A precious en diverse graphic novel about queer love, witches, werewolves and friendship. The drawings are beautiful and I enjoyed reading it.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Nova is a teenage witch working in her nanas' bookshop. She goes to investigate one night when she hears rumors of a white wolf in the woods near her town and discovers that it is her childhood friend, Tam. Tam has been battling a horse demon in these woods, having heard that only werewolf magic can defeat it. Their old feelings reignite as they work together to figure out how to defeat the demon.

I enjoyed this story, but there was so much about this world that I didn't get a chance to know through this graphic novel. I don't know if this will become a series, and we can learn more that way, but I hope so! I would liked to have known more about Nova and Tam's friendship when they were children, too. In my copy of the book, the first seven chapters were gorgeous full-color illustrations, and chapter 8 on were black and white drawings with occasional bits of red. I am not sure if this was a stylistic choice or if it was because I received an advance copy that wasn't completely finished. This was a sweet, simple read.

At its core, Mooncakes is a graphic novel about the relationship between a witch and a werewolf. They have history together but where the story begins, Tam (the werewolf) has arrived back at their childhood town where Nova (the witch) still lives. Mooncakes follows them as they rekindle their relationship. The main plot, which takes a more secondary role, follows Nova and Tam as they deal with a magical conflict.

If I could describe Mooncakes in one word, it would be 'Cute'. The art style perfectly encaptures this. It perfectly portrays the cosy feeling of Tam, Nova and her Grandmothers.

This graphic novel is very diverse. Tam is non-binary and Nova has hearing difficulties and wears a hearing aid. Both Tam and Nova are Chinese-American. Mooncakes does a great job with representation.

For me, what was less great was aspects of the plot. A lot of the plot and its resolution felt a bit too convenient. There was no sense of real danger for the characters.

However, I do realise that the main focus is the characters and that there may have not been enough room to explore the plot in a more intricate way.

I read Mooncakes on one 3-hour train trip when I was incredibly upset. Upset as in can-barely-hold-back-tears upset. The kind of will-break-into-million-pieces upset. But as I have quite a lot of social anxiety, the thought of crying publicly made me feel even worse. I wanted to hide under the chair.

But then I remembered that I was granted an arc of Mooncakes and I had seen reviews that said it is heart-warming and soft.

And it worked. Reading Mooncakes made my throat feel like it was no longer trying to suffocate itself and my brain stopped feeling like it was going to start boiling.

Because of Mooncakes I made it through that train trip with my sanity intact, until I broke down in the safe confines of my kitchen with my partner there to wrap me into a bear hug. Best case scenario for a break down I would say.

All this sounds like it is way too personal for a book review, but see – to explain why Mooncakes is a great graphic novel, I have to lay myself bare. Simply put, Mooncakes can lift you up when you feel like an utter mess. It isn’t splendid, the plot is a bit wonky and at times I had bigger hopes for the illustration style. But none of those things matter when you are stuck in your own personal mental vortex. Mooncakes works like a video of 8 baby pandas wrestling on a soft tatami.

Mooncakes has wonderfully diverse characters with the main character, Nova, being Chinese-American, hard of hearing, queer young girl with two grandmas in a relationship with each other. Also, Tam is a non-binary werewolf! The story is bursting with acceptance and kindness throughout.

As I mentioned, I found the plot disappointing. It is predictable and occassionally cringey. I wish this cute graphic novel had a more substantial story as its foundation so that I could gift it more stars. But the truth is that I found it cute and comforting – but not particularly engrossing.

Blogger at Momotips

I enjoyed Mooncakes from the cover. I loved the colors which reminded me of cartoons I used to watch when I was small. The story is cute and special. I really liked how the story is settled and developed. I particularly enjoyed how the writer decided to present each character during the story. It is important to know more about the past of the characters to better understand the situation they are now. The two main characters in this graphic novel are Nova and Tam, two young girls with a tough past that after years and difficulties are finally reunited.
Nova is a cute young witch with a particular aspect, she uses hearing aids. While, Tam is not a witch but a wolf. Both are inexpert and have difficulties to manage to handle their powers. But together they will manage to defeat the danger in town.
I decided to give three stars and not more for one specific reason, I feel the graphic novel finished hurriedly. I am glad an epilogue is included at the end of the graphic novel, otherwise, I would think there was another volume. I wished the writer was adding few pages to the graphic novel to ending it in a more detailed way, I feel there are few things that they decided to not say.

