• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS by Cat Sebastian | ARC Review

    15th November 2022
    Cover for Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian

    DANIEL CABOT PUTS DOWN ROOTS (The Cabots #2) by Cat Sebastian

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    genre   : historical romance (achillean romance series)
    MCs     : 26yo cis white m-spec man + 30yo neurodivergent cis white gay man
    POV     : dual 3rd-person
    location: New York City, NY, USA (1973)
    indie?  : yes

    This is my first Sebastian book, so no, you don’t have to read the first book or prequel of the series to read Daniel Cabot, but it might help you recognize some of the characters that took me several paragraphs to identify.

    Set in New York City, 1973, Daniel Cabot (26, m-spec) and Alex Savchenko (30, gay, Ukrainian) have been best friends since Alex stumbled upon a post-fight Daniel one and a half years ago. Daniel is charming, fun-loving, and enjoys breaking up abandoned empty lots in the city for gardening. Alex is a pediatrician, dedicated to make healthcare most affordable for his patients (the sliding-scale pediatrics clinic he opened with fellow pediatrician Mary), and doesn’t like to be out and about like Daniel does. The two of them are inseparable: Daniel brings lunch to Alex, and Alex makes sure Daniel takes care of himself. Everyone else around them seems to think they’re boyfriends, but oh no, they are definitely not, nor are they in love with each other. Nope.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    EDINBURGH by Alexander Chee | Audiobook Review 🎧

    31st January 2022
    Cover of Edinburgh (Alexander Chee)

    EDINBURGH by Alexander Chee, read by Daniel K. Isaac, Josh Hurley

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Somewhere between a 4- and a 5-star.

    The central theme of the book is pedophilia. It reminded me of the biographical movie Spotlight in the sense that both instances of church-related child molestation happened on the East Coast around the same time. Edinburgh was published the same year the original The Boston Globe’s “spotlight” team started the investigation (2001), way before the team won a Pulitzer Prize for it (2003). I picked up this book because it’s queer and Asian, and I expected it to be sad and disturbing but I didn’t know it would also be beautiful in both the writing and the perverseness of the characters.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan | ARC Review

    19th January 2022
    Cover of She Who Became the Sun (Shelley Parker-Chan)

    SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN (The Radiant Emperor #1) by Shelley Parker-Chan

    The most amazing feat is that I felt like I was reading in Chinese. I especially adore all the cussing (yes), including “turtle egg,” “white-eyed idiot,” “water leaked into brain,” “fuck eighteen generations of that bastard’s dog ancestors,” and other non-vulgar phrases like “blowing up the cow skin” (boasting), “chicken-skin” (goosebumps), “eat tofu” (sexual harassment), etc. The language aspect of the book was wonderful.

    She Who Became the Sun is essentially the genderbent story of Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1662). The main character Zhu (sapphic), stole the identity of her dead brother Zhu Chongba (朱重八, Zhu “Double Eight”) who was promised a great future. She spent her childhood and early teens at a monastery and subsequently joins the Red Turbans, a band of rebels fighting against the ruling Mongols. One of the Mongols’ general is the eunuch Ouyang (achillean). Despite fighting for the Mongols, Ouyang holds a deep hatred again them because they were the reason his family was slaughtered and he castrated. The complicated relationship between Zhu and Ouyang continues to play out through the story.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    THE BREATH BETWEEN WAVES by Charlotte Anne Hamilton | ARC Review

    26th November 2021
    Cover of The Breath Between Waves (Charlotte Anne Hamilton)

    THE BREATH BETWEEN WAVES by Charlotte Anne Hamilton

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    The Titanic journey lasted for six days from April 10th to 15th, 1912. It was supposed to arrive at New York on the 17th. To make the main characters fall in love within the timeframe is a huge challenge, and unfortunately, the chemistry between them wasn’t enough for me to be fully invested in their story.

    Penelope Fletcher doesn’t want to leave Scotland, but she joins her parents onboard Titanic after being heartbroken by her ex-girlfriend. Her roommate, Ruby Cole, is traveling with her sister’s family. As they spend more time together, they realize there might be something brewing between them, but the clock is ticking as they get closer and closer to their destination.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    THE TELL TALE by Clare Ashton | ARC Review

    1st October 2021
    Cover for THE TELL TALE (Clare Ashton)

    THE TELL TALE by Clare Ashton

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    The Tell Tale is a historical fiction with many awesome queer reps, and it is the quality mystery we need!

    The year is 1971 and Beth Griffiths (~38) has returned to the village of Foel with her daughter Nia at the same time people start getting anonymous notes that reveal secrets of their past. Lady Sophie Melling (~38), who recently inherited a manor from her late father Lord Melling, is also back in the village. And the villagers are pointing fingers, desperate to find out who is the tell tale as more and more details about what happened in Foel twenty years ago begins to unveil.

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