I didn't know that Trung Le Nguyen was going to come out with a graphic novel this year so it was such a pleasant surprise that I ran into this arc and I'm even more grateful to have been granted it. As a big fan of The Magic Fish, Trung Le Nguyen art is just as good if not more in this book. I love the art style and the colors really brought the story to life. The story itself is whimsical, sweet and touching in what the characters are dealing with (the reality of grief which plays a big part in the story is just so relatable and realized). I thought that the ending was a little too abrupt and did find myself wanting a bit more from it but other than that another amazing work from Trung Le Nguyen, is it too soon to say that I'm already looking forward to what he will put out next?

As expected, the art style here was lovely, and the casual inclusion of so many relationships and dynamics and identities made me feel very warm and fuzzy inside. However, I found the storyline itself felt incredibly rushed and choppy. There were conflicts that would suddenly, in the next chapter, jump to being resolved (ex. the disagreement between Jelly and one of her friends). It happened so jarringly that I would often go back to see if I had missed a page or something, which was unfortunate. I wish there was just MORE of the story-more time taken-especially in regards to the conflicts, because the resolution of everything happened in so few pages and in such a convenient manner where everyone suddenly knew their flaws and was forgiven and resolved, which was very unsatisfying for me. As sweet as the dynamics here were, I also felt genuinely nothing for the romance/friendship happening on page. There was barely time spent on it, and the only real dynamic that was present felt like a very one-way venting relationship rather than anything with real chemistry. Overall, I felt like there were so many loose ends, not enough time spent developing characters and their arcs, and too little pages to explore everything fully. Still, a quick and beautiful-to-look-at read, I just left rather disappointed in the end.

This was such a sweet and wholesome story.

I adored the whimsical art style and I really liked the characters. They were all so in touch with their emotions and actually talked things out with each other, which I often miss in books (yes, I’m over the miscommunication trope).

Overall, this was a wonderful read.

I absolutely loved this graphic novel; it felt so relatable. Coping with grief daily made it resonate even more. This was an amazing experience from beginning to end.

"So ask yourself, honestly - why do you like to be busy? What happens without constant activity in your life? What goes on in your head when you give yourself a second to breathe?"

💭 My Thoughts

Let me start out by saying how much I loved the art style. The soft lines and bright colors complemented the fairytale feel of the story. Unfortunately, the story itself felt only partially fleshed out. While it does a great job addressing serious topics such as grief and burnout, there were so many different subplots that none of them quite felt fully developed. This story attempts to include a budding romance, family trials, burnout, grief, and a failing relationship without enough time to fully handle all of them. The trans representation was a nice surprise, and I really liked how naturally it was handled. All of the characters were very sweet and heartwarming, and I had a great time learning more about each of them. As a whole, it's a fun and charming story that may be worth checking out.

Angelica, or Jelly as she is known to her friends, thought she could do it all, in high school. Be in every extra-curricular activity, and keep her GPA up. And she could. Until she couldn’t.

So, having gotten to total burnout, she decides to just do one thing at a time, and one of those things is working at the local theatre, where, as a child she saw a play about a bear prince and a girl.

In fact, she started following the official account of the Bear Prince, and writing back and forth to him. It is the only thing that is keeping her sane.

I love the author’s illustrations. They work really well for this story. The main characters are also great, as are the secondary characters, her friends, and school mates. I also like that the “fat” girl, her best friend, doesn't have any issues about being overweight, or any stigmas, and is treated just like everyone else.

This is a sweet story of mysterious love, and what happens when you reach burnout. The main thing is being able to acknowledge it, and let others in, something Jelly isn’t good at doing.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be published on the 7th of October 2025.

Wow. I really had no idea what I was diving into when I requested this graphic novel. I was in awe with the art but also surprised that it explores the topic of grief, relationships, and burnout so realistically. I would had love for the relationship between the MMC and FMC to be explored deeper, once they get together. I was waiting for that, and based on the title I thought I was going to see more of that. I loved every second of it! 5 stars!! It's a great read

Wow, wow, wow. This was an absolute treat of a graphic novel and I never wanted it to end. Angelica and the Bear Prince is a modern retelling of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” but it is also so so much more. Dealing with themes such as grief, burnout, assertiveness, and mother/daughter relationships, this book has such a heart and soul to it. I loved absolutely every character in this story and enjoyed the diverse characters and representation. The illustrations were also amazing! I truly loved everything about this book! 500 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Angelica and the Bear Prince.

