3.5

I've seen this book many times around booktube and everyone who's read it found it to be quite good and interesting. So, I was ecstatic when I saw that the arc was available on Netgalley. I read it so fast and I ended up enjoying it so much.
This graphic novel handled many topics at the same time: disability representation, sexuality representation, and even the weird and hard transition into adulthood. It was so much fun and I found myself smiling at how adorable the main characters were. Still, I think that the plot was lacking at times and I got bored reading some of the chapters.
The art, however, is a masterpiece. It was gorgeous and I still can't get over it.

I really enjoyed the art style and magical story. I love a good witch story that has some romance. It has themes relating to same sex relationships. I really liked how this relationship was portrayed.

I enjoyed this comic book. The illustrations complemented the story well.

Thank you to the authors, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

SUMMARY
Nova Huang is a seemingly average teen, who lives with her grandmas and work at their bookstore. Except that bookstore is no normal bookstore, as they sell spell books for witches like the Huang Family. However, one night in their small New England Town they get sightings of a mysterious white wolf, who turns out to be her long lost friend Tam. Feelings are rekindled, and a mysterious cult and horse-demon causing ruckus in their neighborhood.

REVIEW (5/5 Stars)
Before I picked it up, I was worried that all the hype around this book would not live up to my expectations. The book was said to handle so much: Disability Rep, LGBTQ rep, themes of grief and the sometimes rocky transition into adulthood and more; and I was worried that juggling all these topics would be hard to do in a way that seemed natural. But, I loved it! I thought that all of the rep was amazingly well done. I also enjoyed the characters! I love Tam and Nova, the grandmothers are great and even the little magical animal friends that we meet were cute. The one thing I will say is that because so much of the book was introducing us to the characters and the world, unfortunately I felt like build up and the conflict for the action sequences were a little lackluster. Overall, however, I loved the cute, witchy vibes and would suggest this to anyone looking for a great autumn read.

Do you like witches? Werewolves? Disability representation? Sexuality representation?

If you answered yes to any of these, but especially all of them, this is the graphic novel for you!

This is the story of Nova, and her life dealing with love, family, friendship, and the occasional demonic obsessed cult. I really can’t explain much else, but if you are intrigued by these bits and pieces I highly recommend this fun and thoughtful novel.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I appreciate having had an opportunity to read this book in ARC form. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer to simply advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

Family, love, acceptance, and trust are core themes of this graphic novel about a family of witches and a werewolf living in a small town. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu, and Joamette Gil is equal parts and exciting tale of witchcraft and adventure and heartwarming story of love and family that is sure to melt the iciest of hearts.

Nova is a young woman living with her two grandmothers, learning the ways of witchcraft from them. An old friend comes back to town unexpectedly, and with her a secret cult, a demon stalking the forest, and feelings that never quiet went away. What ensues is a story of old friends reuiniting, blossoming love, and a story of magic.

The whole story takes place over the course of a couple of months. Even so, the pacing remains at a steady, somewhat subdued pace for much of the graphic novel. While there are plenty of scenes of magic and battles, the emotional focus remains on the characters themselves, their fears, their desires, and relationships for much of the graphic novel. These themes are balanced beautifully. On the one hand we have Tam who needs to learn how to trust and how to not run when things get bad. On the other we have Nova who needs to learn how to break out on her own a little more.

This is, at heart, a character driven story with much soul. Every character has a goal, something to overcome, or something to learn. A scientist friend learns to accept magic and all its bizarre inconsistencies with known physics.

A lot of people will find representation of themselves within Mooncakes as well. Nova is a young woman who’s lost both her parents, is being raised by two grandmothers, and uses hearing aids. Tam has a strained relationship with her parents and is nonbinary. Their romance is beautiful and heartwarming, a story of childhood love returning years later and finally being fully realized and acted upon. It’s a story with so many strong women – some who start out with wills as strong as iron, others who gain confidence along the way, and all of them wonderful.

The art in this graphic novel is absolutely wonderful. Characters are drawn with softer faces and in a slightly cartoonish style as opposed to being rendered very realistically. The softer palette filled with yellows, oranges, and purples evokes the autumn setting even when indoors. Backgrounds can be minimalistic at times.

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu, and Joamette Gil is a wonderful single volume graphic novel perfect for fans of Lumberjanes looking for characters just a bit older. I highly recommend giving this graphic novel a read.

