Mooncakes follows Nova, a witch, and Tam, a non-binary werewolf. They are childhood friends who are reunited early in the story, and have to solve a dark mystery in the woods near town. The illustrations were charming and the world was adorable, but the worldbuilding is scant and a lot of the more whimsical parts (a magical bookstore, a gated forest filled with friendly animal spirits, ghost parents) were skimmed over. The story might have been strengthened by more time exploring how magic works and letting the reader spend a few more pages in some of the more magical elements of this world. The protagonists are delightful and easy to get attached to - though some of the insta-love scenes were cringeworthy - but the villains are caricatures at best and their motivations (and the conflict as a whole) are poorly explained. Overall, Mooncakes is a fun, short read with great representation, but could be improved by more time spent in the world to flesh out the magical elements and the conflict.

Very cute graphic novel about a nonbinary werewolf and a queer witch who's hard-of-hearing! Both of them are chinese-american and not so sure about their place in life.

I loved the foreword and I appreciate that the authors took the time to write it! It's a wonderful introduction to the story and I recommend not to skip it!

The art style was lovely, and while there were several frames I adored, there were others that seemed a bit skewed to me. As I read an ARC, some changes might still be done for the final copy.

One highlight of the book was definitely Nova's family! Her grandmothers were wonderful, and her cousin Terry was a fun addition.

The story was simple but effective and lovingly told, and I enjoyed myself reading it.

Content warnings include: body horror, kidnapping, cultist rituals.

I loved this graphic novel. It was inclusive without being pushy. It was creative and heartwarming. It was a good read about friendship and how important it is.

The only thing that's cuter than the main character's relationship is the menagerie of woodland critters! The story is unique, both because of the magical subject matter and the diverse cast. You can't help but love and support a hearing-impaired witch and a non-binary werewolf! We need more stories with this kind of representation!

Oh my heart! This graphic novel was such a fun and enjoyable read and was a perfect title to break up my reading. This story follows Nova (a witch) and Tam (a werewolf) as they reunite and face a danger while also exploring their feelings for each other. It was a beautiful story that put a smile on my face, seeing friendship and love blossom between all the characters.

This graphic novel discusses so much in the way of real life issues such as family, love, diversity, etc while also seamlessly blending in the supernatural aspects and the mystery they must solve. I would definitely love if there were more stories following these characters, but this also stands well on its own. The art style and color palette are beautiful and fit the tone of the story perfectly. It leans earth tone, but that is perfect for the setting and feel of the story.

Overall, Mooncakes is a beautiful story full of magic and the strength of friendship and love. I'm very interested in seeing more from both the author and the illustrator as their collaboration produced such an amazing tale.

The art in this book was absolutely gorgeous but the story fell flat for me personally. I do love a good witchy read and the nanas were absolutely hilarious. Definitely check it out if you love witchy reads and baking :)

I loved this graphic novel! The plot, the characters, the art style--it all felt like a warm hug. There's no better word to use when describing this story than COZY. A fantastical story set in modern-day, with queer witches and werewolves, was just the right mixture of everything I love in diverse YA fantasy. The plot itself was light enough without being too complicated, but still tackled deep issues amongst the main characters, especially issues surrounding family and sense of self. The side characters were such a standout for me, though! I loved the sapphic grandmas and every page they were on was an absolute treat. The atmosphere was also a big highlight; a combination of a fantastic art style and great setting choices was totally transportive. The representation was also amazing. Overall I would highly recommend this book and plan to pick it up for a reread come October.

4.5 stars

what i liked:
-representation!!!!!
-nova has two grandmas, and they're both great
-tam is non-binary
-queer af!
-nova wears hearing aids
-friendship and family at it's finest
-the art style is so pretty
-the plot is actually quite interesting
-witches, a werewolf, demons, satanic cults, what else could i ask for?

what i didn't liked:
-i just kinda wish we had a bit more information on nova and tam's backstory, but that's my only complain

Title: Mooncakes
Author: Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker
Pages: 259
Genre: Graphic Novel, Romance, LGBTQ+
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is an Advanced Readers Copy. That means that this is not the final version of the book. Therefore, facts, quotes, and panels are subject to change in the published book.

