well. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I love this story, but the grammar errors, word choices, etc. made it nearly impossible to read again. If you can get over that sort of stuff, then this is a good gay romance story.

[Kosh Gott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea how this has managed to get an average of >4 stars when it is abysmal. This reads like it was written by a 15-year-old who flunked out of English class. I have to admit that I DNFed at about 10%: I just couldn't endure it any longer.

A novel, in my opinion, ought to feature characters rather than caricatures. This book is comprised entirely of the latter. It contains pretty much all of the obligatory stock characters caricatures from teenage-angst tropes. The plot is jejune.

[Diamondsx17 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on Wattpad, and I’m going to say it’s one of the best books I read so far. This book is probably one of the reasons to be open about my sexuality, because even though people are going to hate you if you are LGBT, I’m still open about it and I’m proud for who I am(I’m gay). I also love the fact that some supernatural creatures are on here which I love and I kept rereading it all the time. I give this book 5 stars on Yelp and the Author 100/5 stars

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was bad and it should feel bad.
DNF at 41%, even though I wanted to quit it after 4 pages.
I probably wouldn’t have had such a problem with it if I’d read it for free, because it’s about the same quality as very mediocre fan fiction, but I stupidly paid $5 for it and now I have to investigate whether I can get refunds on Amazon or not.

[E. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so bad but i couldn't stop reading!!!!

I don't usually write bad reviews bc i don't like to be mean and also bc i never finish a bad book BUT this was an exception!!!

I don't know what to say tbh but this book has everything

Homophobia, bisexual erasure, ableist language, homophobic slurs,....etc

I don't know i stopped counting after the 9820172 f word lmao

[Mona · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.0 star
This was.... not good. I've read my fair share of teen wolf fanfiction and most of that was way better than this. In fact, if this had been a fanfic I would've DNF'd it after about 25 %. Stay clear!

[kau · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s kind of written like a wattpad book? I didn’t enjoy it much.

[Acy Varlan · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book felt like scrolling through TikTok and thinking "what am I doing here?"

[M J · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Bad writing, flat boring characters, irrational plot, misogynistic themes, and throws around the r-word in dialog.

[Cleo Grundberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book years ago on Wattpad and now — an adult — I decided to reread it.

As some have already mentioned: the grammar and spelling is flawed. That will not impact my rating however. She was young and wrote for a young audience, on Wattpad people couldn’t care less to be honest. I sure didn’t care when I first read it.

With that out of the way I would like to start focusing on the intimacy in this book. First of all, some of the sex scenes could have been cut out or at least rewritten. Showing intimacy between the characters can enhance the romance in the story — which it beautifully did at first — but it felt overused. The scenes started to become repetitive and more like fillers rather than something important to the plot. Secondly you could unfortunately tell that this book was written before 2018. Consent felt optional and there were scenes in which boundaries were crossed without it being addressed. I will not blame the author, she was young and it was not something which disturbed Wattpad readers then. However as an adult in 2023 it did raise questions.

Some characters — most notably the female characters — were poorly written. Most of them were quite annoying actually, even the main character’s best friend. I would call them “filler-characters”, characters that were just there to make some noise without really pushing the story forward. Not all characters need to have an importance but most named ones should. I do not however agree with some of the reviews which criticised the main characters’ development as well (Aiden and Liam). Sure, they embodied a lot of stereotypes, but I wouldn’t say they were poorly developed. I didn’t like Aiden so much — oops — but Liam was in my opinion very likeable.

I won’t touch much on the portrayal of addiction and physical abuse other than it was poorly written. Again, she was a young author on Wattpad I don’t want to be so harsh.

Despite some of the major problems mentioned above, I couldn’t stop reading it. I loved it when I was 14-15 and I did enjoy it now. The plot captures me and the bond between the main characters makes it worth to continue reading. My best advice is to read this as it was written as — a Wattpad story — rather than a book.