A delightful paranormal story with romance and LGBTQIA teen characters! Nova and Tam ( plus their friends and family) must work together to defeat a demon. Problems arise when it is hard to know who to trust, and self confidence issues get in the way.
Tam (non binary they/them) has been gone for a long time and is happy to see Nova. They are adorable together, with hints that before they left, a romance was already budding ( so it makes sense how quickly things progress with their arrival) werewolves, magic and witches abound. A great read especially near Halloween.

Mooncakes is the fun story of teen witch Nova, who lives with and helps run her Nanas' bookshop. One night she investigates reports of a white wolf in the woods and is reunited with her childhood friend, werewolf, and crush Tam Lang. Tam turns to Nova for help battling the demon in the woods and together they discover their powers as well as their feelings for one another. I absolutely adored this heartwarming story! I liked that it showcased a main character with a disability and had a great LGBQT+ representation. I found the struggles within the pages, specifically the familial ones, to be realistic. I just think it's a great, sweet story with a very fun fantastical angle that people of any age could enjoy. Plus, the artwork is gorgeous! It fits with the story really well and I enjoyed the fun and colorful pictures. The only real negative thing I have to say is that I could figure out the "bad guy" pretty easily. That definitely doesn't take anything away from the story, though!

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review .
This graphic novel was absolutely adorable! It starts off with an introduction of sorts, giving an insight of the main characters. Nova is a queer Chinese-american witch, and when her childhood friend, Tam, a non-binary werewolf, comes back, she knows that something is up. The illustrations help the action flourish and the art style is gorgeous. The story presents LGBTQIA characters, a character with a disability, something that more fantasy novels should contain (one of the authors speaks openly about this issue), and deals with divorce. The story line is intriguing and suspenseful, though I found the plot a bit predictable at times. The characters are lovable and have good chemistry, but in my personal opinion, they are not developed enough. We get a glimpse at the life of Nova's family and her backstory, but also find out about Tam's life and his relationship with his parents. Overall, I had a great experience reading this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes witchcraft and graphic novels! I really hope there will be a sequel, because I fell like Nova's story has just begun.

I adored this! Mooncakes is a fun spooky read following a witch and a werewolf in their fight to defeat a demon that is lurking in the woods behind town. I loved the characters and the representation is wonderful! Seeing a hard of hearing character warmed my heart and the color of her hearing aids is adorable! There is also a good amount of LGBT representation as well, including a non binary character. All these characters were amazing and so sweet. The magic is unique and I love the way it was drawn as well. I can't wait to see a finished product since the last chapter and epilogue weren't fully colored yet, there are some pretty great scenes in that chapter that will be even better in color.

Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker bring us Mooncakes, a graphic novel about a young witch and werewolf and a nefarious group of practitioners who have summoned a demon causing trouble in the woods.

This read was just such a joy. Our witch character, Nova, is queer and uses hearing aids. Our werewolf, Tam, is nonbinary and queer as well. Nova lives with her two grandmas, and has a plus sized scientist best friend in Tatyana. Nova, Tam, and the grandmas all appear to be POC as well. Overall, this graphic novel is knocking representation out of the park.

The art style is so cute, whimsical, and clean. The color choices just add in to the appeal, and the forest spirits are my absolute favorites.

Even given the somewhat short nature of a graphic novel, Mooncakes manages to have clear building and resolving of the plot. I would love to see more of these characters and this world, but the story is resolved and would be fine as a standalone.

This is a graphic novel that, even after reading it, I still feel as though I want to own it, which is uncommon for me. I can't think of anything specifically that would make this graphic novel better.

I absolutely look forward to more from this author-illustrator pair.

Anything including magic and/or magical creatures is going to grab my attention right away, and this one definitely did not disappoint! I don't read graphic novels often, but this one has the cutest artwork I've ever seen. The witchy aspects, the wholesome love story, the adorable family dynamics, and don't forget the magical creatures that I want to stick in my pocket and carry everywhere with me; make me want to 100% recommend this to any reader that enjoys a quick and lovely read that will leave a smile on their face.

I loved everything about this story. From the plot, the characters and illustrations. everything just fit together and made the story really enjoyable and simply a fun PNR read with so many magical creatures. I wish this was a series, since I would really like to know more about these two main characters lives and how their journey continues. But as it is now, is also amazing. We get ending we wish and all is good. To be honest it's been awhile since I last felt so good about reading a story that really made me feel so much joy. I would definitely recommend it to everyone that enjoys something magical in their lives.