Shoot the Moon

by Isa Arsén

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

Intelligent but isolated physics graduate Annie Fisk feels an undeniable pull toward space. When she lands a job as a NASA secretary during the Apollo 11 mission, she feels certain this path is her destiny. Her memories of childhood darkened by loss, she’s left behind her home, her mother, and her first love. And now she’s finally found her purpose. Even typing dictation, the work is everything she dreamed, and despite her budding attraction to one of the engineers, she can’t let herself be distracted. Not now.

So when her inability to ignore an engineer’s 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 fears and reach toward the limits of human advancement? Will she chase her ambitions, and risk losing herself in them? Affectingly achronological in its telling, Shoot the Moon daringly explores one woman’s quest for both intellectual fulfilment and romantic love, the price paid for scientific progress, and the heart’s persistent yearning for home.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Queer, Audiobook, LGBT

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2023

About the author

Isa Arsén is a certified bleeding heart based in South Texas, where she lives with her spouse and a comically small dog.

Her work has been featured in Stone of Madness Press, The McNeese Review, and several independent anthologies and audiovisual projects. Her novels include SHOOT THE MOON (Putnam, 2023), and the forthcoming midcentury drama THE UNBECOMING OF MARGARET WOLF (Putnam, 2025).

When not wrangling prose, Isa is a dialogue engineer & writer for interactive media.

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable Read But Glaring Errors

Shoot The Moon seems to be a mashup of Lessons in Chemistry and The Time Traveler’s Wife. Although the book is enjoyable to read with short chapters keeping the pages moving, this book has underdeveloped characters, it took too long to get to the sci fi elements, and there are plot holes.

This book does hold a special place in my heart because, out of all of the books that I own with a painted edge, Shoot the Moon is my favorite.




After graduating from college, Annie Fisk follows her life’s dream to work for NASA and ends up as a secretary on the Apollo mission. After discovering crucial mistakes, she is promoted to a new position. But what will Annie discover in work, love, and life?

Annie is a complex character with some well-developed, interesting backstory. However, next to nothing is known about the other characters. Additionally, the way Annie treated her best friend was not believable even in an age before the internet.

There is a science fiction element that comes into play which was really interesting, but it occurs, in my opinion, too late in the book. I’m trying not to spoil anything so I will try to talk very generally. The science fiction element was not fleshed out enough, and it left me with more questions than answers. In particular, the locations of the science fiction element were extremely convenient, not pointing to accidental or chance placement, and I thought that would be explained but never was. Why can certain people interact with the element and not others? No answers. Why are certain things remembered but not others?

Shoot the Moon is a quick read and is an interesting take on some familiar tropes. However, I don’t think that it is quite ready to go down as one of literature’s greatest.

*Thanks, Putnam Books, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.

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[Terrie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 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.

[Katie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not surprising I enjoyed Shoot the Moon as the story incorporated some subjects I'm interested in like space exploration and women making advancements in male-dominated career fields. This book took me on a unique and unexpected journey. As an avid reader it's something I truly appreciate as that's not the case with every book I pick up.

The story alternates between different time periods of Annie Fisk's life. You get to see parts of her childhood growing up in New Mexico, her college years and close relationship with someone who eventually becomes more than just a friend, and her work at NASA during the Apollo space mission era. This non-linear storytelling method worked well. It's like the author was giving you puzzle pieces along the way and the end is when you see the big picture.

At some point things go in a for lack of a better word, sciencey direction. The basic concept is easy to understand but some of the stuff went over my head. Interestingly enough, this is the heart of the story and there are some really beautiful and heartbreaking moments especially towards the end of the book.

Glad I read it and hope other readers put this one on their tbr lists.

Thank you G.P. Putnam's Sons for sending me an advance copy! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

[Maren’s Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every so often, I see a book that doesn’t necessarily sound like one I’ll love, but something about it just speaks to me. When I was offered a chance to read and review this book, I jumped at the chance. Boy am I glad I did.

I am almost hard pressed to believe this is a debut, with its multifaceted characters, deep layers of interesting and engaging plot line, and it’s setting in such an intriguing and pivotal moment in time for both women and space exploration. I flew (pardon the pun), and I mean flew through this book, desperate to know what ultimately happened to each character.

