Book Review: Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romantic
Length: 336 pages
Author: Lauren Kung Jessen
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This sweet, enemies-to-lovers debut rom-com filled with Chinese astrology will undoubtedly prove to be a perfect match with readers of Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, and Helena Hunting.

Always a matchmaker, never a match…

Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy . . .

Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken. As the two businesses go head to head, Bennett and Liv make a deal: they’ll find a match for each other—and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who’s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what’s stopping him from stealing her heart too?

ALMOST WORKED.

I was up and down on this one. And then I found myself truly interested for a bit there. Until the third act made me want to put my head through a wall. With this set-up I think there could have been so many others way to create conflict without sacrificing the way the main character behaved. Liv bugged me for most of this book. She was over the top stubborn about every single step of the plot.

The premise and idea of this book is super intriguing and probably the best aspect. I loved learning about matchmaking and the intricacies of the Chinese zodiac approach to love and all of the in-between. Liv’s relationship with her Pó Po was one of my favorite parts too. Such a sweet relationship that helped Liv FINALLY open her eyes to the world around her.

For the romance I think there needed to be more too. It took me a long time to feel like this had a true romantic component to the story. With the focus on everyone dating and matchmaking, I figured there would be more of that. I just never felt invested overall into this story.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: a little
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: infidelity mentioned (side character), grief and loss depiction, death of a mother recounted, death of a grandparent