I loved this book! I received it as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. Watching Liv and Bennett go from strangers (hello bakery meet cute) to rivals to lovers was a captivating journey and I never knew where it was going to go (besides HEA obvi). Liv’s struggle to navigate bringing her family business into modernity while also keeping true to the legacy and tradition of the Chinese zodiac shows just how much she cares about her legacy and family. And for me, one of the biggest parts is that as someone who just lost an important part of the family right before the book releases, I appreciated how the death and grieving was a celebration of their life and talking about how loved they were. I highly recommend this book and while it took me a bit to get through it (grieving and moving at the same is hard lol) I’m so glad I was able to read this story! ❤️

Thank you Read Forever for providing me with ARC to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was excited to read this story about matchmaker Olivia and her business. She is taking over the leadership role in the family business as her grandmother and Aunt have retired from the business. Unfortunately there is a dating app that has come out that seems to be similarly based on matching people up using the Lunar horoscope. Olivia is concerned about her competition and has an opportunity to go undercover to learn more about her competitor.

There were parts about this story I enjoyed reading and learning about. It was interesting to learn some of the Chinese traditions around deaths and weddings. I enjoyed reading up on this and would like to learn more about it. The story had a really nice flow to it and was cute.

I would recommend this to someone looking for a cute light read.

Its odd stereotypical and un-stereotypical at the same time. I'm glad for all the asian romance writers with asians as main characters.

This is a trope of stubborn old fashion main character with a polar opposite. I appreciate how the MC cared about traditions. Although became sort of unlikable with her reactions and not even in the love aspect, but in business.

The writing style is good and it was an easy read.

Lunar Love was the perfect, sweet romcom I didn’t know I needed.

Olivia is a very real and relatable character. Watching her struggles and seeing her grow as a character. Bennet was the perfect male lead. What I most loved about this book was the way there was a delicious tension between Olivia and Bennet and it was done without making him be a jerk. So many times in romance books the male is mean and slightly sexist. Bennet was none of those things. He was fascinating, sexy, lovable, and so interesting.

The pacing was perfect. I was never bored.

Overall, this is a great romance that has mixed race and Asian representation. It has strong family vibes, and a sweet romance. Highly recommend.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC

𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒖𝒔, 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 💗

This debut romcom was really cute and sweet! The writing is fun, and I loved the hilarious neetcute in the beginning. The banter and competition throughout the book was great - I love a good enemies to lovers. I wasn't a huge fan of the FMC Olivia, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the fun storyline. However, I loved the MMC Bennett, and I liked him immediately! Overall, if you enjoy enemies to lovers romcoms with lots of witty banter I think you will like this one! My rating would be higher if I had connected with the FMC more, I spent a lot of the time rolling my eyes at her.

📖 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮:
• enemies to lovers
• romcoms
• Chinese astrology
• matchmakers
• family business
• witty banter
• competition
• entrepreneurs

Thank you to the publisher for sharing this arc right me!

3.5⭐

If you love enemies to lovers trope then this is for you. This book was sweet and filled with tons of moments that made me smile. Olivia has taken over running Lunar Love, her grandmother’s matchmaking business based on the Chinese zodiac signs. When she meets a man that she potentially might be interested in, but this man isn't just so random person, instead she learns that he's a rival matchmaker whose building an app also based on the same premise as her business. They end up making a matchmaking bet and so the story unfolds. The plot was fun and fresh and i really liked both characters very much. A cute read.

Old school meets new school in this contemporary romance— Olivia’s all about tradition, taking over the family matchmaking business, Lunar Love from her grandmother. Since its inception, Lunar Love has focused on traditional in-person connections. Enter the competition, Bennett, who thrives on modernizing matchmaking with technology. Through coincidental encounters and interesting discoveries, Olivia and Bennett’s lives intertwine in some sweet and unexpected ways.

