Lunar New Year Love Story
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love.
She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.
Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.
But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Vietnamese American teen at a romantic crossroads must decide whether it's worth keeping her heart safe by giving up on love in this lightly fantastical, heartwarming graphic novel from Yang (American Born Chinese) and Pham (the Princess in Black series). Every year, Valentina Tran—accompanied by her cherubic imaginary friend Saint V—excitedly distributes valentines to her classmates and to her father, who remains heartbroken over her late mother. But Val's world is shattered after she's met with derision from the valentines' recipients, and a visit from her grandmother reveals a devastating truth about her parents' relationship. Saint V, now a ghoulish version of his former self, entices Val with a bargain: Val must find love within the year or give up her heart to Saint V, who will protect it from further pain. As Lunar New Year celebrations commence, Val reexamines her relationship with family, friends, and herself, and navigates her tumultuous feelings, hoping to believe in love again. Poignant moments amplified by evocatively colored digitally rendered panels address deep issues of parental abandonment and grief, while interjections of comic relief and a riveting subplot surrounding lion dancing result in a well-paced, well-balanced dual effort. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
An all kind of love story
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!
Beautiful and heartwarming
I adored this graphic novel!
Literally could not put it down start to finish and finished with tears in my eyes. It’s so heartwarming and truly a joy to read.
The story follows Val who thinks her family might be cursed – doomed to never have happiness in love, always only suffering. She meets some lion dancers and starts learning the art and also starts hoping that this could be her chance to break the cycle and be lucky in love. There’s a really sweet and relatable romance in the book that was so well written!
Val goes on first dates, gets to know boys, and navigates entering this part of adulthood. She also delves deeper into lion dancing, which was such a cool part of the book! I loved seeing the drawings of the characters practicing and I loved learning about lion dancing.
The art style was so alive – the lions had so much movement during the dances, and so much expression was captured in the character’s faces throughout the story. There are some darker, slightly somber moments, and they always felt perfectly balanced.
The ending of this book was wonderful – the story is leading towards something and when it hits, it’s powerful and touching. I was so happy and satisfied and closed the novel knowing I had read something special.
First five star read of the year!