• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    BLAINE FOR THE WIN by Robbie Couch | ARC Review

    12th April 2022
    Illustrated cover of Blaine for the Win (Robbie Couch).

    BLAINE FOR THE WIN by Robbie Couch

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    I couldn’t put down Blaine for the Win and finished it in two sittings. The vibe of it reminds me of TJ Klune’s The Extraordinaries (my review) but without superpowers.

    Blaine Bowers (~16, achillean) cannot believe he got dumped by Joey Oliver (gay). On their one-year anniversary. At the fanciest restaurant ever. Joey said he didn’t want to date the mural painter who isn’t the kind of Serious Guy he needs to become President of the United States one day. Blaine will win him back by showing that he can ditch his mural painting gigs and be serious… by signing up to run for senior class president? Enlisting the help of his best friends Trish MacIntosh (sapphic, Black) and Camilla (sapphic) as well as the not-friend-only-acquaintance Danny Nguyen (bi, Vietnamese American) for an insider perspective from the student council, Blaine is ready to prove himself to be worthy of Joey. As the race kicks off, is winning Joey back still going to be Blaine’s goal?

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    PORTRAIT OF A THIEF by Grace D. Li | ARC Review

    5th April 2022
    Cover of Portrait of a Thief (Grace D. Li)

    PORTRAIT OF A THIEF by Grace D. Li

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    ★★★★★

    I love this book with my whole heart.

    Prior to reading Portrait of a Thief, I had heard other readers rave about Li’s writing. But no amount of praise had prepared me for this level of gorgeousness.

    Li writes in a way that makes my heart weep, the sheer power and rhythm and emotions her sentences carry. She captured the yearnings of the future, relationships, and connections with a familiar land that is too far away in the best way possible.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    DISORIENTATION by Elaine Hsieh Chou | ARC Review

    23rd March 2022
    Cover of Disorientation (Elaine Hsieh Chou)

    DISORIENTATION by Elaine Hsieh Chou

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Disorientation follows a 29-year-old Taiwanese American PhD student Ingrid Yang (cishet) as she works on her dissertation on Xiao-Wen Chou, a fictional “Asian American” icon. Ingrid starts out as someone who is ignorant on the subject of racism and other social justice issues, which is the realm of her nemesis and fellow graduate student Vivian Vo (sapphic, Vietnamese American). Throughout her research, Ingrid finds substantial dirt on Xiao-Wen Chou, and it becomes the start of her journey of unlearning as well as sets off catastrophic events in Barnes University.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    THE MAP TO YOU by Rachel Stockbridge | ARC Review

    25th January 2022
    Cover of The Map to You (Rachel Stockbridge)

    THE MAP TO YOU (Next Stop Love #2) by Rachel Stockbridge

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    3.5 stars.

    The Map to You opens with a very long prologue, and then we skip ten months ahead. I believe that time gap is covered in the previous book, Next Stop Love, and while it would be nice to have the context in the first book, it is not necessary to enjoy this second installment.

    Varsity soccer player Sasha Deforest (21) likes the grumpy, artsy Kinsey Han (Chinese American) even before they became roommates. Now that they are no longer living together and the third person in their best friend squad Beatrice is not around, Sasha and Kinsey’s friendship quickly turns a bit awkward. But when Kinsey’s mother is hospitalized six hundred miles away, Sasha immediately volunteers to drive Kinsey, never mind all the classes they’re going to miss. Throughout the journey, Kinsey also begins to realize that Sasha is not as happy-go-lucky as she seems to be.

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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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