Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. I wouldn’t even suggest it to queer romance fans, as the romance was so underdeveloped.' This sweet, spellbinding story will appeal to fans of magic and romance.' - School Library Journal (starred review)Ī story of love and demons, family and witchcraft. Cute pictures aside, the structural issues with this book were so substantial that the whole thing felt off. And it’s lovely.Īctually, I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to. We have lots of warm tones and domestic-y scences (and books). It made the diversity feel tokenistic, not authentic.

A person’s cardinal trait can’t be “non-binary” or “fat”. But, diversity isn’t enough to make a character or plot interesting. The thing is … you can add a ton of diversity to the story. All the representations were super positive, and everyone was accepted for who they were without question. Very much kudos to the authors for making this book super, super diverse … the cast includes people who are non-white, LGBQ+, gender fluid, with physical disabilities, etc. just opt for a high quality character-driven story. The story felt more like a vehicle for the diversity message - which makes me wonder why the authors introduced demons and bad guys vs. Stuff happens? I guess? The plot was pretty underwhelming, and any tension was undercut by the insertion of domestic scenes. The characters themselves, as well as the relationships between them. We never stayed in one place long enough to really settle anywhere, though. My family moved around a lot when I was a kid. The two were childhood friends (but they actually had a crush on each other?) until Tam suddenly vanished. The book starts with Tam’s arrival in Nova’s town. They have a crummy home environment … meaning they fight a lot with their parents? I dunno. Tam (not to be confused with Tamlin) is a gender-fluid Asian-American werewolf who’s moved around a lot. She runs a bookstore with her two sapphic witchy grandmas and chats about science and magic with her fat-positive best friend Nova is an orphaned hearing-impaired queer Asian-American witch living in a small New England town. It’s a book I’m glad I read, - if simply to scratch the itch - but not one that I’d revisit. For all of Mooncakes‘ cuteness, it really lacked in depth, story, and pacing. ☑️ A modern, witchy family that runs a bookstore Then I tripped, and decided that I could wait a bit longer … I was so excited to finally get it that that I started reading it on my walk home. I’ve been waiting for this book from the library for a year.

Mooncakes walker