Simone and Her Books

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal // Book Review

July 2, 2019
With this book, I wanted to take my time. I’d heard online that Hafsah Faizal is a super lyrical writer and so I knew I would need time with this book. I also been feeling super burnt out by work books and wanted to read something that didn’t require a book review due quickly after. It was the best reading vacation anyone could ask for because this book was phenomenal. Let’s get into it:

Let’s start off with a big sweeping overview of the world. It’s set in an Arabic land where magic used to exist, but since the Six Sisters of Old left the magic has left the land in an endless winter and a terrible forest eating away at the land. Zafira is a young huntress who goes into this terrible forest to find food for her village. She goes alone because most folks who travel into the forest come out mentally insane and for some reason, she’s the only one who can get in and out of the forest without a scratch on her. Nasir is the king’s son, but also known as the Prince of Death. He gets this title because he’s the king’s assassin. He does what he’s told and despite the small glimmers of help he provides his friends, the king only cares that he gets the job done.

When a witch visits Zafira, she’s asked to travel to Sharr, an island in the middle of their world where the last remnants of magic is stored. The journey is treacherous including a trip through this crazy forest, but the outcome means the end of the forest, no more snow, and magic being available in the world again. However, the king has other plans as he sends Nasir to go after the huntress and steal the magic she’s about to claim back. With a ragtag group following them as they make their journey and tragedy around every corner, the journey to Sharr is riddled with trouble and a ton of secrets unfold.

I legit wrote in my notes “if you’re a fan of revealing truths, this is the book for you.” Seriously, Hafsah Faizal’s written a soap opera within the pages of a YA Fantasy and there’s nothing wrong with that. The book reveals more and more secrets as you go along and they just get juicier and juicier the closer you get to the end. And it gets better all the way at the end. I won’t go into the details here because spoilers, but just be prepared for all the surprises.

Like I wrote earlier, take your time with this one. It’s a slow burner and while you won’t be bored, it will take time to slowly get to the good stuff. There were a few scenes I thought were a little redundant like the scenes spent just roaming the desert. I also thought it was weird that Zafira just felt where the magic was and went right to it. It felt disjointed rather than smoothly seeing her journey towards the magic. The camping out scenes were a little slow, but again they weren’t taking away from the novel. If anything, they were adding to it.

I most definitely ship Zafira and Nasir. Holy crow! While I know these two are highly mismatched and tbh shouldn’t be together, I think Zafira’s strength and Nasir’s vulnerability work together here and create a beautiful relationship based on mutual respect than a friends-to-lovers or alpha male storyline.

I think my favorite part of the book is the inclusion of Arabic words and legend. Hafsah Faizal seamlessly includes these bits of her culture into the story and it really gives it a beautiful backdrop. I know a lot of people were confused by some of the language and words, but shukran to Hafsah for being brave and including it. I honestly loved it and really made it more authentic.

Despite all the secrets being revealed, it was also a great debut novel by a debut author and the first in a duology by Hafsah Faizal. I think a duology is perfect for this kind of story especially since the premise feels limited.
- 4/5 Stars
- Find my review on Goodreads
- Find We Hunt the Flame on Amazon
I received a copy of this book from Fierce Reads for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
June 2019 Bookish Wrap Up

July 1, 2019

Well, June, you’ve bested me. I wanted to spend this month reading books for myself, for Pride, and just getting back to what matters. Alas, I’m at a loss because this month beat me down with tons of work, catching up, and general June Gloom.

But the sun is shining and I think summer is finally in full swing. I hope to read some more fantasy especially those fantasy series that I’ve been collecting for years. I could really read those already lol.

This month, I got around seven books read. And while it looks like a lot of books, it feels like much less. June was definitely an experimental month while I tried to figure out my new work schedule and balancing reading for work and reading for myself. It really messed me up with my reading, but I think I have a formula now.

But I know July is going to be amazing and I’ll be reading in the heat of LA. Here’s what I read for June:

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Don’t let the book cover fool you. It may look like an innocent romcom, but it’s got the steamiest love scenes I’ve read in a romcom. I mean, I’ve read some pretty steamy scenes, but this one will leave you wanting you so much more. It’s got baseball, a determined female protagonist, and the bad boy that somehow is saved by the girl. I absolutely loved this story and while I can complain that the ending was a little cheesy, I would be doing myself a disservice. READ IT. You won’t regret it.

