This is not a love story, even though Nova and Tam. This is not a teenage runaway story, even though Tam did run away from home. This is not a story of losing ones parents, even though Nova's parents are dead, and visit her as ghosts.

Rather, this is all of the above, mixed in with a werewolf (Tam) and an apprentice witch, Nova, and her grandmother's who run a magic book shop.

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And while there is a lot of fun in the story, there is also a demon that Tam feels might be their fault. (Tam's pronous are they and them).

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A complicated love story? A paranormal mystery? Learning to be a witch? Oh, all that and more.

A fun romp. But, realistic teens, if you think having a story about a witch and werewolf being realistic.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

The premise was good and I found myself immediately immersed in the world of Mooncakes. The central characters were well realised and I enjoyed getting to know them. The supporting cast were a little less easy to care about and the lack of any men who were either not bad, completely silent or just odd was a bit of a shame. By the end I felt a bit cheated somehow, in that the plot was very much secondary and as a result I didn't care how it all turned out. However if you're looking for a gay love story where atmosphere and the relationship at the centre of everything is what makes a book tick for you, then you'll love it.

I first clicked on Mooncakes because the cover art was adorable. This YA graphic novel is as delightful as its cover. Mooncakes centers on a Chinese-American witch, Nova. And her childhood friend, the werewolf Tam, who has returned to town after years away.

Though Tam is thrilled to see Nova again, they didn't just return to visit. There's a powerful demon in the woods and Tam can't beat it alone.

Really this graphic novel is a prime example of how a diverse cast of characters can just *exist* in a story. Nova and Tam's identities as magic users are central to the story, but Nova is also hard-of-hearing. Tam is werewolf, but also non-binary. While these traits don't define the characters, they are present and utilized throughout the book. Tam corrects someone who uses the wrong pronouns for them, and Nova actually uses her hearing aids as a conduit in a spell.

This is a typical, but satisfying, coming of age story. Nova and Tam struggle to grow stronger and gain control of their powers in order to vanquish evil. And aside from the looming demon in the woods, we also get a fluffy romance subplot. This is a really light and pleasant read, with a cute art style and colorful characters. It’s an easy read and an excellent example for other authors looking to write more diverse characters.

Recommendations for this book will be published on my library system's official blog as well as my personal review blog.

It is a lovely story about two young character, who really likes each other. I loved the bookshop, and the witchcraft and this lovely family. The drawing style was absolutely cute.
The story was simple, but heartwarming.

Review copy: Digital ARC via Netgalley

Mooncakes is a lovely bit of dessert. With magic, witches, a werwolf, and a horse demon, there are plenty of interesting moments. And the relationships!

Nova has a great friendship with a girl named Tat. In addition, Nova's grandmothers are a cute couple. And finally, Nova has a crush on her friend from the past named Tam who has just come back to town. Tam is nonbinary and is also a werewolf. Nova and Tam haven't seen each other for a long time and are tentative around each other, but they also have a lot of things going on, so they can't just spend their time figuring out what they are to each other. They've got horse demons and other beings to deal with so the world isn't overrun with evil. Nova and her grandmothers are all witches so that is a plus. Tat is new to learning about the magical world and it's fun to see her reactions to the supernatural.

There is humor, blushing, cuteness, magic and so much to love about this fabulous tale. I recommend this one for any reader who loves kittens, magic, and/or high levels of adorableness.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

REP: both MC's are Chinese American, Nova is hard-of-hearing, wears hearing aids and is queer, Tam is nonbinary, f/f relationship between Nova's grandma's.

T H I N G S I L O V E D :
- so cute and fun!
- loved the magical Autumn vibes!
- the relationships are SO cute (between Tam & Nova, between the grandmas AND the female friendship between Nova and her muggle bestie is so well done)
- THE MAGIC DOOR TO THE ENCHANTED FOREST WITH THE SPIRIT CREATURES IS EVERYTHING
- the nana's!!!! are everything!!!