ARC provided by NetGalley

I loved that there is so much diversity in such a small cast of main characters. The main character wears hearing aids and the other main character/love interest is non-binary. I loved the relationships between different characters, especially Tat and Nova’s friendship. I thought the romance was a bit rushed but can look past that since the relationship was really sweet. Nova and Tam are just really adorable together. Tat and Tam were my favorite characters; Tat has the best overall humor but Tam has the best puns. The grandmas were perfect.

The story itself was good, but I did feel the ending was rushed, everything just happened and ended so quickly. I wish we had explored more about the cult.

The art was beautiful and I loved the colors that were used.

Overall, I think this was a cute story perfect for fall. I’m looking forward the getting the final edition with full-color art.

This adorable graphic novel centres on a witch called Nova and a non-binary werewolf called Tam. Nova is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids.

The illustrations were very cute and I personally would wear every outfit that Nova wore.
The storyline was interesting, if a tiny bit predictable. I loved the collection of black cats, the badass nans, and the romance.
It was the perfect autumnal read for this time of year to get you into the fall mood.

Mooncakes is a delightful graphic novel that is just so pure and sweet! The main character is a witch that is heard of hearing (they make it a point to show her hearing aids! How cool is that) and the other protagonist is a nonbinary werewolf. Oh and the witch lives with her grandmothers! Which might not seem is not unusual, it is just wonderful that they are in love...no just a grandmother from each side of the family. Talk about representation!
Nova, the witch, ends up reconnecting with her childhood friend when she stumbles upon them fighting this monster/demon thing in the woods. Throughout the novel they touch upon romanace, accepting yourself, and the importance of accepting someone's proper pronouns! These are all very important themes that would be great for young adult and teen readers. Plus the artwork in the comic was adorable as well. It was not the normal type of comic that I would normally read but overall it was really good!

Mooncakes is such a cute novel!!! I loved the family and friendship dynamics, all witches, werewolves, and humans fighting evil...so cool. The queer representation was awsome to include: same-sex relationship and pronouns of they/them. Also, the artwork is magnificent and I cannot wait to see it in full color!! A truly perfect October read.

Mooncakes was a beautiful story that as soon as I started, I couldn't put down. Reading it I was reminded of the comic Red String .

The art is absolutely stunning and the writing is beautiful combining love and magic into and enchanting story that you will want to share with everyone you know.

We start off by learning about each of the main characters, Tam and Nova and their world of magic. Tam returns back to a town she once lives, while Nova works at her grandmothers' bookshop; she helps in the store where they loan out speel books and deal with supernatural things that happen in their town. Soon they learn about a demon in the woods. I enjoyed the magic and spells of the town but my favorite part of this book is the characters. I love Novas' grandmothers, they are sweet and care; open-minded and willing to help those who are in need.
Nova and Tam are too cute! I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow from childhood friends to where they are now. I also enjoyed Novas' parents not going to say anymore as that could be seen as a spoiler but I enjoyed how they play into the story. The magic in this book is well based, not overpowered while still being the main part of this story. I love the bookshop, the spell books are neat and somehow have their own personalities.
And now onto the part, I enjoy this style of art so much. It fits the story very well; I like the colors and the way magic is drawn into this world.
Overall, this book put a spell on me, once starting reading I couldn't stop; this magical bookshop pulled me in with these diverse that made me feels so much.

I loved this. This Graphic Novel does so many amazing things. One of our main characters is Non-Binary and when their preferred pronouns are brought up its not made a huge deal of its just accepted.
The art style is adorable and although this is an arc copy and the final third was the line drawings only it was still super cute and beautiful.
My favourite part of this was the woodland creatures, they were unique and cute and I was so happy that they played such a huge part!
I will definitely be checking out future work from Suzanne Walker!
4/5 Stars

After venturing into The Tea Dragon Society I decided to request another ARC for the amazing guys from NetGalley (it's still available right now, so enjoy it so much).
This time with Suzanne Walker as author, Mooncakes can be so cute and captivating that it's impossible to stop reading! I read him on the bus going to work, very good!

Speaking of art she's AMAZING is delicate, nice to see you know? Really enjoyed!

