Thank you to Lauren Kung Jessen, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of a digital advanced reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review!

The book follows Liv who is inheriting her family's matchmaking business, Lunar Love, from her grandmother (Po Po). Lunar Love uses the basis of Chinese Zodiac and getting to know their clients in-person to set up the perfect relationship. She has some big shoes to fill, as her Po Po's matchmaking abilities are near perfect. Liv is taken aback when she meets Bennett (L.A.'s most eligible bachelor) who just so happens to be in the development stages of creating an dating app pretty similar to Lunar Love's concept of Chinese Zodiac. Liv and Bennett go head to head of who can find the perfect match for each other to determine if Lunar Love's traditional way of match making or Bennet's newly cutting edge app will produce the perfect match.

Reading this book was such a breath of fresh air and made me feel all cozy inside. I thought it was beyond adorable and for lack of a better way to say it - just made me smile. I thought this book had the perfect balance of storyline and culture. I did not feel overwhelmed or unable to follow the foreign culture sections in the book. The discussions of Liv and Bennett being mixed race, while always focusing on their Chinese roots was greatly well done.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a unique concept and I loved learning about Chinese astrology. I also thought Bennett was so sweet. Just a really cute story with important family relationships at its center.

This was THE perfect book to kick off 2023 and read as we approached the Lunar New Year!

I had a blast reading this enemies-to-lovers RomCom and even more of an incredible lasting memory about this book when I was able to zoom with Lauren to discuss everything Lunar Love!

Chinese Zodiac Traditional Matchmaking meets New Age Zodiac Online Dating... it's bound to explode and give readers a phenomenal story that will stay with you for long after the last page has turned to end the story on paper. The characters are so lovable and relatable. The family history and depth touches hearts. And the love... it's just magical!

I cannot wait for more work written by Lauren. She will forever be an Auto-Buy author to me!

I want to thank NetGalley, Lauren Kung Jessen, and the publisher for providing me with an eARC and a physical copy of this publication. In return, I have promised to provide an unbiased review.

Lunar Love review
Rating - 3.5⭐️
Genre- romcom/ contemporary romance

(digital advanced copy provided courtesy of @readforeverpub)

This book was a sweet read, that I read around Valentine’s Day. This closed door romance focused on family (and their expectations!), running a business, and the Chinese zodiac - which I knew very little about, but found super interesting. Olivia and Bennett made a great couple, but Olivia came off as a bit of a jerk, at times. Overall, I liked but didn’t love this one, and would be interested to read future books from this author!

I really enjoyed this book, the set up, the backstory, the connection and conflict of old and new ways of matchmaking and the family!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lunar Love is a fun enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance from a debut author. We read the book from Olivia's POV, where she is taking over her grandmother's Chinese zodiac matchmaking business. Olivia is soon shocked to find out that a new, tech-forward company is in the area that aims to do the exact same thing, and that the company is ran by someone she had a not-so-meet-cute with (but maybe it ends up being a little bit of a meet-cute by the end anyway). Olivia and her rival, Bennett, soon enter into a bet that each of their respective businesses will be able to find love matches for each other which soon proves difficult as they begin to fall for one another.

Overall, this was a cute novel and I really enjoyed the cultural aspects of it, from learning more about the the Chinese zodiac, to all the food and marriage traditions sprinkled throughout. The book is pretty formulaic for contemporary romance books, which isn't a negative for me. In the beginning Olivia is a MESS. There's a bit of lying and deceiving in the very beginning where Olivia and Bennett "together" are concerned, and while that didn't necessarily bother me, it was quite obvious how this was going to blow up and it left me a little frustrated with Olivia. She's a young adult, but she acted a bit childish and repetitive in her self-fulfilling thoughts. I loved how her grandmother begins to show Olivia that while there's the foundation of zodiac matching, it's not EVERYTHING. Rules can be bent if the end result is worth it.

This was an enjoyable debut, and I'd certainly read more from the author!

Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen. Pub Date: January 10, 2023. Rating: 2 stars. The premise of this novel seemed so promising, but the execution was flat. Set around Chinese astrology, this is the story of a young female who is in the process of taking over her grandmother's matchmaking business. Set with the fears of family business and doing a good job, this woman has anxieties about success vs failure. Add in a new dating app centered around matchmaking and Chinese astrology that is her competition, she is faced with challenge mixed with potential love. I thought this story would be fun and flirty, but honestly I was bored. I enjoyed learning about Chinese astrology, but felt the storyline needed more to it and the pacing was off. Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #lunarlove

In this charming debut rom-com, Olivia first meets Bennett at a bakery(!!) and there’s an immediate spark—but she’s taking over her grandmother’s Chinese zodiac matchmaking business and discovers that Bennett is working on a dating app that uses the Chinese zodiac to make matches. So she turns to a bit of subterfuge to learn more about her business rival’s app…

The deception in the beginning made me uncomfortable, but thankfully it doesn’t last long. Although Olivia was a bit too stubborn at times, she and Bennett had many cute moments. I also enjoyed the exploration of tradition vs. modernity, Olivia’s family relationships (I love Pó Po), and the conversations between Olivia and Bennett about being mixed race. And of course, all the descriptions of food were also delightful and made me quite hungry while reading. Overall, a delightful read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the advanced digital copy of Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen.

This is a sweet rom-com, enemies-to-lovers, that follows Olivia on her journey of taking over the Chinese Zodiac matching making family business. Her new competition, Bennett, is coincidentally launching his own online dating app centered around the Chinese zodiac. Let the rivalry commence!

I thought this book was a lighthearted, sweet, easy read. At moments, it felt a little silly / unrealistic. And I didn’t love how stubborn Olivia was in her “our signs aren’t compatible” stance. However, I enjoyed the humor as well as the heartwarming aspects of Olivia’s close family bonds and her determination to carry on the legacy of Lunar Love. This book has witty banter, silly situations, and fun secondary characters. I could totally picture it as a fun romcom movie. :)

I enjoy a good romance, however it seems that I rarely get to them. I was excited to come across Lunar Love on Libro. FM and appreciate the opportunity to listen to an ALC in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you also Netgalley and Forever Books for DRC.

Set in LA, the story follows Olivia (aka Liv) as she not only steps into her new role as the match maker of her family’s business but navigates the new online matching service that threatens her business. Of course, she and the competing business owner are thrown together with a little chaos and whole lotta loves that follows.

I really enjoyed watching Liv and Bennett’s story evolve and seeing how they navigated their businesses and the push pull of traditional and new practices.
I also learned about something I had little knowledge - Zodiac signs and those that match and those that don’t.

This was a delightful book with an excellent narrator who truly brought the story to life for me.

I was charmed by the meet cute, and I loved the inclusion of so many cultural references that gave this such a unique feel. The story itself was feeling like a solid 4-star read until the matchmaking storyline kicked into high gear, and that's when I started disconnecting a little bit. I just didn't love the way it progressed, and this lost my interest along the way. I ended up setting it down one day with the intention of going back to it, and I simply never felt the desire to. So I'm leaving this one as a DNF, but I'm curious to see what the author writes next.

A sweet, funny rom-com is surprisingly hard to find these days — especially from a debut author — so I was delighted to realize that Lauren Kung Jessen nailed so many of the characteristics I look for in this genre. The writing was strong, and the main characters were instantly relatable and endearing. At times I found Olivia’s internal monologues to be a bit overkill, especially when she was restating her beliefs about compatibility. But the setup of a matchmaker who finds love for everyone but herself was so quirky and fun that I didn’t mind those explanations nearly as much as I would have otherwise. The only other thing I really missed in this story was a more developed cast of side characters. The ingredients were all there with Bennett and Olivia’s employees and Olivia’s clients, but I wish the author had given those characters more quirks and time to shine. All in all this is a lighthearted love story with a dash of competition thrown in to keep things interesting. If you’re a fan of the classic rom-com (book or movie), I think you’ll find something to love here, too!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. It’s also available now to purchase!

