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.

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.