A very cute, fun, and fast read. Something perfect to pick up during the fall months and especially around Halloween!

This was such a cute graphic novel!! The art fit the story so well and I really enjoyed the color palette.

The story itself was well thought out and well done and I liked how they wove in LGBTQA+ themes into the overall story. It was very cute and I liked the witchy storyline. Great for the fall!

A super cute and charming graphic novel with excellent representation (bisexuality, non-binary identity, disability, Chinese heritage), a genuinely sweet romance, and refreshing take on witches and werewolves (it's amazing to me that with how often werewolves are used as LGBTQ metaphors, next to none are presented as non-binary/gender-fluid... despite the werewolf literally being a creature whose body is non-binary/in flux... you've already committed to this metaphor, folks, give me some non-cis werewolves, please!). Tam, Mooncakes' non-binary werewolf is accordingly a nice change of pace and easily the most interesting character in the novel.

It was indeed Tam who initially sparked my interest in this graphic novel, as my dissertation is on recuperation of the figure of the monster in queer YA and I'd been dying for more texts with non-cis rep (especially for werewolves). Mooncakes seemed a timely answer to my little grad student prayers. It did not disappoint and I would love to see more with these characters.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

With a wide range of diversity and a heart-warming story, Mooncakes is a fun graphic novel with a magical cast of characters. What makes it go beyond the magical into the enchanted is the artwork. Beautiful, full color panels breathe life into the story and characters and leave hoping for more.

I read this book in late August, but it immediately transported me into fall, with its beautiful art style, great use of colors and the Halloween themes.
It was my first graphic novel ever, and I was unsure if I would enjoy it. Good News, I did! Mooncakes is a quick and easy read and it just fills you with joy. I took my time while reading this to have a closer look at all the images, it was worth it! I love the art style, and the color palette is perfect for fall.
Let's talk about the unique characters and good representation. I adored Nova, her friends, and her family! All the characters were outstanding. How often do you read about a witch with a hearing aid? I loved this aspect of the story and how this device interacts with magic. Mooncakes positively represented so many different groups.
Why isn't it a five stars read then? Well, I'm just not used to graphic novels yet. I love long, complicated books with thousands of information and backstories. The story is nice, but it couldn't thrill me enough to be five stars.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! If you like graphic novels you should check it out. And if you never read a graphic novel, but you love Halloween, Fall and Magic, like me, you should still read it.
It is a perfect novel to read while relaxing in a corner on a fall evening, wrapped up in cozy blankets and watch the sunset with a pumpkin spiced latte or a chai tea.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an arc of Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu. This graphic novel follows a heard-of-hearing bisexual witch named Nova Huang who works at her grandmas’ bookshop and her non-binary childhood werewolf friend (and maybe more) Tam as they try to solve a mystery in their town. This graphic novel is very diverse as it features a bisexual heard-of-hearing witch, a non-binary werewolf and two lesbian witches. Furthermore, the plot is enthralling and fast-paced. A great quick read to get into the fall season.

I do not have enough good things to say about this book. I was recommended to read it by the lovely Lauren over at Northern Plunder and I am so glad that she told me about this graphic novel because it was just a fantastic read. I cannot wait until there is more in this series so that I can enjoy reading about these characters some more!

Mooncakes is set in a world whereby witches, demons, werewolves, etc all exist. Our main protagonist is a witch and lives with her grandparents – who are also witches. There is something strange going on in the neighbourhood so they send Nova out to investigate. It is then that she finds a werewolf – but not just any werewolf – her childhood friend, Tam.

Honestly, I fell in love with every single character in this book. I loved how passionate Nova was and how much Tam tried to get her wolf magic to work. I loved the grandparents and how they treated Tam and Nova. I loved Nova’s best friend who didn’t really believe in magic but still stuck around anyway. Every single character is vibrant and unique and they all just fall out of the page because of it.

On top of all of that – I also loved the world that Suzanne Walker has created in this book. I love all of the powers and how they work – I loved the autumn festival that the witches celebrate and how it all works to be a witch in this world. It was so imaginative and creative. I also thought it was such an adventurous read and was gripped from the first page until the very last.

I also cannot finish this review without talking about the LGBT aspect of the book. It was so open and accepting of LGBT relationships and people and honestly, this was the kind of read I needed when growing up.

I highly recommend this graphic novel so if you’re looking for something new but also amazing and wonderful – why not give this book a read!

This story filled my heart with joy. I got completely caught up in this magical world of witches, werewolves, and very adorable spirits. I adored everything about Nova and Tam's adventures in dealing with demons and navigating family and romance.