I may be biased while rating this book due to nostalgia. If I were to read it the first time now it would have gotten 2 stars max. But my teenage self really came forward while rereading this one and therefore I would give it 3,5 stars. Thank you T. Lanay for creating a story that stuck with me for all these years.

[Ev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to count this book as read because I basically read the whole thing minus the last ten chapters because I read it online and they didn't have the last ten chapters there. I'm kinda sad but also kinda of okay with not reading the last ten chapters. I mean I'm not saying it was a bad book but at times I had to skip over stuff because it was legitimately painful to read. I did enjoy the book overall if I'm being honest. I kind of want to finish it still just to know the ending but there were a couple things that annoyed me. 1. There was so much swearing. Like it felt like someone was swearing everytime the characters started talking 2. Brent is a twisted little brat and I hated his guts literally the whole book. He had very twisted motives and yes you are meant to hate me but I just ABSOLUTELY despise him. 3. WHY DO ALL THE FEMALE CHARACTERS SCREECH SO MUCH? Like they all need to chill. It felt like all of them were just a joke except one foil character that the screeching actually fit. And finally 4. Why do they all pout so much? Like I feel like every character dramatically pouted at least once. Also can I just mention that there isn't a single character under the age of 14. Like how do you even write something with no tiny beans? Idk to be honest the plot of the overall story was pretty good. I mean it kept me reading even though at times I really really didn't want to. This book has a good meaning to it though which I appreciate and is the whole reason I stared reading it in the first place. I appreciate the authors determination to get their point across....also I love werewolves but this book kind of takes werewolves to a weird level that I don't like quite so much. I mean they're still cool and all but ehh. Although I love the part where the main character is like: "So are you more like a twilight kind of werewolf or an underworld kind of werewolf?" That part made me smile. Well a lot of it made me smile and other things. Would I recommend you to read it...maybe? Depends. I'd say it's a good read if you can handle all the "handsy-ness" yeah that's a good word for it. I don't know if I'll read the last ten chapters if I stumble across a copy of it maybe I will but I liked the story. It was good overall. Don't think I'll read the other books in the series but we'll see I guess. most likely not though. That's my speel. Thanks for reading lol.

[Jacque Loftus · Rating 4 out of 5]

so good, but a few notes

I gave this four stars because something about it made me want to keep reading. It deserves a chance—and includes my favorite—mates, fantasy and lgbtq romance. I absolutely loved the plot and characters. But, I felt like the writing was amateurish. There were a lot of exclamation points and awkward wording at times. It was distracting and a little odd, so I was constantly torn between enjoying the story, while also being annoyed with the grammar and flow. Lastly, (and please don’t x this book completely, it really does deserve a chance and I don’t mean to be harsh) but it hurt my feelings to see so many derogatory words. I know some of them were coming from an enemy (Brent and classmates calling the MC a fag for starters) but some were negative thoughts on sexuality from the MCs themselves. And I know, coming out can be hard on many people—hello mental health and society’s bigotry—yet, the way the words were written, felt a lot less of self esteem and more like not understanding how to appropriately use terms that shouldn’t be used anymore. They were thrown around carelessly. Most importantly, the word retarted. It was used in casual conversation like the kids used to say—not to mean harm to individuals with disabilities but as slang. But it’s 2022 and not acceptable anymore. And when it’s used it’s sending the message that it’s still okay to say. My son has Down syndrome so I have a personal reason for the word feeling extra ignorant, but I feel like there is little excuse to use it. There are literally thousands of other words that can replace it. Please take these notes from my opinion into consideration, because this is the first review I felt was important to write. But also know, that I still read the book and enjoyed it, and am only trying to say it from a helpful place, not from a sour attitude. It has so much potential and overall had a lot of things I loved.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a some time ago I read this book, but it is good nonetheless. I would re-read it and that says something, because usually I would consider that boring, maybe unless multiple years had passed. I don't really remember the details, but I loved that this book had multiple focusses. Like Brent and the stages of Aiden and Liam's relationship. I also read the other books in this series (1-4, 5 is still in the making) and I would also highly recommend those. They are all diffrent in their own way. It doesn't get boring, because they are all diffrent stories.