This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura

Sadly, this was my least favorite book of the month. I think I was expecting a lot more from the book and that put my expectations super high. What I received is still a lovely novel from a prolific writer, but it wasn’t to my taste. I think this is the first time I’ve read a YA novel and actually felt too old to be reading them.

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

I said what I just said and then I read a book like Patron Saints of Nothing and was completely blown away. I mean, wow. The only other book I can recall written by a Filipino author is Cinelle Barnes’s Monsoon Mansion (which is a lovely novel and you should definitely read it), but it’s not exactly the same as this one. This one covers the issues of being born in America and not feeling like you belong. It covers the drug war happening in the Philippines right now. It also talks about learning that adults aren’t the smartest people and sometimes you need to stick to your own guns and your own beliefs.

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal

I honestly didn’t think I would get to this book this summer, but wow so glad I did. I took my sweet little time with this one because I’d been a bit burnt out from work. And I’m glad I took my time with this one because it’s probably the most visually beautiful fantasy novel I’ve read in a while. With such an easy premise to follow, this book discovers the beauty of Arabia and including language, monsters, and little touches of Arabic throughout the novel, you can’t help but to be completely enthralled in this book. Shukran to Hafsah Faizal for bringing her world to life in this beautiful first book to a series. I’ll be writing my full thoughts on this one this week so stay tuned.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

I had planned to read more Pride books for this month, but it didn’t work out that way. However, that doesn’t mean my Pride month is over. I’ll be reading more books represented by the LGBTQIA+ community and I won’t just hold off for one month in the summer. That being said, I went into Girls of Paper and Fire with as much knowledge as any fantasy novel: none. I love how hidden Fantasy books keep everything and you just have to read and explore the book to find out more. This book definitely was an amazing read

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

What happens when the Prince of Wales and the First Son were to accidentally meet and possibly become lovers? Well, that’s what Casey McQuiston explored in this novel. I loved this book with its complicated love story and funny cast of characters. This is legit a wonderful summer book, so I hope you get a chance to check it out. Also, if you felt a little ennui after the 2016 election, it might give you a boost of confidence and hope that 2020 won’t be so emotionally tiresome.

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

To finish this month, I snuck in one last book and I was so happy I did. My friends all read this one already and they all absolutely loved, so I went into this one with an open mind and an open heart. And it completely broke. Oh my goodness, this story was so good and funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. I laughed. I cried. I felt all the emotions I could feel in one book and it won’t disappoint you. While I finished the book today (not technically June finished, but I read most of this book yesterday), I’ll be writing my review and updating the blog with it later this week.

That’s it! Here’s to hoping for a more sane July filled with days at the beach and basking in the glorious summer sun. What did you read this month?
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey // Book Review

June 27, 2019
I heard somewhere that Tessa Bailey is the Queen of Dirty Talk. Going into this contemporary romance with that in your head sets you up for a lot and even with my high expectations, I didn’t expect to be blown away.

Fix Her Up is about Georgie; the youngest sibling in her family. She’s never taken seriously and it doesn’t help that she’s a professional birthday clown. Travis was a professional baseball player with a penchant for bedding as many women as he could. They call him “two bats” for a reason. Georgie’s family and Travis have gone back a long time helping him out whenever his parents were too busy to take care of him. When Travis returns to his childhood home on Long Island, he’s basically at the end of his rope until Georgie comes along and straightens him out. Then Travis receives a lifetime offer he can’t refuse, but the only condition is that he change his bad boy ways. He and Georgie agree to be in a fake relationship for the paparazzi cameras hoping to change his image and also change his heart.

Soon starts the romantic journey of a young clown finding herself growing up and a playboy baseball player who realizes there’s a few people in this world that care about him.

I swooned so hard at this book. I absolutely loved Georgie. She’s the kind of spunky yet serious character I love. Her lines were unique and different from what I’ve read of other romantic leads. I absolutely loved that she’s well versed in her own sexuality even though she hasn’t experienced everything you can experience as a sexually active human. I also loved Travis’s story. Despite it being heart-breaking, it felt real and a real mental challenge for a dude who never took his career seriously. I don’t want to give too much away, but I felt kind of bad for him.

