Nova is a teenage witch working with her grandmas at their bookshop. Tam, her child-hood best friend (and maybe a little more than that), come back to their old town, needing help against dark forces that are pursuing them. I KNOW : this is the graphic novel you didn't know you needed. And you will probably fall in love with it as I did.
You cannot not love this graphic novel. First of all, let's talk about the obvious : the art. Wendy Xu's art is all I love : from the sweet, soft lines to the gorgious color palette, the comic boards are immensly aesthetically pleasing and just beautiful. Overwhelming, but in a good way. I wanna use them as wallpaper for my room.
The storyline and drawings carry a cute, witchy ambiance that I love. We have magic, witchcraft, and a spark of romance, all surrounded by books. I mean, that's all i ever asked for.
Of course, the strengh of the book is its characters. It can be hard to develop complex characters when the authours also want to develop an action-packed storyline. Well, Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu did it. The grandmas are simply iconic, Nova is absolutly sweet and inspiring, Tam is touching and Tatyana is hilarious. I want to be best friend with all of them and participate in their adventures.
The storylines itself is not outstanding but still is good enough and satisfying. There are some plot twits that really had me SHOOK - even though one seemed pretty obvious.
The only thing I could hold against the novel is the pacing. It was maybe a little too quick. Although that can be just me, wanting the story to last longer.

(Rating : 4.5/5)

YAAAAS! I was so excited to read this! Two Asian-American protagonists, both queer, one is non-binary and the other has a hearing disability, one is a witch, the other a werewolf - I AM HERE FOR IT! If all of that is not enough to make you fall in love with this story, what about a beautiful coloring and artwork? Or lesbian grandmothers? Magical forest creatures? Tons of magic?

Mooncakes was a really entertaining and lovely story to read. I had heard of Wendy Xu's fiction work (small self-promo in one of the scenes was great!) but hadn't had a chance to pick it up so far. I'll definitely look it up now and look forward to both authors future works.

This was an amazing graphic novel that had a lot of magic and diverse characters. I loved the artwork, the story, and heart behind it. The main character, Nova, is a witch living with her grandmothers. One night, Tam, her long lost love, comes back into her life. Tam is a werewolf and have encountered a demon in the woods. Together, Nova and Tam try to defeat the demon while making up for lost time together. I fell in love with both of the characters and loved how well rounded and fleshed out they were. I highly recommend this for anyone fans fantasy graphic novels.

4.5 stars.

My gosh, this is the purest most wholesome thing I have read in a very long time. Every character is fantastic — from kindhearted Nova to resilient Tam to the badass and supportive nanas — and the plot is engaging if slightly predictable. I adored the rep, the art, the soft interpersonal relationships; all the diversity and magic was so wonderfully matter-of-fact, which I loved. Seriously, every little detail of this is delightful.

Adorable characters and a great graphic novel! I really enjoyed the humor and the magic. The story was very well developed to be so short and has me excited about more! Magically fabulous!

I really liked this story. It was very sweet and Nova & Tam were adorable. I really like them both and thought their relationship was so cute. I really loved the magic in this book.The illustrations were gorgeous and everything from the villain to the story was interesting. It reminded me a lot of the show Sabrina the Teenage Witch.. It is the perfect book to read this fall!

I normally don't review graphic novels on here, but I had an ARC of Mooncakes and it's so cute.  This will be pretty short though.



There is a lot to love in this graphic novel.  The artwork and colors were nice and kind of cute.  Nova uses a hearing aide and lives with her two grandmas.  They run a book store and they're all witches.  Her parents died, but they have visited as ghosts.



Tam is a wolf and is nonbinary.  They recently came back to town after being away for awhile.  Tam and Nova were best friends and know each other's secrets.  A demon horse shows up and everyone needs to work together to try to banish it.  



There are cute little creatures and a friend to romance relationship that was adorable.  Tatyana is Nova's best friend and I really liked her, too.



I gave this 5 stars.  Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy for review.

In my quest to read 75 graphic novels in 2019, I picked up Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu. It's queer, it's got magic, and I was pretty sold right away. I read an ARC from NetGalley that didn't have all the pages colored, but I still enjoyed it!

