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A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin (The Book of Tea #1)

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

 For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin (The Book of Tea #2)bought on Audible
Synopsis from GoodreadsA great evil has come to the kingdom of Dàxi. The Banished Prince has returned to seize power, his rise to the dragon throne aided by the mass poisonings that have kept the people bound in fear and distrust.
Ning, a young but powerful shénnóng-shi—a wielder of magic using the ancient and delicate art of tea-making—has escorted Princess Zhen into exile. Joining them is the princess' loyal bodyguard, Ruyi, and Ning's newly healed sister, Shu. Together the four young women travel throughout the kingdom in search of allies to help oust the invaders and take back Zhen's rightful throne.
But the golden serpent still haunts Ning's nightmares with visions of war and bloodshed. An evil far more ancient than the petty conflicts of men has awoken, and all the magic in the land may not be enough to stop it from consuming the world...
7.5/10* * *
If I was breaking the rating for the two books, the first one would have 8/10 (4 stars) rating as it was more coherent and engaging than book two (3.5 stars). While listening  to the book two I caught myself drifting and missing chunks of what was happening which for me is not a good sign, hence lower rating for the duology.
The best part of this duology is its unique magic system where people with certain abilities could brew tea from any plants, herbs, berries, flowers, etc. or their combinations for different healing reactions in patients or for imbuing people with particular powers and enhancing certain reactions. This whole concept was fascinating and very well done.
Book one with its competition and much tea making was perfect in its simplicity. Ning had a goal to win and get the best medical help possible for her younger sister. She also acquired friends, enemies and a love interest along the way who rounded up the story nicely.
Getting into book two, the plot stretched itself pretty thin. Ning got bogged down in endless quests. Get to point A, grab the object X, continue to point B. And apart from the willow episode and the hike through the bamboo forest, there was nothing juicy here. Kang, the love interest, lost all colour here and quite a lot of backbone. The amount of people who got tortured and killed around him, and he, the prince of the empire, was powerless to do anything to help. I didn't like it at all. I felt like he had no spark or spine and mostly reacted to events, rather than be a force to instigate them. His father had no personality and the villain was outright cartoonish from start to finish.
*Sigh*
Overall, it's an okay listen with a refreshing magic concept. Recommended with reservations. 

 

Under The Power (2019-2020)

55 episodes, watched on Viki (you can find in on YouTube)

Synopsis from MyDramaList

Lu Yi is a cold, ruthless and authoritative high-ranking officer of the Ming Dynasty's Jinyiwei (also known as the Brocaded Guards for their elaborately embroidered uniforms). The Jinyiwei are part of the Emperor's elite bodyguards that also serve as the secret police, and Lu Yi is one of the best at his job.

He meets Yuan Jin Xia, a smart, feisty and tom-boyish female officer from the Police's 6th Division, and they clash over a case that the both of them were involved in. Their paths continue to cross unpleasantly over a series of minor cases until Lu Yi was commissioned by the Emperor to secretly investigate the disappearance of funds that have been set aside for river repairs in Yangzhou. Part of the small team accompanying him includes Yuan Jin Xia, and as the two of them work together to solve the case, they find themselves uncovering a conspiracy involving high court officials while their feelings for each other slowly change from dislike to respectful friendship to love.

~~ Adapted from the web novel "Under the Power" (锦衣之下) by Lan Se Shi (蓝色狮).

7.5/10

* * *

The rating says it all. Allen Ren (Ren Jia Lun) and Seven Tan (Tan Song Yun) is the main attraction here, and mostly it's Seven Tan. She has such a magnetic personality and can pull off the silliest, most idiotic antics for comedy value without being too much. In fact, the more I was watching this, the more I felt that recent Warm on a Cold Night drama which I abandoned half way through tried to poorly imitate Jinxia's behaviour (female lead) and ended up just looking stupid. Besides there were more similarities there.

As the male lead, Lu Yi, says half way through falling in love with Jinxia: "She is mesmerising..", so you can't help but falling into her orbit. 

Jinxia is a classic poor, tenacious, cunning little thing working in the capital's police department, cleverly solving cases and keeping herself in all the little pies she can think of to survive and make money. Her mother sells tofu on the streets and keeps trying to marry her off.

Lu Yi is a complete opposite to Jinxia in almost all the aspects. He is rich, he leads the equivalent of special police of the country which concentrates on internal investigations and keeps rich and powerful in fear. That force answers only to the emperor. Lu Yi is aloof, ruthless and doesn't have many joys or passions in life.

When he clashes with Jinxia over a case, he outdoes her with ease in direct confrontations, but while he is rich in resources and manpower, she is a great tracker and knows common people, so she catches up with him or even thwarts him in other spects. Their antagonism is fun to watch, especially when you see her ruffling his feathers more and more.

"Why not higher rating then?" you'd ask. First of all, a secondary love story is extremely boring and takes too much screen time. I had to skip past their scenes, seriously. 

Secondly, the ending episode is very stupid. Lu Yi who supposingly can plot an intricate chess game, goes and sacrifices himself for a very idiotic reason when all he needed to do is wait a few years and make a move without any danger, and everyone would have been perfectly happy with that plan as there was no urgency to act. Instead, the heroine had to save his sorry a*se again! There was no rhyme or reason in that last act.

Last problem, is that the production is low cost and it's very visible.

So, all these things detracted from my enjoyment but didn't stop me from loving the rest. Overall, a lovely, enjoyable watch! Recommended with some reservations. 

From the BLURB:  

My best friend wore her name, Esther, like a queen wearing her crown at a jaunty angle. We were twelve years old when she went missing. 
On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. 
Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it. 
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it. She has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. 
Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret. 
Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered. 
What do we owe the girl who isn't there?
I am so late to reading this novel that came out with Pan Macmillan last year, but after hearing author Hayley Scrivenor speak about it at Brisbane Writers Festival I simply had to dive in.

And - wow! - I was blown away.

This is the tale of Esther Bianchi; who goes missing from her small Australian country community, called Durton ('Dirt Town' to the local kids). We follow various characters in town - including Esther's best friend Ronnie, Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels who has come to town to try and solve the mystery, Lewis another friend of Esther's with a big secret and abusive father ... and then interspersed throughout their accounts are the 'We' chapters - a Greek chorus of Durton children which is how Scrivenor came to write this story in the first place. She wrote her PhD in creative writing in 2016 all about collective narration, and this (from what I gathered at BWF) largely influenced 'Dirt Town' and the 'We' of Durton children who are an omniscient, playful and secretive Greek Chorus to the events unfolding ... it's an eerie and imaginative overtone to the whole tale which works so perfectly, and harmonises beautifully with the over-arching mystery.

I absolutely loved this; having listened to the audiobook via BorrowBox and narrated by Sophie Loughran, it totally consumed me for a couple of weeks and was a brilliant walking and train-riding companion.

Scrivenor is a real talent, and I'm sure she'll be compared to Jane Harper for the small-town-Australia angle ... but I think she has a particularly beautiful and distinct wandering eye to dying rural communities and claustrophobic townships, and especially the angle of how this sociology impacts the next generation. This is the real over-arching thread in the book - "what do we owe the girl who isn't there?" - and what wounds are we inflicting by our actions or silence?

I'll be so keen to read whatever Scrivenor writes next. I do wonder if it will be more Sarah Michaels or another Greek chorus overseeing a mystery as the thing that hinges her books together. But no matter - I'll be there.

5/5

 

From the BLURB; 

Getting over someone is not that difficult. All you have to do is focus on every negative thing about them for the rest of your life until you forget to stop actively hoping for their slow and painful death, then get a haircut ...

Serial monogamist Marnie is running late to her own identity crisis. After a decade of twisting herself into different versions of the ideal girlfriend, she's swearing off relationships for good. Forever. Done. No more, no thank you.

Pretty inconvenient time to meet Isaac: certified dreamboat and the only man who has ever truly got her. It's cool, though, they're just friends, he's got someone else, and she has more important things to worry about. Like who she is, what she wants, and what the hell she ever saw in the love(s) of her life in the first place.