I LOVED this book! I was a huge fan of the author's previous graphic novel, The Magic Fish, and this did not disappoint. Trung has an amazing way of dealing with complex issues in a touching and relatable way. The way he waves fairy tales into his stories works so well to enhance the themes. This book deals mainly with grief and how people deal with their own grief in different ways. Angelica's own struggles are paralleled perfectly with the story of the Bear Prince. The other people in her life are also dealing with their own issues/grief, which all tie together well with the overall themes of dealing with life's struggles in one's own way. While the target audience for this book is teenagers, I found the story to be one that adults would be able to relate to and appreciate as well. This title also had a much higher use of color than The Magic Fish, but was equally beautiful to look at. I look forward to the author's next graphic novel and for more of the detailed, flowing hair he draws. Highly recommended!

3.5 Stars

The Magic Fish is one of my all time favorite books, so when I saw that Trung Le Nguyen had a new book coming out, i went as far as to download netgalley in an attempt to get it early. However, i think my expectations were a little to high. Art wise this was absolutely stunning—the vibrant colors helped with the cutesy feel of the book. Sadly, the story just felt too scattered to me: there were elements of a love story, a story about family relationships, a story about burnout, a breakup story, and a story about a cute little bear. If Nguyen had ended up focusing on just a couple of these aspects, more in line with the Magic Fish, then i think I would have liked this a lot more, but as it is all the elements felt very surface level with not enough time invested in each for us to care. Still loved the art in this and Trung Le Nguyen will remain an author to watch for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books | Random House Graphic for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Well, this is a little bit biased because I've been a huge fan of Trung Le Nguyen for years, I remember following him (and still following him) for years on Tumblr and then purchasing "The Magic Fish" years later after receiving an arc. Nguyen is an artist and storyteller that I think has only gotten better as time goes on.

"Angelica and the Bear Prince" follows a young teenager and those in her life and the different kinds of grief and issues that they deal with. While I found the exploration of grief a bit shallow for my tastes, I think for a teenager and younger, this graphic novel does a great job of introducing the theme and conversation to them without being overwhelming. And honestly, for me, it doesn't detract from the sweetness and grounded reality of the story and the characters. Plus, as usual, Nguyen's art is such a great vehicle for the story.

Overall, I was not disappointed and can't wait to see more stories from Nguyen.

**Thank you to Random House Children's Books for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts!**

This book was beautiful, and I really enjoyed reading it! It was quite short, but it was engaging, so I finished it in one evening. The graphics were gorgeous, and the characters were so relatable. I loved reading about all of them! I especially related to Angelica's struggles with burnout.

My only qualm is that this graphic novel feels a little unfocused. It had so many fun side stories, but there didn't seem to be a specific "main plot". In some ways it was more fun to read that way, because it was more of a broad overview of Angelica and her life versus a deep dive into one specific facet of her or her relationships with the other characters. I still would have liked a little more focus on her and the bear prince, since that is the title (and what I was expecting).

Overall, this is a really fun and beautiful read! I would recommend reading it.

What an incredible follow-up! The Magic Fish is one of my all-time favorite graphic novels, and while this has a completely different tone, Nguyen still manages to perfectly encapsulate so many emotions. This is a story about grief, about burnout, about friendship, change, and most of all: about love. While there is a romance between angelica and her "bear prince," it's also about her relationships with her best friend, her parents, her neighbors, and herself. This book speaks so much to the importance of community when it comes to healing. I loved it so much!

