cw: parental death, parental abandonment

Valentina Tran loves Valentine’s Day. She goes all out for the holiday even if no one else gets it. When she finds out more about her connection to the day, it quickly becomes tainted. Love becomes something that she no longer believes in which is only reinforced when she meets the spirit of Saint Valentine who tells her she and her family are cursed. Determined to break the curse, Val sets out to prove Saint Valentine wrong.

This was a beautiful story. A real coming of age graphic novel that shows how time and perspective can change things. The amount of emotions that are brought up in this is wonderful. Val is struggling and trying to figure out how she can handle all the new information that’s being thrown at her.

There was a beautiful use of color throughout. I loved seeing the settle differences in color that helped play up the moods and emotions that Val was feeling. While I could already feel a lot of what she was going through, the color really helped amplify it and draw me into the story more.

Culture is thick throughout this graphic novel. I thought every scene with the lion dance was beautiful. I loved seeing that and the differences between cultures for it.

Lunar New Year Love Story has a lot about it to love. It’s a wonderful coming of age novel that does well dealing with a number of emotions. This story takes the reader on Val’s journey where you are rooting for her and cheering for her.

If you enjoy graphic novels, pick this one up. It’s a beautiful story with stunning illustrations that will make you want to pick it up again and again.

Yang and Pham have penned thoughtful, realistic look at how fear and familial history can affect a person's outlook on love. The artwork, particularly the varied depictions of Saint Valentine. As a Catholic, I appreciated the respectful incorporation of religious locations and characters. As a Vietnamese speaker, I found the use of the language a bit awkward and unnatural. All in all, a creative work that incorporates complicated themes.

*reviewed from uncorrected eARC via netgalley*

teen graphic novel / love triangle story with Asian-American teens in Oakland, CA - hopeless romantic Vietnamese-American Valentina is ready to swear off love when she thinks her family is cursed to always suffer broken hearts, but then she runs into a Chinese-American heartthrob and his quiet Korean/Chinese-American cousin at a Lunar New Year lion dance, and develops feelings for both over the next year.

❤️❤️❤️🧧 Love this so much! It's not often that a graphic novel will completely shatter your heart multiple times, but Yang and Pham's storytelling is just that good -- best to keep those tissues handy!

I loved this graphic novel! There aren’t many graphic novels out there that are high school love stories that don’t have swearing and/or sexual content. This fits that niche. Lunar New Year Love Story is a sweet story about love, loss, and 2nd chances. Valentina is almost ready to give up on love, but gives love one more chance. I can see this being popular with my 8th and 9th graders and I will definitely be purchasing for my classroom library.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

4.5 stars rounding up. This was a cute teenage love story centered around various Asian cultures. The main part of the story follows Val, whose family has a tragic history with love. Val needs to decide to give up love before she has the chance to be heartbroken or be the one to break the cycle.

I recently read, and loved, a few of Yang's other books and was excited to see his latest on NetGalley! This is a great coming-of-age story showing how age alters perspective. The main character's love of Valentine's Day and belief in cupid eventually is tarnished as she becomes disillusioned with love and sees how easily people can hurt the ones they love. Most of the story revolves around her familial and romantic relationships and how she finds support and community through the art of dragon dancing.

Really enjoyed this, thought it seems like a departure by author Gene Luen Yang. I thought the romance was fun and realistic, although the two protagonists seemed strangely grounded for being so young. Art was beautiful.

Really liked this one. Loved the graphic novel format. You don't find many romance books in a graphic novel format unless its manga. The storyline kept me interested and I was able to finish the book in just a couple of hours. Honestly I couldn't put it down and read way later than I should to finish it. I would suggest this title for anyone who likes a sweet romance full of culture and the everyday pain of putting your heart out there where it has the possibility of being hurt.

I really liked this one. The illustrations are amazing and really bring out the story. I liked seeing Valentina really figure out herself and how to believe in love her own way.
I liked seeing her family come together again and lean on each other.
I liked the friendship with Jae and it grows.
A really lovely look at young love.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

This was such a highly anticipated release for me, and as always Gene Luen Yang does not disappoint. The story, art, characters, and story were all perfectly woven together. I especially loved Uncle Yunsang and the two Grandmas. Originally I thought the story would be predictable (and it still kind of is, in a romance novel kind of way), but the inclusion of her ghosts and the final conflict really help to raise the stakes and tension in the last few scenes of the book.