And the romance. Oh my goodness - the romance is spectacular. I won’t say more because I do not want to spoil the fun, but I will say that I am still thinking about these characters and some of their most swoon worthy lines weeks after reading it. Arsen does a spectacular job of balancing each of these genres in such a way, that none overshadows another.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is the hidden gem we often search for reading book after book and is equally fantastic on audio. Did I mention yet that this is a debut??!

ʀ ᴇ ᴀ ᴅ ɪ ғ ʏ ᴏ ᴜ ʟ ɪ ᴋ ᴇ :
📚women in stem
💖beautiful love stories
👨‍🚀history of NASA
🚀space exploration
👩‍👧magical realism
📸 dual timelines
📗evelyn hugo
📺the astronaut wives club

Thank you Putnam and PRH Audio for the gifted copies.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isa Arsén has done it again. Though this is a debut, every word I've read by this author feels hand-plucked from the stars, perfect for the story and the sound of each and every line. The fabric of Shoot the Moon is no exception. This book is remarkable. Annie Fisk's journey through loss, family, love, and science is compelling. Breathtaking. Heartbreaking. The characters are full of desire you can feel in your skin, and in their reaching there is every beautiful thing fiction can do.

For fans of Interstellar, Hidden Figures, and other character-driven, gorgeously-written celestial stories.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up!

I really enjoyed this historical fiction, queer romance with a strong woman in STEM lead and a really unique time loop element. Set mainly in the late 60s as the race to land a man on the moon is amping up, Annie finds herself falling for a man while working for NASA and making a unique scientific anomaly discovery of her own. Perfect for fans of Bonnie Garmus's Lessons in chemistry and great on audio narrated by Kristin Sieh. Many thanks to @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

[Courtney Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just didn’t really ‘get’ this. It was confusing and nebulous. I still can’t even really say what it was about. I liked the main character and the relationships she had, but, the anomaly was confusing and not explained well. I may just be too dumb to understand this.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok so this book gets like a solid 3.8/5 for me.

This was a relatively quick read for me and while I was able to figure out some of the plot twists, there were some that I didn't catch until the reveal. I love the concept of this novel, and I feel like it was on the right track to follow in the veins of "Lessons in Chemistry" meets "Hidden Figures." but it didn't quite hit the mark.

Annie Fisk is bisexual, but given her inner monologues we get, she is coded more like an aromantic bisexual. None of her relationships with other characters feels full fleshed out, and they feel one sided from the other party. This made some of the romantic and family plotlines a little less believable (especially how "distracted" she claims to get)

HOWEVER, she gets major kudos for being a bad a** lady scientist, who has the guts to speak her mind, but at the same time never actually feels like she achieves her goal of getting to space. With all the time jumps, its takes until about halfway through the book to actually get to NASA and even then, there is not a lot of plot dedicated to her work with Apollo 11. At this point the story goes into what I at first thought was left field, but in reality it was the glue that brought the entire novel full circle. By the end, I was much more able to better appreciate what the overarching themes were.

[Denise Ruttan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up for the outstanding bisexual representation, but I had very mixed feelings about this book.

“Shoot the Moon” is historical fiction set primarily at NASA during the moon landing. It follows the life of Annie, a young woman with a brilliant mind at a time when women had limited career options. Her father was a scientist, too, but worked on the bomb, work that plagued him all his life.

Annie wants to go into rocketry but into space exploration, instead. She breaks into NASA in the secretarial pool and works her way up to programmer. While at NASA she finds herself distracted by a charming navigator named Norman, all while nursing lingering feelings for her first love, her college girlfriend. Annie stumbles into a mystery at NASA, an anomaly in space time.

I thought this would be like Lessons in Chemistry but make it queer but it wasn’t really that. I found the pacing uneven. I didn’t expect the spiciness of the sex scenes either - I love spicy romance and I read a lot of it, but this definitely wasn’t a romance. Does every genre now have to have spice? Anyway. A lot more time was spent on Annie’s relationships than the mystery, which I found the most intriguing part of the book.

I found it confusing to follow how the narrative jumped back and forth between Annie as a child, Annie at college and Annie in present day, and didn’t understand why the childhood Annie passages were written in third person. It starts to come together at the end with ((spoilers)) but I still had questions.