This was so dang cute! I had heard so many people rave about this in the book community, and after my friend read the ARC and loved it, I knew I had to give it a shot!

I definitely got Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown vibes from it because of the atmosphere. This is a quintessential fall read and really is sure to get you in the fall mood! I almost wish I had saved it for when the weather finally cooled down and I could curl up on the couch with a blanket and a hot cup of coffee to read. Instead I read it in the blistering hot weather of Florida pre-hurricane but even then I still felt the atmosphere of the story.

Nova was a badass witch in training and she did not let her hearing disability stop her from being such a kickass witch. In fact, she actually uses it to give herself a leg up in a fight later on and I really loved that that was thrown in there. Tam is Nova's childhood best friend who show's back up in town with a mysterious secret and seeds help. Tam also identifies as gender fluid so they use they/them pronouns which I hadn't seen in a graphic novel before so I really loved that. Tatyanna is Nova's best friend, magic skeptic, and science nerd; she's not in it a whole lot but she provided a lot of comedy relief, support, and helped keep the story from becoming kitschy in it's witchiness. There's also the lesbian Nana's where it's not explicitly said on page but hinted at.

Storyline wise, Mooncakes wasn't anything really original but it was enjoyable all the same. The 'villain' is obvious from the moment you see them on the page. There's really no big explanation behind the villain's plot either, which was a little irritating but not so much that it made me dislike the story. It could've been better, yes, but I enjoyed it all the same anyways. Drawing wise, Wendy Xu draws the best illustrations in such a cute, whimsical way. I loved her little easter eggs that were thrown in of YA book covers. I kept finding myself squinting and trying to figure out what the less clear ones were but there's a few that you'd find it hard to miss if you're at all a part of the YA book community.

All in all, a fantastic graphic novel! Lovely characters, fun atmosphere, and beautiful illustrations! 10/10 would recommend!

The artwork and the story is cute! The LGBTQ+ and diverse representation was very well done. It was a very enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed this book! I was surprised first by the amount of representation that was displayed. There are characters that are non-binary, characters that are gay, characters that are hard of hearing...it goes on and on and it felt like it was just a natural part of the story. I also liked that it didn’t just focus on romance but also friendship. I liked the plot but wanted Tam to have more of a fight with the demon. I also wanted them to be able to explore their woof magic more. I don’t think it was thoroughly explained. The artwork was also phenomenal and I’m looking forward to seeing what the creators will come up with next if they decide to develop a second volume.

This was a beautifully drawn, inclusive story that swept me in with it's unique characters and story line. Heavy on the strong females it followed two young women, a witch in training, and a werewolf as they battle a demon in town. Friends growing up, Nova and Tam said goodbye when they were on the cusp of new and foreign emotions. When circumstances bring them back together they explore what could've been as they fight against the evil threatening their town.

I loved that the town knew about and accepted paranormal creatures. and the inclusions of different types of people, like those who identify with different pronouns, and handi-abled young woman who used a hearing aid. The total acceptance of who they were was beautiful, and the adventure was a fun one. Sprinkled with life lessons and coming of age background i read it in one sitting.

Sometimes stories come along that just tick all the boxes. The author managed to fit a diversity of gender, age, ability, and orientation all into one lovely story without it feeling forced...almost as if people with these traits you know, EXIST normally in the world and are all around us.
I have strong feelings for stories that can do this so seamlessly. I have even stronger feelings for stories that instantly draw me into their worlds and just let me escape for a bit.
Do yourself a favour and pick this up. You won't be disappointed in this quick but delightful afternoon read. I think my only downside to this is that it only felt like a beginning, and I look forward to reading more from them in the future.

I am basically not a fan of comics or illustrated books. But Mooncakes was such a treat for me. I loved both the grandmas. Such a diverse protagonists and a story which is not laughing anywhere. This book will be such a treat for comic lovers.

this is an incredibly sweet & lovely story, with so much effortless and respectful representation!! pls can we get more stuff like this??

so this is an urban fantasy kind of story, with werewolves and witches who care about nature & forest spirits (which i absolutely loved). there are some demons, some evil cults, some plot twists turning the whole thing even lovelier, some cute friends-to-lovers romance...

all in all, a great graphic novel and exactly what i needed right now

rep: bi/pan chinese-american mc using a hearing-aid, non-binary chinese-american li, side interracial sapphic couple