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!

I talked about this on my podcast Raise Your Words in an episode about New Releases. This was such a fun book to read and I throughly enjoyed it!

I just finished Lunar Love and I loved it. It's such a cute concept--duelling matchmaking professionals, vying to make the other fall in love. Olivia is taking over her family's fifty year old business. Her methods for finding people compatible matches are tried and true and rooted in traditional Chinese astrology, while Bennett is the owner of of a shiny new dating app. I found the jealousy over watching each other on dates with other people utterly delicious. There are also tons of great food descriptions, and I really loved learning about the Chinese zodiac.

Super cute love story. I really liked Bennett. I found him to be sweet and understanding, open-minded and curious. I liked their first interaction - it's really early and so adorable. But Olivia was hard to like. She was prickly and aggressive, willing to lie, cheat or steal just to win. I found her off-putting and her approach to Bennett made me sad. He put up with so much from her.

I also wish there had been just a bit more with the Zodiac. I loved the recipes at the end but, in the book group I read it with, I think only one of us had a year showing in the end. Although I felt like the signs were big part of the story, I felt like the details and information was a bit sparse.

It was a cute read, light and easy to read and I did enjoy it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

this was the sweetest book! it’s a slow-burn, rivals-to-lovers romance with you’ve got mail vibes for the dating app generation. it was a light-hearted read that had me grinning throughout, and I was just as invested in the romance as I was in the dating app vs. zodiac matchmaking service rivalry.

as an asian-american reviewer, I connected with this book right away and absolutely appreciated the mixed race representation as well. it’s not often that I read about characters so similar in background to myself which made me enjoy this book even more!