The steaminess level in this book is moderately high. While I thought the first sex scene was a little steamy, the second one was twice as hardcore. There is a lot of dirty talk, but I was expecting something more demeaning and irksome, but once I read it, I thought it felt natural? Perhaps like something we’ve all said in bed? I don’t know. I blushed for sure.

In the back of my mind, I really should hate a story about a girl who’s able to change a guy. It’s that weird Florence Nightingale quality that keeps me from loving it, but I still really liked it a lot. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending and found it to be a little trope-y, but overall a great story with some very steamy scenes.
I Just Want to Read

June 26, 2019

A little weird reading update for you in the middle of the week.

Work’s been crazy lately. I don’t know if it’s the same for you, but when work is like this, I just want to turn off my phone and do some uninterrupted reading. No book reviews. No book updates. No writing at all. Just read.

It’s kind of funny that I work as a reader, but when it’s not reading you choose to read, then it feels like a chore. Oh boy, here’s a dilemma for you.

And I’m grateful for my job and all the work I get, but there are just some days where I would much rather just sit back, relax, and open a book I picked off my shelf. I don’t want to have to schedule out my day in order to maximize reading time. I don’t even know how much reading time I require. All I know is that I feel burnout coming and I want to prepare before it ruins reading for me.

So how do you balance a reading life where you work freelance and you just want to read? Here’s what I’ve been thinking:

Stick to keeping your working hours between 9-5

My friend, Emma, was kind enough to dose me with some reality; if I don’t manage my days better I’ll burn out and resent reading. Yikes.

Recently, it feels like I work whenever I have a minute and the inspiration to work. I write at night. I read over the weekends. I’ve been spending my Saturdays working on reviews and not feeling like I’m relaxing ever. I feel on edge. I feel like I’m failing to catch up with myself. These feelings are terrible and I would love to just feel like I’ve got a handle on things.

That’s the last thing I want to do is resent reading, so in order to prevent that I’m going to be keeping work to a strict 9-5 schedule. What I’ll do in that time is work on articles, blog posts, and reading for work. After those hours, it’s just for me. I think this might be the biggest gift of self-care I’ve ever given myself.

I’m not making any more TBRs, book clubs, or participating in any buddy reads

I know the whole point of being a part of a bookish community is that you participate. I would love to do that more often, but with my work schedule and spending time with my family, something’s gotta give. For me, it’ll have to be participating in buddy reads, book clubs, and creating a TBR for myself.

I never follow my TBR. I pick out a bunch of books to read and for some reason, I can’t seem to stick with them. I always fall off the reading list in hopes of finding entertainment in a different book.

I’ve been finding lately I’m very beholden to my mood. If I want to read a romance, I’ll read a romance. If I want to read a whole fantasy series, so be it. I think for my own sanity and reading life, it’ll make me happier to just do my own thing and not participate.

For the book clubs I’m currently in, that’s pretty much the extent of my participation. I’ve got enough on my plate to join any more or buddy read with friends. I just have to do me.

I just want to read

The final thing I want to mention is that I just want to read. I want to read my books, share my thoughts, and then move to the next book. I love writing reviews, but I think I’ll be a little bit more selective on the books I do review.

For example, I’m not going to review books that have published years ago. I think many folks already either read them or opinions on them and throwing my opinion into the hat isn’t going to improve or reduce what people think. I’ll be sticking to reviews of new books. That doesn’t mean I won’t be reading older books. I just won’t be reviewing them anymore.

I also want to focus on the length of time it takes me to read a book. I’ve always thought I could read about 50 pages an hour, but it’s turning out to be longer. I’m currently working to read faster and spending less time on my phone in order to accommodate it. I think I can definitely do it, but I’ll need to remove some distractions before I can.

Ok, I’m done complaining! See you all later while I go and read some more.
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura // Book Review

June 24, 2019
I was really hoping to enjoy this one, but it hit a few of my personal pet peeves and didn’t work completely for me. However, that isn’t to say this book isn’t good. It’s still a great novel, but definitely relatable more to younger folks who are active in their school community or looking for that one thing to stand up for.

