Mooncakes

Mooncakes combines two of my favorite things to read about: magic and romance. Calling all lovers of manga and Sabrina the Teenage Witch! Set in a small New England town, Mooncakes touches on lots of witchy motifs: autumn scenery, antiquated bookshops, and sweet magical grandmas. Nova, our protagonist, is a young witch who works in her grandmothers’ magical bookshop. When Nova’s childhood crush Tam returns to town, the two are put to work to restore balance and overcome evil. During the course of this quest, Nova and Tam reignite a beautiful romance.

This graphic novel is beautiful, charming and inclusive. I loved the inclusivity of the narrative; the creators included details about the queer romance and Tam’s nonbinary status without tokenizing the characters. Additionally, it was interesting to watch the characters develop their magical skills and defeat evil. This story could have had a stronger character arc. It would have been more effective to create more tension while Nova and Tam fight evil. Additionally, I would have enjoyed watching the tension between Nova and Tam develop further before they got together. But overall, I loved this beautiful and adorable tale of magic and love.