I'm sorry this review doesn't say a lot, but it was a long time ago I read this book and I'm kinda tired. I still wanted to help this author, because she's really awesome and so are her books. So please believe me if I say these books are must reads and absolutely incredible. (or whatever I wanted to say that I forgot with my sleepy head)

I hope I have encouraged and convinced you to go read this book/these books. Have fun reading them!

[JC · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story the only thing I think needed work was editing. This feels like the first draft of a book and not the finished product. There is a ton of over descriptiveness and repetition that isn’t needed once established. Also the characters outside of the main two needed to be filled out a bit more so they don’t feel so cardboard cut out like. My biggest issue with the whole book is how the situation with Dom and Jeanine is written. Everyone blames Jeanine for being afraid that Dom is a werewolf as if it isn’t a completely NORMAL reaction. Just because Aiden immediately accepted it doesn’t mean Jeanine was wrong for being afraid and rejecting him ESPECIALLY when no one bothered to explain the werewolf world to her to help sooth her concerns and instead constantly blamed her and called her selfish when she knows nothing about that world (I’m looking at you Aiden). Besides that I enjoyed the book and the love story since I am a character driven reader I don’t care much that the plot was barely there and basically only appeared near the end.

[Alexia ChGx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is honestly one of my books about the topic. I love how the whole series explores many ideas and things that many writers wouldn't even dare to think about writing it. And it's really important to talk about this subject, specially so people going through the same do something or speak up. I know well that this is fantasy but it really helps to think someone else is thinking similar things as you. And to be honest I wasn't that open about my own sexuality, and this kind of books help you. Plus the drama and all the action is really interesting and exciting. And don't get me started with the heated parts. But this book isn't only about that but it also talks about accepting not only others but yourself, loyalty, compassion, and overall love. So it's an beautiful book, and an amazing book series. Well done!!!

[G. R. M.]

I read this book on Wattpad a while ago and re-read it by accident today. When the sense of déjà-vu became too strong and my boredom too blatant to be ignored, I checked and yes, it's the same book I read before... so I dropped it. There are just books that I don't feel like reading twice, especially not Wattpad's books. The stereotypes, the clichés and those damn werewolf stories that make people go mad... They are no longer my cup of tea and I do no longer understand the high ratings of such ridiculous stories. But to be fair, I won't give it any rating. I wouldn't give it a good rating because I didn't like it and it wasn't some mind-blowing masterpieace, and I wouldn't give it a bad one only for the sake of my dejection. I won't. All my ratings and reviews are rational. Though, I will keep this review so that I won't try to read it another time again!

[Estela · Rating 5 out of 5]

All It Took Was One Look is an amazing book and I am so glad that it is getting published. I stumbled across it while looking for a werewolf book and I am so glad that I did. It is a great story that entwines the paranormal, love, as well as what it is like to be part of the LGBT community. While reading I was able to feel the emotions that the characters felt and what they went through with them as well as grew to love (or sometimes hate) the characters. I was also able to feel the love that spilled from this book which made me love it so much more. I love this book as well as the series (have read it three times) so much and I am so glad that I will soon be able to add it to my book shelf.

[Shelida · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was my first bxb romance stories that i read on my fav site Wattpad i love this book so much that i was soo happy to hear that it was published on amazon and i went and got the book just to read it over again and i still love it, even though its on amazon now and the author who is known on wattpad is robokitt is one of my fav authors, i looove the Blue moon series sooo much that i even made a pic video of them , i watch it like every other day...this series makes me cry laugh, angry, and happy. i have recommended this series to many of my friends n they love it the same.

[Joseph · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book, I only got about half way through with it and I just couldn't continue. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that a family that was supposed to be as close as the MC says couldn't be that stupid and ignore the abuse happening right in front of their faces. That just killed any potential that the story had. This was the first book added to my pile of shame (did not finish) stack for the year. And it's a shame too because the story was recommended by a friend, but I just couldn't get past the stupidity and idiocy of the characters.