Lunar New Year Love story was a sweet and complex graphic novel, perfect to start off a new year of reading!
Valentina is obsessed with Valentine's Day from childhood, partially because she is named after it and partially as a way to connect with her father after her mother's death. As she reaches high school, he childlike enthusiasm begins to diminish as her homemade valentines go from cute to weird. When she learns of a family secret, her faith in love is rattled and she decides that she will give love a year to prove its importance in her life, or she will give up on it forever.
Though she is in a dark place with love, she finds Lion Dancing and becomes swept up in the excitement of her new activity. She meets Les and Jae at her first event and quickly becomes caught up in Les' smooth talking and romantic gestures. But he never seems to want to make their relationship official, always making excuses for why he shouldn't. Meanwhile, Jae's initially cold demeanor begins to warm to Val as they learn more about each other, but he could never break apart a couple, especially when Les is his cousin.
Val and Jae learn that they are both dealing with demons in their families' pasts and it bonds them, but also makes it very hard to address the growing feelings that they have for each other.
This book is a winner all around. The story is complex and interesting, pulling from several cultural backgrounds to built the tension between Val and Jae. The illustrations are nothing short of spectacular, most noticeably whenever the characters are engaged in Lion Dancing which cover two page spreads and embody the movement and energy of this beautiful tradition. There are multiple points of conflict for each character, taking this story from a basic rom-com to a multi-layered dramatic tale.
I will eagerly add this book to my high school library collection and am extremely excited to have it in time for the Lunar New Year. I would recommend this for any teen or tween reader!
Valentina is obsessed with Valentine's Day from childhood, partially because she is named after it and partially as a way to connect with her father after her mother's death. As she reaches high school, he childlike enthusiasm begins to diminish as her homemade valentines go from cute to weird. When she learns of a family secret, her faith in love is rattled and she decides that she will give love a year to prove its importance in her life, or she will give up on it forever.
Though she is in a dark place with love, she finds Lion Dancing and becomes swept up in the excitement of her new activity. She meets Les and Jae at her first event and quickly becomes caught up in Les' smooth talking and romantic gestures. But he never seems to want to make their relationship official, always making excuses for why he shouldn't. Meanwhile, Jae's initially cold demeanor begins to warm to Val as they learn more about each other, but he could never break apart a couple, especially when Les is his cousin.
Val and Jae learn that they are both dealing with demons in their families' pasts and it bonds them, but also makes it very hard to address the growing feelings that they have for each other.
This book is a winner all around. The story is complex and interesting, pulling from several cultural backgrounds to built the tension between Val and Jae. The illustrations are nothing short of spectacular, most noticeably whenever the characters are engaged in Lion Dancing which cover two page spreads and embody the movement and energy of this beautiful tradition. There are multiple points of conflict for each character, taking this story from a basic rom-com to a multi-layered dramatic tale.
I will eagerly add this book to my high school library collection and am extremely excited to have it in time for the Lunar New Year. I would recommend this for any teen or tween reader!