Lunar Love is a book I've been excited about since the moment I knew it was coming out. If you know me at all you know that I'm a big advocate for better mixed race representation in media because it's personal to me. It's far too often that our stories are written by someone else and our mixed identity is used as a tool for the author to make some comment about race.

To them, sometimes we are used as proof that racism no longer exists and sometimes we are said to be abominations or freaks of nature for just existing. But it's far more rare and far more special when someone who understands that we are just people doing our best when the world pushes such contradictory expectations onto us. Someone like Lauren.

Quick Summary: Olivia is excited and nervous to take over her grandmother's Chinese zodiac matchmaking business. But when a competing matchmaking app launches that is also based on the Chinese zodiac, Olivia is furious at the competition. And then to find out that this app is run by LA's most eligible bachelor, Bennett? Who believes that traditions are meant to be broken? Liv knows her business is in trouble but what she didn't expect is that her heart is also in trouble.

Lunar Love is a romance that I thought I'd never have the privilege read. It's a sweeping romance between two mixed kids just trying to understand themselves and their place in the world when the world pushes so many expectations onto them. It's a love letter to all the mixed kids who ever felt like they weren't enough because they didn't know where they fit in. This book reminded me that I'm not alone and more importantly, it reminded me that there is no right or wrong way to honor our heritage.

Each one of us is different and each one of us will honor ourselves and our heritage differently. We are a part of our heritage after all. For some of us that may be staying true to the exact traditions our parents taught us. For others it may be shifting our traditions to be more modern so they can serve us better and survive over time. And for others it may be scraping and searching to reclaim all that was lost to us. All of these experiences are different and they are all valid and Lunar Love encourages us to remember that.

Lunar Love is an all encompassing love story between matchmakers and a love letter to the mixed kids who have ever felt like they don't belong. Lunar Love shows us that sometimes long standing traditions are not meant to be broken nor preserved, they're meant to evolve in a way that serves us and those of us to come.

Thank you @foreverpub and @netgallet for the advanced reader copy!

This book was so much more than a light and fluffy rom-com!! Themes of family relationships, maintaining cultural traditions, friendships, love, loss, were all tied together well in the plotline. While im not someone who follows my zodiac symbol, it was so well represented throughout the book. The descriptions of different elements of chinese culture were so interesting to read about too. Several plottwists were perfectly executed and the character development and dialogue was incredible. I hope this is the first of many for Lauren K Jessen!

Another aspect I loved was how the matchmakers planned the first date for them, from baking class, to wine tastings at a museum, to baseball games. I think first and second dates should involve doing something interactive together rather than just coffee and talking.

*3.5 stars!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book!

This debut book was such a cute opposites-attract romcom, I'm excited I got a chance to read this early! As a half-Chinese American myself, getting to see characters with similar experiences as me as they embrace their culture and bond over typical mixed-kid struggles was so refreshing. I also loved getting to learn more about Chinese matchmaking and the animal zodiac signs, which were huge parts of the plot in this book. This has definitely convinced me that we need more romance books about the Chinese zodiac (someone get on that quick).

First off, the romance between Liv and Bennett was super sweet, I thought their whole opposites attract/rivals to lovers trope they had going on was very well done. He was the numbers-focused, romantic business man and she's the passionate, but closed-off, one who's keeping her family's traditional business alive. I love it. As for the plot, I didn't really get hooked on until a bit later in the book when they introduced the competition, but at that point my interest was immediately captured! I really loved the extra level of "drama" the competition gave to Liv and Bennett's rivalry romance and it spiced up the plot nicely.

Admittedly, I did find Liv's character a bit frustrating at times. I really could not get behind her whole plan to get Bennett to fall in love with her so she can find out how to ruin his company. Like 1.) that's very unprofessional of you, especially since you've just been promoted to the head of Lunar Love, and 2.) while its understandable you're upset, he still has every right to make a Chinese zodiac dating app, especially since his intentions are clearly innocent. Personally, I just couldn't find the logic behind it all, but it did set up for a very intriguing storyline!

Overall, Lunar Love was a very solid debut novel and I hope to see more from the author in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley, Forever and Lauren Kung Jessen for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Listen, the amount of times my mother has tried to take me to a match maker... THE TRAUMA???
I will also always read anything with an asian FMC, and this was SO GOOD. I DEVOURED THIS BOOK

Enemies to lovers?? yes
Both MC being matchmaking industry rivals ??? SOLD

This was a magical slow-burn featuring the enemies to lovers and opposites attract tropes. The non-romantic elements of this book were also very interesting.
I loved the Livs family business and dynamics, did I cry?? yes
But honestly it just makes me emotional about reading about any asian families, probably because I can relate to the dynamics and that is rare for me.

You need to read this!

delightful and entertaining love story. I had so much fun reading the book and meeting these characters. I recommend to everyone reading romance novels!

Lunar Love is a seriously cute story of matchmaking, family and finding yourself.

