Lunar New Year Love Story is a complex, emotional YA graphic novel about finding love and coming to terms with the history of your family. High school senior Valentina used to love Valentine's Day until a Valentine's Day in high school when she receives a heartbreaking revelation about her mother. Val believes she is cursed since no one in her family has been lucky in love.
One day her grandmother takes her to the Lunar New Year festival and Val meets two cute lion dancers. Val embarks on a journey where she learns about love, friendship, family, loss, vulnerability and trust. The novel explores Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese cultures and some of the challenges faced by immigrants. There are older characters who added wisdom and depth to the story. The paranormal elements brought spookiness and suspense. The beautiful, vibrant artwork really brought the characters to life. I really enjoyed the lion dancing. ( )

Valentina has a special relationship with Valentine's Day until she starts high school. She realized that maybe her lot is to not find love as nothing seems to work out with for those in her family. So many secrets! She thinks her mom is dead, she doesn't know her grandmother. Valentina holds out and finds her way back to dance through lion dancing, and with it connection with a cute boy and his broody cousin.
Quick read, compelling characters and relationship, art that captures emotion and culture. ( )

I adore Gene Lien Yang's graphic novels. They are always comical and light reading even is the topic is serious. His novels are also clean reading, no sex or foul language. I was not aware of his newest title until last week and immediately bought a copy. It is fantastic! This one is about a couple who cannot get it together during their senior year of high school. There are a few magical creatures as characters as befitting a Chinese story.

The publisher's summary: 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?

Yang gives us realistic characters. Valentina, or Val, grew up with just one parent, her father. When she finds out the he lied about her mother' death she stops speaking with him for almost a year. Val's best friend Bernice is also raised by a single parent, her mother. Bernice cannot stand to be without a boyfriend and within 24 hours of a break up she finds a new love. We all knew someone like that when we were growing up. Val is the complete opposite. The boys in the story are typical Chinese Americans while their parents live a very Chinese life in the U. S.

Another reason I enjoy Yang's novels is that they are the same length as a traditional novel. Lunar is approximately 350 pages. This allows him to create full formed characters and an extensive plot. The relationships among the kids in the story revolve around lion dancing. They are all taking a class on how to dance under a lion costume, as you would normally see at the Chinese new year and other special occasions. Val's relationships with two boys generally take place while they are sharing a costume to dance under. Val cannot decide which boy she really loves. A magical dragon has given her one year to find true love. If she fails then she must give the dragon her heart and foreswear future love interests. Val believes that her family will always be unlucky in love and is not sure that she can find true love.

The illustrations by Leuyen Pham are gorgeous. She has used primarily a red and pink color pallet to fit with Val's love of Valentine's Day. There are some panels colored in blues and greens but all the colors are bright as I like them. Her character's faces illuminate their emotions so when there is no dialogue in a panel strip, the reader knows how the characters are feeling.

Lunar New Year Love Story is the perfect Valentine's Day story. It would make a great gift for both kids and adults who like comics. ( )

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang (illustrated by LeUyen Pham) is a super cute graphic novel about a Vietnamese American girl named Valentina who used to love Valentine’s Day until she learns a family secret. As she works through high school, she learns more about her family and her heritage and finds her way back to love. ( )

Recommended: yep!
for a story about family and identity, for a story about hope, for a lot of pain on the way to happiness

Thoughts:
Wow y'all, I don't know why I ever had reservations thinking I might not like this that much. Past me was an absolute idiot, what about this WOULDN'T appeal to me?? And I was happily proven wrong because it was a delight!

Focusing on the art to start, because it is GORGEOUS. There's so much movement in it, which can be really hard to do without it getting confusing and chaotic, but this just felt beautiful. It was really highlighted in the scenes with the lion dancing where the movements were the focus.

The coloring was masterful as well. So much mood was carried with it, and it made moving from the gray, depressed, dull days to the bright shock of liveliness and community just as impactful for me as a reader as it was to the characters. I was lulled into thinking the gray was all the world had to offer, then turned a page to a vibrant landscape and was reminded of all the good that exists.

Some of the fonts were a bit tough to read, although they did align pretty well with the vibe of the character using them. I loved the way they emphasized characterization even to colors and fonts.

And of course, the story. There's a lot in it, but it doesn't feel like too much. Every thread of story gets proper attention and has me feeling fulfilled and satisfied with it. Her family, friends, love interests, and own internal struggles are all equally shown as important and threaded with one another. It also does not always go in the directions you might expect, and I appreciated the balanced look at romance and interest, especially with younger protagonists.

Acceptance was a big theme of this, although it wasn't always easy to come by. But there is a wide range of people in this book, and all of them are shown as lovable even when they have difficult traits that are highlighted as well. Intentions are given weight, and it was surprisingly nuanced considering the perspective was largely from that of a teenager.

Overall, this was definitely worth reading and I'm so glad I did. I woke up today still thinking about it, and found myself smiling or wincing with memories of moments in the story. I'm glad this story exists.  ( )