Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu | Mini Spoiler-Free ARC Review

Title: Mooncakes
Author: Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu
Publication Date: October 15, 2019
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy
Source: NetGalley
Pages: 256
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Synopsis

A story of love and demons, family and witchcraft.

Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.

One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home.

Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.

*Huge thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.*

Review

So, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about this graphic novel after getting ARCs from BookCon and the general consensus was that this one was super cute.

You’ll be glad to know these people were entirely correct.

This graphic novel really can only be described as cute. The plot was cute, the romance was cute, everything about it was just cute. Oh, and this graphic novel was also queer af.

I loved the family dynamic of this book and all the different things that family could mean. I loved the main romance of this book and how precious it was. I also liked how this book dealt with unhealthy family dynamics and trusting your significant other, even when they could be but into danger.

Plot-wise, this graphic novel didn’t have much going on. Like other graphic novels, it was a quick read, though I mostly read it to get it done, rather than being entranced by the story. The second half definitely picked up, though I kind of wanted more.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a cute, spooky graphic novel, perfect for fans of the Halloween season that doesn’t want anything too scary. You want some queer, spooky romance? You’ve got it. You want a slow, yet interesting plot? Here ya go! You want a quick read for that readathon? Behold! Pick this one up and see what BookTube is raving about!