This Time Will Be Different follows CJ Katsuyama, your average teenage girl who doesn’t know what she wants to do with the rest of her life. She lives with her mother and her aunt; her mom is this #bossbitch who’s motivation for life is something she wants to pass onto her daughter. Her aunt runs a small flower shop that’s been in their family for many years. However, the shop is failing and there isn’t enough money for CJ’s family to continue taking care of it. Their only buyer is the same family who purchased the flower shop from the Katsuyamas back during WWII. That was before CJ’s family entered the internment camps for the duration of the war. Suddenly, CJ understands exactly what she wants and she’s ready to fight for it.

I was really hoping this would be an amazing novel, but honestly it fell flat for me. The writing was great and I don’t have any doubts Misa Sugiura is a great writer. However, this book felt all over the place.

It starts off with the family’s flower shop needing to be sold off exactly as the premise says, but then the story goes into how the high school CJ attends is also named after that same family. They mention how the grandfather used to deal in slavery back in the day and how no one wants a building named after a racist person. I liked that this was the setup, but then the whole debacle with the flower shop is resolved way too quickly and the focus of the book becomes this group of kids trying to change the name of their high school.

But then the story continues to go into ally-ism. I think this was probably the most interesting part of the whole book. Being an ally is a tricky step between being helpful and being self-serving. I thought the examples of this were great, but also just confused about where this was going.

Then it flips and becomes a typical YA story about a young girl who doesn’t know what to do and confused about boys. I just got a little annoyed by this point on how messy this book seemed to be.

I’m sad to say I was annoyed with CJ. Perhaps this is me being too old and the book being too close to a contemporary YA story that I felt CJ to be angry for all the wrong reasons. It’s almost like a lack of maturity, which in hindsight makes sense.

I honestly was hoping that there would be more references to the Japanese internment camps and how that affected CJ. I’m not saying that it isn’t “Japanese enough,” whatever that means, but the premise of the book promises more than what the book is about. Sugiura sets up a short timeline of events when it comes to the internment of CJ’s family without any additional info about it. I’m blaming the marketing teams for promising a story that wasn’t obviously there.

If you’re more of a fan of contemporary YA stories, then this will be the one for you. It covers a lot including social justice issues and how you can make changes to the way the world around you. It may not impact the entire world, but if you can bring a sense of justice to your town then it’s better than nothing. I liked the story well enough, but I feel like there was a lack of focus and instead of narrowing in on one theme, the author decided to cover all the themes.
- 3/5 Stars
- Find my review on Goodreads
- Find THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT on Amazon (and help me make a little money, but buy it anywhere).
I received a copy of this book from Epic Reads for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay // Blog Tour

June 19, 2019
I was so excited to read a book with Filipino representation! It feels like I’m always on the hunt for books from marginalized voices and Filipino was one I haven’t heard in a while (or at all). And for the first book with Filipino rep, it definitely delivers a fantastic story that’s unafraid to be real and reveals some truths about what’s happening in The Philippines.

Patron Saints of Nothing starts off with Jay. He’s your average American teenager living in the Midwest, playing video games with his buddies online, and having no clue what he wants to do with his future. When his parents tell him his cousin, Jun, in The Philippines died, Jay wants to find out more. Being pen pals and friends from when Jay visited The Philippines as a kid, he was saddened by the news and determined to find out what happened. But his father isn’t the kind of person who likes to talk and doesn’t want to go over the details of how his cousin died. In fact, no one in his family was willing to talk about what happened.

With the strength of his love for his cousin and his curiosity to how this could happen to someone at such a young age, Jay convinces his parents to send him to The Philippines on spring break. They agree and he goes off to spend a week with his family there and learning about what happened to Jun.

As Jay slowly learns the truth about Jun through pieces of info he gathers with the help of a friend he makes, he also learns he doesn’t know much about The Philippines and what’s going on there. It’s not until he’s really in the thick of his search that he sees that President Duterte’s policies on drugs are targeting addicts and sellers without trial or a chance. It’s a multi-themed story that will make you google everything and make you reconsider the “truths” you’re told as a kid.

I’m going to be real with you, I cried. It was one specific moment right at the end when I did but if a book brings me to tears, then it’s a good book. I don’t cry often. I was most definitely pearl-clutching for sure and having my heart break over and over again.

For the most part, this book reads like a mystery or a thriller without the suspenseful parts. There’s no creepy murderer. The story is very much steeped in real life and the horrors of reality. There’s only the suspense of finding out the truth in a place that wants to forget just as quickly.