It has everything:
- Incredible diversity. The main characters include a Chinese-American witch who uses hearing aids and a nonbinary werewolf.
- Action! A witch and a werewolf tracking down a demon in the forest and experimenting with magic.
- Nova's amazing extended family and friends, including her supportive grandmas and her scientific-minded best friend thrown into a world of magic.
- Gorgeous illustrations with a stunning level of detail, down to the weird items and books in the magic shop, and an artistic flair that adds so much to the romantic tension between Nova and Tam.
- Heart-melting sweet relationship dynamics of all kinds.

This book is a perfect way to start off the Halloween season (or continue it, if you've been celebrating since August).

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Diamond Book Distributors in exchange for an honest review.

I am LIVING for this wave of cute fantasy graphic novels with great representation in them. Mooncakes is the story of Tam, a non-binary werewolf who comes back to their old town and reconnects with their old childhood friend, Nova. Nova is a deaf witch who has been investigating some mysterious demon activity in her town and, when Tam gets dragged into the demon activity, it's up to the both of them to put a stop to it.

Firstly, this graphic novel has a great art style. It's cute but not so much that older readers would be put off by it. The colours and particularly the way the magic is shown in the universe creates a lovely atmosphere that sets the tone for this world. Secondly, I fell in love with pretty much all of the characters. They aren't the most developed in the world (which to be fair, is standard for a graphic novel) but they're so likeable and every character has a key role to play in the narrative which was a neat touch. I adore Nova and Tam and could honestly read a good dozen or so stories about them.

Overall, Mooncakes is the perfect read for anyone who loves cute fantasy stories with great art and lovable characters. It joins a proud group of witch-themed graphic novels which makes it a fantastic Halloween read for those who aren't necessarily into horror. It is definitely worth checking out.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I was given this free review copy graphic novel at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This witchy romance was so cute. I loved it so much! The artwork was amazing and went perfectly with the story. The story was interesting. I loved the world. I could not put it down. I started it late at night and immediately picked it up and finished it the next day. I would read more by this author.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2946550588

This was such a cute graphic novel. The art style was amazing and I loved Nova and Tam. They were the cutest. A part of me wishes I would have waited to read this closer to Halloween because this is definitely the perfect Halloween graphic novel, but I'm glad I was given the opportunity to read it now.

The premise was so cool and original. I loved that we had witches and werewolves and even a scientist-esc person to add skepticism to the store.

All in all- this was a great story.

Everything about Mooncakes was absolutely wholesome. I loved every single character to death and I had a smile on my face the whole time I was reading this. Mooncakes is full of good representation: LGBTQ+ rep, disability rep and much more. It just felt amazing reading something like this.

I also really enjoyed the magic. The art style was wonderful and it made everything feel and look more whimsical.

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.

A cute and fun graphic novel, Mooncakes written by Suzanne Walker and with beautiful illustrations by Wendy Xu is a story about magic, love and acceptance. Nova Huang is a teenage witch who lives with her granmothers and works in their magical bookshop. She also happens to be deaf. When she hears rumors about a mysterious wolf in the nearby forest she goes to investigate and is surprised to find an old friend, Tam Lang. Her friend is a werewolf and is in hiding from a group of magicians who want to use wolf magic for nefarious purposes. When Tam turns to Nova for help, it seems like their friendship has become something more.
The story, while simple is well thought out and executed, and I loved the diversity of the characters, and the decision to have one of the characters have a disability which not only does not limit her, but can be an asset at times. One of the major characters is non binary, and that is also handled with ease, it is simply introduced as a fact. I loved the positivity and acceptance demonstrated throughout the book, from gender identity to sexuality to the validity of found family, The artwork, as I have already said, is very cute, and the colour choices are appealing.
I really enjoyed this ARC which I received courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I requested a copy of this book because I kept hearing how good it was... and it is!

Besides featuring, witches, a werewolf and magical spirit creatures, the most awesome thing about the story is that one of the protagonists wears hearing aids - and it doesn’t stop her from doing anything.

This cute and sweet graphic novel is a lovely book to get you into the Halloween spirit without the scariness that can sometimes come with it. Not only do we have witches, werewolves, and magic, we also have family, romance, self discovery, and supportive friends. Nova and Tam are easy to root for as friends and as a couple, and I loved seeing Nova's personal journey to becoming the best witch she can be, and to finding the strength within herself that others see in her. This story does have some predictable elements, and sometimes I did feel like the magical systems were rushed or took a back seat to other themes, but there were many positive aspects that solidly outweighed the bad. The biggest was that Walker and Xu were so intent on bringing in so many aspects of diversity to the page. Nova has Chinese heritage, and she has hearing aids, and Tam is non binary, and all of these things are matter of fact aspects of their characters and aren't used in any of the main conflicts.

MOONCAKES is a sweet story that could be a good choice for the upcoming Hallowen season if you don't want to delve into anything too scary!