Release date: 10/15/2019

The is the love child of two lovely artists forced into a long distance relatiopnship and just finding a medium to create together. This story is about young Nova, a witch who lives with her nana's. When one day, a wolf rolls into the neighborhood only to be the lovely Tam, an old (almost girl)friend from the past. And I say girlfriend but Tam is non-binary so kissing partner would be more accurate but I could not resist the joke. 

Oh No's
Hmmmm my oh no is that I feel something was missing. I can't put my finger on it though. But, I did love this story and recommend it but I just can't figure out what is missing to me. (Not straight people, cause that is the best thing that this graphic novel is missing).

Yay's
The length of this graphic novel was astounding. Coming out to a whopping 259 pages (for now), this story was able to be fully fleshed out and written thoroughly. The Romance was great and everyone was LGBTQ+ filled representation. With one of the main characters being binary and using they/them pronouns.

I loved this moment between Nova and her grandmother. It's a parents job to embarrass the young ones and it was just a wholesome moment.



Finally,
This was a magical novel filled with werewolves, demons, witches, and more! I love gorgeous art and this graphic novel delivers.

My similar recommendation for this novel would be Tea Dragon Society.

Favorite Panel


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An absolutely adorable supernatural graphic novel featuring an HoH (hard of hearing) queer witch and an enby werewolf, childhood best friends reunited when a dangerous demonic spirit begins haunting the woods. Lovely illustrations and a really sweet story about magic and love and learning to trust yourself.

I'm loving the trend for queer witchy comics at the moment and Mooncakes is a particularly good one with beautiful art and a cute romance between a witch and her non-binary werewolf childhood friend whose come back to town to fight a demon.

I loved the paranormal storyline, the skeptical scientist best friend, the lesbian grandma witches and the adorable forest spirits in this. So much to love and deaf, Chinese-American and Jewish representation in the main characters. Mooncakes is a heart-warming and magical comic that would be great for all ages and fans of all things cute and spooky.

Mooncakes is the kind of novel that will warm your heart and put a smile on your face. Seriously, you won't stop grinning as you read.

It follows Tam and Nova, two childhood friends that lost touch over the years but reunite when Tam returns to town. There is a demon haunting the forest and it seems Tam is the key to unraveling it.

It's a paranormal contemporary where Tam is a werewolf and, Nova and her family are witches. Tam is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and Nova is hard-of-hearing and uses a hearing aid. They are both Chinese-American and Nova has the loveliest family, her grandmothers are just the sweetest!

Even though the main plot is them trying to understand Tam's wolf magic and how they can defeat the force in the forest, we also follow their day-to-day life, Nova's struggles with the loss of her parents and how she can move forward, and the parent neglect Tam feels from their mother. It also follows as Tam and Nova develop and confess their feelings for each other, and learn how they can be together.

Nova's grandmothers are very present in her life, they help them with the demon and they happily take Tam in. You can see the love these characters share for one another, and their compassion. It was lovely to read about a family that is present in each other's lives.

Personally, if I don't like the art style it affects my reading experience but Mooncakes' artwork is absolutely beautiful, I just want to hang it around my house. The overall story is simple but interesting, leaving me wanting more from these characters. I want to follow them around and see what adventures they get up to. I loved seeing the little magic spells and, again, I WANT MORE!

Lastly, I must say it's an honor to share my name with Nova's cat. MY DREAM IS TO BE A CAT so I feel like I belong to this family.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this and I will definitely be shouting about this to everyone around me. It's just so good!

That was a lovely story about a nonbinary werewolf and their childhood friend (who's queer and uses hearing aids) reconnecting and defeating evil! I highly recommend it.

I NEED MORE! This graphic novel was the cutest one I have read so far. I noticed it being Read Now, and I hád to download it. I really loved that it wasn't just one person struggling with something, but both MCs had their own issues, and a clear past.