I absolutely ate this romance up. This is exactly how you do a slow burn, enemies-to-lovers. For two individuals with opposing viewpoints, they complemented each other so well. This is what makes successful relationships in my eyes. To not let your differences tear you apart but to let it challenge you and bring you together. Olivia and Bennett were a yin and yang balance of a relationship. I was fully invested in their relationship and rooting for them the whole way through.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Happy (belated) Lunar New Year! I picked up Lunar Love a couple weeks after the Lunar New year and it was a fun introduction to Chinese zodiac. I loved the matchmaking business and family background tied into Olivia and Bennett’s love story. Enemies (in this case, business rivals) to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and this one did not disappoint. Lunar Love is a sweet, fun and unique romance, perfect for this time of year!

Thank you, Grand Central Publishing (Forever) and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book.

4/5 stars

One of my favorite tropes, enemies to lovers. This rom-com was cute and refreshing. I learned so much about the culture which was a great build in the story.

DNF @20%

I had a lot of hope for this book after the first chapter. It was well written and I liked the premise. It went downhill pretty fast after that. It didn’t seem like the author could decide what the characters motivations were and they just kept throwing different thing out there hoping the readers would relate to one. The main character was also supremely unlikable.

ARC generously provided by NegGalley and publisher in exchange for fair and honest review.

Always a matchmaker, never a match...
Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy . . .

Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken.

Lunar Love is a romance novel that I needed. With the romance genre being heavily dominated by white authors, it makes me happy to see more and more authors of color make their debut in the genre. Lunar Love follows Liv and Bennet who both run matchmaking businesses that involved the Chinese Zodiac. Liv has recently inherited her grandma's business, Lunar Love, which has been around for over fifty years. Bennet is the creator of ZodaicCupid which is a dating app that incorporates the Chinese Zodiac into its algorithm. Throughout the novel, you follow both of them go head to head in order to promote their business along with the bet they strike. Both of them will find a match for each other and the first person who falls in love first loses.

Lunar Love was more than a romance novel to me. It was one that showed both main characters learning and relearning how to be vulnerable and navigate in their culture. It talks about loss along with topics surrounding one's legacy in a family business.

What impressed me about Lauren Kung-Jessen’s debut novel was how it truly was a love letter to family, tradition, Chinese food and culture. Lunar Love, while rooted in reality, reads like a fairytale at times even when there are moments of sadness, as things always have a way of working out without too much fuss. The book also does an amazing job of delving into the history of the Chinese zodiac and how it can be used in matchmaking. I loved the character zodiac charts that were included in the book, as this bonus material, along with the recipes and the author interview, made the overall reading experience more enjoyable.

In spite of all that, Lunar Love, sadly, wasn’t it for me. I do appreciate how Bennett was actually a soft-hearted and good person and not an arrogant tech bro, which unfortunately is more common than not in these enemies/rival-to-lover type romances. And I love how both he and Olivia were able to bond over the unique experiences of being half-Asian. It was so obvious early on that even without the family connection, Olivia and Bennett would be good for each other, not just professionally but romantically. This is why I was disappointed in how Olivia acted towards Bennett, who, for the most part, did not do anything to deserve her wrath. Their romantic chemistry also definitely took some time to develop,, but it does have its adorable moments, so I can see why this book has many fans. Still, I personally felt that while its great that the harsh realities of running a small business was never sugarcoated, it doesn’t justify how cut throat Olivia was and this ended up putting a damper on way the love story that was meant to happen between the two matchmakers unfolded.

What a fantastic debut novel for Lauren Kung Jessen! 💖

The story is a rivals to lovers trope based around Chinese culture and tradition. The author does a beautiful job of unfolding the relationship between the two main characters while also telling a deeper story about Asian culture, family, tradition and how to honor our ancestors while still paving our own path. As someone who is also half Asian and half white, raised by my Filipino family, I saw so much of my own life in this story. I loved being able to relate on so many levels with the main character. This book was beautiful and I loved every bit of it!

<b>The Good</b>
The chemistry between Olivia and Bennet great at their very first meeting. This books takes care to make you understand where both of them are coming from and why they hold their own beliefs. I love rivals to lovers and also the leads having to match someone with someone else. It's a very interesting concept. I am interested in the Chinese zodiac so this aspect was very interesting to me.