Nova's a witch and she lives with her two witch grandmas who run a witch bookstore and it's a whole thing. Great, right. Then, Nova's former best friend, Tam, comes back to town and they (non-binary) are also a werewolf. You follow? Tam's back in town dealing with a demon possession and it'll take Nova, Tam, two grandmas and a lot of magic to handle the issue, ultimately save a life, and take down a cult. There's a quickly-picked-up romance between Nova and Tam, some magical creatures, parents who are out of this world, and some great nature illustrations. I highly recommend it!

Mooncakes follows Nova, a witch, and Tam, a non-binary werewolf. They are childhood friends who are reunited early in the story, and have to solve a dark mystery in the woods near town. The illustrations were charming and the world was adorable, but the worldbuilding is scant and a lot of the more whimsical parts (a magical bookstore, a gated forest filled with friendly animal spirits, ghost parents) were skimmed over. The story might have been strengthened by more time exploring how magic works and letting the reader spend a few more pages in some of the more magical elements of this world. The protagonists are delightful and easy to get attached to - though some of the insta-love scenes were cringeworthy - but the villains are caricatures at best and their motivations (and the conflict as a whole) are poorly explained. Overall, Mooncakes is a fun, short read with great representation, but could be improved by more time spent in the world to flesh out the magical elements and the conflict.

Very cute graphic novel about a nonbinary werewolf and a queer witch who's hard-of-hearing! Both of them are chinese-american and not so sure about their place in life.

I loved the foreword and I appreciate that the authors took the time to write it! It's a wonderful introduction to the story and I recommend not to skip it!

The art style was lovely, and while there were several frames I adored, there were others that seemed a bit skewed to me. As I read an ARC, some changes might still be done for the final copy.

One highlight of the book was definitely Nova's family! Her grandmothers were wonderful, and her cousin Terry was a fun addition.

The story was simple but effective and lovingly told, and I enjoyed myself reading it.

Content warnings include: body horror, kidnapping, cultist rituals.

Oh my heart! This graphic novel was such a fun and enjoyable read and was a perfect title to break up my reading. This story follows Nova (a witch) and Tam (a werewolf) as they reunite and face a danger while also exploring their feelings for each other. It was a beautiful story that put a smile on my face, seeing friendship and love blossom between all the characters.

This graphic novel discusses so much in the way of real life issues such as family, love, diversity, etc while also seamlessly blending in the supernatural aspects and the mystery they must solve. I would definitely love if there were more stories following these characters, but this also stands well on its own. The art style and color palette are beautiful and fit the tone of the story perfectly. It leans earth tone, but that is perfect for the setting and feel of the story.

Overall, Mooncakes is a beautiful story full of magic and the strength of friendship and love. I'm very interested in seeing more from both the author and the illustrator as their collaboration produced such an amazing tale.

The art in this book was absolutely gorgeous but the story fell flat for me personally. I do love a good witchy read and the nanas were absolutely hilarious. Definitely check it out if you love witchy reads and baking :)

I loved this graphic novel! The plot, the characters, the art style--it all felt like a warm hug. There's no better word to use when describing this story than COZY. A fantastical story set in modern-day, with queer witches and werewolves, was just the right mixture of everything I love in diverse YA fantasy. The plot itself was light enough without being too complicated, but still tackled deep issues amongst the main characters, especially issues surrounding family and sense of self. The side characters were such a standout for me, though! I loved the sapphic grandmas and every page they were on was an absolute treat. The atmosphere was also a big highlight; a combination of a fantastic art style and great setting choices was totally transportive. The representation was also amazing. Overall I would highly recommend this book and plan to pick it up for a reread come October.

4.5 stars

what i liked:
-representation!!!!!
-nova has two grandmas, and they're both great
-tam is non-binary
-queer af!
-nova wears hearing aids
-friendship and family at it's finest
-the art style is so pretty
-the plot is actually quite interesting
-witches, a werewolf, demons, satanic cults, what else could i ask for?

what i didn't liked:
-i just kinda wish we had a bit more information on nova and tam's backstory, but that's my only complain

Title: Mooncakes
Author: Wendy Xu & Suzanne Walker
Pages: 259
Genre: Graphic Novel, Romance, LGBTQ+
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is an Advanced Readers Copy. That means that this is not the final version of the book. Therefore, facts, quotes, and panels are subject to change in the published book.

Release date: 10/15/2019

The is the love child of two lovely artists forced into a long distance relatiopnship and just finding a medium to create together. This story is about young Nova, a witch who lives with her nana's. When one day, a wolf rolls into the neighborhood only to be the lovely Tam, an old (almost girl)friend from the past. And I say girlfriend but Tam is non-binary so kissing partner would be more accurate but I could not resist the joke. 

