• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon | ARC Review

    4th May 2021
    Cover of Sorrowland (Rivers Solomon)

    Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: animal killings, self harm, childbirth, alcohol abuse, cult, gaslight, pedophilia, blood, death, drowning, rape, attempted forcing of medication, torture, hallucination, brainwash, non-consensual medical experiment, reclaimed d slur, suicide, cannibalism?, voyeurism?, drug abuse, child abuse

    The craft of fiction at its finest.

    Sorrowland opens in the woods with the fifteen-year-old Vern—who is Black, albino (the term is used in text), and intersex—giving birth to twins Howling and Feral, the latter also has albinism. Vern grew up in the Blessed Acres of Cain, a religious compound that was supposed to be a Black utopia, but she had to escape because everything there seems to be a lie. Over the next several months and years, Vern’s body begins to change. She is both stronger and more vulnerable, and she starts to understand that the power of the past while struggling to raise the twins with the freedom she never had.

    I used to wish for a book in contemporary settings that references history and beliefs while telling a brand new story deeply influenced by the past. And now I have found it in Sorrowland.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter

    22nd April 2021
    Cover of Requiem for Immortals (Lee Winter)

    Requiem for Immortals (The Law Game #1) by Lee Winter

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: dub con, graphic sex, death, poison, human trafficking, animal cruelty, choking, erotic asphyxiation, torture, threaten, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, blood, fatphobia

    Side effect: developing an obsession with cellists.

    Professional cellist Natalya Tsvetnenko (41) is also a professional assassin. As Requiem, Natalya is known for her skills of getting her jobs done. When her newest target Alison Ryan (34) seems to be nothing like her usual ones who reek evilness, Natalya is intrigued and unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with Alison. However, she never anticipates just how unexpected this assignment is going to lead her.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Night Tide by Anna Burke | ARC Review

    14th April 2021
    Cover of Night Tide (Anna Burke)

    Night Tide (A Seal Cove Romance #2) by Anna Burke

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    You know when you hate someone so much you ended up knowing every tiny thing about them? Well, I don’t, but Lillian and Ivy do.

    Dr. Lillian Lee (31) and Dr. Ivy Holden have been archenemies throughout vet school, so when Ivy relocates to Seal Cove where Lillian is working, the latter is not pleased. To Lillian, Ivy is a spoiled rich kid who made her life hell. But what if she isn’t horrible anymore now?

    I love books with wonderful imageries and great thematic choices. In Spindrift (my review here), I adored the opening and ending scenes of the dock, from boat to land, and here in Night Tide, the freedom on an isolated island with crashing waves, persistent and ever-growing vines of ivy, the somberness of Edgar Allen Poe references, etc. are as beautifully interwoven as I could have wished for.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo [EN/ZH-TW]

    22nd March 2021
    Cover of Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Malinda Lo)

    Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, read by Emily Woo Zeller

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    AUDIOBOOK REVIEW IN EN & ZH-TW | 有聲書書評（中英對照）

    EN

    Content warning: racism, homophobia, manipulation, mention of miscarriage, alcohol (underage drinking)

    She couldn’t find the right words for this dammed-up feeling inside, as if she were denying herself something absolutely vital, and she didn’t know why.

    Last Night at the Telegraph Club is less about the romance between Lily and Kath but more about Lily trying to grasp her identity as a Chinese American lesbian in the 1950s.

    In the prologue, four years before the main story (1950), thirteen-year-old Lily Hu (胡麗麗) and her childhood best friend Shirley Lum attend Miss Chinatown Contest with their families. I’d say this one chapter is the summary of the entire book in one way or another as we see Lily becoming aware of skin and bodies and the interactions between her and Shirley.

    When Lily stumbles upon an ad for male impersonator Tommy Andrews’ performance at the Telegraph Club (1954), she is mesmerized, not quite understanding why. But she keeps the clip along with a few others in her copy of The Exploration of Space. All her dreams in one place, I think. As the new school year starts, there are only two girls left in Advanced Math—Lily herself and Kathleen Miller, who dreams of becoming a pilot. Their orbits never coincide until this very moment, and it makes all the difference.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Clinch by Nicole Disney | ARC Review

    11th January 2021
    Cover of The Clinch (Nicole Disney)

    The Clinch by Nicole Disney

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: graphic sex, blood, d slur, homophobia/homomisia, child abuse, minor character drug addiction, mention of prostitution, recreational drinking, uses of ableist language, hospitalization

    Written in present tense, The Clinch is an incredibly vivid rivals-to-lovers sports romance, charged with immediacy.

    Eden Bauer (27, gay) holds an undefeated record and is the reigning UFC featherweight championship. When newbie pro Brooklyn Shaw (22, biracial, Black) challenges Eden for a title match, Eden reluctantly agrees. Their rivalry is strong, but when post-match Brooklyn comes knocking on the door of Eden’s gym, will they be able to put aside their differences and work together?

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