Hsinju’s Lit Log

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    • About
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  • Buy AWAKENINGS!
  • Book Reviews
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • ARC Reviews
  • Bookish
    • Wrap-Ups
    • Memes
      • #5OnMyTBR
      • Top Ten Tuesday
      • WLW Wednesday
    • Reading Challenges
      • Sapphic Saturday
      • Here & Queerathon 2020
    • Book Tags
    • Blog Tour
  • Other Things I Talk About
    • Travel
      • Map of Cities Visited
    • Theatre Reviews
    • Music Reviews
    • Language
    • Tech
    • Miscellaneous
  • ABOUT
    • About
    • Review Policy
    • Contact Me
  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Lobizona by Romina Garber | ARC Review

    29th April 2020
    Cover of Lobizona (Romina Garber)

    Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1) by Romina Garber

    • Publisher: Wednesday Books, 2020
    • Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
    • Format: eARC
    • Page Count: 400 pages
    • My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

    Manuela Azul has special eyes. Eyes that her mother made her hide behind sunglasses. Raised in Miami to a single Argentine mother, Manu dreamed of the day when she would be a U.S. citizen and the end of her almost 17 years of hiding. But when her “grandmother” was injured and mother taken away by ICE, Manu was left to fend for herself for the first time in her life. A life she understood almost nothing about.


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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles | ARC Review

    26th April 2020
    Cover of Where Dreams Descend (Janella Angeles)

    Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards #1) by Janella Angeles

    • Publisher: Wednesday Books, August 25th 2020
    • Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
    • Format: eARC
    • Page Count: 464 pages
    • My Rating: ⭐⭐ (2/5)

    Glorian is a cursed city. When a magician competition was held there, Kallia, eager to leave Jack’s club and prove that women should have a place in performance magic, joined it despite Jack’s warning. Things went awry from there and no one knew why.


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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    THE EXTRAORDINARIES by TJ Klune | ARC Review

    22nd April 2020
    Cover of The Extraordinaries (TJ Klune)

    THE EXTRAORDINARIES (The Extraordinaries #1) by TJ Klune

    • Publisher: Tor Teen, 2020
    • Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBTQ+
    • Format: Ebook (eARC)
    • Page Count: 400 pages
    • My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.


    When I started reading The Extraordinaries, I did not have any expectations. The opening of the story was a fanfic chapter by Nick, and I did not really appreciate it nor realise Shadow Star and Pyro Storm were real in the book. But as I read on into the main story, it was surprisingly enjoyable and gave me a few laughs. The book was the kind of YA fantasy with queer main characters I needed back in my teens.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Soldier of Dorsa by Eliza Andrews

    28th February 2020
    Cover of Soldier of Dorsa (Eliza Andrews)

    Soldier of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa #2) by Eliza Andrews

    • Publisher: Self-Published, 2020
    • Genre: Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Romance
    • Format: Ebook
    • Page Count: 586 pages
    • My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)

    I am definitely biased because I adore Princess of Dorsa.

    While Soldier of Dorsa did not grasp my heart as much as the first book did, I still enjoyed it very much. There were times I was so scared for Tasia and Joslyn that I dared not continue reading. But I pushed myself to read on because the suspense of not reading was killing me anyway. The overall plot was very good despite some flow disruptions due to multiple flashbacks and alternations between Tasia’s and Joslyn’s storylines. The pacing was also a bit too fast towards the end as even more things were happening at the same time. I figure the story would flow amazingly if adapted to screen.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Princess of Dorsa by Eliza Andrews

    5th February 2020
    Cover of Princess of Dorsa (Eliza Andrews)

    Princess of Dorsa (The Chronicles of Dorsa #1) by Eliza Andrews

    • Publisher: Eliza Andrews, 2018
    • Language: English
    • Genre: Fantasy, LGBTQ+, Romance
    • Format: Ebook
    • Page Count: 589 pages
    • My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

    A book that leaves me a puddle from my own sheer emotion is always a good book.

    I haven’t read fantasy in a couple of months and Princess of Dorsa has made me want to find all the fantasy books with strong, queer, female leads and read them. While I would not say it is perfectly written (an example, and sole example to date, of a perfectly written fantasy is Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn), the overall story is amazing and I love it for igniting all kinds of emotions within me.

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About Me

Lí-hó!! I am Hsinju (they/she), a Taiwanese book blogger, writer, and full-time grad student in engineering. Here, I mainly review books featuring authentically represented LGBTQ+ characters and/or written by LGBTQ+ authors. You’d usually find me going about life with my heart stuck in the last book I finished.

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