Absolutely loved this enemies to lovers romance! Two dueling matchmakers finding love with each other made a fantastic debut novel from this author.
Olivia doubted that love was in the stars for her after her ex ended up being all wrong for her, but in walked Bennett. She shouldn't have wanted to be with him, but who can deny chemistry?
Highly recommend!

🐀BOOK REVIEW🐴

Lunar Love - Lauren Kung Jessen
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

“Always a matchmaker, never a match...
Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy . . .”

I loved the enemies-to-lovers/rival business aspect of this story so much! Olivia is a very traditional matchmaker using the Chinese zodiac - she believes traditions shouldn’t be altered, only compatible people should be matched and that compatibility is the main key in relationship success. Then there’s Bennett - app developer for a dating app that roughly uses the Chinese zodiac - who believes traditions are meant to evolve and that there’s more to people and relationships than zodiac compatibility.

Yes, I know, it sounds predictable. But their journey to get together is peppered with self-discovery, miscommunication and a challenge - to use their matchmaking abilities to find the other a match.

I loved Bennett and Liv so much - they both had well developed characters. I loved how they explored not feeling “Chinese enough” and also how tough running a business was together. Liv’s Pó Po was an absolute gem, filled with only the wisdom a grandmother can give. The ending scene involving Bennett’s mom was so heart warming and had me sobbing.

Recommend if you like:
- Asian-American rep
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Rival businesses
- Opposites attract
- Witty banter
- Delicious descriptions of food and baked goods!

Thanks to @netgalley, @readforeverpub and the author for this ARC.

this was adorable!! the enemies to lovers/rivals to lovers aspect was done really well, and the incorporation of the Chinese zodiac was great as well. I really liked the characters, and overall it was a really fun story :)

Olivia Huang Christenson is excited to take over her family's Chinese zodiac-based matchmaking service. When she learns a new dating app is using the zodiacs in a lighthearted fun way, she is outraged, especially once she realizes L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy. A wager is set, whoever falls in love loses and the winner gets publicity for their business, but he's already stealing her business, how will she stop him from stealing her heart?

I've always been fascinated by the Chinese zodiac. This book gets into the topic and explores the compatibility between signs and how it is very important to some in the community. I also thought it was great that both Olivia and Bennett were mixed race Chinese/Americans because I'm sure there is someone out there reading it that appreciates the representation for someone like themselves. The love story was sweet and a slow burn. This is a great debut - I look forward to reading more from this author!

I'm born in the year of the ox and "These people are one of the warmest and most understanding of the zodiac, but they can also become harsh when crossed." Sounds about right!!

Thank you so much to Forever publishing for my ARC!

This book was super sweet. I loved the characters and getting to know more about Chinese culture and traditions.

Thanks to Forever for the free book.
This was such a fun enemies to lovers that focused on Chinese zodiac matchmaking. I really enjoyed Olivia's story and how she was excited to continue her family tradition. You can tell the author really wanted to celebrate her culture in this book, and I immensely enjoyed the immersion of learning more about zodiac signs and matchmaking. I thought the competition from Bennett and ZodiaCupid was unique because it brought great discussion into the book about keeping traditions alive while also staying modern and relevant. The chemistry between the characters built with the perfect amount of slow burn anticipation. As these two make a bet about which service can find the other love first, they must also deal with their attraction and internal struggles with building up a business. This was so much fun, and I can't wait to read more by this author.

I got about 30% in and had to DNF - I just couldn't get into the story, relate to characters, but I don't think I'm the ideal target audience for this book.

This was so cute! The rivals-to-lovers, the secrets, everything. I also really loved getting to know more about the Chinese zodiac. I could have done without the death though, but I understand why it had to happen for the story. I'm excited to read more from this author, as this was a great debut!