I thought this book was really good. However, I thought the authors' decision not to show us more of Nova and Tam's childhood relationship hurt the book. It made the book feel slight and the relationship seem underdeveloped. Still, I thought the plot and the characters were engaging and fun. I will definitely recommend this to the kids I work with.

<em>Mooncakes </em>by Suzanne Walker and illustrated by Wendy Xu was actually quite a bit darker than I expected it to be simply based off of the artwork and cover. Which, admittedly, is kind of funny because the synopsis does introduce this book as one in which the main characters fight a dark and deadly force. A very magical story, <em>Mooncakes </em>follows Nova Huang and Tam Lang as they reconnect after years apart and something sinister blows in to shroud their small town.

I both loved this book and I didn't. It was a very cute story, for the most part, and had some action filled moments but I never felt as though I had enough time to get to know the characters well enough. I didn't connect with a single one and I feel that if this had been a novel as opposed to fully a graphic novel, I would have had that connection. The plot was good, but everything moved far too quickly for me. And, to be fair, pacing is something that I've noticed can often be a huge problem with graphic novels. To date, there have actually been only a few that I was really excited about the pacing of. Unfortunately, for me, <em>Mooncakes </em>falls into the category of having just <em>okay</em> pacing. And it took a lot away from the story.

Moving away from that, however, the characters were brilliant in so many ways. I <em>loved</em> Tam the most; a character with a dark past and something to run from, Tam is the one who held the whole story together. Tam is also the one who moved it along the most. Everything about them was wonderful. I felt a little less connected to Nova, who seemed somewhat flat in comparison. And Nova's friend, whose name I have forgotten, was actually kind of annoying. I did love the grandmothers, though.

The artwork, though, is what really did the best work for this story. It was beautiful through and through. As a reader, you definitely feel more engaged with these characters because of how well they were portrayed by the artist. That cover alone is enough to pull you in and make you want to know more. I have to admit, though, I was rather thrown by the title; the mooncakes barely had any place in the story at all.

Ultimately, this was a cute and well-done story. I enjoyed many aspects about it from the plot to the characters. The pacing was way off and made it difficult to connect, but I think this is partially due to the form of novel this is rather than the story. Often, graphic novels run into this problem when they don't treat their story like something episodic or have a long, full story. At least, in my experience.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

Blog review to go live on 09/21/19

UM HELLO. Have I ever loved anything more? Because the amount of warmth and love coming out of my heart is positively enormous. I am not a graphic novel reader. I am just not. But somehow, I landed on this one, and BOY OH BOY WAS IT A GOOD DECISION. I love this so, so much. Insanely much. The illustrations are absolutely GORGEOUS. I mean WOW. I want to stare at them for ages. And the representation in this is so great. A queer, hard-of-hearing witch falls in love with a nonbinary werewolf??? And Nova has two grandmas, lovingly called the Nanas, and my heart positively melted. I love the dynamic of childhood friends - friends - lovers, and their relationship, and just everything about them. I love that there is emphasis on Nova's hearing aids, and how Tam used to use she/her pronouns but now goes by they/them. And I love that Nova's best friend is a skeptic scientist but still supports her friend anyway. And it's about witches?? and magic?? and demons?? all wrapped up in a precious graphic novel that is BY FAR one of the BEST things I've read this year. I am absolutely beaming just writing this up, honestly. I want to read it all over again. I want to buy it for all my friends. Why oh why do I have to wait for October to do this??? (I will wait, because this is worth it, but still). Anyway, not so much a review as a plethora of gushing, but I have high standards and this just blew those out of the water. So uh, do yourself a favour and read this, okay. You won't regret it and you'll want a good cuddle after. In a good way.

Mooncakes is an adorable graphic novel about a young female witch named Nova and a non-binary werewolf. named Tam. Tam, however, has a demon problem, and they need their childhood friend Nova's help to solve it. Nova lives in a small New England town where the paranormal is more or less accepted, with two grandmothers who are also witches. As they put their heads together to solve the problem, Nova and Tam fall in love. Nova's friend Tatiana is skeptical, but cheers them on.

The plot is a bit thin, and I don't want to give too much away. However, the characters are charming. So is the drawing style that brings them and their world to life. Wendy Xu tucks many intriguing details into her drawings, such as Tam's pointed, wolfish ears.

There is much representation of traits that are all too often underrepresented in fiction. Tam is Asian, and Nova is half-Asian and half-white. Nova is deaf and wears hearing aids. (The hearing aids also present a couple of interesting plot points.) Her grandmothers are a lesbian couple of long standing. If this book had been around when I was a teenage bisexual girl, I would have been over the moon, no pun intended. This modern fairy tale will put a smile on all but the grouchiest and most bigoted of faces.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.