But three cheers for well done bisexual rep showing both m/f and f/f relationships as well as historically accurate depictions of what it was like to be a woman and queer at that time. I also liked the author’s engaging writing style.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75! Honestly this is Lessons In Chemistry and The Time Travelers Wife’s baby but make it about space travel. I listened to the audio and it was fantastic. It honestly wasn’t even that hard to follow which you would have thought it to be since it jumps into 3 different time periods but I thoroughly enjoyed this book!!!

[Ashley Holcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christopher Nolan for the girlies. Loved it.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book follows Annie Fisk, the child of a physicist, from childhood through her post-NASA career in 1978. The story is not told chronologically, but skips to different times and places. While I found this distracting at first, I adjusted, and found it added to the charm of the story.

Annie was fascinated with science and space as a young child. She idolized her father, and shared his scientific mind. When her father dies suddenly, she struggles to find a common bond with her mother.

Annie leaves her New Mexico home to attend college in Texas. There she meets her first love, Evelyn, She also develops a strong bond with a professor. Both of these relationships remain significant beyond college.

Annie graduates from college and heads to Houston to work for NASA. There, she blossoms both personally and professionally. She falls in love again, and marries her colleague, Norman.

Annie makes a discovery while NASA is working to send a man to the moon. This discovery could impact space travel. This impacts her life significantly.

This is a beautiful story of a woman’s journey. She blossoms from a lonely child to a brilliant scientist. Although it takes a while, Annie learns to give and receive love freely. She learns to move on from loss, and embrace life.

The ending of this book was a lovely surprise for me. It brought the story together in a way I did not anticipate.

This is Isa Arsén‘s first novel, and it is a winner. Her writing is engaging and the characters are multidimensional. I really loved this book, and look forward to seeing future works from Ms. Arson.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and the author for providing me with an advance copy of this book so I could prepare this review. This book is scheduled to be released in October, 2023.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a really fantastic book. I loved Annie and getting to watch her go through life. I just wish that the book had been in pure chronological order because I had a really hard time keeping everything straight. I understand thematically why it was done this way, and it's purely a personal issue because I'm so bad at numbers and dates, but I felt like it would have flown so much better chronologically. It took me weeks to get through the first half of the book, and then the second half in about two days.

[Tracy Hipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book I would've chosen for myself, but I loved it. I am part of a bookclub that sends me a book monthly. This novel is part sci-fi (not my thing AT ALL), historical fiction and a love story (also not my thing). It reminded me a lot of The Time Travelers Wife.

[imabookmagnet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I’m going to contradict myself here but I’m going for it. I enjoyed the author’s writing and it was a quick read. HOWEVER the jumping back and forth on various timeline’s was confusing- and I usually like a story with more than one timeline.
This story had some very unexpected storylines that really through me off. I liked Alice’s relationship with her father, her time in school and her work at NASA but this book just didn’t do it for me. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review

[Terri M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I found my new genre of choice - a little bit historical fiction, a little romance, and a little science fiction or fantasy. This story is creative and unique. It is told in individual chapters that jump around throughout Annie's life. There is so much feeling in each chapter as she navigates her family and romantic relationships while pursuing her passion of space exploration.

[Susan VS · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really liked this book in spite of the parallels to Lessons in Chemistry (which I also really enjoyed, just unfortunate timing) The only thing I really objected to was the ease/quick transition from Norm back to Evelyn. It seemed kind of glib and contrived.

[Laura Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had liked this book more. I loved the premise, but I struggled really getting into the book. Once I did, I enjoyed the characters and the story, but it took a while.

[Diane Vallere · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of 2023!

Loved it.