Another wonderful graphic novel from Gene Luen Yang. His stories are so relatable and he really seems to know high school stories. LeUyen Pham's illustrations are beautiful and the dragon dancing scenes are gorgeous. This is such a must read for learning about what is really true love!

Stunning artwork throughout the story. The characters are all unique and well thought out. I will say it was hard to read san valentines text boxes due to the font choice. Other than that it was a beautiful read.

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for this DRC.

This is graphic novel is a love story of lost love, new love, the wrong love, parental love, lies, ghosts, and lion dancing. As a child, Valentina loves Valentines’ Day, but a teen it becomes a holiday meant for heartbreak. Learning about her family and their past, and learning how to lion dance, helps her learn about herself and what her heart really wants.
I loved this beautifully written and illustrated graphic novel and will definitely read it again and again.


#LunarNewYearLoveStory #NetGalley

It is no easy feat to capture the trials and tribulations of young love, but I believe that Lunar New Year Love Story has been the one book that has become the contender. In Lunar New Year Love Story, we find Valentina Tran scrambling to find true love within a year’s time after a deal with the ghost of Saint Valentine. Despite finding herself under a one-sided romance with Les, she finds herself in true love with someone else that she would never expect to be in love herself. Fused with rich Vietnamese-American lion dance culture and Roman history on the patron saint of love, it felt believable reading about Val’s upbringing and her values on true love over time that has led to her cynical beliefs throughout her high school years. Her self-doubt(s) and uncertainties on love from her family, friends, and romantic relationships can speak volumes in Lunar New Year Love Story, where at one point in finding romance comes indifference and cynicality. Yet Lunar New Year Love Story pull readers a strong universal message that despite the inevitability of suffering, there’s the beauty in life that there is truly something, or rather someone, that bring value in one’s life. Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham are a power duo to be reckoned with in this upcoming graphic novel.

An excellent graphic novel with an interesting plot and sweet, detailed illustrations. Yang and Pham make an excellent duo and will hopefully partner up more in the future!

When two award winning author/illustrators team up on a graphic novel, you know it will be something special. And this YA graphic novel is. The graphics and text are both essential to this rich, multi-layered story of two teens who manage to fall in love even as they each have to work through their own personal and family issues. I loved learning about the amazing art of dragon dancing, Vietnamese and Korean style. Ending with a sweet kiss, this is a romance that will appeal to younger YA readers. Highly recommended.
Review based on an eARC received through NetGalley.

I love Gene Luen Yang's works and this one is no exception. I can't wait to add this to our collection. It is such a cute book and I am thinking about owning my own copy.

As a young child Valentina Tran loved the holiday she was named after, but when she meets the so-called spirit of Saint Valentine as a teen she becomes convinced she is doomed in love, just like the rest of her parents and grandparents.

She makes a deal - if she can’t find love in a year she will hand over her soul to the malevolent spirit masquerading as St. Valentine.

When Val meets cousins and Lion Dancers, Jae and Les, she’s convinced as Les shows he may have feelings for her that he will be the one to break the curse. But Jae understands how dancing keeps the ugly spirits away, and he may understand Val far more than she’s realized.

Can Val find love before time is up and break her family’s curse? Or is there another way to find love?

LeUyen Pham and Gene Luen Yang make a dynamic duo in their first collaboration!

☽𝔹𝕆𝕆𝕂 ℝ𝔼𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎☾

4/5 ⭐

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this ARC in return for an honest review.

I requested this ARC since the plot seemed intriguing and the cover was lovely. I'm glad I did since this narrative was both enthralling and heartwarming.
I feel it exemplifies our dread of not finding love, of being 'cursed' in that area of our lives, and of losing hope. Don't worry, the HEA is assured, but so is the discovery of an intriguing and charming love tale.

The narrative was as lovely as the art style. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
I will update this review soon when the publishing date is closer and with the intention of adding a link to my Instagram account in which I will post this review.

SIGHH. situationship + hopeless romantic. perfect combo.

It was corny and creepy, kinda love story with a pinch of mystery. the characters are mostly Vietnamese or Korean, which added some interesting cultural background to the story but the highlight is lion dancing. Here in Indonesia we call it barongsai and through this book I just knew that there's also a Korean version of lion dance with different a different "lion" appearance. I was going to give this 3-3,5 stars but the ending touched my heart so 4 stars it is.