So, Nova and Tam were friends when they were childs, but Tam had to move away, so Nova stayed behind with her grandmothers (who are the cutest ever). It all seems like a run of the mill story - except Nova is a witch (like her grandmothers) and Tam is a werewolf.

The story revolves around the them defeating a demon - banding together to combine their magic. And them together is truly awesome. The relationship between Nova and her grandmothers is absolutely amazing, and between Tam and Nova's grandmothers aswell. When Tam has nowhere to go, Nova's grandmothers take them into their home - yes them, because Tam is nonbinary, something that's awesomely depicted in the story.

The art was beautiful aswell! Being an ARC, it wasn't entirely done, but I'm really looking forward to see the finished copy, and I will definitely be buying it when it's available!

Mooncakes is a fun and sweet graphic novel that I think anyone who enjoys magic/romance/family should read. The story was really easy to follow and the artwork is beautiful. The relationship that Nova and Tam have was really sweet and it's nice to see queer relationships represented. I loved Nova's Nana's also and I want to read a story with just them!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy,

This was a great graphic novel! I loved the art style, the characters, and the romance. It also included a lot of different types of representation done well like nonbinary, hearing impaired and more,

Mooncakes is a heartwarming and sweet story about a young witch and werewolf who are reunited after years of separation. I loved the art style shown in this graphic novel, I think it conveys magic really well. The magical animals are the cutest little forest creatures I could ever want. The story has really good representation (imo) of a hard of hearing character who wears hearing aids and a nonbinary character who identifies as they/them (and they're both Chinese-American). Their friendship turned romantic relationship is super sweet, it seems like they picked up their relationship where they last left it. The main story-line revolves around Tam and the reason why they came back to their old town in the first place: to track down a demon using wolf magic and then destroy it. There were some mystery elements in this story that I really enjoyed. I wouldn't mind reading more about Nova and Tam as they grow into themselves and resolve some of their other issues (family-related and whatnot). Overall, this was a really enjoyable, quick read and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested.

I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing. Full of family, fun, witchcraft, discovery of self, and self love. A quick read that you will not want to put down, Welcome to the world of mystery and acceptance. Every ally and LGBTQIA person should read this, Cannot wait for the next installment.

I believe Mooncakes is about a cult looking to unleash a wolf demon and Nova, her Nannas, Tatyana, and Tam work together to stop it from happening. It is a quick cute read where the action happens really fast with a not a lot of context. What I absolutely loved was all the representation without it feeling forced. I have read books where it felt like the author was just checking off different types of people to have in their stories but this did not feel like that. The characters identities were simply who they are and it was accepted by everyone without and push back. There was a misgendering in the beginning between one of Nova's grandmothers and Tam but it is corrected and respected throughout the rest of the story even by the villain! It is the utopia I dream of for the future!

Nova is a female witch who wears a hearing aid. She falls in love with Tam who is a non-binary werewolf. Everyone in the novel is pretty much expecting them to get together, even though there is no background as to why, but they are still so cute! Then there is Nova's grandmothers who I believe are a couple because in one scene they are sharing a bed. Correct me if I am wrong. Finally, and my favorite, Tatyana who is a plus sized woman and super awesome supportive bestie to Nova. She is into science but accepts all the magic in stride because she is willing to learn. Overall cute story and beautiful artwork!

Thank you Netgalley and Lion Forge for providing an e-arc of the graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

This is is really sweet story about a witch, Nova, who lives with her two grans and they have the most amazing bookshop ever. This is also the story of Tam, Nova's non-binary werewolf friend. Its such a unique premise and it filled with cute moments, magical creatures, love.

The only fault I had with this really was that I would really have loved a little more depth to the story, some history of the characters.. And maybe a little more time spent with characters in order to remember them when they pop up later in the story.

The diversity rep is fantastic though and the artwork is beautiful. I am really looking forward to seeing a finished copy when it comes out!

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this in exchange for an honest review.