Omg, I can’t believe I almost didn’t read this.

I initially thought that this book would be too light and cheery for me until I heard that one of the main characters were non-binary and the other one was hearing impaired and this book not only mentions that once but makes sure that their identities and handicaps impact the story and the characters as well, without making it a weakness or all they are.

The story is absolutely beautiful, with the right balance between youthful innocence and the joys of first love but the art...the art was what made sure I would never forget this book. The colors are absolutely perfect evoking second-hand bookshops on their own and I can barely wait to have the finished product in my hands.

The characters are drawn in such a realist way: there are wrinkles, belly rolls, stray hairs, different body types that look weird and heavy when seating down in certain positions... there are no words that can express the marvel of reading a graphic novel without hyper-sexualized female bodies.

I enjoyed seeing how every character had a distinct fashion sense and none of them needed to bare skin to mark themselves as the protagonist or the love interest, maybe because this graphic novel is co-authored by two women. Not only that but 90% of its characters are female as well, marking a huge change in an industry that is normally male-dominated and male orientated.

Also, if you like adorable magical creatures, this book is your Holy Grail because I was on cuteness overload from the first time I saw the forest spirits in Nova’s backyard.

This is an absolutely unmissable story about finding love and family and accepting each other for what we are. If you are looking for a quick read with an amazing story and unbelievable art, you cannot miss this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss+ and Lion Forge for this ARC.

Easter Eggs Warning:

There is a scene in which Nova is moving some of her books around and I recognized some of them as YA just not the titles.

This was such an adorable graphic novel with the cutesy type of art style that I love so much. It had some fun paranormal elements like witches, werewolves and demons along with the small town and bookstore setting that I love. We get a sweet queer romance between the female main character and a nonbinary crush from her childhood. Then theres the wonderful female friendship and family relationships. The main characters two demon slaying grandmothers were awesome. I also appreciated the hearing impaired representation with the main character having hearing aids. On top of all that we get an interesting plot with the myserious demon loose in a nearby forest.

Thank you, Netgalley and the Publisher, for providing me with an eARC for an honest opinion.

I have to admit that I don’t read enough graphic novels and I wish I read more, but many don’t grab my attention or interest. Yet, Mooncakes had my full attention the first time I saw this beautiful cover and then when I saw everyone saying great things about it.

Mooncakes is the story of Nova, a young witch, her Nanas (the most supportive and loving grandmas) and an unexpected arrival, Tam Lang, who happens to be Nova’s childhood bestfriend, and their crazy adventure fighting off demons and magic rituals in their own town.
In this book you will find friendships, a very soft and cute romance, witchy magic, demons, and a cast of amazingly real characters.

I absolutely adored all the scenes in the shop and the interactions with the grandmas, and how all of those radiated positive emotions.

Mooncakes is a very simple and inclusive story and, in my opinion, that’s what makes it so great. Even if the reader usually doesn’t read or doesn’t like graphic novels, they can still enjoy this. It’s quick, diverse, hard to put down, it has a compelling plot and the illustrations are beautiful.

This is the type of graphic novel you pick up when you’re in need of romance, magic and heartwarming relationships; or where you find yourself in a reading slump, because this so wholesome and it will make you smile from the first page to the very last page.

Mooncakes is an adorable queer comic book with lots of magic and wholesome friendships. The story is about Nova, a teen witch who works in her family's book store, who reunite with her childhood friend, Tam, who is also a werewolf.

I absolutely loved the diversity of the characters; our two main characters, Nova and Tam are Chinese Americans (yas representation). Not only that, Tam is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns while Nova is bisexual and wears hearing aids.

I loved how inclusive this book was and how affectionate the family is. The grandmas are so cute and Nova's best friend is so so supportive. The graphic novel is definitely a story about accepting yourself and your family. The puns are adorable, and the art is so warm and nice. It's such a fuzzy and warm read, which I think is perfect that it's coming out during Halloween season.

I requested Mooncakes on a whim because it seemed like a cute story, and I needed a graphic novel for my N.E.W.Ts readathon. I ended up reading it before I was supposed to since I also got Heartstopper and it fits the challenge as well.

This is a cute story about a girl that has magic and her werewolf crush. Together they find family, who they are, and fight their demons and fears.

I know this is an ARC but half the book wasn't colored yet, so it lost some points with me. Still, it was a super, duper cute read and that's what you need to enjoy a summer afternoon.

Cuteeee!! I really like the art style and the story is simple and sweet. This is the perfect feel good quick read for spooky season.

This is one of my favourite graphic novels and I've read a lot! The story managed to be both sweet and inclusive but also exciting and adventurous. I adored the characters, the art was absolutely stunning and the story was brilliant too. It's very rare for me to find a graphic novel where I loved every aspect like this. Highly recommended and I can't wait for the final version to be released.

