**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.

This was very wholesome and sweet. I enjoyed the dialogue and the illustrations and thought everything meshed very well together. I enjoyed the story/play within the story, but was super disappointed when it skipped over the climax of the play after giving us everything else. The ending felt a bit rushed to me.

I rated it 4/5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for the ARC!

5/5
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Graphic for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Absolutely phenomenal! I mean, honestly, I need every single panel of this book as a poster. The tone of this book is much lighter than The Magic Fish (which I also adored) but it still does a great job of tackling grief, and communicating your feelings in general, in a way that feels meaningful. I love that pretty much all of the characters are very willing to admit that they were wrong and learn from their mistakes right away.

Overall, I think Trung Le Nguyen is amazing at writing books that appeal to kids, and also have a lot of value for adults (though I personally think it is also fine for kids books to not appeal to adults sometimes, but that is a topic for another day!), and of course the art is absolutely adorable.

This was such a lovely story. So much charm! The anticipation this story had me with until close to the end was a wonderful surprise! If you want a nice heartwarming and cute story this is 100% for you! I will be recommending!

Such a great story about new friends, old friends and the continued learning we all go through to express our emotions correctly and learn to hear others.

The illustrations are brilliant and the story flows so perfectly together.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung Le Nguyen is a YA graphic novel exploring grief, romance, burnout, and friendship. Angelica used to accept every single offer that came her way but when her body tells her to take a break, she suddenly doesn’t know what to do with herself. She gets an internship at the local theater and starts talking to an account posting pictures of Per the Bear, one of the theater’s classic characters.

Angelica and the Bear Prince handles a lot of difficult, mature themes in a very quiet way that feels realistic to how these situations actually do play out. There are no dramatic fallouts, there’s some frustration but it resolves fairly quickly, and it’s very clear that there are still issues that have to be resolved. With Angelica and her best friend, Christie, there’s a very obvious issue of Angelica not knowing how to emet Christie’s needs, but even when they do have their blow-up about it, you know that it’s going to be OK. I think this does something that is incredibly important: people can hurt you and miss how to meet your needs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work it out and that they aren’t trying. Given how often we push for people to cut out anyone who hurts you even a little bit and the way that is deepening the loneliness epidemic, I think this is quite poignant.

Gable is implied through dialogue and flashback to be a transman though the term is never explicitly used. I was fine with that because we need a variety of Queer representation, including ones where transpeople can just exist in the world and be in a romance while dealing with other things. Nobody questions it, Angelica doesn’t ask questions that some people might have given that she’s meeting a friend again after years apart, and it is just treated as a very natural, normal part of life. There is power in that especially given what is happening right now in the world. It’s not going to teach people about the trans experience, but not every book featuring a Queer character has to be a tool for teaching about Queerness. If this is teaching readers anything, it’s that there is life after burnout and that grief is complex.

The romance isn’t the whole book, I would even argue that it’s a subplot as the book is more centered around Angelica’s in-group as a whole, but it is present and on the sweet side. Angelica is unaware that she is talking to her childhood friend at first and Gable is implied to be very shy and unsure of how to talk to Angelica after so long apart. It is very cute and I think the both of them do some growing in other aspects of their lives (Angelica in terms of her mental health and Gable in learning more about his grandmother and her grief) that helps sell them as their own characters.

Content warning for a brief depiction of racism

I would recommend this to fans of graphic novels that deal with heavy themes in a gentle way and readers of YA who want something tackling burnout

This was a very sweet story about reconnecting with those you've lost touch with over time. I would recommend it to fans of romance, modern princess stories and cozy books.

This book was beyond adorable and touched on so many aspects of growing up and burnout. It was very heartwarming to have a child's burnout be recognized, accepted, and for them to know it's okay to take a break. Also, the casualness in which queerness, diversity, and community was presented was done so well. I love when things just are in a story and there isn't any big need to delve into it.

The petty rivalry between the two mothers was quite hilarious as well. For a book that overlooked making race and queerness a thing, I gasped when the DEI comment was made and had a nice chuckle.

I fully enjoyed this book and am a new fan of Trung Le Nguyen. The art was amazing and was what made me request the book in the first place. I will for sure checkout other works by this author.

Thanks so much to Random House Children's Books for the DRC!

What an absolute gem of a book. I read the first book that Trung Le Nguyen wrote and loved it so much. I think I love this book even more. I would recommend to anyone looking for an excellent graphic novel.. The underlaying love story is beautifully write. It is just such a lovely book.

When I saw that Trung Le Nguyen is publishing another graphic novel I raced to NetGalley to see if they had an ARC of it and they did! I really enjoyed "The Magic Fish" and was super excited to read this book as well. Boy- did it not disappoint! The story was tender and sweet, the characters and their development was well thought out, and I love the illustrations! Also, the nickname Jelly for Angelica is adorable! I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for me to review!

This is a GORGEOUS book, I knew as soon as I saw the author & cover that it was going to be stunning and I was RIGHT. The bear prince is adorable, the casual queer themes were excellently done, and the family dynamics were so on point it was almost painful, not to mention that the art is absolutely stunning.

I cannot wait for this to be published so I can make everyone I know read it immediately.

Trung Le Nguyen has once again created a heartfelt story with beautiful art. Following Angelica as she tries to get back on her feet after a serious case of burnout, Angelica and the Bear Prince deftly captures the nuances of grief and communication. I particularly enjoyed the dynamics between Angelica, her mother, and her best friend. It's refreshing to see characters that normalize the ups and downs of navigating tough feelings, and there were some genuinely funny moments tangled in with this as well. Sometimes you might disagree with those you love or make mistakes and not know what to say in the moment, but the love and care is still there when you are ready. This was also true of a side character that lashed out in grief, but eventually acknowledged the ways in which these heavy emotions have impacted her. The fairy tale being told in parallel with Angelica's story added an atmospheric touch, but it did make the plot feel a little jumpy to me at times. Nguyen's art style is perfect for a fairy tale inspired story, with plenty of detail, sparkle, and a cheery color palette.