I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking forward to downloading this and reading it, but also found it to be underwhelming like some other reviewers. I really wanted to like it. The copy that we received was not the best quality, however it might just be personal taste that the art didn’t really pull me in as well as some other graphic novels have. This also feels to be aimed towards a younger audience. Unfortunately, I just found that this was not for me.

This comic was the first comics I ever read and I absolutely fell in love with it! It made me happy and joyful. It made me laugh and it even made me fell a tear.
Both the storyline and the art style was fenomenal and I will definitely read more from the author in the future.
4/5 stars

I’ve been wanting to read this so freaking much! I can’t believe I finally got my hands on it >.< I’m so happy!!

This is a beautiful graphic novel full of cute witchcraft, animal spirits, magic, friendship, queer love and a lot more!

Our main character is a Chinese-American girl named Nova. She is trying to cope with the recent loss of her parents. She lives with her two grandmothers (yes, two freaking grandmothers, as in, together… It’s SOOOO cute!). One night, she follows a white wolf into the forest, where he battles a demon. But that wolf happens to be no other than her old childhood friend, and crush, Tam! From there, they unite and try to battle this demon with all the help they can get.

I’ll try my best keeping it spoiler-free… There’s just so much I loved about this graphic novel tho.

First of all, I have a soft spot for magic. I love reading about it, so I had high expectations. The magic in here is super interesting for the fact that it feels old-styled in a modern world. Nova learns from her grandmothers that are both witches, and books, while also experimenting. There’s also some dark magic in it, which made what I’m going to talk about next, even stronger…

And that’s friendship and family bonds! There are some really strong bonds in this book. I love Nova’s relationship with her family and how close she and her friend Tat are. Not to mention her friendship with Tam, of course, but I will get to it. I love how connected Nova is with her nanas, and how much they trust each other. You can just feel their love through the pages, you know? … As for Tat, she is awesome! She is kind of a septic nerd and she is 100% there for Nova!

Tam is a Chinese-American nonbinary werewolf. They transform at full moon and also have some werewolf magic in them. They have been Nova’s friends in childhood and moved away for a time. Now back alone, due to family problems, they couldn’t be in better hands! I love them together. How much it helps Nova and Tam. How understanding and trustful they are with each other. Nova is hard-of-hearing and she just lost her parents, and Tam helps her express her feelings, which was beautiful – while Nova helps them find and understand themselves, which will be much needed to beat the demon. It’s such a cute, warm-hearted romance!

The illustrations are freaking gorgeous!! I can’t wait for a final copy of this, it looks so cute and I love the warm-tones all over it, it makes me feel happy! The art complements the story perfectly and I need it right now!! Although I must say, it’s the perfect autumnal story!

This was a beautiful graphic novel, full of warm-hearted feelings and a lot of magic and I couldn’t recommend it more!

Firstly, the artwork is amazing! It’s cute, colourful & detailed and I really enjoyed the art! I will definitely be checking out other Graphic Novels that this artist has been apart of!

Next we have the diversity! We have a Queer Chinese-American Witch that also wears a hearing aid. Then we have Queer Chinese-American They/Them character! Also we have 2 Queer grandmothers in an awesome relationship, and who are also kinda badass! I love how much diversity was featured in such a short story!

Lastly, the story itself was really fun too! It has an interesting world, awesome characters & an unpredictable plot! I didn’t really know what to expect with this Graphic Novel as I hadn’t seen any information about it except that it was awesome, so it was fun to discover the interesting paranormal world that is in this story!

This is such an adorable and sweet graphic novel.
Perfect for the fall time, we have 2 loveable protagonists who are long time childhood crushes. Throw in werewolves, witches, demons, and cults, and then you have the adventure of this story.
It also had deep topics related to family dynamics in a sweet package, making some of the tougher parts of the story go down a little easier.
The atmosphere of the novel was well executed. The adorable art style along with the fall color palette made for a perfect combo in my opinion.
I highly recommend checking out this adorable story, especially during the month of October, with a cup of warm cider.

Be still my beating heart. This story is cute, queer and paranormal with the "return of a childhood crush" trope. And it has amazing art. I have been blessed by the graphic novel gods with this one. Cannot recommend enough if any of those things appeal to you.

I adored this! Mooncakes is a fun spooky read following a witch and a werewolf in their fight to defeat a demon that is lurking in the woods behind town. I loved the characters and the representation is wonderful! Seeing a hard of hearing character warmed my heart and the color of her hearing aids is adorable! There is also a good amount of LGBT representation as well, including a non binary character. All these characters were amazing and so sweet. The magic is unique and I love the way it was drawn as well. I can't wait to see a finished product since the last chapter and epilogue weren't fully colored yet, there are some pretty great scenes in that chapter that will be even better in color.

This is another book that I never really intended on reading but then I saw a bunch of booktubers raving about it and I was intrigued. When I saw that it was available to read on Netgalley, I decided to read it. I thoroughly enjoyed this graphic novel. I don't read a lot of graphic novels but I'm reading more and more as the years go on. I tend to read a lot of LGBT graphic novels which I am always on board with. This was the first magical one I had read and I really loved seeing how the magic was portrayed in graphic novel form. The illustration style was gorgeous and just so cute. I highly recommend picking this book up based on the illustration alone. On top of that, the characters were so intriguing. As well as a great main duo, we have some amazing side characters include two kickass Nanas. I found myself loving all of the characters. Whilst I found the plot to be fun and engaging, I do feel as if it happened way too quickly. I think this story definitely could have benefitted from being a series as the plot felt rushed and not fully developed. I'm still not 100% sure on some aspects of it. Overall however, I loved this graphic novel and I would love to see more about these characters.

