• 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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  • 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

    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.

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