• 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.

    Read More
  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    SWIM by Eric C. Wat | Audiobook Review

    14th January 2022
    Cover of SWIM (Eric C. Wat)

    SWIM by Eric C. Wat, read by Feodor Chin

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This book blew me away. I didn’t know what to expect when I started SWIM. That it was queer and Asian sold it for me, no questions asked. And I got so much more out of it than I could ever have imagined.

    At first glance, the story felt somewhat mundane, but I happen to love fiction that shows us people’s everyday lives, no matter how unexciting, so I loved it from the start. Sometimes, I needed to remind myself that this wasn’t a memoir, because Carson Chow (周遠和; 40, gay, Hongkongese American) speaking to me in first-person made it feel like one. His family immigrated to the US from Hong Kong when he was a child, and the nuances of an immigrant family are threaded throughout the storytelling.

    Read More
  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    IF I WERE A WEAPON by Skye Kilaen | ARC Review

    11th January 2022
    Cover of If I Were a Weapon (Skye Kilaen)

    IF I WERE A WEAPON (All These Gifts #1) by Skye Kilaen

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    This was such a thrilling read! Ever since SJ Whitby got me hooked on their Cute Mutants series (my review of Vol 1), I’ve been obsessed with superpowered queer people. And Kilaen gave us an adult story of nanite alien–infected sapphics that is at times cute, somewhat dark, and mostly exhilarating.

    Deneve Wilder (she/her, bi/pan) can see the future. Sort of. When her nanites lead her to Austin (oooooh shiny), she didn’t expect to end up staying with Jolie Betancourt (she/her, bi/pan), another powered woman who wants nothing to do with her. But the nanites insist. Soon, both women find themselves in danger greater than either of them has every been in before.

    Read More
  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    THE BECOMING by Nora Roberts | ARC Review

    7th January 2022
    Cover of The Becoming (Nora Roberts)

    THE BECOMING (The Dragon Heart Legacy #2) by Nora Roberts

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    pairing : cishet white woman + cishet fae man
POV     : multiple 3rd-person (omniscient?)
location: Ireland + Talamh (fictional)
indie?  : no

    4.5 stars rounded up.

    The Becoming is the second book in The Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy. While I enjoyed The Awakening (my review), I loved this sequel. I love the writing and the characters! Even though I didn’t fully understanding the magics, it’s okay because Breen doesn’t understand either. Also, I’m not rating for the romance aspect (I’m not feeling the chemistry); I’m rating for how awesome the people in the book are.

    Having learned more about her past and the powers within her, Breen is now back in Talamh; this time, with her best friend Marco (gay, Black) with her. As the situation in the world of Fey becomes more dire, Breen has to think fast and train hard to defeat the evil god Odran.

    Read More
  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    RECKLESS GIRLS by Rachel Hawkins | ARC Review

    4th January 2022
    Cover of Reckless Girls (by Rachel Hawkins)

    RECKLESS GIRLS by Rachel Hawkins

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    MCs     : cishet white woman (*4)+ cishet white man (*2)
POV     : single 1st-person (present) + multiple 3rd-person (past)
location: Hawai‘i, USA + Meroe Island (fictional)
indie?  : no

    I read Hawkins’ The Wife Upstairs (my review) this time last year and couldn’t put it down. With Reckless Girls, I had a similar experience of wanting to keep reading to find out what’s going on, but unfortunately, the final reveal also happened to be a huge, unexplained plot hole that just made the whole build-up fell flat.

    Lux (25) has been stuck in life after her mother passed away from cancer. When she followed her boyfriend Nico (26) to Hawaii, she was hoping for some travel adventures but ended up working at hotels instead. Then Brittany (22?) and Amma (22?) showed up, wanting to hire Nico to take them to Meroe Island, a secluded atoll famous for cannibalism legends in WWII. Soon, Lux finds herself heading for the island with Nico, Brittany, and Amma, but they aren’t the only one there. Rich boy Jake (30) and his girlfriend Eliza (30) are also on the island. As the days go by, terrible things start happening, and Lux begins to see that this was not a friendly trip after all.

    Read More