Mooncakes

by Suzanne Walker

Wendy Xu (Artist)

“Mooncakes is spellbinding. It had everything I love in a story—magic that felt inventive, characters that became my friends, and a romance that felt truly authentic. It was one of those books that I was sad to see end. Luckily, I can always reread.” —Tillie Walden, creator of Spinning and On a Sunbeam

"Mooncakes transported me to a gorgeous magical realm that I never want to leave, and introduced me to lovable characters who stuck with me long after I finished reading. This graphic novel is the joyful fantasy romance we all need right now, and it might just restore your faith in magic." —Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

“Mooncakes is heartwarming, playful and absolutely magical! A story about love and family, with a kind and powerful core that radiates through the vibrant cast of characters.”  —Katie O'Neill, author of The Tea Dragon Society and Princess Princess Ever After

A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft.

Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. 
 
One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home. 
 
Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

• ISBN10: 154930304X
• ISBN13: 9781549303043
• Publish Date: 7 March 2023 (first published 3 August 2021)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Lion Forge, LLc, The
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Book Summary:

Nova Huang is a teenage witch. There are many assumptions about what a teenage witch should be doing. For Nova, most of her life is spent helping around her grandmothers' bookshop. She loves helping – and loves the magic.

Her life had been calm and quiet - right up until Tam Lang swept back into town. Tam is in trouble, which is saying something for a young werewolf. They will need Nova's help to face the evil they're up against.

My Review:

I can see why Mooncakes was nominated for an award (Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Graphic Novels & Comics). It is SO sweet and easy to fall in love with. Honestly, I hate that it took me this long to read it.

The best part of Mooncakes has to be the characters. Each character is unique in her/their own way (grandmothers and best friends included); it's enough to hold any reader's attention. But what kicks it another notch up has to be their chemistry. It's perfect.

Speaking of perfect – that artwork! I sincerely believe that the story of Mooncakes, while enchanting, would not have been so powerful without this specific art and style to back it up. There's something that brings it to life. Plus, I adore the color choices.

Highlights:
Witches & Werewolves
LGBT
Non-binary main character
Wholesome fantasy

Trigger Warnings:
Cults

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[Nessa Luna]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This has not changed my opinion in any way.

Oh my god, this was just so adorable! I love the atmosphere of this graphic novel and I loved the two main characters. The artwork was really beautiful as well, I might go and check out more by Wendy Xu soon!

[layawaydragon]

Yesss!!!! I loved everything about this. The art is amazing. I genuinely teared up about these two getting their happy ending. Yay for queer romances and found families. And supportive skeptic best friends to magical people lol. I SO want MORE!!

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I spotted Mooncakes for the first time at ALA where my friend Erin told me that I absolutely HAD to read it! I missed out on grabbing an ARC of it there but thankfully received one from Netgalley later. The art style was what really made me want to pick this one up and I couldn't wait to dive in! Unfortunately, once I started reading it took me way too long to get through this relatively short graphic novel.

Mooncakes is a story about a witch named Nova and her friend Tam, who happens to be a werewolf and may also be more than a friend. First let me say there is so much amazing rep in this book! Nova wears hearing aids, Tam is non-binary, both are Chinese American, and they're in a relationship with each other.

I adored watching Nova and Tam learn about their magical sides and the friendship between these two was so cute, although their romance was a bit instalovey. I know that there was already history between them before the start of the book, but I wish there had been a bit more lead up to their romance.

While I did enjoy the art style and the story was fun, I did wish there had been a bit more depth to it. The plot was a bit generic and surface level and the villain was underwhelming. It definitely felt like younger YA than I expected. I did find myself a bit bored at times, but it was still a cute read. I'd definitely give it a try if you're in the mood for a cute, witchy, and diverse graphic novel!

[Pigpen.Reads]

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy.

This will be a great read for October! Witches, spells, queer, and super adorable graphics.
I have heard a lot of hype for this book and it is definitely well deserved!

This was such a cute short story! There was representation that is much needed, a cute romance that even I got on board with (I am honestly not the biggest romance fan), and witchcraft!
We follow Nova, who has a pretty complicated life. In this story, we see her deal with things that she didn’t even know she would ever have to deal with, find herself, and come to terms with everything.
This graphic novel has some amazing strong friendships, an interesting family, and a pretty good plot.

[paperbackjedi]

I have been following Mooncakes since it was being published as a webcomic on tumblr and I'm so happy to see it coming into print. I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mooncakes is a queer, sweet, heartfelt, handwritten love letter to love, friendship and families whether they be the family you were born with or the family you choose along the way. The cast of characters is diverse and rendered with such tenderness that you want to hug everyone. Nova is a witch carefully finding her footing in a world that has been hard for her. Raised by her grandmothers, she begins the comic searching for purpose and direction. Enter long-time friend and crush Tam, a werewolf, who comes back in to her life with a problem that takes a village to solve. With everyone working together, they fight to protect their homes both literally and metaphorically speaking. The end result is something so pure and wonderful and I cannot recommend it enough.

The art style is lovely, full of muted Fall colors and evokes the same sweet sentiment of the story itself, creating a truly complementary experience overall. The level of detail is impressive, every panel is designed with balance and symmetry, nothing overwhelming any of the story notes, and with an aesthetic that is truly pleasing to the eye.

I specifically applaud the genderqueer representation and perfectly executed acceptance without hesitation or question of Tam Lang in all their magical brilliance. If you like stories about discovering who you are and what you could be, sweet, soft romances, and a touch of magic, you will love this.

[Julie @ Struck by Stories]

So you guys all know that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get when you’re reading a cute YA romance? Yep. That was EXACTLY how I felt reading this!

The novel revolves around Nova, a teen witch & employee of her mother’s company. Everything is going as usual until one day, she hears rumors about a white wolf wandering through the woods. Nova immediately associates it with Tam, her childhood friend/werewolf that she hasn’t seen in years.

Without out getting into too many spoilers, this leads to them getting tangled up in a magical conspiracy, and (to nobody’s surprise!) even rekindling their old friendship. It’s no secret that I’m a total sucker for slowburn romances, and this one

One thing that I would like to comment on is the diversity. Nova is queer, and Tam is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. This was my first time reading about a nonbinary character, and it felt really special for me to finally see this kind of representation in YA literature. Wendy and Suzanne (the authors) get into this a lot in a letter they crafted to the readers, and I’ve attached in the gallery below.

As for the graphics, they were BEYOND adorable! I’ve also included a slideshow below of a few screenshots I took while reading it on my computer so you can see exactly what I mean

[celinenyx]

SO CUTE OMG