Olivia is about to take over her family’s business “Lunar Love” which is a Chinese Horoscope matchmaking business. She feels the pressure to bring her family’s legacy into the modern world but is side-swiped when a new dating app comes onto the scene that sounds suspiciously like her business. She has to navigate tradition, business and a duty to family all at once, never mind adding love to the mix.

This was a light-hearted, rom-com style romance with Chinese matchmaking at its core. It features rivals-to-lovers and a wonderful sense of community. The side characters were all very cute and I appreciated that this story was focused on family, friendship, and identity as well as our main love story.

Bonus, there’s some delicious looking recipes at the back of this book for Swiss rolls and pork dumplings!

Read this if you like:
- Rival business owners
- Delicious descriptions of baking and food
- A heartwarming grandaughter/grandmother relationship
- Overpriced baseball game hot dogs

DNF @ 20%

Unfortunately, the writing was just not for me and I just wasn't hooked by this book. Judging by other reviews though, I think I am in the minority so I think if the premise sounds good to you, you should still give it a go!

Ok, so I really wanted to like this book. Truly, I was so excited about it, and it just never rose to the concept. If anything, the notions of the concepts restrained the book from hitting the emotional highs. It was ultimately a plateau of a read

Lunar Love is a super cute rom-com debut by Lauren Kung Jessen! When I first read the synopsis, I instantly added it to my tbr.

Olivia is very excited but also nervous to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. When she learns that a new dating app that also deals with the Chinese zodiac is about to launch, she gets angry and is determined to figure out their game plan.

This book was so stinking cute. I loved Liv and Bennett’s relationship so much. Enemies to lovers is obviously one of my favorite tropes but this book just made me love it even more than I already did. I really enjoyed the zodiac aspect of the story and Liv’s relationship with her Po Po. And thank you Jessen for getting me in my sad feels!! If you know, you know.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! If you’re looking for a sweet rom-com that has a lot of Chinese astrology and is enemies to lovers then I highly recommend picking this one up on January 10th when it’s released!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Forever Pub for the e-arc!

Thank you @readforeverpub for a copy of this book. All the stars for a book that has:
- enemies to lovers
- Chinese culture
- the cutest Popo (grandma)

I love reading a book based in LA with some many places I am familiar with. I love all the cultural aspects which I grew up with as well. I am not sure how I feel about Olivia and how stubborn she was with Chinese zodiac match making. She had a lot of pride in her family business but she was too much my way is the best way.

I adore Olivia's relationship with her Popo so much. Bennett was such a great character and I adored him too.

Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen is a sweet, enemies-to-lovers rom-com about navigating the space between traditional and modern dating! This is a lovely romance with crackling chemistry from page one,

This is such a sweet love story with a deliciously slow burn and sizzling tension between rivals!

Olivia and Bennett are owners of competing matchmaking services. Olivia has just inherited her half-a-century old family business, while Bennett is the founder of the newest dating app on the market. The catch: both their matchmaking is based around one's Chinese zodiac sign. Can competing businesses with the same premise coexist? They make a deal: they go head-to-head and try to match each other up and who ever falls in love loses. Olivia is convinced Bennett stole her family's idea... Will he end up stealing her heart, too?

🐎 I absolutely adored this book! It was highly entertaining and equally fascinating. I loved reading and learning some new things about the Chinese culture, especially about the Chinese zodiac.

🐀 I also loved that there was a lot of food involved. Coming from a big Asian family, this makes my heart full! And my tummy hungry 😂

🎊 I also love the underlying theme about incorporating traditions into the now. How we learn and take, and adapt, and ultimately, keep one's culture alive. How we can still move forward, and honor our past.

🌙 But the part I probably enjoyed the most was the overall message of the book: that no matter how much everything adds up on paper, how compatible, how great the numbers are, love is an inexplicable kind of magic.

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚:
🐃 (Chinese) astrology
🐅 Single POV
🐇 Rivals to lovers
🐉Dating app + matchmaking business
🐍 Mixed race characters
🐑 Opposites attract
🐒 Cinnamon roll hero
🐓 Close family relationships
🐕 Cute date ideas
🐖 Foood!

I can't thank the algorithms of Forever enough for matching me up with this book! 🧡

Olivia Huang Christenson and Bennett O’Brien are opposites in almost every sense of the word. Even down to the way they eat Swiss rolls, it seems that they don’t see eye to eye on really anything but that’s the thing about appearances, they can be deceiving.

Throughout the course of the book we are able to see that Bennett and Olivia’s differences can really even each other out. Where Bennett is more of a numbers guy, Olivia reminds him to think with his heart sometimes. Despite their differences they are alike in probably the most important area, they both love their families and want to keep traditions alive (even if they don’t really agree on the right way to do that in the beginning).

While I wouldn’t call this enemies to lovers (because let’s face it Bennett never sees Olivia as the enemy) I can say that this opposites attract romcom is one of my most anticipated releases for next year. Through the lens of Olivia I was able to not only get a sweet love story, but I learned a lot about Chinese culture and the Zodiac. I even spent some time looking to see if my husband and I have compatible signs (we are Pig and Rooster and totally compatible).