Oh No's
Hmmmm my oh no is that I feel something was missing. I can't put my finger on it though. But, I did love this story and recommend it but I just can't figure out what is missing to me. (Not straight people, cause that is the best thing that this graphic novel is missing).

Yay's
The length of this graphic novel was astounding. Coming out to a whopping 259 pages (for now), this story was able to be fully fleshed out and written thoroughly. The Romance was great and everyone was LGBTQ+ filled representation. With one of the main characters being binary and using they/them pronouns.

I loved this moment between Nova and her grandmother. It's a parents job to embarrass the young ones and it was just a wholesome moment.



Finally,
This was a magical novel filled with werewolves, demons, witches, and more! I love gorgeous art and this graphic novel delivers.

My similar recommendation for this novel would be Tea Dragon Society.

Favorite Panel


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-PM

An absolutely adorable supernatural graphic novel featuring an HoH (hard of hearing) queer witch and an enby werewolf, childhood best friends reunited when a dangerous demonic spirit begins haunting the woods. Lovely illustrations and a really sweet story about magic and love and learning to trust yourself.

I'm loving the trend for queer witchy comics at the moment and Mooncakes is a particularly good one with beautiful art and a cute romance between a witch and her non-binary werewolf childhood friend whose come back to town to fight a demon.

I loved the paranormal storyline, the skeptical scientist best friend, the lesbian grandma witches and the adorable forest spirits in this. So much to love and deaf, Chinese-American and Jewish representation in the main characters. Mooncakes is a heart-warming and magical comic that would be great for all ages and fans of all things cute and spooky.

Mooncakes is the kind of novel that will warm your heart and put a smile on your face. Seriously, you won't stop grinning as you read.

It follows Tam and Nova, two childhood friends that lost touch over the years but reunite when Tam returns to town. There is a demon haunting the forest and it seems Tam is the key to unraveling it.

It's a paranormal contemporary where Tam is a werewolf and, Nova and her family are witches. Tam is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and Nova is hard-of-hearing and uses a hearing aid. They are both Chinese-American and Nova has the loveliest family, her grandmothers are just the sweetest!

Even though the main plot is them trying to understand Tam's wolf magic and how they can defeat the force in the forest, we also follow their day-to-day life, Nova's struggles with the loss of her parents and how she can move forward, and the parent neglect Tam feels from their mother. It also follows as Tam and Nova develop and confess their feelings for each other, and learn how they can be together.

Nova's grandmothers are very present in her life, they help them with the demon and they happily take Tam in. You can see the love these characters share for one another, and their compassion. It was lovely to read about a family that is present in each other's lives.

Personally, if I don't like the art style it affects my reading experience but Mooncakes' artwork is absolutely beautiful, I just want to hang it around my house. The overall story is simple but interesting, leaving me wanting more from these characters. I want to follow them around and see what adventures they get up to. I loved seeing the little magic spells and, again, I WANT MORE!

Lastly, I must say it's an honor to share my name with Nova's cat. MY DREAM IS TO BE A CAT so I feel like I belong to this family.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this and I will definitely be shouting about this to everyone around me. It's just so good!

That was a lovely story about a nonbinary werewolf and their childhood friend (who's queer and uses hearing aids) reconnecting and defeating evil! I highly recommend it.

I NEED MORE! This graphic novel was the cutest one I have read so far. I noticed it being Read Now, and I hád to download it. I really loved that it wasn't just one person struggling with something, but both MCs had their own issues, and a clear past.

So, Nova and Tam were friends when they were childs, but Tam had to move away, so Nova stayed behind with her grandmothers (who are the cutest ever). It all seems like a run of the mill story - except Nova is a witch (like her grandmothers) and Tam is a werewolf.

The story revolves around the them defeating a demon - banding together to combine their magic. And them together is truly awesome. The relationship between Nova and her grandmothers is absolutely amazing, and between Tam and Nova's grandmothers aswell. When Tam has nowhere to go, Nova's grandmothers take them into their home - yes them, because Tam is nonbinary, something that's awesomely depicted in the story.

The art was beautiful aswell! Being an ARC, it wasn't entirely done, but I'm really looking forward to see the finished copy, and I will definitely be buying it when it's available!