Flanked by overwhelmed new mum Nicola, terminally single Claud, and eternal pessimist Kit, Marnie reckons with the question: who are we when we're on our own?

'Crushing' is the new adult fiction novel from Australian author, Genevieve Novak. 

I absolutely adored this book.

It was not on my radar, but I went into a cute little indie bookshop called 'Heads and Tales' in Barwon Heads (Victoria, Australia) and literally just asked "what's good?" and had 'Crushing' handed to me and THANK GOODNESS!

So ... look; I've been a romance reader for a while now. I read every genre of romance (save for, maybe, medical romances?) and I get my reading-recs from authors and booksellers I love who frequently and generously share their TBR's. Blogs ('Smart Bitches, Trashy Books' being a fave). General chatter on socials and Goodreads ... but nothing - NOTHING - would prepare me for what a garbage-fire of spicy chilis the TikTok algorithm's thoughts on "romance" would be.

I've struck out on that app with its BookTok recs so many times now - *especially* in romance. It's bad, bland, or downright disturbing (and yes, my generation had 'Fifty Shades of Grey' so everything is a wheel and Colleen Hoover's spoke is currently at the top, but hopefully it'll topple soon)

Why am I mentioning this?

Well, because I think 'Crushing' is a little sneak-attack for female readers especially, who need their imaginations subverted and stretched. And this is the book to do it, as we follow a nearly 30-something protagonist called Marnie who has just been dumped. Again. And this one has hit so hard it's made her look inward and acknowledge the ways she doesn't know herself. How she's warped and pretzel'ed herself into being the type of woman each one of her ex's wanted - to the point that alone again, naturally, she doesn't actually know herself.

Marnie decides to move in with a new roommate - the fabulous and instant-bestie Claud - and start filling her spare days not-working at a little inner-city (Pellegrini's-esque) cafe, with any amount of classes and gym routines until she begins to meet herself for the first time in decades.

The one spanner in Marnie's plan is the appearance of Isaac. A bloke who is definitely off-limits because he has a girlfriend, but who Marnie connects with instantly ... how can she juggle this need to find herself, while she's also keeping her eyes-peeled on Isaac? That's the 'Crushing' conundrum of it all.

So I feel like this is probably a book being called a Melburnian 'Fleabag' and if that wets your whistle and gets you onboard, then - YES! - it's a Melburnian 'Fleabag' revelling in what it means to be young and messy, not-feminist-enough, self-deprecating, isolated and isolating, and not know what to do and where to put all this love you have ... it's definitely that, and more Season 2 than Season 1 vibes to boot.

But god DAMN, is it more complex and fun than that too.

The fact that I want to press this book into the hands of so many female friends and family members, for the ways that Marnie's crisis of identity has her seeing clearly (for the first time) the way that other women in her life short-change themselves constantly;

She tugged on the arm she was holding, and Jesse was pulled into frame.

I felt guilt before I'd even identified why: my first thought when I saw him was Oh.

Nothing prepared you for the distinct blandness of someone else's boyfriend. After all their gushing and mooning, you began to expect a prince. Reality and more objective eyes eventually revealed that they were ... just some guy.

Which is SUBLIME and has the same energy as @hellolanemoore's September 2020 Tweet; "every one of my female friends is too good for her boyfriend. I don't know how to explain it, but even if I had a female friend who was just a pile of rats on a step ladder she'd still be too good for Brandon"

I don't think this is a romance book (but I also don't think it's a bad thing if readers come to this under that misapprehension either) I do think it's a very pure and glorious form of Women's Fiction ... one that will by its very virtue of sneak-attacking under the premise of endlessly pursuing romantic love; raise the bar for the genre and the reader. You'll be surprised, delighted, stretched and challenged reading this one - without feeling "ripped off" for no neat HEA by 'The End'. Because that's kinda the point. And it's a crafty point that Novak is making - with humour and heart in the right place.

Like I said; I want to press this book into so many women's hands.

5/5

Red Winter/  Dark Tempest/ Immortal Fire by Annette Marie
bought on Audible
Synopsis from Goodreads
Red Winter (Book 1):
Emi has spent her entire life hiding from the creatures that hunt her. The savage earth spirits are determined to kill her before she can become the living host of a goddess, so she stays hidden—until the day she saves the life of a kitsune.
Shiro isn't the harmless fox spirit she thought he was. He's mysterious, cunning, unpredictable … and now hers to command. He's sworn to pay his debt to her, but he doesn't know who she is. If he finds out, he'll kill her.
But she can't send him away—not yet. Her future isn't what she thought. The lies surrounding her fate have begun to unravel, and she needs answers before time runs out—answers that lie in the spirit realm. Shiro can take her there … if she dares to trust him.
And only then will she find out how deep the gods' treachery runs.
--Dark Tempest (Book 2):
Emi has dedicated her life to becoming the perfect vessel for the goddess Amaterasu, but the insidious betrayal of another deity has changed everything. Now Amaterasu has charged Emi with an urgent mission: to find and free the earthly gods before mankind is brought to its knees beneath divine tyranny.
At her side is Shiro, the mysterious fox spirit. When she first saved his life, she could never have imagined that behind his cunning and confidence, he was lost—his power bound by a devastating curse and his memories obscured. His veiled history is somehow tied to the missing gods, but he can't remember how or why.
As their search leads them into the murky depths of the spirit realm, the shadows of Shiro's past begin to emerge. With each brief awakening of his true self, she loses a little more of him. The fate of the heavens and earth rest in her mortal hands, and she must find the missing gods before time runs out for her world—and for Shiro.
--Immortal Fire (Book 3):
Once, Emi believed the heavenly gods were righteous and wise, while the earthly yokai spirits were bloodthirsty and evil. But with a traitorous deity poised to destroy her world, and the yokai standing as humanity's only defense, the lies of her upbringing have toppled to reveal a far more terrifying reality.​Despite the looming threat, Emi can't escape her greatest distraction: Shiro, the fox yokai who has so deftly claimed her heart for his own.
8.5/10* * * 
What an underrated gem, folks! Such a solid, engaging, original urban fantasy. For me it was bordering on 9/10 (4.5 stars) rating, it was that good!
I confess the generic cover of the first book (all three have the unfortunate covers like the first one) made me hesitate for a long time before picking up Red Winter. I associate those covers with generic books too without much substance. I know, I know, I am a book cover snob, but esthetics play a huge role in me deciding to read something or not.
The whole trilogy was so smooth on audio, with an excellent narrator, so I literally binged on it, catching the other two reads through Audible sale. 
It starts a little bit slow, but picks up pace extremely fast. I can tell you that once sped up the plot will not slow down until the end. 
I loved how deeply infused by Japanese culture and mythology the books were. So much so, that I could vividly visualise the landscape, clothes and atmosphere surrounding Emi's life at the shrine. 
I appreciated very much that Emi and Shiro, and surrounding them secondary characters were not one-dimensional. They learned and evolved with the experiences. Even the main villain did not decide to destroy human will in the world willy nilly, there was solid reasoning behind their actions and in a way it was a misguided attempt to save our planet.
Emi is a wonderful character, a strong young woman who learns fast and constantly stretches the capabilities her connection to the goddess of the wind brings her. Shiro flirts with her from time to time but it feels more as an intimidation tactics that anything else. What bonds them the most is the life or death situations and deep friendship and mutual respect they develop for each other throughout their journey. 
I want to emphasise how much respect there is here between the main characters. They actually respect each other's choices and sense of duty which guides them. It's beautiful. And Shiro, thankfully, behaves according to his age and experiences and not like a horny teenager (yes, Sarah J. Maas, this is directed to your ancient beings who can't keep it in their pants and behave like they are 15, not 500! You can tell I was scarred.)
Also, holy Moses, action scenes in this trilogy ROCK. And there are a lot of them. On par with some of Ilona Andrews' books. All I can say, wait for the giant spiders fight. Your adrenaline will be pumping! There are so many fantastic action sequences, and the scenery is beautiful.
Overall, recommended without any hesitation. Great characters, fantastic world-building, refreshing mythology. I will be checking Annette Marie's other books as well. I am very impressed. 

