Mooncakes Cover
Title: Mooncakes
Creators: Format: EBook Print
Color: Color
Romanceiness: Definitely a Romance
Heat: PG13
Tags: queer character of color creator of color Asian nonbinary nonbinary character pansexual grief abusive parent history of trauma witches werewolf magic
Where to Buy or Read:

Amazon

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Synopsis from the Creator:

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.

Review: Mooncakes, by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

[fa icon="calendar"] Aug 28, 2019 9:45:00 AM / by Suzanne

This was adorable. Seriously, you take a look at that cover and you'll get exactly what you expect. A queer witch and werewolf who were friends as kids are reunited as young adults to defeat a few bad guys and fall (back) in love. Both love interests are Asian and queer. Nova is a Hard of Hearing witch living with her two grandmas following the death of her parents. (Older queer women FTW!) Tam is a non-binary werewolf who has run away from an abusive situation only to end up in a magical forest fighting a demon horse.

Everything about this book is queer. The only time anything is even mentioned is when the grandmas use the wrong pronoun for Tam (having not seen them in nearly a decade) and are immediately corrected. Then they use the correct pronouns and it's not a thing at all. There is kissing. There is an old couple who banter and bicker in such a realistic way.

There are adorable magical woodland creatures and a scary demon from *mystery.* Without spoiling things, there's a complicated magical reason why Tam and Nova have to work together to defeat the demon and other bad forces in town. There's a scene where Nova's family gathers for a holiday and her parents join in as ghosts and it's full of food, but also very moving. And Nova's best friend, Tat, is a magic skeptic but she still helps out. Because that's what friends do.

This is a longer graphic novel, coming in at 250 lovingly illustrated pages, so it gives enough time to develop the characters and the plot. There's quite a bit of foreshadowing but it's still surprising in the end, which is fast paced and full of magic and betrayal. And it has a Happily Ever After!

My only complaint is that one of the main characters is named Tam and another is Tat. If the characters weren't on the page, I had a hard time remembering who was who. Seriously, that's my only complaint, so consider this a highly recommended book.

 

Suzanne received an early digital (partially uncolored) copy of this book for review from the publisher.

 

Content Warnings: Abusive parents, captivity, grief, violence

Topics: review