Phil recommends "Lunar New Year Love Story"

 

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham is a gentle rom-com about “fate, family, and falling in love.” Val is convinced that her family is cursed when it comes to love.  Generations before her have had bad luck with relationships so why should she even bother? When Val meets two cute lion dancers she decides to give love (and lion dancing) a try, not knowing whether she can succeed where her ancestors have failed. Will she overcome the curse? 

My wife and I both enjoyed this graphic novel. We also learned a few things about Chinese and Vietnamese lion dancing as it features heavily in the story. This book is aimed at a young adult audience and doesn’t, to my recollection, have any strong language or mature situations. There is some mildly spooky stuff.

 

 

Meghan recommends "Who To Believe"

 

In the first chapter of Who to Believe, readers learn that the recent murder of a local restaurateur has rocked the small east-coast town of Monreith. By the second chapter, there’s a second murder – maybe more.  The secrets continue to pile up as multiple narrators tell their own portion of the story, shedding light on previous events, moving the investigation and the novel forward. As the Kirkus review states, “the tale unfolds in seven parts, each with its own nuanced first-person-present narrator and unique voice. Every new section delivers a kaleidoscopic turn, reframing all that came before and keeping readers perennially off-kilter.”

Mystery fans will tear through this book, eager to discover what each new character will disclose as we race towards the ending.

Recommended for adults.