I received a complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review

BOOK SUMMARY

In this utterly transporting reimagining of Greek mythology, the god of desire is cursed to fall for a spirited young mortal woman, but if she looks upon his face they will be parted forever—an epic adventure and love story for the ages, sure to satisfy fans of Madeline Miller and V.E. Schwab

Who said true love is a myth?

A prophecy claims that Psyche, princess of Mycenae, will defeat a monster feared even by the gods. Rebelling against her society’s expectations for women, Psyche spends her youth mastering blade and bow, preparing to meet her destiny.

When Psyche angers the love goddess Aphrodite, she sends Eros, god of desire, to deliver a cruel curse. After eons watching humanity twist his gifts, the last thing Eros wants is to become involved in the chaos of the mortal world. But when he pricks himself with the arrow intended for Psyche, Eros finds himself doomed to yearn for a woman who will be torn from him the moment their eyes meet.

Thrown together by fate, headstrong Psyche and world-weary Eros will face challenges greater than they could have ever imagined. And as the Trojan War begins and divine powers try to keep them apart, the pair must determine if the curse could become something more . . . before it’s too late.

A joyous and subversive tale of gods, monsters, and the human heart and soul, Psyche and Eros dazzles the senses while exploring notions of trust, sacrifice, and what it truly means to be a hero. With unforgettably vivid characters, spellbinding prose, and delicious tension, Luna McNamara has crafted a shimmering and propulsive debut novel about a love so strong it defies the will of Olympus.

Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara
352 pages, Hardcover
Published June 13, 2023 by William Morrow
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

  Book Review of Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara

Luna McNamara writes a captivating retelling of the classic Greek myth Psyche and Eros. Readers can enjoy a fresh, feminist version of Psyche, a headstrong warrior princess-gone is the damsel in distress. The god Eros is also a more humanized version, as he finds himself experiencing a mortal’s emotion, love, for the first time. McNamara writes beautiful scenes shared between these two lovers, capturing the initial buildup of trust and friendship, leading eventually to love, making it easy to believe.

The story feels real and vibrant surrounded by the backdrop of The Trojan War. Here Psyche, a princess of the Mycenae, encounters the warriors, monsters, and gods and goddesses of Greek myths. From training with the warrior Atlanta to conversions with Medusa and Aphrodite, this story should appeal to readers of mythology.

My favorite parts of the book are the epic quests Psyche must complete. I would have loved even more time spent on them, but overall I found them thrilling and adventurous to read about. I also found the conversations between Psyche and Atlanta, Medusa, and Aphrodite to be some of my favorites as well.

The story easily transports you to the otherworldly realm of Greek gods, myths and monsters. With new inspirations and interpretations of the classic, this story is accessible and fun, taking its own path along the mythic way. I’m excited about this author and want more tales. Hades and Persephone, anyone?

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Nirvana In Fire (2015)

Season 1, 54 episodes, 

watched on Viki

Synopsis from MyDramaList

In sixth-century China, the Emperor of Great Liang orders the unjust execution of his brother-in-law Marshal Lin Xie alongside the Lin family, his 70,000 army soldiers, and Crown Prince Qi.

 Secretly surviving the massacre is Lin Xie's son, Lin Shu, who undergoes medical treatment that changes his appearance entirely and leaves him in a weakened state, unable to ever perform martial arts again. Lin Shu changed his name to Mei Chang Su and later became the chief of the pugilist world and established the Jiangzuo Alliance.

Twelve years later, Mei Chang Su returns to the capital with a secret plan after being sought after by Prince Yu and Prince Xian during their fight for the throne. He decides to covertly assist Prince Jing, the unfavoured son of the Emperor, and wisely rids the court of all scheming officials.

~~ Adapted from the novel "Lang Ya Bang" (琅琊榜)

 by Hai Yan (海宴).

8.5/10

* * *

This is an old classic, folks! And it still rocks. 

I had Nirvana in Fire on my watchlist for awhile because a couple of the reviewers of Chinese drama I follow and respect look at this series as the golden standard. Mei Changsu's name (the main character) is very often thrown around as an example of how something should be done as well.

Having watched all the episodes, I can confirm that this was epic. It looks a bit outdated with makeup choices but overall it aged beautifully. 

The plot is an extremely complicated retribution story. Mei Changsu literally had to reinvent himself after surviving the betrayal and massacre of most of his clan. Being poisoned by a rare Frostfire poison 13 years ago, his treatment involved turning him into a completely unrecognisable face with no ability to practice martial arts and a weak constitution extremely susceptible to cold and with a very shortened lifespan.

However, his brilliant mind stayed as sharp as ever, and in 13 years he created an enormous intelligence network and put together a very long game to receive retribution for the family and friends he lost at the hands of the most powerful figures in Great Liang, his country.

Fortunately, once the plan is put into motion, he collects allies one by one to achieve the common goal, and many of them have insane martial arts skills. The fight scenes here, folks, are so fine, it's a pleasure to watch. No special effects apart from wire work and actor's skills. Very old-fashioned. 

The plot is  so tight as well. Every part is necessary, there are no fillers, every scene serves the overall picture. It's a type of Count of Monte-Cristo story, but it's deeper than a simple desire for revenge. Mei Changsu and his allies, many of whom recognise who he is along the way, set to cleanse their country of corruption and greed and put on the throne a good person.

One of the funniest, best characters in the drama is Fei Liu, Mei Changsu's teenage bodyguard. He is moody and childish but freakishly talented, and he is played by Wu Lei/ Leo Wu, whose many more recent dramas I've enjoyed very much because he is a really great actor (The Long Ballad or Love Like The Galaxy, for example).

At last, there hardly any stupid or silly characters here. Most of them are smart and resourceful, whether they are striving for greed and power or for benefit of the country. That's why Mei Changsu's game turns out to be so suspenseful and engaging to follow. 

I have started Season 2, but it's a different timeline a couple of generations in the future, so I have not found yet if it'll measure up to this season. Overall, much recommended! This was so good! 

 

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling.

In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan.

The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?

8.5/10

* * *

The Midnight Bargain reminded me of other two authors writing about magical England, Mary Robinette Kowal and Stephanie Burgis.

I listened to it on audio, and it struck me straight away at how atmospheric it was. Gorgeous world-building, almost cinematic at how vivid it is. The heroine and her friend's emotions at times felt like I was reading a middle-grade book, they were so desperate and dramatic, but it didn't detract from the validity of their feelings.

 The girls were fighting for their right to do magic and not get married which would have suffocated them and their gifts (that collar which married women were supposed to wear until they could not bear children anymore was truly horrendous). 

The love interest was sweet but didn't have as much personality as the girls, but the most delightful thing about the plot was Nadi, the lesser spirit who was helping Beatrice.

Nadi, the spirit of luck was amazing! It was her who was forcing Beatrice to be daring and get out of her comfort zone. She wanted her to dance on the sand barefoot and steal a kiss, get drunk and feel the sunrise. These were all the bargains between the two, because spirits are devoid of sensations but can feel them when riding humans. 

There were many dramatic moments and the book felt pretty fast-paced to me on audio. I am kind of gutted it's a standalone. I would have liked to read more of Beatrice and Co.'s adventures.

Overall, a lovely, magical read! I can recommend it to the readers of this blog without any hesitation. 

 

From the BLURB: 

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. 

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I. 

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree. 

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

•

Yellowface is the new novel from American author R.F. Kuang – or, Rebecca F. Kuang – it is already a New York Times Bestseller and being touted as *the* book of the year. And for good reason. 

First and foremost – no, I don’t know how I was able to read this via an ebook loan from my library (and I happen to know one of my besties was listening to the audiobook last week!) so it looks like the electronic versions have been out in ANZ (Australia New Zealand) since May 16 – but the paperback is not out until June 7? Baffling! 