<b>The Bad</b>
I don't like lying as a plot device in romance books. It made it hard for me to like them together at the beginning. I also understand that them being incompatible was the point of the message of the book, I really wish that Olivia's traditional beliefs weren't presented as stiff and unyielding while Bennet's were presented as going with the times and must be conformed to. I also don't think one zodiac app would be able to cause the downfall of her family business when there are dozens of them for years. People who can afford personal matchmaking are not the same people using dating apps. I also wish they showed more of the matchmaking actually working rather than it being constantly retcon'ed like "actually none of us were matched this way so your lifelong devotion means nothing!".


<b>The Rating</b>
I give this book a <b>2/5🌟 rating.</b> I wanted to love this book but it frustrated me more than anything.

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I adored this book so much! Lunar Love is an enemies to lovers rom-com filled with sweet and fun banter, lovable characters, and many references and interesting tidbits about Chinese American culture and the Zodiac. Liv owns a Zodiac match making business that has been in the family for 50 years, when Bennet comes along with his own Zodiac app that threatens decades of tradition.

This is a perfect February read and I look forward to discovering more from this author in the future!!

Sweet for both its chaste kisses and its numerous tasty-sounding baked goods, Lunar Love follows two matchmakers with different approaches to love, and how they eventually find ways to compromise, merging tradition with modernity, data science with emotional intuition, and rules with chance. The story also celebrates family, and the ways lives link together over multiple generations. I enjoyed learning a bit more about the Chinese zodiac and it was fun to revisit some of L.A.'s landmarks after years away. Overall, a joyful love story with a heroine who makes a lot of mistakes, but who grows toward a more nuanced view of life, love, and even the moon.

This book literally feels like a warm hug! What a lovely history. Full of asian culture, romantic feelings and a lovely couple. I loved Liv/Bennet relationship
I loved their relationship and how it was built into a loving relationship
It was the perfect book to kick off Lunar New Year!
An amazing rivals to lovers romcom

Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC.

I was really excited about being able to read this one, and it did not disappoint! It was so fun, sweet, and swoony! I’m a big fan of enemies to lovers, so having this added to it all made it that much more enjoyable! Olivia and Bennett are a perfect pair. I liked that they both worked in dating businesses! Olivia’s was a traditional Chinese zodiac matchmaking passed down from her family, while Bennett’s was a modern app. This put them as rivals! These two are are now in a bet to find each others matches, the kick is they also have to chaperone one another’s dates! Seriously enjoyed these two and seeing how they fell for each other! Such a sweet romance!

Thank you to Forever publishing & NetGalley for approving me to read this book. I'm so grateful and was truly so excited when I received my approval.

First, I'd like to say Lauren Kung Jessen has created such a wonderful story with Lunar Love. This debut novel gave me all the feelings from happiness, sadness, worry and so much more. I genuinely didn't want to put this book down whenever I had to. Lunar Love, gave me that true rom-com feel and even at moments felt like I was watching a movie, which I truly loved.

Olivia, is a strong, determined individual who has her reasonings for being the way she is, but learning about her past, seeing her family, the family business ( which is Lunar Love) and their closeness made me love her storyline so much. With Lunar Love, she had her Po Po and Auntie to guide her until it was her time to take over and make it something new but also keep it true. Although she tended to be stubborn, it was clear she had ever right to. She just wanted true love, structure and others to find love as well, Her heart was in the right place but I think Bennett coming into her life, helped her to open up.

Bennett, he's full of random facts, new ideas and such a good heart. While reading, he automatically got added to my favorite book boyfriends list. His story touched my heart and made love learning about him and why he started the business that he did. He had some things he wasn't willing to break his shell for, Olivia brought it out him and in the end I feel like they both blossomed.

Them together was such fun banter, authentic connections and lots of understanding. Truly, by the end of the book I was squealing, swooning and just so incredibly happy for them. They made being opposite and having differences okay, because at the end of the day LOVE is what is important not just the compatibility you may or may not have.

Lastly, I really enjoyed gaining more knowledge about Chinese zodiacs and traditions. Though both main characters come from mixed backgrounds their ability to try and learn and represent their Chinese roots was lovely to see, not only did they learn on their own, but also together.

This is the perfect novel and I'll highly request it to anyone. 5 stars!

Tropes: enemies to lovers