• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Project by Courtney Summers | ARC Review

    1st February 2021
    Cover of The Project (Courtney Summers)

    The Project by Courtney Summers

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: cult, gaslighting, manipulation, child abuse, abuse (cigarette burn, scalding, etc.), panic attacks, death of family members, suicide (jumper), vandalization, pregnancy, car accident, substance-induced psychosis, threatening, possible PTSD, infidelity

    The Project is a story about a cult, The Unity Project led by Lev Warren, and the unbreakable ties between sisters Lo (b. 1998) and Bea (b. ca. 1992) Denham.

    Lo has always dreamed of being a writer but is currently, in 2017, stuck working as an assistant for Paul Tindale at SVO, a magazine company. When the opportunity arises for her to dig into The Unity Project, a religious organization Lo believes to have taken Bea from her, she risks her own safety for a series of exclusive interviews with Lev. With Lo being facially scarred from a life-threatening car accident that killed both her parents in 2011, she is recognizable everywhere at The Project’s compounds as Bea’s little sister. But Lo is tired of everyone else knowing Bea when she hasn’t heard from her sister in a long time, and she is desperate to find out what is really going on at The Unity Project.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga by SJ Whitby | ARC Review

    19th December 2020
    Cover of Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga (SJ Whitby)

    Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga (Cute Mutants Vol 3) by SJ Whitby

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This review contains minor spoilers to Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride and Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer.

    Content warnings: hate crime against LGBTQ+ people, homophobia/homomisia, trans/non-binary discrimination, misgendering, murder, death, gore, outing, religious extremism/cult, brainwash/mind control, gunshot wounds, bombing, fire, dismembering, mention of conversion therapy

    If you haven’t heard me scream about how much joy the previous two books have brought me, please check out my reviews for Vol 1 (here) and Vol 2 (here).

    This third installment of the series is way heavier than the first two. While the previous books were mostly happy and warm, Cute Mutants Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga certainly took a darker turn and I am left worried, in shock, and wanting more upon finishing. I feel like a restless parent or older sibling concerned about these teens, and Cute Mutants Vol 4: The Sisterhood of Evil Mutants cannot come fast enough. As the powers of the Cute Mutants grow, their world becomes darker and more shady organizations are coming after them. Everything escalates quicker and turns more dangerous and deadly.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer by SJ Whitby | ARC Review

    15th December 2020
    Cover of Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer (SJ Whitby)

    Cute Mutants Vol 2: Young, Gifted & Queer (Cute Mutants Vol 2) by SJ Whitby

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This review contains minor spoilers to Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride.

    Content warnings: kidnapping, self injury, dismembering, reference to HP series, acid attack, misgendering, homophobia, death, death of prominent character, murder, blood, gore, forced hospitalization, forced captivity, nonconsensual medical experiment, mind control, manipulation/threats, talking people into suicide, mention of deceased family member, off-page amputation

    Do you ever feel like there is something missing in your life, like, maybe an ancient, noble Japanese sword who is by your side at all times? Even if you didn’t, I’m sure you do now. In this sequel of Cute Mutants, you can live vicariously through the mutants and see Onimaru “Oni” Kunitsuna (鬼丸國綱) work his magic.

    At the end of Cute Mutants Vol 1: Mutant Pride (my review here), Yaxley Corporation coerced the Cute Mutants into joining their training programs. Since we all know that powerful corporates and the government are often shady and cannot be trusted, nothing goes smoothly as the gang struggles to do what is truly right under Yaxley’s incessant tracking and fights fiercely to keep each other safe and alive.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Wilder Girls by Rory Power

    30th November 2020
    Cover of Wilder Girls (Rory Power)

    Wilder Girls by Rory Power

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: body horror, blood, bones, gore, guns, death of prominent/secondary/minor characters, poisoning

    Fear like a veil, and everything looks like something else, like danger, like hurt.

    Hetty

    This is one of the very few horror books I have ever read, and as someone who was haunted by the supposedly cute animation Monster House, horror was never my first choice of genre. But October calls for spooky reads, and since Wilder Girls is sapphic, the scare would hopefully be worth it. And I was pleasantly surprised. The gore and horror, not entirely revolting, were almost poetic.

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    ARCs,  Blog Tour,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Blog Tour: Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao [EN/ZH-TW]

    13th November 2020
    Cover of Rent a Boyfriend (Gloria Chao)

    Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | Book Depository | IndieBound

    Ta-ke hó*! I am Hsinju (she/they/他), a born-and-raised Taiwanese currently residing in Illinois. Today (November 13th, 2020) is my Hear Our Voices Book Tours blog stop for the adorable Taiwanese American, fake-dating YA romance Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao! Mostly set in Palo Alto with a few chapters in Chicago (yay, Illinois), the story opens with Chloe Wang and her family meeting her boyfriend—ahem—hired boyfriend, whose real name is Drew Chan, for the first time on Thanksgiving.

    * “Ta-ke hó” is “hi, everyone” in Taiwanese.

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