So why is this *THE* chosen novel of the year? Why are you going to keep seeing that instantly-iconic yellow cover with the cartoonish eyes everywhere – and even that title Yellowface (used to refer to the practice of wearing make-up to imitate the appearance of an East Asian person, typically as part of a performance. This practice is generally regarded as offensive) is pure genius at every story-level and for discoverability. 

Why? 

Well. I first got wind of this novel coming, around the time last year of the Harper Collins union strike – when R.F. Kuang was one of the biggest-selling authors to come out in solidarity with the striking workers (against her own publisher, btw!), and it was alluded to that hers was a natural affiliation, given that her next novel would be a departure from her betselling-fantasy, to an epic contemporary take-down of the publishing industry. 

Pardon?!

So my interest was piqued given that I am part of the book publishing industry, and everyone in my circle was gearing up for a spilling of tea. And now that I’ve had the privilege of reading ‘Yellowface’ I can confirm, the tea is piping hot … 

The actual plot is a clever conduit to discuss much larger issues. The idea of two writing friends – one successful, one considerably less so – and what happens when the bestseller dies, leaving behind her conveniently only written out on a typewriter; pages of her next sure-to-be smash-hit novel … ripe for the taking. It’s an idea that’s been explored (like in the 2012 Bradley Cooper movie The Words – and no doubt there are other examples) but Kuang brings an important layer to the ethical and moral dilemma, because the dead bestseller was of Asian background, and her fabulous idea was all about Chinese labour workers in World War I … and the thieving writer is white. So this isn’t just a plagiarism story for the ages – exploring intellectual property and copyright, but big-time cultural appropriation. 

Kuang’s nuances in this discussion are too numerous to list, and clever to do a summary injustice. But something I loved was the repeated instances when our white protagonist author (June Hayward … writing as Juniper Song – her full first-name, and the middle-name her once-hippie mother gave her) finds herself in book-promotion predicaments where she’s invited to speak to Asian-American readers or on diaspora panels … as a white woman, who wrote a historical fiction novel inspired by Chinese history. A white woman with a deliberately ethnically-ambiguous name, and new author photos that have also given her a slight tan – to aid the confusion. This is something so rarely discussed in matters of cultural appropriation in art. You may well have done the research and had a heart in the right place – but what happens when people from the minority background you mined and stepped into, come calling and want to hear you speak? Well; 

For the first time since I submitted the manuscript, I feel a deep wash of shame. This isn’t my history, my heritage. This isn’t my community. I am an outsider, basking in their love under false pretences. It should be Athena sitting here, smiling with these people, signing books and listening to the stories of her elders. 

Juniper is a deliciously awful character. Not so cartoonishly villainous throughout that your teeth are constantly grinding – but it’s a melting into awfulness, a slow oozing that starts to stick and gum up the page; making you feel faintly nauseous (like when she has a real “are we the bad-guys?” moment, upon discovering that right-wing media pundits are rallying behind her when she’s accused of cultural appropriation.) And how magnificent that as I was reading, I kept thinking how brilliantly Kuang gets into this white-woman’s head. She has us read to rights and filth; and I found that my instinct to guffaw and say “we’re not all that way though,” was part of the wonderful ploy at play. The moment you feel the urge to say; ‘not all white women,’ it’s a stark reminder, right? 

But as I was reading, I was really trying to think how others would read it. Particularly for the minutiae of publishing which Kuang also hits with an absolute bullseye. From capturing the neuroses of writers; 

People always describe jealousy as this sharp, green, venomous thing. Unfounded, vinegary, mean-spirited. But I’ve found that jealousy, to writers, feels more like fear. 

Jealousy is the spike in my heart rate when I glimpse news of Athena’s success on Twitter – another book contract, awards nominations, special editions, foreign rights delas. Jealousy is constantly comparing myself to her and coming up short; is panicking that I’m not writing well enough or fast enough, that I am not, and never will be, enough. Jealousy means that even just learning that Athena’s signing a six-figure option deal with Netflix means that I’ll be derailed for days, unable to focus on my own work, mired by shame and self-disgust every time I see one of her books in a bookstore display. 

Every writer I know feels this way about someone else. Writing is such a solitary activity. You have no assurance that what you’re creating has any value, and any indication that you’re behind in the rat race sends you spiralling into the pits of despair. ‘Keep your eyes on your own paper,’ they say. But that’s hard to do when everyone else’s papers are flapping constantly in your face. 

To saying the quiet part out loud; that (especially in America) 1% of authors get 99% of a publisher’s time, effort and budget – by design; 

… author efforts have nothing to do with a book’s success. Bestsellers are chosen. Nothing you do matters. You just get to enjoy the perks along the way. 

And then the occasional thought that feels *very* inside-jokey. Case-in-point, that I marked this line as getting a real laugh-out-loud moment from me (because it’s so true); 

We’ve sold rights in Germany, Spain, Poland, and Russia. ‘Not France, yet, but we’re working on it,’ says Brett. ‘But nobody sells well in France. If the French like you, then you’re doing something very wrong.’

… but I wondered; will regular people care? 

No. Sorry. When I say “regular people,” I don’t mean that like a bad thing. I mean people who are not close to book-publishing in any way, beyond enjoying what it produces. I wondered if Kuang’s book was too close to the bone, and regular readers wouldn’t be able to appreciate the forest for the trees? The literary equivalent of; we’re too online. I also wondered this because I have noticed that on BookTok (what did I just say about ‘too online’?) I did notice that criticism of the book is largely about slow-pacing, and it being boring? But I didn’t get that, at all. I found it to have a cracking pace and brilliant plotted set-up … much of which took place in corporate emails that gave me second-hand anxiety for the very realistic and awful conversations I know are being had behind closed doors, and they are alluding to. I wonder if these micro-aggressions and corporate blunders are too mired in the world of book-publishing to be of significance to people outside of it? 

But then I thought; I loved Gabrielle Zevin’s ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ which is about developing video-games (which I know nothing about). Also that I loved TV show ‘Succession,’ and just nodded along whenever they spoke of corporate take-overs and what the stock-market was doing or whatever. I’d gloss over it as “business stuff,” and get the gist. Andrew Sean Greer’s ‘Less’ is also about the sad side to literary life, and that got a wonderful critical and commercial reception. For a few months there so many people were obsessed with Caroline Calloway and the ghost-writing friend who broke her silence; everyone got the broad brush-strokes of that scandal, and I am sure they will in ‘Yellowface’ too? They might come away thinking complaining about book-publishing is all a bit “my glass slippers are too tight,” bourgeois clap-trap and we are all chronically online, but … I mean; yeah. Kind of. Accurate. 

But to the online of it all – my other question was how future-proof Yellowface would prove to be? Already the novel delves deeply into Book Twitter fuelling scandals and gossip, and already it reads slightly outdated for the weight Juniper ascribes to “blue-check mark” Tweeters … which; Elon Musk has ruined. There’s lots of name-dropping of current social media apps and the indiscretions and pile-on’s they’ve fuelled; and as writers, we’re constantly told not to do that, because it will age a book. And I think that’s true here, but – does it matter? Kuang is commenting in a very zeitgeist-y way on art, culture, media, and illusions of community happening *right now* and the book being touted as The Read of the Year means it’ll be read in a timely it-just-hit-shelves-and-I-have-to-read-it fashion. It’s Kuang very much capturing ~a moment~ in time, and if it ends up reading more like a time-capsule that might be baffling to future-readers in a decade; is that a bad thing? Maybe not? 

But Twitter is real life; it realer than real life, because that is the realm that the social economy of publishing exists on, because the industry has no alternative. Offline, writers are all faceless, hypothetical creatures pounding our words in isolation from one another. You can’t peek over anyone’s shoulder. You can’t tell if everyone else is really doing as dandy as they pretend they are. But online, you can tune into all the hot gossip, even if you’re not nearly important enough to have a seat in the room where it happens. Online, you can tell Stephen King to go fuck himself. Online, you can discover that the current literary star of the moment is actually so problematic that all of her works should be cancelled, forever. Reputations in publishing are built and destroyed, constantly, online. 