So I will preface by saying that I can be pretty picky with my graphic novels but this one was super cute and action packed even! It read so easily, plus had amazing art that was super cute, colorful and detailed.

It had great characters and so much diversity! There were even cats which I loved, because every witch needs a black cat. On top of the diversity it also had great messages such as importance of family and finding yourself. But i would definitely classify it as a more fun read!

It kept me on the edge and also made me laugh! I feel like it will be a great cute fall read. I really hope there is a sequel to keep following these characters on their adventures. So thank you to netgalley and lion forge for the advanced read!

This was such a sweet and magical graphic novel! It follows a queer witch and a non-binary werewolf in a small, magical town - honestly, what more could you want?

I don't think I've read any graphic novels before, but I've read plenty of webcomics, so that's what I had to compare this to. I must say, at first it felt very rushed to me. There wasn't much of an introduction, and everything seemed to be moving very quickly - there wasn't much focus on smaller details. We didn't get much background on the characters, the setting, or any real context to the story. Once I got a couple of chapters in though, I stopped noticing.

The characters, world and story completely charmed me. I fell in love with Nova, a hard-of-hearing witch, and their childhood crush, non-binary werewolf Tam. It was so nice to see a non-binary character represented like this, their pronouns respected and never questioned. But the real stars of this for me were Nova's nanas. I mean, honestly, they're a badass witch couple who own a magical bookshop!

The whole vibe of this novel is just pure softness, even down to the colours used. Tam and Nova's relationship is so sweet, fluffy and supportive - you'd need a heart of stone not to fall for them. The plot itself is predictable and honestly, felt kind of irrelevant. I would've happily just read a whole book of everyone hanging out in the bookshop. But regardless, it was fun and gave us some satisfying background and character development - filled in some of that lack of context I was complaining about in the beginning.

If you want a sweet, fluffy romance filled with queer magic, this is absolutely a graphic novel you should read. The art style isn't the most polished, but it's hopelessly charming and the colour palette soothed my soul. A lovely light read filled with positive representation.

The art was exciting and beautiful.
However, the story and characters did not capture me - a little predictable and bland. Also, I felt that there could have been more backstory.

This was a beautiful and sweet story that felt like a warm huh and a good cup of tea. I loved the characters more than the plot and would love to see more of them and their relationships. This will be a new favourite comfort read!

I actually stumbled upon this little gem by accident, but I'm so glad that I did and got to request it! I really love reading graphic novels as of late, especially queer ones, and this (mixed with some witchy goodness) was everything I wanted.

So part of the reason that I REALLY liked this was the sheer amount of effortless diversity. I loved the close non-traditional family structure, the F/NB relationship, an MC who wore hearing aids, the Chinese-American characters and the way that it dealt with some of the struggles that come with those elements. The characters were in fact my favourite part - especially Nova's two sassy grandmothers. I also really enjoyed the plot. It contained a lot of supernatural elements - magic, werewolves, demons, cults etc. So much fun!

I wish it had been a bit longer, or part of a series? It worked as a standalone story but had to fill in a fair amount of exposition as a result and it felt a little like I'd been dropped in partway through a bigger story. I'd love to see more from this world and it's inhabitants! Especially Nova's cousin, as I'm totally curious as to how THAT came about.

Title: Moon cakes
Author: Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu
Rating: 4/5★

( blog review up and coming soon! )

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A story of love, demons, family and witchcraft.

We follow one of two of our main characters named Nova, who is Chinese-American, and still coping with the loss of her parents, while living with her two nanas. And then there is Tam, who is also Chinese-American, and a nonbinary werewolf who grew up with Nova who has recently just came back to town and reconnected to Nova & her family.
While I wish the magic system and the main characters’ previous relationship was more fleshed out and detailed as well as what happened to her parents, it was an adorable story and worthy of all four stars.

It had honest and beautiful portrayals of non-binary gender identity, hearing loss, and grief. the rep in this was wonderful. The DEAF REP mean’t the absolute world to me. My heart is so full I felt like crying. It’s so nice to see someone like me wearing hearing aids in the book/graphic novel world. Her hearing aids kicked ass!!
I will for sure read more by this author in the future.

Nicely done....between witches, magic, werewolf and incorporating LGBTQ, in delightful and amazing graphics novel. can leave you wanting more....

This was a lovely and sweet graphic novel. Tam is a wolf shifter who is non-binary (they). They are trying to stop a demon and comes across their old crush, Nova. I really loved Tam's sense of humor.

Nova is a witch who is also queer and hard of hearing. She is doing an apprenticeship with her two Nana's. I really loved Nova's Nana's. They were everything you would want in a grandma.

Together Nova and Tam work to figure out how to stop a demon. Along the way, they rekindle their relationship and finally admit their feelings for each other.

