{"id":29780,"date":"2023-01-12T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=29780"},"modified":"2023-01-12T09:00:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T13:00:17","slug":"review-lunar-love-by-lauren-kung-jessen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/12\/review-lunar-love-by-lauren-kung-jessen\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-29780\" data-postid=\"29780\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-29780 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_zewm934 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner col_align_top gutter-narrow tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_h8wk935 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_1xl6935 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"328\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen.jpg?resize=328%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-29783\" title=\"lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen\" alt=\"lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen.jpg?w=328&amp;ssl=1 328w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen.jpg?resize=197%2C300&amp;ssl=1 197w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen.jpg?resize=400%2C609&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 328px) 100vw, 328px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_wiw0935 customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><strong>Always a matchmaker, never a match&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother\u2019s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her P\u00f3 Po\u2019s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about \u201canimal attraction,\u201d her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.\u2019s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O\u2019Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family\u2019s legacy . . .<\/span><br \/><br \/><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">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\u2019ll find a match for each other\u2014and whoever falls in love <span class=\"a-text-italic\">loses<\/span>. But Liv is dealing with someone who\u2019s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what\u2019s stopping him from stealing her heart too?<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_5s0v935 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_ei59935  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25881 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-recommends-banner-1.png?resize=296%2C72\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Jan 10, 2023<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Warm<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Grand Central<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Forever<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Women\u2019s Fiction meets Romance.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019m starting a new term. It\u2019s called romance-lite. It\u2019s not a bad term, but I\u2019m going to start using it every time I read a book that\u2019s women\u2019s fiction but because it has an HEA and a romance involved in the growth of the heroine, it\u2019s called a romance. Did I want more spice on the page? You bet I\u2019ll always vote for more sensuality. But before we dig into all the things I wanted, let\u2019s backtrack a second.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The book is pure catnip; two matchmakers pitted against each other. With our heroine Olivia being the inheritor of a decades old-school matchmaking business based on the Chinese Zodiac that her grandmother started. She\u2019s up against an upstart tech-driven hero, Bennett, who\u2019s launching a dating app with inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac. It\u2019s a match made to fail since not only are they competitors but their signs aren\u2019t compatible. Trope cat-nip in a bottle. Add in a loving grandmother, a pair of fun matchmaking employees, and one woman\u2019s drive to uphold years of tradition and prove she can successfully keep a legacy alive. What\u2019s not to love?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I thoroughly enjoyed this book, from the meet-cute to the end. There was a bit of predictability in how the story would play out. I had some feelings where things might go on the resolution front, but the author keeps everything fresh with the inner-workings of the book. From the devious actions of Olivia towards the start, to a match-making competition. This book offered up fresh looks at romantic scenarios. Along with being diverse and own voices with a unique insight into life with character of mixed heritages.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, what keeps this from 5 stars? I mentioned the romance-lite. While there is a romance prevalent throughout the story, since we\u2019re talking about matchmakers, the journey is really Olivia\u2019s. The story stays in her POV the entire way. She requires the most growth. Though, I won\u2019t lie I wanted to be in Bennett\u2019s head. There are a few other things that border on spoiler territory that kept this out of the top marks for me.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, I\u2019m interested to see what this author has planned next, and hopefully she\u2019ll give us a story in the same world. There were plenty of side characters I was interested in. If you ever wondered what a Jackie Lau and <strong>Kristin Higgins<\/strong> -style book would be like, then <strong>Lunar Love<\/strong> may be right up your alley.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Landra<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_74lu935 customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3IESQOI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3XulAhr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen\/1141503204?ean=9781538710272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/lunar-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Lauren_Kung_Jessen_Lunar_Love?id=6fBwEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Always a matchmaker, never a match&#8230;Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother\u2019s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136,104,112,48],"tags":[152,216,217,238,404,405],"class_list":["post-29780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-forever","category-grand-central","category-landra","category-reviews","tag-4-stars","tag-contemporary","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-diverse-romance","tag-recommend","tag-recommended-reads"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764\ufe0f Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/12\/review-lunar-love-by-lauren-kung-jessen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Always a matchmaker, never a match...Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother\u2019s matchmaking business. 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But when she learns that a new dating app has made her P\u00f3 Po\u2019s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about \u201canimal attraction,\u201d her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.\u2019s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O\u2019Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family\u2019s legacy . . .<br \/><br \/>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\u2019ll find a match for each other\u2014and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who\u2019s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what\u2019s stopping him from stealing her heart too?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/smitten-recommends-banner-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"296\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p> <hr \/> <p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Jan 10, 2023<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Warm<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong> Grand Central<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong> Forever<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $10.99<\/p> <hr \/> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Women\u2019s Fiction meets Romance.<\/em><\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019m starting a new term. It\u2019s called romance-lite. It\u2019s not a bad term, but I\u2019m going to start using it every time I read a book that\u2019s women\u2019s fiction but because it has an HEA and a romance involved in the growth of the heroine, it\u2019s called a romance. Did I want more spice on the page? You bet I\u2019ll always vote for more sensuality. But before we dig into all the things I wanted, let\u2019s backtrack a second.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The book is pure catnip; two matchmakers pitted against each other. With our heroine Olivia being the inheritor of a decades old-school matchmaking business based on the Chinese Zodiac that her grandmother started. She\u2019s up against an upstart tech-driven hero, Bennett, who\u2019s launching a dating app with inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac. It\u2019s a match made to fail since not only are they competitors but their signs aren\u2019t compatible. Trope cat-nip in a bottle. Add in a loving grandmother, a pair of fun matchmaking employees, and one woman\u2019s drive to uphold years of tradition and prove she can successfully keep a legacy alive. What\u2019s not to love?<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I thoroughly enjoyed this book, from the meet-cute to the end. There was a bit of predictability in how the story would play out. I had some feelings where things might go on the resolution front, but the author keeps everything fresh with the inner-workings of the book. From the devious actions of Olivia towards the start, to a match-making competition. This book offered up fresh looks at romantic scenarios. Along with being diverse and own voices with a unique insight into life with character of mixed heritages.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, what keeps this from 5 stars? I mentioned the romance-lite. While there is a romance prevalent throughout the story, since we\u2019re talking about matchmakers, the journey is really Olivia\u2019s. The story stays in her POV the entire way. She requires the most growth. Though, I won\u2019t lie I wanted to be in Bennett\u2019s head. There are a few other things that border on spoiler territory that kept this out of the top marks for me.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Overall, I\u2019m interested to see what this author has planned next, and hopefully she\u2019ll give us a story in the same world. There were plenty of side characters I was interested in. If you ever wondered what a Jackie Lau and <strong>Kristin Higgins<\/strong> -style book would be like, then <strong>Lunar Love<\/strong> may be right up your alley.<\/p> <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Landra<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3IESQOI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3XulAhr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/lunar-love-lauren-kung-jessen\/1141503204?ean=9781538710272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/lunar-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Lauren_Kung_Jessen_Lunar_Love?id=6fBwEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29780"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29793,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780\/revisions\/29793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}