I loved this book. I inhaled it – even as I squirmed, and it made me look uncomfortably inward at the gate-keeping role I play in the very industry Kuang is bemoaning, and beloved by. I honestly think it’s a very special book precisely because it feels like absolutely nobody else could have written it – and how ironic, given the plot! – but it feels like a right place, right time, right author type of deal … and it reads kismet and electric; you absolutely feel that pulse on the page of “ohhhhh, this is almost unbearably special.” I’ve never felt such second-hand, heart-palpitating anxiety while reading, or such painful self-reflection that it felt like a cleansing of sorts. 

I’m only still on-the-fence about how “outsiders” will perceive it, and how future-readers might be baffled by the weight we placed on an app that is currently being run into the ground by a maniacal Musk. 

But my gosh … what a feast of hot-tea. What a wake-up call that my industry needs, and only this author could deliver in such a decisive and well-packaged blow. What an ‘American Dirt’ meets John Hughes plagiarism, Caroline Calloway ghost-written, Mary Hallock Foote being stolen, James Frey, and ‘The Hand that Signed the Paper’ (I could go on) what a gem of a book. 

4.5/5 

 

The Rational Life (2021)

35 episodes, watched on Netflix 

Synopsis from MyDramaList

Shen Ruo Xin is a professional career woman in her 30s and she has to navigate through many things in her life. From swimming through the cesspool of office politics with its nepotism, sabotage and company problems, to withstanding familial pressure to settle down and marry, to handling suitors interested in her for their own selfish personal motives, to being counsellor and mentor to her best friend and her juniors, she is one busy lady but watch as she handles them all with great aplomb while managing to find romance in an unexpected place.

8/10

* * * 

This was on my watchlist for awhile due to an enthusiastic review from  a cdrama review channel I follow, and I'm glad I gave it a go. 

First of all, Dylan Wang is a cutie. If you watched him in Meteor Garden or a very recent Love Between A Fairy and A Devil (both on Netflix, by the way), you'll know he is a good actor as well.

Secondly, the topic of May-December romance (older woman - younger man) has been really popular in cdrama world in recent years. I read that there is a specific social problem related to that. China stopped its one child policy around 10 years ago and during that policy there were more boys born than girls because culturally boys will stay in the family and look after the parents while girls would marry off into another family. Over the generations, it created a shortage of girls available. And that's why larger gaps in age between partners are becoming more socially acceptable. Again, this is an opinion, so what I'm writing here can be completely wrong. If that's the case, then don't bash me for it.

This is a very solid 4 star watch. It has strong independent, female empowering message. It accentuates the problems women over 30 face in Chinese society. There is a generational clash between the heroine and her mother, but throughout all of this there is plenty of warmth in half a dozen of various relationships.

A lot of Chinese dramas would play on romance clichés, but The Rational Life subverts it all. Instead of cartoonish villains and heroes there are normal people who make mistakes, go astray, swim in grey area of socially acceptable behaviour and either snap out of it or get their comeuppance.

For example, the guy Shen Ruoxin dates in the beginning, is meek and cowardly. In order to keep her from breaking up with him, he proposes to her in public and sends the video to their company, surveils her phone and even post a negative video of her anonymously online which allows her boss to demote her to promote his own nephew in her spot. All of this to push her to rely on him and to marry him.

She deals with it by confronting the guy and gives him a choice what to do next with himself. His shame at the consequences to her actually puts him on the right track. There are a lot of moments where you'd think the character is going to cause trouble but it just behaves like a mature adult and leaves you pleasantly surprised. 

I enjoyed The Rational Life. It was kind and, well, rational. The main characters are cute together and do feel like a great fit to compliment each other's strengths. Recommended. 

 

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City #2)

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds.

The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent.

In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.

6/10

* * * 

House of Sky and Breath really suffers from second book in series syndrome, folks. It just drags until the last hour on audio where it crams in all the action and ramps it up to eleven.

I very much enjoyed the first book, it had amazing world-building, fast pace and it brought me to tears when firesprite died. It was heartfelt despite some minor problems.

This one just paced around in circles, opened a lot of extra plot avenues which led to nowhere, and the sex scenes were really off putting. To a point when every time one started, I raced to my audioplayer to fast forward to the next chapter. *sigh* And there were plenty of them. *rant over*

This book is also an infodump. So much incoherent info, especially towards the end, and again the same problem we had in the first book where the main villain conveniently spends half an hour monologuing and explaining in detail how their evil plan was implemented. Seriously? This is supposed to be an ancient ruthless being who sees you as food?.. why would it stoop down to your level of comprehension. This is too theatrical.

I'd say my favourite scene was with the mystics. Reminded me of Minority Report, and it was very atmospheric. Least favourite? Emil plotline which had no purpose at all.

Overall, too slow and confusing, but the ending gave me hope for a better book. I'll try one more time before I shelf this series away.

 

Love is Sweet (2020)

36 episodes

Synopsis from MyDramaList

Jiang Jun is a girl who is allergic to tears and has a double degree in economics and psychology. She is unrestrained and idealistic due to her family's superior background. After graduation, she worked in a philanthropy organization where she pursues her dreams. However, her father's sudden accident leaves her in a dilemma. Eventually, she decides to work in a top investment company to fulfill her father's dying wish.

In MH, Jiang Jun meets her childhood playmate, Yuan Shu Ai. However, the current Yuan Shuai is no longer her gentle protector, but her rival. In MH, where the "culture of wolf instinct" is rampant, someone is plotting against Jiang Jun while someone sees her as an eyesore. However with her kind nature and attention to detail, along with her high EQ and sense of judgment, Jiang Jun eventually attains success in both her career and love life.

(Source: DramaWiki)

~~ Adapted from the novel of the same name by Qi Zi

7.5/10

* * *

This was so much fun to watch! Coming off from a very angsty Till The End of The Moon drama with the same actors, Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu I've seen Love is Sweet mentioned a few times as their previous collaboration, so I thought I'll check this one out.

Love is Sweet is light and fluffy and full of tropes. School crush? Check. Unnecessary love triangle? Check. Second couple who no one particularly cares about? Check. Logical inconsistencies in character to create plot twists? Check.

And yet, Lou Yunxi and Bai Lu are fun to watch. They truly managed to recreate the ease of childhood friends coming back together. They have sassy, childish banter, constant goading of each other and good-natured cattiness. And it's all delightful. 

Yuan Shuai has known Jiang Jun since middle school and used to look after her because she was a cry baby and had unfortunate allergic reaction to tears, so he used to get paid by her dad to protect her, but in his mind his protection consisted of strengthening her character so he ended up constantly pressuring her into challenging situations to toughen her up, which in the end made her resent him so much that she transferred into another school. At the same time his parents sent him to study abroad and they completely lost touch.

Ten years after graduation they meet again. Unexpectedly, she is applying for a job in the investment banking firm where he works, and quite successfully too. At the last stage he kicks her out, convinced that this job is too tough for her, and in a typical mansplaining fashion tries to arrange a job for her which should be more suitable and less stressful. Jiang Jun has her own important reasons to get into his form, so she manages to get through anyway, and he is forced to become her boss.

What he doesn't realise is that the girl he used to protect, grew up and did toughen up. She is clever, methodical and resourceful, so his machinations are not taking kindly. Luckily, he is a very smart guy himself, so he adjusts to new realities and start working together with her and very successfully at that. It's really funny that at work he is this cold, ruthless businessman, but he is pretty defenseless against the girl he had a secret crush on in school as she brings to the surface his most childish parts. He basically turns into a boy grabbing his love's pigtails to grab her attention. They are pretty adorable in their interactions.

