Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Olivia “Liv” Huang Christenson is a mixed race Chinese American who is poised to take over Lunar Love, a matchmaking business started by her immigrant grandmother back in 1970.  Lunar Love helps people find their soul mates by using the Chinese zodiac signs.  Like the Western zodiac, some signs are considered to be more compatible than others and each has its own characteristics.  After a disastrous romance, Liv is devoted to the idea that only compatible matches can lead to true love and she feels the personal touch from Lunar Love is the only way to make those matches.

Enter Bennett O’Brien, also half Chinese, who has developed ZodiaCupid, a dating app also based on making matches using the Chinese zodiac. Liv is incensed that he thinks an algorithm can take the place of a real matchmaker.  Things come to a head on a panel discussion which ends up with Lunar Love and ZodiaCupid in a competition. Whichever company makes the first true love match will not only get some high-profile publicity but new clients as well.

Liv is desperately determined to win the contest and bring in a much needed infusion of cash to her company, no matter how attractive she finds Bennett.  And she does find him VERY attractive. The problem is that not only is he a rival, but their signs are not compatible so there’s no way this can be a true love match. . . right?

Romance is not one of my usual genres but it’s Book Bingo time.  I did enjoy this book in large part because of the information about Chinese culture.  Because both Liv and Bennett are only half Chinese, they have gaps in their understanding.  Liv’s grandmother has given her a solid grounding in the Chinese zodiac and in some customs but she doesn’t really speak Chinese so the books written in Mandarin don’t help. Bennett’s Chinese mother died when he was very young so much of what he knows he’s learned by research.  It makes explanations for various customs seem natural, not forced.  They also discuss the problems of being mixed race, of feeling that you don’t really belong, and even bring up cultural appropriation. There are no easy answers but I like that the questions were even asked.

I also liked the characters a lot, especially PoPo, Liv’s grandmother.  She’s a force of nature and stole every scene she was in. 

For romance readers, there was plenty of romantic angst, longing, misunderstandings, heart to heart talks, stubbornness, and electricity. Bennett is an appropriately hunky hero who likes to lead with his head while Liv is focused on emotions—just not her own when it comes to personal romance.

Thank you, Lauren Kung Jessen, for writing a romance I enjoyed reading!

Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Dedicated New Yorker Rooney Gao is an artist.  She uses the pseudonym “Red String Girl” for her art because she wants to make a name for herself, not for the fact that she has a famous mother. The name also reflects her use of string in her art, a manifestation of the Chinese legend that everyone has a red string that attaches to their one true love.  For Rooney it means some things are just fated to be.

Enter Jackson Lui, a senior engineer at NASA, who is in New York City to do a presentation which he hopes will help earn him a long sought after promotion.  The two meet up at a print shop, and then again at a party.  Rooney is beginning to wonder if it could be fate, but there’s a small problem or two:

Jack doesn’t believe in fate.

And he lives in California.

Yes, I have now read two romances so far this year, which may be some kind of record for me.  It’s not that I have anything against love, but I do tend to bog down in the overwrought drama that many of those books feature. I get frustrated with the characters because they could usually clear things up with one conversation but it seems to be more fun to wail and fuss.

That’s not the case here.  Rooney and Jack are two adults. They’re attracted to each other from the start and have a magical date. They actually talk about things that matter. I loved (no pun intended) how we got to know the characters, how they discussed their beliefs and respected one another.  I learned a bit about art, about Mars, about chance, about Chinese folklore, and probability, and found two fictional characters that I like a lot.  I enjoyed how the two meet up again, and the way they reconnect.

If more romances were like this one, I’d read more romances.