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for providing me an arc of this really special novel in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Thanks to NetGalley for an early ARC of this book.

Lunar Love follows two matchmakers Olivia and Bennett. Olivia is taking over her families' matchmaking business and Bennett is starting an app, both based on the Chinese Zodiac.

I loved Grandma Po Po and all the references to Chinese culture in this book. I also really liked Bennett.

However, I didn't really like Olivia and I think she needs to work on herself a bit. She was determined to dislike Bennett when he did nothing wrong and villainize him just for having a business idea somewhat adjacent to her own. She did realize her bias in the end but I think it would have been nice to see more of how she changed.

Also, this was marketed as a You've Got Mail Retelling. I think it is just slightly You've Got Mail adjacent. I would definitely recommend being interested in more than just that aspect if you want to pick it up.

Full of rich sensory detail, warm family relationships, and Chinese culture, Lunar Love focuses on a third generation traditional matchmaker who uses the Chinese zodiac for astrological compatibility. Just as Olivia is poised to take over the business, competitor Bennett launches a matchmaking app based on the Chinese zodiac–that matches incompatible signs! In the interest of scoping out the competition, she downloads ZodiaCupid and completes a profile that attracts Bennett’s attention, and they make a plan for a date at a baking school and clash over following the instructions as written. She begins a campaign to bring down ZodiaCupid as she’s falling for him. They make a bet they can use their own proven methods to find love for the other, but the chemistry between them seems like it’s going to be a barrier.

Food, especially baked goods, and flowers play a big role in the story. Olivia and Bennett’s first meeting is in a bakery, there’s the class they take together, and the horse shaped cake Olivia makes for her Po Po. The details flesh out the narrative and balance out Olivia’s sometimes immature and unhinged vendetta against ZodiaCupid. The ending is predictable but satisfying.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #LunarLove from #NetGalley.

A charming little rom-com with so much heart and love for the Chinese zodiac and the messiness of being a child of diaspora. Thank you to the publishers at Grand Central Publishing for the chance to read this e-ARC!

This book was fantastic. I enjoyed every second of it.
It has the enemies to lovers/opposites attract trope which in my opinion Lauren Kung Jessen nailed.
The characters were relatable and fun and the food that was mentioned in this book make me want to go to my kitchen and attempt to recreate them myself.
Overall, this book was a fun, quirky and quick read.

Reading Lauren Kung Jessen’s debut LUNAR LOVE brings back all the feels of watching a ‘90s rom-com, like YOU’VE GOT MAIL with a modern-day twist and steeped in the beauty of Chinese culture (including SO many tantalizing food descriptors - read with a snack nearby, because you WILL get hungry). I loved both leads being mixed-race Chinese American, like me, which is definitely not something I see very often. And all of the characters were lovely, richly drawn and full of personality, making the reading experience a swoony breeze. A delicious read through and through!

I loved this sweet story and all the culture shared along with it. The characters’ culture plays a large part in the story, and that’s what I liked the most!

Rich and tender in the best of ways, Lunar Love wraps an enemies-to-lovers story around a tale of family devotion and love. An appealing narrative voice and a relatable look into what it means to be biracial add on to an already great book.

Matchmaker Olivia Huang-Christenson is stepping into the limelight and taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. Lunar Love has been successful for decades in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, and all Olivia wants to do is equal her Pó Po’s level of excellence. But while the Huangs have been matching people by using the Chinese zodiac for decades, app-related dating and other sorts of virtual experiences have definitely begun to pose an intimidating challenge to the business. And when one of those apps - ZodiaCupid - tries to boil her Pó Po’s tried and true formulas down to algorithmic sciences, she’s ready to spit nails.

The person behind the app is the handsome Bennet O’Brien, Los Angeles’ most eligible bachelor. Going head to head at a panel, their tempers flare, they immediately declare each other enemy number one and launch a bet to determine whose method works best for matching people together. But the more time they spend together, the clearer it becomes that their own charts are aligned.

This is a lovely, spare romance featuring good food, beautiful flower imagery and a very nice dive into the difficulties of being a biracial person trying to balance all of the pieces of ‘you’ that dwell within your heart. I was deeply fond of Olivia, and I really enjoyed the warmth of her family. Something terrible happens to one of them, and the book does a good job setting this up and making you care when the big moment finally arrives. I’d have almost rather spent more time on the relationship between the various Huang-Christensons than on the romance.

Not that the love story here is any sort of slouch - it’s a beautiful slow-burner of a tangle. Bennet isn’t a bad hero, either – he and Olivia are each working from different sides of the same kind of chart-making, the heart versus the head. The romance builds along these rivalrous lines, and has a sense of humor about how ridiculous the two of them can be.

The setting is expertly done, and Los Angeles’ Chinatown feels beautifully vibrant. In the end Lunar Love is beautifully rapturous, and easy to sink your teeth into.

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