There are minor irritations here, like Jiang Jun's naiveté in the beginning, the inconsistent character of the third wheel in the relationship, Du Lei, who was wildly swinging from the villain to a good guy depending on script demands, and of course the second couple who acts as a filler and fades into background. You could easily cut 10 episodes out and still have a lovely story. Overall, though, it's relaxing and cute, and I definitely recommend it to all lovers of contemporary romance genre. 

 

From the BLURB: 

Part coming-out story.

Part falling-in-love story.

Part falling-apart story.

Harvey's dads are splitting up. It's been on the cards for a while, but it's still sudden. Woken-by-his-father-to-catch-a-red-eye sudden. Now he's restarting his life in a new city, living above a cafe with the extended Greek family he barely knows.

Sotiris is a rising star. At seventeen, he's already achieved his dream of publishing a novel. When his career falters, a cute, wise-cracking bookseller named Jem upends his world.

Harvey and Sotiris's stories converge on the same street in Darlinghurst, in this beautifully heartfelt novel about how our dreams shape us, and what they cost us.

The sun sets on a bonfire in Leichhardt.

Back from Brisbane Writers Festival, and I finally sent something off that was overdue - which means my brain had been freed up to treat myself to some books I’ve been hoarding and *desperate* to read.

Top of that pile was Will Kostakis’ new #LoveOzYA from Allen & Unwin - ‘We Could Be Something’

Now, before I can give my opinion you need to know that Will Kostakis got his first book-deal before he graduated high school, and his debut ‘Loathing Lola’ released when he was 19.

Now do you get it?

Never mind that I know and greatly respect Will - I was a fan first, but now I know him as an artist and friend too - and part of me wondered if my knowing how much this story is drawing on his own experiences would cloud my reading?

Never fear.

Because this book *walloped* me in the best ways. Humour and heart that I already knew Will could do, but a reckoning and sharing on the page that’s so generous and tender from him as an artist.

He really is grappling with voice here, amongst these characters - how they’re finding theirs, when Will’s as author has never been clearer, is pretty spectacular … he’s touching on some complex and wrought discussions about young people breaking away and finding out who they are, how they tear off pieces of themselves to give to other people - and what do they keep or hide for (and from) themselves. There’s a lot happening and all of it is brilliant and feels like a levelling-up in YA, particularly Aussie queer lit for teens. I don't want to give anything away; but I think Will Kostakis is giving people what they *think* they want from Queer YA, and then in the most loving way he's saying "actually, this is what we need." He's pulling it into a new era, and I agree.

No wonder this book has been heralded as a clear front-runner for the sweep of awards that’s sure to come. And I must say - I agree.

Not to mention - the writing within is just … *gorgeous*. It’s a voice cut to the bone, with such clarity that sighs and sings on the page. In particular (because I’m a sucker for them!) some of his opening and closing chapter lines - particularly those setting location - were just stunning!

It’s the kind of writing that feels effortless, but has clearly been honed and carefully considered so you don’t notice the effort. That’s hard to do. Will’s slam-dunked it here.

The whole thing just delighted me. I KNEW it would be good, but this? Was *exceptionally* good.

5/5

I abandon my cup. I leave a bonfire in Leichhardt.

 

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

bought on Audible

Synopsis from Goodreads

The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.

When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.

However, as soon as her first night falls, she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in front of her.

* * *

8.5/10

Please, imagine my standing ovation for the ending. So satisfactory!

It's an unusual listen but beautiful and fierce.

Long story short, I saw a good review for the book with the same name which also had dragons in it with a movie happening soon based on it. So, I went to look it up on Goodreads, was not impressed by the other reviews and saw that there is another Damsel. With a darker, more whimsical plot. Yeah, dear reader, I was sold on this one instead.

Ama is a damsel rescued from a dragon's lair by a prince and destined to be his queen.

Nevermind, that damsel does not remember her past life and has to believe what the Prince is telling her. Never mind his cloying, mansplaining attention, and the condescension, my god, ladies! He made me fume.

The reader guesses correctly about the damsel's origins pretty early in the book, and all that's left is rooting for her to break through her awful environment, her destiny as a vessel to a royal child and the suffocating existence in the castle.

What sells this book is that it's very atmospheric. It shows you the monotony of Ama' s new life and how it leeches her vibrancy day by day.

So, when she finally snaps out of it and fights back, it feels so damn good! I was screaming at the end. The ending was everything I wished for, and that's probably was the whole point. *smirks*

It's a very quick listen, moody and almost surreal, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. It's an adult read with some abusive behaviours described, but it felt like an important and inspiring read to me. Much recommended.

"Exquisitely trademark Rachel Aaron. Immensely readable & instantly engaging, with new characters that you can't help loving. The inclusion of fairy lore just leveled up the already fascinating world of the DFZ. So good, so fun!"- TS Chan, Novel Notations
In the world’s most magical metropolis where spirits run noodle shops and cash-strapped dragons stage photo-ops for tourists, people still think fairies are nothing but stories, and that’s exactly how the fairies like it. It’s a lot easier to feast on humanity’s dreams when no one believes you exist. But while this arrangement works splendidly for most fair folk, Lola isn’t one of the lucky ones.

She’s a changeling, a fairy monster made just human enough to dupe unsuspecting parents while fairies steal their real child. The magic that sustains her was never meant to last past the initial theft, leaving Lola without a future. But thanks to Victor Conrath, a very powerful--and very illegal--blood mage, she was given the means to cheat death.

For a price.

Now the only changeling ever to make it to adulthood, Lola has served the blood mage faithfully, if reluctantly, for twenty years. Her unique ability to slip through wards and change her shape to look like anyone has helped make Victor a legend in the DFZ’s illegal-magic underground. It’s not a great life, but at least the work is stable… until her master vanishes without a trace.

With only a handful left of the pills that keep her human, Lola must find Victor before she turns back into the fairy monster she was always meant to be. But with a whole SWAT team of federal paladins hunting her as a blood-mage accomplice, an Urban Legend on a silent black motorcycle who won’t leave her alone, and a mysterious fairy king with the power to make the entire city dream, Lola’s chances of getting out of this alive are as slender as a silver thread.Get your copy now!The wait is finally over! BY A SILVER THREAD comes out today in ebook, KU, and print!
Hold up, Rachel, where is the audio book?I'm asking the same question. It was supposed to come out today, but it's trapped in Audible's review process and no one will tell me why. I'm working on the problem right now and I promise I will send another email as soon as it's available, which will hopefully be very very soon. Come on, Audible, get it together! 

For all of you who read books with your eyes, the ebook and print editions are out and ready to enjoy. If you preordered a copy, thank you! The book should already be on your Kindle. If you prefer KU, you're also ready to go! Head on over and click the button to start enjoying the story. I hope you love it as much as I do!
But wait, there's more!As I mentioned in the last email, I've been on fire for this story, and the fire has paid off. No more waiting forever for a sequel. The next book in the DFZ Changeling series, WITH A GOLDEN SWORD, is already written and will be out on October 2!

Why the long wait if it's already done? Well, as you'll see, the book has no cover yet or anything else. Writing is only the first step in a long process of making a quality book. But the novel is finished AND there's a sneak preview of the first chapter in the back of book 1! So if you love BY A SILVER THREAD, which I very much hope you will, rest assured that the rest of the series will be coming out swiftly. 
Can I read this book if I haven't read any of the other DFZ stories?Yes! Just like MINIMUM WAGE MAGIC, I wrote BY A SILVER THREAD to be an entry point for new readers. You don't need to know anything about the DFZ to enjoy it, but if you are a fan of my other series, I packed in a lot of goodies for you to enjoy. It's a win/win for everybody!
As always, thank you so so much for being my readers and listeners. I hope you love BY A SILVER THREAD as much as I do!

Yours always,
Rachel AaronChronic Magical City Endangerer 

 

From the BLURB: 

Set in an incarceration camp where the United States cruelly detained Japanese Americans during WWII and based on true events, this moving love story finds hope in heartbreak. 

To fall in love is already a gift. But to fall in love in a place like Minidoka, a place built to make people feel like they weren’t human—that was miraculous. 

