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 townhome. 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.
Amazon Link: Mooncakes
Author: Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu
Genre: YA Paranormal romance/graphic novel
Rating: 5/5 stars
Ah, this book was so cute! The art style is cozy and warm with that fall feeling. I guessed from the Moon cakes in the title that the Mid-Autumn festival would be involved, and both characters are Chinese-American. But I also found out that Nova is Jewish, too! On top of that, there is more diversity because Nova is hard-of-hearing (and her hearing aids play a role in the story), Tam is nonbinary, they fall in love, and also Nova’s grandmothers are the sweetest older sapphic couple.
But the real gem here is the story. Tam is a werewolf out to destroy a demon and needs Nova’s help as a witch. The teens aren’t afraid to ask adults for help, so the grandmothers do what they can, but ultimately it takes wolf magic (and what Tam knows about the demon) to solve the problem. And they even get unexpected help from Nova’s scientist friend, who is curious about magic even though she is skeptical.
This story is amazing and I wish there was more. But it’s also good as a stand-alone because it tells a complete story. A fun read for an afternoon!
Here is the book in my reading journal:
