Trung is rapidly establishing himself as a generational talent. Here they get to adapt another classic fairy tale (East of the Sun, West of. the Moon), but recalibrated to be about a group of teenagers in a small town theater troupe starting to figure themselves out, and dealing with things like burnout and people pleasing. Throw this in with his amazing ability to cartoon (there are several faces here that I am claiming for future reactions once it's released to the broader public) and juxtapose incredibly detailed line work against smaller simpler moments, and you have a great read coming this fall. (Props also to the colorist, Angela Lu, who does some absolutely astounding work, especially with gradients, and further elevates Trung's work.)

This is a must-read! It was such a sweet story about changing, growing, and learning to lean on your community.

I loved this so much!

It was such a sweet read. The art is beautiful: I adore Trung Le Nguyen’s art style!

Humorous, heartwarming, emotional, and all together charming—This story has a little bit of everything: love story, family relationships, grief, burnout, and healthy communication.

The story has a great pace. Having community and compassion at its center really touched home for me, it’s wonderfully done.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

I immediately got swept up in the cozy relatability of this narrative so it's near perfect to me. The characters are forever entrancing and nuanced. The art design is so gorgeous and expressive. The writing itself is filled with so much heart and surprising levels of blunt humor. I adored the character arc involving the importance of delegation and self care going hand in hand. I was really touched by how thoughtful the queer aspect of the story was done. There's something so deeply special about the mirroring of coming into your own identity whilst also shedding a literal costume. I do wish that it went for another ten or so pages at the end instead of concluding quite abruptly, so I still need more of these characters and their world.

This was an exceptionally deep, while exceptionally adorable, story about grief and connection. The art style was VERY cute and the messaging was supportive of being open with feelings whether they be good or bad. Jelly, the main character, has a problem with just *listening* rather than making plans where feelings are involved and I connected with that heavy. Very cute story, very cute art style, and LOVED the various aspects of representation. Adding this to my library’s “to purchase” list immediately!

A delightful little read, with a side order of growth and thoughtfulness about the ways we process grief, change, and burnout. It was fun to see how often the mother and daughter's mannerisms mirrored one another, and the depictions of close, supportive community warmed my heart.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
After a fierce burnout last year took all of Angelica’s energy, she tries to find something out there that would be perfect for her. And it does, in the form of being part of the local theater as a stage manager. Amidst the drama, family dynamics, and friendships, Angelica begins DMing the local theater’s mascot, Per the Bear. Through conversations with Per the Bear, Angelica starts to feel more for the mysterious person behind the costume. As she tries to rectify her mistakes and rebuild her relationship with her mother, can Angelica find love in the most unexpected of places?
Adorable! I had a great deal of fun reading this lovely graphic novel. While the weather is hot in the summer where I live, reading Angelica and the Bear Prince, set during wintertime, is a nice change. The background story of The Bear Prince was romantic, as Angelica’s own life is a little topsy-turvy. Each chapter is a delight, and the colors are warm and inviting.
I look forward to seeing if Trung Le Nguyen creates another breathtaking masterpiece in the future.

SUCH an adorable book. It's very cozy and sweet, but also handles various teenage issues like butting heads with your parents, feeling stressed about overachieving, and how to be there for your friends. The art is amazing too. I'll definitely recommend this book to all my teenage patrons.

Thank you Trung Le Nguyen, Random House, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you so much for the arc!

This was such a spectacular read. I went in thinking I’d get a cute and cozy romance but it truly had so much more depth than that. It was so relatable seeing how Angelica uses logic and math to process her emotions. That’s something I also struggle with. The illustrations were beautiful and I loved all of the diversity. Each side character was a delight and I love that they each had their own story.

Angelica has had a rough few years. Gable has just returned to his hometown after the death of his mother. These two start supporting each other through a play. This is a tale reflecting on how people grieve. The art style is wonderful, and really fits the narrative Nguyen created. He starts off by saying this graphic novel is his favorite failure, and that is a wonderful lesson for us all, some failures become something so much more. Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really like how this graphic novel explored how teenagers can become burnt. The story was also well-balanced with a sweet love story.

I can't even begin to say enough positive things about this book. Angelica and the Bear Prince is beautifully atmospheric, relatable, devastating, and so much freaking fun.

Teenager, Angelica, grapples with burnout, and possible depression, while beginning a brand new theater internship, and nurturing a mysterious new online relationship. She finally feels comfortable divulging her feelings to someone, but doesn’t actually know who they are. The two situations intertwine for a super special journey, and shocking reveal in the end. The author touches on issues such as being vulnerable with those we’re closest with, and sometimes needing nothing more than to be listened to rather than fixed.

