Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun: A Novel

Written by Jonny Garza Villa

Narrated by Avi Roque

A poignant, funny, openhearted novel about coming out, first love, and being your one and only best and true self.

Julián Luna has a plan for his life: Graduate. Get into UCLA. And have the chance to move away from Corpus Christi, Texas, and the suffocating expectations of others that have forced Jules into an inauthentic life.

Then in one reckless moment, with one impulsive tweet, his plans for a low-key nine months are thrown—literally—out the closet. The downside: the whole world knows, and Jules has to prepare for rejection. The upside: Jules now has the opportunity to be his real self.

Then Mat, a cute, empathetic Twitter crush from Los Angeles, slides into Jules’s DMs. Jules can tell him anything. Mat makes the world seem conquerable. But when Jules’s fears about coming out come true, the person he needs most is fifteen hundred miles away. Jules has to face them alone.

Jules accidentally propelled himself into the life he’s always dreamed of. And now that he’s in control of it, what he does next is up to him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713568018

Jonny Garza Villa

JONNY GARZA VILLA (they/them) is an author of contemporary young adult literature with characters and settings inspired by their own Tejane, Chicane, and queer identities, including the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun and Ander & Santi Were Here, a Bookshop.org Best YA of 2023 selection. Whatever the storyline, Jonny ultimately hopes Latines, and, more specifically, queer Mexican American young people will feel seen in their writing. When not writing, Jonny enjoys reading, playing Dungeons and Dragons, visiting taquerías, listening to Selena, and caring for their many cacti children. They live in San Antonio.

Reviews for Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun

[Keighley Patrick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the story a lot. It was heartwarming and lovely.

[Orlando Astiazaran · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Insufferable caricature of “latinex” culture made it unreadable for me.
A silly attempt at a representation of hispanic culture through the use of stale stereotypes.

[gadosiahe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jonny Garza Villa has pulled no punches with their debut novel, Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun. While some of those punches come while the characters deal with hard issues like anxiety and homophobia, some of them are happy punches - the romance in this book is fantastic from start to finish. A reader may read a description of the novel and think it's just another coming-out, queer teen YA romance, but you could not be more wrong. Everything in the book, from the characters to the language to the romance tropes, have the unique touch I hope Villa continues in their future works. Everything from the way the main character comes out to the way his friends handle it is new and refreshing. The cultures Villa depicts feel authentic and integral to the story without feeling shoehorned in. The drama is appropriately melodramatic without feeling over the top, and the stakes feel sufficiently high without feeling artificially inflated. Overall, I have nothing but compliments for the book. The characters are amazing, the plot is exciting, and the writing is fantastic. 5/5 stars.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

teen fiction, queer interest, Latinx non-binary author (closeted Latinx gay boy from Corpus Christi TX meets Vietnamese gay boy from Los Angeles on Twitter, and they are just about the cutest long-distance couple ever)I received an egalley of this from netgalley but wasn't able to download/open it, so had to wait a couple extra months for my library to receive it from the vendor. So this was a long-anticipated read, and I am so glad I finally got to read it!The characters are instantly likeable and they provide a welcome dose of humor and sarcasm throughout. Parts of the story are partly drawn from the author's own experience (according to the preface), and all of it feels very real, especially the trauma of coming out to a (sometimes violent) father who will not accept that his son is gay.Very sweet story full of (thankfully) very supportive friends. Recommended.