The coloring of this story is so good. I really enjoyed all the pastel based tones. I really appreciated how normalized the girls relationship was portrayed. The story wasn't the most compelling, but overall it was was cute and fun.

I don't normally read illustrated novels, but the reviews and cover made me want to give it a try. I was not disappointed. I read it in one sitting, totally captivated by the unique characters. I loved how the relationships were written, the layers to each character and the overall plot.
The illustrations are brilliant, and I love how the colour pallet changes with the mood.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. It was very different to what I normally read but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone interested in illustrated novels. Big thanks to the author for putting it on netgalley for us to read.

Disclaimer: all opinions are completely my own and 100% honest.

This a really cute graphic novel. I really liked Nova and her Gramma's, they're SOOOO nice! I loved the Autumn-vibe of the comics and the colors were AMAZING! The story itself, even though is very simple, it's really pretty and inspiring.

I love the inclusivity of the story both with Tam's pronouns and Nova's hearing aid it was so fluid and natural, it's amazing and just how it should be! And I loved how the Gramma's were like "oh sorry, my mistake" and just changed the way of addressing Tam's so naturally. No drama, no fuss. Loved it!

The magic was also amazing and the spirits were SO cute, oh gods. I loved loved them!

It's a really wholesome novel and I totally recommend reading it in the Autumn, when it comes out!

This is one of the most precious stories I have ever read!

We follow a young witch and a young werewolf, childhood friends reunited after a few years apart. They must come together in order to solve a supernatural problem that could lead to disaster.

There's an adorable romance, great friendships and strong family bonds. Everything you could need for a feel-good story.

The art in this comic is cute without being "too cute" and I honestly think everyone would enjoy reading it.

I really liked the diversity in the characters of this graphic novel, but there was something missing to make me care about them... It was nice but ended up being just an okay read for me.

This book had so many great aspects, I loved it! There was a lot of rep included which always makes me happy ♥ two Chinese-American young people, one genderqueer and one hard-of-hearing. I love that the story not only focused on the relationship between the characters as well as the main plot, but included a positive insight into family relationships as well as personal growth.

4 stars ⭐


This book is about:

A teen witch named Nova who works at her grandmother's bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigative any supernatural occurrences in their New England town.

One night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods and comes across her childhood best friend, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon.

Together they have to find a way to defeat it while also dealing with their newly-surfaced romantic feelings for each other.


Pros:

I loved seeing all the different amazing representation in this graphic novel: both characters are Chinese-American and Nova is queer and wears a hearing-aid while Tam is non-binary.

Their relationship is super adorable and it was great seeing them together and coming to terms with their feelings.

I also really liked Nova's grandmas: they are so caring and kind and overall wonderful people.

In addition, the art work is beautiful: I love how colourful it is and I think the colours chosen give it a very "witchy vibe".


Cons:

I wish we had could have seen more scenes of Nova and Tam when they were little because the ones shown are just so cute.

Also, I feel that the plot is a bit predictable from the moment you know who's responsible for all the trouble caused.


Final thoughts:

All in all, Mooncakes is a cute and fun graphic novel which I would definitely recommend anyone to pick up when it comes out in October of this year!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest Review!

Diverse, wholesome and pure!

I loved Nova’s character. She undergoes quite the arc over the course of the storyline in a pretty short amount of time. She starts off very self assured and happy with herself, then thinking she might not be good enough, to accepting that maybe things do need to change in order to grow as a person. I love all of her witchy confidence and the fact that she isn’t afraid to ask her grandmother’s for help if she needs. She hasn’t gotten to that overconfident stage where she doesn’t need/want any assistance from others.

I thought Tam was a perfect contrast to Nova. Still a little unsure and unconfident in their werewolf abilities and even I would say a little ashamed. Not that they aren’t proud of being a werewolf but the fact that they haven’t mastered their powers quite to the same extent that Nova has. Though I love the fact that they don’t give up and actively tries to better themselves not for their own sake but because they want to keep those they love safe.

I thought the artwork was absolutely beautiful and at times really made an impact. In particular the way Nova’s parents were portrayed. Their addition alone into the plot was a twist that I did not see coming and I was delighted with how they were incorporated almost naturally with their artwork. All of the illustrations were really unique and different and I felt they captured the essence all of the characters perfectly!

The story as a whole I thought was highly entertaining. You definitely have the action packed, super magically charged side to the story, but there was also a calming, inclusive, family filled subplot that I feel will definitely appeal to a wide range of readers.

I would say though I just wish it was a tad longer, 50-100 or so more pages to really prolong the story and add just a little more depth and suspense and simply because I want more!

I really enjoyed reading Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker. It was a fast read and for a graphic novel, it was really easy to follow. Great plot line and I can't wait to read more from this author. I really hope there is another book to follow this one. The graphics were just perfection as well. I really enjoyed the art!

4.5 stars!
This graphic novel was so fun! I felt like it had so much plot and depth which I don’t get often in graphic novels. I immediately felt like I knew all the characters and I liked them all. The family aspect was so prominent and important to the book and I thought that was awesome.
The storyline was so fun and exciting. I loved the idea of wolf magic and how it can be used. All the different types of magic beings was great.
The only thing that bugged me was that the end wasn’t in color. I know this is not how the finished book will be, but it took a little bit away from the ending not being able to pair the beautiful art style with the amazing colors of the previous part of the book.
This read like a standalone but I hope there is more to come from this world!

So sweet and beautiful! The storyline and the illustrations were lovely and the relationship between Nova and Tam was adorable.

A genuinely feel good story. Real characters and real issues are reflected here. Though not what I would normally pick up, it certainly felt like it was illustrated with love and the story told from an honest and courageous place. Altogether an enjoyable read.