T H I N G S I D I D N ' T L O V E :
- didn't have that 5 star feeling for me :(
- very predictable and generic storyline
- not my favourite art style, but still super cute!

Just a lovely and wonderful coming of age graphic novel about magic, disabilities, and representation. I hope this gets a lot of attention because it really is a unique and thoughtful depiction of LGBTQ+ and disabilities. This graphic novel had so many creative ideas and story arcs.

Nova and Tam were such an adorable couple who really looked out and supported each other throughout the story. I wish we had more background scenes with them as children to see how they have progressed over time.

Tat is an awesome supporting character. I love her enthusiasm and her support for Nova and Tam is great, despite being skeptical about magic. It really allowed for the portrayal of someone who has their own set beliefs to learn and understand someone from a different background.

Nova's parents being ghosts who have a presence in her life but still feel estranged from her was very unique but brought up several questions on death and the afterlife that were never answered.

I also loved how Nova's grandparents were involved quite a bit throughout the novel. It made for a wonderful family dynamic and shows an LGBTQ couple that stayed together for decades and whose relationship can grow and develop and not end in separation.

Having magic be incorporated with technology and working off each other was a very unique idea. It brought the story into a more modern setting and blended tradition with progress splendidly. This, as well as the inclusion of animals knowing about Nova's hearing disability and having to wake her up by touch, was different and great to read about.

Overall this was a wonderful and enchanting story whose characters are broad and developed, I would highly recommend!

This was probably one of the most adorable books I have read in a very long time. I maybe read the entirety of this graphic novel in a matter of an hour, and do not regret it one bit. I have been hearing nothing but amazing things about it, that the second I have this arc downloaded I immediately wanted to start reading; and I did. Nova and Tam were adorable and relatable, even though they were magic. The representation that is shown in this book in incredible, ranging from Nova having a disability and not letting it get her down to Tam being nonbinary and the amount of acceptance that came from the other characters. This book is extremely important. As well as being so much fun and entertaining. I loved the store that Nova's grandmothers ran, and it introduced a cute setting for a graphic novel compared to the intense style of the fight scenes. Wendy Xu is also a very talented illustrator and look forward to seeing what else she illustrates. I would recommend this graphic novel to anyone who is looking for a good story, with an amazing plot and incredible illustrations. I look forward to the next installment in Nova and Tam's story.

2.5 stars
Even though the summary was pretty interesting, I felt like there was no connection with the characters.
But, nevertheless, it was a cute magical story.

This graphic novel was an enjoyable read with super cute story and illustrations! I enjoyed the diverse characters and I highly recommend my fellow librarians purchase this for their library!

The only thing I liked about this book was the diversity. I couldn’t really explain what was happening in the plot but it almost put me to sleep.

I was hooked on this story because of the fact this has Chinese-American MCs, which *I’m* Chinese-American and was REALLY excited to read something that represented me (!!), and has f/enby rep.

One of the MCs is hard of hearing and I did like that her hearing aids were very visible on the page and the story shows how she uses her hearing aids on a daily basis and aren’t simply ignored.

The title is cute but confusing. Mooncakes were mentioned only once and really had nothing to do with the story at all. I was expecting some kind of baking graphic novel or something but this story involves magic, witches, a cult, and shifters? Like I said, I couldn’t really tell you what the story is about even after reading near 300 pages of the eARC.

The art is cute and the characters are darling, but unfortunately, this entire graphic novel is a bit of a miss for me.

***Thanks the publisher for providing me a copy of this book on NetGalley for review!***

Nova Huang is a Chinese-American witch and Tam Lang is a Chinese-American, non-binary werewolf. They grew up together, but Tam ended up moving once they reached high school. One day, Nova was investigating the forest only to find a white wolf, aka Tam. Together, with the help of Nova’s two grandmas and best friend, they try to figure out a way to destroy the demon that was possessing an undead horse.