"The Magic Fish" is one of the best graphic novels in existence (seriously, if you haven't read it, you need to right your wrongs) and I eagerly awaited something new by Trung Le Nguyen. I was so happy when I saw the announcement for "Angelica and the Bear Prince", and even more so when I got an arc. The author's art style is very recognizable and there is use of similar storytelling elements, but the two graphic novels differ a lot from each other in my opinion. "Angelica and the Bear Prince" follows 17-year-old Angelica as she starts an internship at the local theater. It's the first activity she's taken up in a while after she faced burnout the year prior due to her being a chronic overachiever and people pleaser. In this complicated time she found comfort in a story about a bear prince (basically a retelling of "East of the Sun and West of the Moon") and connected with a stranger on the internet through it. This graphic novel feels more like glimpse into Angelica's life than a straightforward story. It's set over a short period of time without focusing on anything in particular. For instance, I thought the theater production would play a bigger role, but it's really just happening in the background. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it opened the opportunity to spotlight multiple characters and their reactions to different occurrences. And the characters are the biggest strength of this graphic novel. All of them were sweet, but they had very real and relatable problems. They dealt with different kinds of grief and mourning – the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the change of a person – and while I liked that this was shown in such variety, I wish it went deeper into the theme itself. Because ultimately, this story lacked the strong emotional impact that "The Magic Fish" had for me. But I do appreciate it for all the themes it mentioned, like the mental health rep or the casual queerness, and would recommend it to teen readers without any reservations.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House Graphic for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I requested this graphic novel. I thought I was getting a cute romance, but I got so much more.
At it's heart, Angelica and the Bear Prince is about grief. Nearly every character in the book is dealing with some form of grief, and they're all dealing with it in different ways. Sometimes those ways end up hurting others. The beautiful thing about this story, though, is how each person was eventually able to see how their grief was affecting themselves and others. I was also able to relate to having a friend who wants to fix your problem when you'd rather just talk about it for the time being. That really hit home for me.
The characters were all so real and relatable, and I was amazed at how fleshed out they all were in so few pages. It's really masterful storytelling.
The art is wonderful. It's perfectly paced to give you both humorous and emotional moments. I loved the softness to the world and the nostalgic feeling it conjured.
I will absolutely be handing this graphic novel to my friends. It's a lovely story for anyone to enjoy.

Thank you to Random House Children's and Netgalley for the ARC!

Such a heartwarming story dealing with the worst feeling anyone can go through: grief. The way the story explores it through our main character Angelica and navigating her emotions. Angelica refuses to open up about her feelings, becoming overwhelmed to stay normal. Her only solace is a bear from a play that gave her comfort as a kid. The relationships Angelica has with her family and friends are the main focus because her grief affects them all. The whole story was done really well and I can’t wait for others to read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was such a cozy, fun read!! The art is gorgeous and full of color. There is such a sense of community to this book. The characters are so diverse, in the most beautiful way. Sometimes you can tell a diverse character was written in just to represent minorities and this can be obvious by the fact that the diverse part of them is their entire personality. In this book, these diverse characters were not defined by their diversities but just as humans. There was good representation of different groups of people but it never felt like it was forced.

I also want to say that this author is very clearly the most enlightened author I have ever read. The way the characters respond to issues and communicate their needs openly and bravely just felt like such a weight off my shoulders while reading. There is so much healthy dialogue in this quick graphic novel that I genuinely felt lighter while reading this. I wish we could all communicate like this.

I think the only negative for me was that I felt like the plot tapered off a little bit at the end. I would still absolutely recommend this read and I would be likely to buy this for myself once the book is out!

Again, such a cozy, fun read! Thank you for the ARC. Review to come on IG (@seas.library) before publishing date.

This was very cute, and I adored the characters! I liked that we got to spend more time with the side characters, including the parents and neighbors, who were stinkin' adorable. The art is sumptuous and lovely.

So me, though, this read like there were parts missing. The fairytale that the contemporary story follows ends somewhat abruptly, and the main storyline was resolved so quickly and easily. I had to flip back and see if I missed pages or something. The relationship never had a chance to percolate, and the burnout Jelly experiences at the beginning was never satisfactorily addressed.

I was delighted by the surprise (to me) trans rep, and it's not even a big deal, which made it so much better. I'm glad that other people enjoyed this more, because the art is truly a delight. It's like Nordic Candyland in some regards. Parts of this were a riot, with humor that made me snort-laugh. I enjoyed what was here, but I felt that parts were missing, which was my main complaint.

Overall, this was pretty and charming and relatively lighthearted. Dad is the secret MVP. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

What a gift!
I had read Nguyen's previous graphic novel, The Magic Fish, about a year or so ago and very much enjoyed it but I think this one tops that. The art style, the diverse cast of characters (With multiple LGBTQ+ character representation!), the exploration of grief, and the brutal honesty of growing pains as a young teen and adult-It was all perfect.
I'm so thankful I was able to read this early! It was truly a delight. I was very pleased with this one. I think once it comes out, I will be re-reading it many times.

This was so cute!! Such a beautiful, cozy read - the drawings are adorable and the story, while simple, gives visibility to very unspoken topics such as grief, burnout or even poor management of feelings. I really enjoyed it and I'm adding Le Nguyen's debut graphic novel to my TBR list.