This story kicks off with a heavy dose of both whimsy and melancholy, which is pretty fairly representative of now the rest of the story goes. This is a gorgeous and hilarious exploration of friendship, mental health, complicated intergenerational family dynamics, and grief. The characters are illustrated to be so deeply expressive and fun, and chapter transitions so successfully set a cozy tone. The graphic novel so elegantly navigates Interwoven stories, with so many layers of emotional complexity throughout. Those heavy topics explored, this tale never once feels burdensome or too heavy on the reader. Beautiful colors, emotions drawn in as creative scribbles, and so many other fun artistic choices are applied throughout. The parents of our MC serve as a fun and healthy couple, and the love interest as really fun trans representation (without that detail at all being plot relevant). Each character’s unique identity comes through the page so clearly, so you’re quickly able to identify and pinpoint personality traits of each. The transitional pages add so much emotion and sparkle, making this an instant reread for me, a definite purchase, reader’s advisory favorite, and certainly a book club candidate. I will certainly be keeping an eye on the creator’s work going forward!

So many teens will be able to relate to getting lost in media to cope and feel safe. The author covers so much heavy mental health reflection, such as perfectionism, and communicating shortcomings with friends, in such a fantastical and easy going way. I commend everyone behind this project, and can’t wait to discuss it further with library teens.

Thank you to netGalley and Random House for the eARC.

I might be biased, but Nguyen has this beautiful way of creating poignant works that meld his writing and his incredible draftsmanship into these gorgeous graphic novels. I was blown away by Magic Fish, and Angelica is no different.
This was a sweet story about friendship, grief, and learning to heal and grow. The magic was still there, and Nguyen knows how to fail at original intentions for a book, and I think this is a great example of a fantastic failure indeed.

Of course the follow up to 'The Magic Fish' is this beautiful, slightly offbeat, earnest work. It's lovely and serious and hopeful, and I think it will be so important to so many people, teens and older kids on up through all ages of adults.

I’ve been a fan of Trung Le Nguyen’s work ever since I picked up The Magic Fish around the tail end of the pandemic. That was such a gorgeously drawn,emotional story. It’s still a standout for me to this day. Authors notes give us some insight that Nguyen wanted to do something less heavy for a follow up work, something fun and frivolous even. Certain parts of Angelic and the Bear Prince are definitely fun and frivolous but, the story evolved into one about grief and how we process that emotion. One of the biggest takeaways is that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that somehow. It would’ve saved me a lot of trouble and guilt.

Color was such an important, integral part of The Magic Fish and again in Angelica and the Bear Prince the color palette is a standout. Colors were done by the artist Angela Phu or Popoalu on the Internet (seriously go check out her social media/Insta) The art is fluid and dynamic with the characters in some instances literally! Jumping out of the panels.
Only issue I had was that I found that the humor and the way the characters spoke didn’t match how I perceived them. Many members of the cast look far younger than they actually are. When teenage and adult characters talk and curse like adults it was jarring for me because they initially registered as much younger. Honestly though, that’s entirely minor.
Pick up this book!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc! Hope the book release goes well! :)

This was soooo cute! I will be looking out for more graphic novels from this artist/author in the future. The art style was great and the I really enjoyed the plot.

5 million stars/5. I loved The Magic Fish so was so excited to get this ARC. The story was well paced, the characters all well developed. I loved all the different relationships and interactions of the characters, and how the art was able to convey multiple emotions at once in a scene (tension, humor, heartache). I love retellings or anything fairy tale adjacent, and I thought the art style was really perfect for it.

I agree with other reviewers that The Magic Fish excelled in deeply navigating a few issues well, while this story took on many more themes. However, I don't think it impacted my enjoyment, since at the heart it's meant to be a lighthearted teen romance that ended up also being about grief, as the author explains in the introduction. I liked the conflicts and arguments that took place between characters and while the scenes were short, I don't think they were rushed or showed underdevelopments in their characters. The scene where Jelly and Chrissy's fight ends with Chrissy asking if Jelly wants a gluten-free donut made me laugh; that's exactly what a fight with your best friend felt like in high school.

Last year, Angelica “Jelly” managed her high school hockey team, ran cross-country, participated in the newspaper and choir, and several other volunteer opportunities. This year, she just can’t. Jelly has a serious case of Burn Out. She hopes to minimize her extracurriculars by applying for just one internship, at her town’s beloved Log House Theater. Jelly is accepted to be an intern stage manager at the theater and is excited for this opportunity. This year’s play is East of the Sun and West of the Moon (a rendition of Beauty and the Beast), one of her favorite plays since she was a child. She ends up DM’ing the social media account for one of the play’s main characters, Per, The Bear Prince. What begins as just expressing her feelings about various things develops into a real friendship with Per.

I think it’s important to address serious issues like expressing your feelings or even having Burn Out. I know that these issues are addressed more and more by adults, but for teens, it is vital. This was such a sweet story that I can’t wait to read the author’s The Magic Fish.

# ThxNetGalley #TrungLeNguyen #AngelicaandtheBearPrince

I wanted to like this. The cover art is cute, and the story sounded sweet and charming. However, some of the interior art reflected my feelings about some of the characters. Angelica and her mother were prone to temper tantrums, and the art was as unattractive as their behavior in those moments.

The story within a story didn't gel well, and a lot of the dialogue was stilted and read like a pretentious therapy session, trying too hard to put across a message, rather than letting the plot do the talking.

A lot of people will probably like this for a variety of reasons, but I just couldn't sink into the story.

Such a cute and heartwarming story . Really enjoyed how complex and relatable the main characters were and glad it had a great meaning.