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert. All Japanese Americans from the West Coast—elderly people, children, babies—now live in prison camps like Minidoka. To be who she is has become a crime, it seems, and Tama doesn’t know when or if she will ever leave. Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp’s tiny library, taking solace in pages bursting with color and light, love and fairness. And she isn’t the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day? Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s beautifully illustrated, elegant love story features a photo of the real Tama and George—the author’s grandparents—along with an afterword and other back matter for readers to learn more about a time in our history that continues to resonate.

⦿⦿⦿

Probably surprising nobody, I picked this book up (in Australia) when I saw that Booktopia had copies in-stock and after ready author Maggie Tokuda-Hall's brave blog post Scholastic, and a Faustian Bargain . In that post, she detailed US publisher Scholastic's attempt at censoring this book by asking Tokuda-Hall to edit her author's note at the end, removing mentions of and the word "racism" in her description about how 'Love in the Library' is based on the true story of how her maternal grandparents met; while both were in a Japanese internment camp in Idaho, during WWII.

Scholastic is not the original publisher of this book (that would be Candlewick Press, and kudos to them) but Scholastic wanted to license the book for sale in their catalogue and at the infamous Scholastic Book Fairs that they run in schools the world over. However, their condition on this licensing was for Tokuda-Hall to remove much of her 'Letter to the Reader' at the end, in which she provides the true-history context to the Internment of Japanese Americans (including her grandparents) - she refused, and Scholastic rescinded their offer (making abundantly clear that it was contingent on her whitewashing and silencing of this aspect in the book).

I am happy to see that Tokuda-Hall being brave enough to detail this publisher interaction has garnered her a lot of support, and the story has been shared widely (and Scholastic, rightly, shamed);

⦿ Got Values? Then Live Them. It’s time for publishers to operationalize their ideals

⦿ Bay Area author refuses Scholastic's suggested revision to cut 'racism' references in book

⦿ Scholastic wanted to license her children's book — if she cut a part about 'racism'

What this has thrown a light on, however, is the insidious idea with far-reaching ramifications that publishers are acquiring books (or, not) and being led by book-ban and censorship pushes that are sweeping across America;

⦿ New Report: 28% Rise in School Book Bans Over First Half of 2022-23 School Year

We know of Tokuda-Hall's brush with censorship because she was brave enough to talk openly about it - and the editor had laid out the publisher's thinking behind requesting it ... but how much censorship is happening behind closed doors and in acquisitions meetings, and taking the form of no offers coming in for a book that is seen to be too "risky" for a publisher? How much is it manifesting as books that won't ever see the light of day, authors going unpublished? Tokuda-Hall's shining a light on this one manifestation is highlighting the potential ramifications the world-over (New York is the centre of publishing, given that the North American is the biggest English-language market ... they choose the trends and blockbuster titles, they have Hollywood and Silicon Valley to help make a book go truly viral. Americans are the ones who have the most control over the future of book-publishing, and in light of this that thought is more worrying than ever).

I loved 'Love in the Library,' and I'm frustrated at the thought that it could have reached an even bigger audience in the country that would most benefit from reading it, if only a children's publisher had been braver.

The story of Tokuda-Hall's maternal grandparents is a tender and tough one; to have met and started their family in the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho is a testament to love conquering so much, in the face of xenophobia that still exists and persists to this day. Artist Yas Imamura's almost art-deco illustrations are gorgeous; muted tones, and always with the guard-tower looming (out a window, the corner of the page) they've done a brilliant job of balancing the soft with the hard visually, the same way Tokuda-Hall has done in the uplifting tone but serious-subject matter.

This book is marvellous and I highly-recommend everyone invest in a copy. For a local classroom, school library, personal collection - anything.

5/5

 

Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi

read on MTLNovel

*Synopsis

*Sorry, guys! I can't find one with a synopsis, so just refer to my previous post about Till The End of the Moon c-drama or read this review. 

8.5/10* * *I  have many thoughts on this book, and I do love reading non-standard romance, so bear with me here.
First thought. Despite a torturous romance story, the ending makes up for it. It's absolutely wonderful and explains quite a lot of behaviours on the male character's part.
Second thought. Till The End of The Moon c-drama series brought me here, and so far I have much more satisfaction with the novel itself than with its TV adaptation despite the atrocious translation. 
I understand the reasoning for the changes, I do. If the characters and story arc stayed as they are the drama wouldn't see the light of day and would be censored. I watched enough Chinese dramas to know the strict rules of how everyone should be portrayed morally.
 Tantai Jin is a proper antihero, and this romance is very dark. If you like R.Lee Smith books, you will enjoy this one. On the other hand, Li Su Su portrayal in the drama doesn't do her character justice. Her character is colder and more ruthless to Tantai Jin than it's shown on TV. Sometimes I didn't know who to feel sorry for more, Tantai Jin or Li Su Su. And in the latter part of the novel Tantai Jin firmly had my sentiments.
Third thought, the plot is very convoluted because it involves multiple timelines (at least 4), but you can also explain it pretty simply.

Our heroine, Li Su Su is a hundred year old immortal (very young by their standards) living in a world ravaged by a devil god and his army of demons. The world has no light and the immortals are slowly getting wiped out because no one can fight the evil overlord. The immortals last hope is to send someone 500 years back into the past when the devil god was still human and figure out how to remove an evil bone from him without killing the guy (which will instantly turn him into the devil god). The choice falls on Li Su Su for various reasons, and she is sent back to a body of a human Ye Xiwu who is ironically married to Tantai Jin, a human would be devil god.
The guy is a psychopath. A. He can not feel and process emotions apart from his need for survival B. His lack of emotions, his supernatural abilities and his very bad political standing as a hostage prince turned him into an object of constant abuse since the age of 6 when he was sent to be a hostage. So, yes, this did not improve his character, just made him deadlier.
Li Su Su's host, Ye Xiwu is an abuser herself. She is a spoilt rich girl who terrifies her household and who got married to Tantai Jin because he foiled her awful plan to ruin her love rival and turned it onto her to escape his life in the Palace. She beats him, humiliates him and generally wants him to die. In fact, when Li Su Su arrives into her body, the girl is nearly killed because Tantai Jin had enough and arranged for her own killing.
We are in for a great start, right?
Li Su Su is not an abuser, she is fair and stoic and has her mission in her sights at all times, but she also hates Tantai Jin's guts for all the suffering he will inflict in the future, so her desire to make him love her and find how to extract his evil bone, to protect his life is constantly warring with her deep seated hatred. 
She is tough, and so is he. When they end up adventuring together, there is always push and pull of hate towards each other, and his inability to figure her out in all her complexities only adds to his confusion. 
They are both awful and at the same time magnetic, and her redeeming him doesn't actually change his character very much. He just changes towards her, but because of his inability to understand his emotions he does not understand himself until much later in the novel.
Su Su is so concentrated on what she has to do, she doesn't allow herself to feel anything or to give him any leeway either. Add to it many many machinations of side characters, and this novel is an absolute rollercoaster.
 I really like watching the TV adaptation too because it just adds so much more richness to this story. It's changed, lighter and has comedic moments , which annoys me at times, and the characters are much more human, but the plot is more cohesive and easier to follow, plus the cast is gorgeous, especially Leo Luo/Luo Yunxi who is exquisite as Tantai Jin.
To conclude, this is not for everyone, and is easier to digest if you are familiar with xinxia dramas, and I also enjoyed it very much! This was definitely my catnip.

 

Full-disclosure; Briony Stewart is repped by my agency, Jacinta di Mase Management. However, my colleague oversaw Briony's hiring to illustrate this book - not me.

'The Garden at the End of the World' is written by Cassy Polimeni, illustrated by Briony Stewart and has just been released by University of Queensland Press (UQP). It's about; Isla and her mother going on an enchanting journey to the Global Seed Vault in Norway to discover a garden waiting at the end of the world.