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shoot the Moon was a not entirely unenjoyable Frankenbook from debut author Isa Arsén. If Hidden Figures, Lessons in Chemistry and the Fly were a coming-of-age romance…

[Courtney Halverson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Annie Fisk is a brilliant but isolated physics graduate who joins NASA as a secretary during the Apollo 11 mission, hoping to fulfill her destiny. Her sharp intellect earns her a promotion after correcting an engineer's error, thrusting her into a world of ambition, love, and a discovery that challenges her understanding of science. Torn between her dreams, her heart, and the pull of home, Annie must navigate the cost of progress and the search for fulfillment in this achronological tale of passion and purpose.
This is one of those books where if I would have read the summary I would have probably enjoyed it more. I didn't realize there was going to be a sci fi element to it, so when that popped up I was surprised and not in a good way. I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this one and a look at NASA during the space race but that was about the only part I enjoyed. The whole sci fi aspect just didn't feel fleshed out to me. How convenient were the locations it was happening. Why nobody else really seemed to care too much about it after the failed experiment. I feel like if something like this were actually discovered it would have garnered a lot more attention and not just been left.

[Sue Publicover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put “Lessons in Chemistry”, “Hidden Figures”, and “The Time Traveler’s Wife” in a blender, pulse, and then pour it out. That’s “Shoot the Moon”. And it’s a delicious blend of these wonderful ingredients.

Annie Fisk is the daughter of a rocket scientist who worked on “the bomb” in the 1940s and 50s in the government’s New Mexico lab. She has his brilliance, persistence, and curiosity.

In her debut—and stunning—novel, Isa Arsen presents Annie’s complex story of pursuing a dream that was unlikely for women in the 1960s—working at NASA as something other than a secretary. Weave in the subplots of her bisexuality and discovery of an anomaly that allows brief time travel. It’s a unique, entertaining story for anyone who enjoyed the three books I mentioned.

Arsen’s prose is lyrical. She found a way to make complex science digestible. The book is written in several timelines, from the late 1940s and ending in 1978, but although it bounces around, the story is easy to follow.

This was Arsen’s first novel. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

[Di Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t quite get there for me. I can’t really put my finger on it, but when I was done, I had that “was that it?” kind of feeling. It wasn’t a bad book. I liked the characters, but I think it was just a little too predictable for me. Annie Fisk grew up in a home filled with science. So it was no surprise that she grew up to be a scientist herself, except it was the 1960’s, and women were not generally welcomed into that world or NASA. The book has a time travel element, so the story moves back and forth through time, but it was easy to follow. It was actually a pretty quick read. Maybe it was too similar to the Lessons in Chemistry theme to really engage me, but it sort of felt like a snack that wasn’t completely satisfying.

[Heather Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Needs more science and less kissing.

[Alicia 💕 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Alexandra Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I am the only one who adored Norm and that saddens me.. He definitely brought brightness to this book and I really loved his character, very well written! What I do not like is how quick Annie went back to Evelyn. Would have been more realistic as emotional support/friend not love interest so quickly after a significant event.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam Books, for the Digital Review Copy.

“Intelligent but isolated recent physics graduate Annie Fisk feels an undeniable pull toward space. Her childhood memories are 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…Annie finds herself torn between her ambition, her heart, and a mysterious discovery that upends everything she knows to be scientifically true.” (GoodReads)

Not any one genre, this mash-up was a perfect blend of several. If this is Arsén’s debut, I commit to reading everything else she writes.

This was a unique and unexpected genre-melding story! It starts out as historical fiction with tiny hints of science fiction, so subtle they were easy to forget or overlook as the rest of the story developed. It builds into a compelling story of an ambitious physicist finding her footing at NASA in the 60s (it would pair nicely with HIDDEN FIGURES). There’s even some romance, and it was all shaping up to be a solid story of love, vulnerability, and following your dreams when … WHAM! We take a hard left turn into solid sci-fi again! But it’s believable and approachable science sci-fi (think Andy Weir and Blake Crouch) with one of the coolest explanations of wormholes I’ve read. It was all wrapped up with an ending that made sense and was tied together logically. In fact, the last two chapters were so satisfying (both emotionally and technically) that I bumped it from 4.5 to 5 stars.

If you’re willing to take a chance on an emotionally intelligent Historical Fiction/ Sci-Fi/ Sapphic Romance, you need to pick this one up.

[Andrea Ingmire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I take issue with some of the science here, but good story.

[Andrea Gunter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wanted to like this but unfortunately it just wasn't very well written. The prose was so overwrought, I felt like I was reading bad fan fiction. It's so hard to find good lesbian historical fiction but this was some of the worst I've come across in a long time.

[Abby Gibbons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean you know how much I love a good space book. It was sweet. A bit more on the fiction side of science fiction.