I loved everything about this comic. It was beautifully written and drawn. The characters are wonderful and captivating. I will most likely buy this comic when it comes out because of how much I loved it. I really hope they write more comics about Nova and Tam.

ARC provided by NetGalley for honest review.

This was so cute! Mooncakes is my first YA comics but I fell in love with it straight away. It's was such an entertaining and easy read, I didn't want it to end. I really hope this will the the first of many adventures for Nova and Tam!
The characters are so charming, it's impossible not to love them and the art itself was very well-done. I really appreciated the representation; it's very rare to have queer, nonbinary and hard-of-hearing characters. It was like a breath of fresh air and I enjoyed it immensely.

ARC provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Mooncakes is a lovely story about a witch and a werewolf in love, fighting off demons, cooking with their grandmas and smooching on the side. It's cute, it's pure and it's just a delight to read!

I loved the characters in this story so much. I loved their personalities, but I also loved their appearance. The drawing style was very apt and eye catching for me. I was in love with how the characters were portrayed--from their outfits to their hair colours to the backgrounds! Everything was so right!

The story was pretty simple and had nothing too radical in it. But I think it complemented everything else about the book and it got across the values and the messages that the authors wanted to get across so I have no complaints as such.

My favourite element in the story was the whole family dynamic that was going on. I loved that the grandmas were also the main characters. I loved that there were TWO GRANDMAS!!! I loved that Nova's family was a huge part of her life and her personality, as a result and the same went for Tam. I always love it when cultures and magic come together to make something beautiful and I definitely saw that happen in this novel. So yay!

I really really enjoyed reading it and I can't wait for the finished copy to be released! (it's coming out in October WAAAHH), so that I can get myself a physical copy of the book! Would totally recommend this novel to literally anyone. It's pure and cute and beautiful, y'all! READ IT!!!

Nova spends her days working at her grandmother’s bookshop where she spends much of her time learning more about witchcraft, loaning out spell books, and investigating supernatural incidents. When a friend reports strange activity in the woods, Nova jumps on the case and discovers that her childhood friend and crush, Tam, is back in town and battling a horse demon while in their werewolf form. Determined to help Tam figure out how to use her werewolf magic to defeat the horse demon, they put their heads together and start to realize their old feelings for one another.

This is such cute and heartwarming story. It has a great cast of characters with a supernatural element that is not overpowering for those who don’t favor the paranormal genre. Nova is a Chinese American teenage witch who is mourning the loss of her parents while navigating a world that is not usually friendly toward people who are hard of hearing or deaf. Tam is a non-binary Chinese American teenage werewolf who feels alone in the world after leaving home and living on the streets for years. When their paths cross again, they fall back into the comfortable friendship they once had and rekindle the romantic feelings that were left

I love Nova’s relationship with her grandmothers as well as her friend, Tatyana, and how quickly she picks up her friendship with Tam. The story is set up nicely and the artwork is beautiful. It really lends itself to the story, especially when magic is used. I also love how this story is organic and the pieces fall into place without it feeling like it’s coming out of left field.

While I love the story, I do have a few questions, like why it’s called Mooncakes when they’re not integral to the story and only appears once. I also want to know what happened to Nova’s parents, how and when Tam became a werewolf, and the story behind Terry’s bird head. These are the things that we need more information on. Otherwise, it’s a great story and I plan on checking out the author’s future work.

This was so cute and previous and adorable and basically perfect. The colors are vibrant, yet somehow muted at the same time, which was wonderful. Some of the muted tones made me think of fall with the leaves changing and the orange sunsets.

I love, love, love, love that Nova and Tam were childhood best friends and got to explore not only being friends again, but if they can be something more than friends. Spoiler alert: they can. The romance was organic and beautiful.

Almost all the main characters are queer. Nova's badass lesbian grandmothers were giving me life. They actually had their own agency as characters and did magic, which is so rare to see in literature. Their love with Nova was present in every panel, and their support for Nova's final decision at the end was super supportive.

Readers will love to see all the queer rep in the book, plus Nova uses hearing aids.

I really, really hope we get a sequel.

This was a cute and queer romance tale with a wide range of diversity and inclusivity represented, plenty of witchy shenanigans, and a lovely art style.

I don't typically like insta-love, and while I understand that there was technically already an established relationship, there wasn't enough background from any point of view to make it feel like it was anything other than instantaneous love. I feel that if the mutual background was fleshed out a touch more, it would lend more substance to the romantic aspect.

I enjoyed the familial aspects also, and would have loved to see more day-to-day magic used (although any magic is fine in my book!). Overall I feel the tone of this book, while a cute and easy read, would be well suited to readers much younger than I. Given the publication date, I believe this will make the perfect autumnal/Halloween read for many teens.