Lunar New Year Love Story is a stunning graphic novel about a girl name Valentina whose family is cursed in love. For generations before Val, romance has always ended in tragedy and heartbreak, which is mirrored by Val’s relationship with Valentine’s day and Saint Valentine himself. Now Val has a year to successfully fall in love or she must give her heart to Saint Valentine for safe keeping forever—meaning she will never experience heartbreak, but will also never be able to fall in love.
Val is such a relatable, sympathetic character who is truly put through so much during this story! But it wasn’t just Val who drew me in. Her grandmother, her best friend, Bernice, Leslie, and Jae are all well-fleshed out, developed characters! It was such a wonderful cast of characters with so much depth and personality! As for the story itself, it was lovely and honest and filled with nuanced relationships (romantic, platonic, familial) that are worth having, even when it hurts. The story is rich in East Asian cultures, but love is love and all families are imperfect. This is to say that any reader will be able to relate to this story and its characters on many levels because we are all complex humans navigating complex relationships with other complex humans.
With stunning illustrations throughout, the story sucked me in from the very beginning and held me captive until the very end! I devoured this in one sitting and will read it again and again!
Val is such a relatable, sympathetic character who is truly put through so much during this story! But it wasn’t just Val who drew me in. Her grandmother, her best friend, Bernice, Leslie, and Jae are all well-fleshed out, developed characters! It was such a wonderful cast of characters with so much depth and personality! As for the story itself, it was lovely and honest and filled with nuanced relationships (romantic, platonic, familial) that are worth having, even when it hurts. The story is rich in East Asian cultures, but love is love and all families are imperfect. This is to say that any reader will be able to relate to this story and its characters on many levels because we are all complex humans navigating complex relationships with other complex humans.
With stunning illustrations throughout, the story sucked me in from the very beginning and held me captive until the very end! I devoured this in one sitting and will read it again and again!