I love the childhood friends to lovers aspect of this comic as well as the nb/f relationship! It was so sweet and cute to watch them work together to destroy the demon. The grandmas were also in a f/f relationship so this comic was basically full of queer people!

The art was very cute and full of adorable forest spirits and witch aesthetics.

The characters really stood out in that they are ones that aren’t always represented in popular media. Nova is hard of hearing and requires hearing aids and that isn’t necessarily considered a disability to her, but was even a strength at one point in the comic. This book is full of diversity and I am here for it.

This was such a fun read! I do not normally read graphic novels, but I was spellbound! The characters are very developed and presented in a way that made me fall in love with them each. This is a story to curl up with this fall! :)

I absolutely adored Mooncakes!
First of all the art style was absolutely adorable. I loved the way the characters were drawn and the color scheme gave me total fall vibes. As did the story. It centers around a fall holiday so I was totally feeling autumnal. I also loved that the story is about witches and werewolves and that they were all just totally cool with each other. I thought that was really nice. The conflict in this story was totally interesting and it gave me total scooby-doo vibes in the best way possible.
There was tons of diversity in Mooncakes which I thought was wonderful! There were several lgbtq characters as well as a hard of hearing character and a plus sized character. I really appreciated that when Tam corrected Nova's grandma on their pronouns her grandma immediately switched and was very cool about it.
My only complaint about this was that the relationship between Nova and Tam developed really quickly but it didn't bother me enough to knock off a star and I will definitely be purchasing this when it releases!

This was the most magical, perfect read for the Fall. Filled to the brim with people who are supportive and tolerant and facing challenge, the story shows us all the power of having a strong support network and the mighty things we can accomplish when we work together. I highly recommend this enchanting graphic novel!

This had the potential to be great but it was rushed and predictable. The story idea was cool, however it felt like the author rushed everything. It did have really cool supernatural aspects. I would have just preferred more content or more books in a series.

Mooncakes is a cute graphic novel with diverse representation that quickly put me into more of a fall mood.

Nova is a young witch living with her grandmothers and still trying to find herself. When her childhood friend, Tam, a werewolf, comes back into her life with a problem. They work together to solve it.

There was a lot of good in this novel! The representation was wonderful! I loved seeing a non-binary character that was never questioned and just accepted. Seeing a character with hearing-aids was wonderful as well as that isn't something I can recall seeing too often. This was also something that never really came up. It was seen as normal throughout the entire novel.

The art style was wonderful. The colors that were used really set the mood and gave it this fall vibe that also ranged to a darker vibe for the more intense moments. The art style was beautiful, but the colors were magnificent and utterly perfect.

I do wish that more background was available. Nova and Tam's relationship felt very instant love because we don't get the background of the friendship beforehand. I would have loved to see little stories about their friendship as that would have helped fleshed out their relationship more. I felt the magic system could have also used a few more explanations as there were some things that went on that left me wondering what exactly that was.

Overall, this was adorable. It was full of diversity, had excellent characters and truly is a great book to help anyone get into the fall or Halloween spirit!

Mooncakes was a super cute, fun read. The two central characters are Chinese American— one a deaf witch (Nova), the other a non-binary werewolf (Tam). I was pleased to see that the story allowed for Nova to admit that there were times it was hard to experience the world differently, but it never portrayed her as “less” or “weak” because of it. The use of “they” for Tam is noted and accepted.

The story is one of magic, friendship, and love. Additional characters such as Nova’s grandmas and her feisty, science-minded best friend, add their own charm. You’ll find yourself hoping to eat some mooncakes at their table, yourself.

This book has the sweetest characters ever. Tam was my favorite character because I relate to them so much. Fun characters, good representation and interesting story. Overall it was great.

I really loved this! Everything about it is super cute and sweet from the romance to the art style to the overall story. It's everything I needed in my life!