The Global Seed Vault opened in 2008, and is apparently opened three times a year to visitors - which is what kicks this story off, when young girl Isla finds a special seed to donate from her home in Australia. It's such a complex and important backstory presented really harmoniously and brilliantly. Like when Isla's mother explains; 'They're ordinary seeds that can live for hundreds of years and turn into food. I suppose that is magical. The mountain protects them so children who haven't even been born yet will be able to grow and eat the foods we love.'

This is a really fascinating and important humanitarian endeavour, and I love that Polimeni and Stewart have found such a loving and wonderful way to present it so that kids (and grown-ups reading to them!) understand what's at stake, and what is being achieved.

A note on the Global Seed Vault at the end lays out exactly what an important topics this is;

The first withdrawal was made in 2015 to replace seeds lost when a gene bank near Aleppo, Syria, was destroyed by civil war.

In a rapidly changing world, the vault helps promote food security and crop diversity by providing protection for the earth's most important natural resources. So there will always be a garden at the end of the world, waiting to be planted.

And the illustrations are absolutely beautiful; cool-toned and magnificent, and on some pages (like the gorgeous end-papers) Stewart has used a combo of ink and printmaking to lay gauzy hints of leaves, ferns, and twigs as an overlay to the solid illustrations, and it gives certain pages a real sense of growth and germination. A silent, text-less spread showing the green shimmer of the Northern Lights is particularly impressive. But the whole book truly is, and a must-read for classrooms to kick-off what I'm sure will be important and fascinating discussions.

I'd so love it if Polimeni and Stewart made a little series of these topics - looking at the ways humanity is preserving nature for future generations (the gentle foreshadowing here is of course; climate change, but not presented in a scary way for too-young kids to feel that worry too soon).

I'd love, for instance, a book about Canberra's National Arboretum; '... designed to be a place of peace, beauty, recreation, research, and education. With 44,000 rare, endangered, and culturally significant trees from Australia and around the world, it is a living seedbank of international significance.'

5/5

 

From the BLURB: 

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life. 

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. 

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants. 

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.

I listened to the audiobook of 'I'm Glad My Mom Died,' read by McCurdy herself. 

I went into this totally none the wiser about who Jennette McCurdy was. I was 20 when 'iCarly' premiered, so I totally missed the boat on this being my childhood. But when I was in New York in August last year, *this* book had just come out and was ~the~ talk of the town. I took pictures of it in bookstore window displays - kinda amused by the title, and very intrigued by the throwback Babysitters Club bubblegum cover - and was assured by booksellers in Australia that it was likewise launching here, and was (based on preorders) already a hit.

And indeed, hit it is. It won a Goodreads Choice award, according to Wikipedia has sold 200K copies (but I'd say that's now an outdated estimate, and was probably US-only. Based on buzz, I'd expect this to have reached 1-million sales worldwide).

What compelled me to finally listen to the audiobook was word of mouth amongst my friends, and seeing snippets of McCurdy appearing on the Drew Barrymore show. If Drew endorses, I do too.

I was therefore though, totally unprepared for what a WALLOP this book is.

Yes, it's about the toxicity of child-stardom (and a must-read for all those parents currently running social-media family accounts), but it's also detailing McCurdy's mental health fight and war through various eating disorders. It's also about her years of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her mother, which I was really not expecting and took me completely off-guard.

Listening to this in audiobook - hearing McCurdy's voice crack through certain chapters - was such an emotionally wringing experience. Hearing her bring a certain charisma to chapters in which she presents events back in her childish innocence stage, of defending her mother's horrendously weighted and projected child-star expectation on her was really disarming. Even more so when McCurdy details that sexual abuse, but again presents it in the child-like way she used to reason her mother's actions to herself. And the chapters in which McCurdy's mother teacher her daughter how to calorie-count, and gives her a blueprint for eating disorders ... again; it's McCurdy tapping back into her old mindset when she very matter-of-factly recounts these moments - and that makes them all the more confronting and terrifying.

This book was brilliant. I am so glad I listened to the audiobook though, because I think without McCurdy's warm, humorous voice carrying through the dark and sinister moments, I would probably have put this book down and decided 'too hard, not in the right mood,' - and I'd have really been missing out on what has become a truly important moment for celebrity memoir, and a deeply cathartic and honest read in its own right.

5/5

 

Gals, gents, here is the thing. I've been shifting towards watching more Chinese dramas rather than k-dramas in the last few years for a few reasons. 

First, I am far more interested in fantasy, sci-fi and period dramas than modern day life. Call it escapism, but it's what I prefer in my books as well. Korean TV is limited in that regard. You would find plenty of good paranormal romance and urban fantasy in modern day setting or rarely in Joseon era, but the only full scale fantasy I've seen based in ancient times was The Arthal Chronicles (amazing series, by the way, and it's on Netflix, so go watch it!).

China on the other hand does film a huge amount of wuxia and xinxia dramas, lots of period pieces as well. And in the recent years, there were a lot of phenomenal dramas.

Secondly, there is a fantastic sense of aesthetics, tons of excellent CGI and great acting. Definitely, c-dramas have been becoming more and more pleasing to the eye.

Third, I love the rich history, culture and language. (I'm studying Chinese, so it helps.)

So, shift to these types of dramas for me was inevitable, and in the last year especially I've watched quite a few of incredible dramas, and sobbed at their endings too. This year, I'm on my third unforgettable drama, by the way. First two were reviewed on this blog already (Blood of Youth, The Starry Love).

Till The End of The Moon is my third, and it takes the cake only at 16 episodes in (it has 40 in total). Its greatness have been driving me crazy to a point when I really want to talk about it. 

First of all, people have been buzzing about this drama for a couple of years before it stated airing. The expectations were high because it's based on a popular novel and it has Luo Yunxi (one of my favourite actors) and Bai Lu. Also, Luo Yunxi is amazing in xinxia, and at playing morally grey characters. His character, Tantai Jin, is a total antihero!

This drama so far showing his whole range as he goes through a mass of difficult transformations. From a perfectly evil devil lord, to a bullied little boy of his own past unable to feel and process emotions, to a devious young man craving power to protect himself and destroy those who made him their victim (he totally reminds me a psychopath/sociopath there). As he amasses power there is one person besides him who through their love-hate relationship manages to change him and his behaviour. So, in other words, love changes him and his destiny.

Bai Lu plays a difficult character or even characters. First, she starts the drama fiercely hating Tantai Jin as their first encounter happens in the future where he destroys everyone she knows and loves while looking for an artifact as the devil lord. In order to stop him she is sent 500 years into the past, when Tantai Jin is still human and where she needs to try to stop him from dying and turning into the devil lord before she figures out how destroy the evil bone which would make him transform. Tantai Jin of the past is a weak hostage prince and a person without any political power, with strange cold appearance, bullied and betrayed all through his life by those around. Bai Lu , ironically, is sent into the body of Tantai Jin's wife, Ye Xiwu, one of his bullies, who tortures him for spoiling her devilish plans daily. Susu, the young immortal sent into the past, becomes a very different Ye Xiwu from the sadistic wife Tantai Jin remembers and hates, and slowly starts getting close to him, desperately trying to succeed in her mission. She is trying to be his moral compass and his anchor but ends up slowly falling for the would be evil god. 

There is a lot going on here, folks, and I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice to say, the plot is EPIC. The heroes pretty much live through three lives (at least the heroine), just like in Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (a 2017 c-drama which started my obsession). And can I just say, that Leo Luo (Luo Yunxi) is such an amazing actor for the character. He kills it. He is fragile but fierce on the edge of cruelty, full of sharp angles. His chemistry with Bai Lu is also off the charts. They are incredible to watch together. Magnetic.

CGI, world-building and sets here, the fight scenes, the overall aesthetics all add to the excellence of this drama as well. I am hanging on each episode by the way and watching fan made videos, which means I am obsessed. So much so, that I didn't want to wait till the drama finishes airing before starting to gush about it.

Phew! I'll spam you with pics and vids here and leave it at that.❤️

Here is the trailer by the way, or one of them.

And some of the OST❤️