Randy Ribay doesn’t pussy foot around the reality. He doesn’t dumb it down with magical realism or make you go on this journey his cousin left behind for him. He literally walks into the slums of The Philippines where homes are made of corrugated cardboard, pallets, and metal sheeting. He hears about women being raped just because they walked down the street and a president who hides behind his belief he’s saving his country. This is not the beautiful tourist photos people see. This is the reality of a place that I believed to be a beautiful country and a place many of my IRL friends are from.

Themes are all over this book, so I decided to break them down and what I felt about them.

Being American and Being Filipino

I think this is something a lot of us Asian Americans feel. We’re American because we immigrated here when we were super young or we were born here, but we also are Asian. It’s tough when you’re not accepted in certain areas and then you go to the country everyone tells you to go back to and you don’t fit in there either. The displacement is real for any kid who’s grown up with immigrant parents and I love that we read this book from Jay’s point of view and see what it’s like from that particular lens. The insecurities of not keeping up with your culture, knowing what’s going on in the news, and not even being able to speak the language is a feeling I know much too well. Nicely done.

Coming to terms with the fact that adults aren’t always right

I thought this was a little more subtle, but there’s some subtext around growing your own opinion and beliefs that aren’t quite the same as your family’s. I really liked the juxtaposition of Jay against his Tito Maning. Tito Maning plays as the voice of many Filipino people who voted Duterte into office. He believes that despite the number of losses his drug policies have caused, Duterte’s done “good” for the community and country at large. Randy Ribay brings up often how many people are complacent with the losses because a few dead drug addicts means safer streets. It’s a really good topic to bring up and I loved that Randy Ribay wasn’t afraid to share this point of view as well.

Tito Maning is legit everyone in my family that’s told me I needed to be a doctor, married with two babies all by the time I was 30. These are the people who made it difficult for me to be myself because I had to follow these ridiculous rules of behavior. I understand respecting your elders and all that, but come on. Something’s gotta give sometimes.

But I think this is a valuable lesson for folks who are just getting to the adult ages. Please keep in mind that your parents don’t know everything and that adults can be wrong too. You don’t have to be disrespectful about it, but understanding their view and then comparing it to your own allows you to see the full breadth of opinions and make a much better opinion on your own.

The War on Drugs in The Philippines is very real

If you’re going to read this book, I strongly STRONGLY advise you to google “Rodrigo Duterte” and what’s happening in the Philippines right now. While the story Randy Ribay wrote here is fictional, the events taking place are real. I can’t do the topic justice and I strongly urge you to read his Wikipedia article at least to know what he’s doing. Basically, what’s written in the book is true. Duterte’s has encouraged police and vigilante groups to kill any drug dealers and drug addicts they see. This is in an effort to “clean up” the streets of The Philippines and make it safer.

However, we have to keep in mind the fact that not every drug addict is a criminal. Everyone has their story and reasons for getting to the place they are. I highly doubt they’re all doing illegal things and while I don’t condone drug use, I also don’t believe someone should be judged based just on the fact that they use drugs. Where’s the human aspect to this? It’s nowhere because the death tolls are in the thousands and they can’t even pin down an accurate number.

The fact that Randy Ribay incorporated this into his story is legit what makes this book one of my favorites. He’s unapologetic and he does a good job sharing both sides of this massive debate, so it’s not just one sided. The theme carries throughout the novel and really you can’t finish this novel without googling the events that take place. It may make people a little uncomfortable, but that’s what makes this book special. You have to give it credit for that. You can go on about how he didn’t dive into more, but also keep in mind the fact this is a fictional story and not the oral history of The Philippines. It encourages you to research and google and I strongly advise you do.

The final thing I want to mention, which is touched lightly but made a huge impact while I was reading is the number of rapes happening there. There was one scene in the book (and this doesn’t spoil the overall story) where a woman wasn’t okay with having a male adult in her home because she doesn’t know his intentions and worried he’ll rape her. I tried to do some research on this and found this article where the same President Duterte speaks about the rape cases. He says “as long as there are beautiful women, there will be rape cases.” Jesus, take the wheel.

All of these themes take place while Jay continues to be a teenager who likes girls and just wants to play video games with his bros. Randy Ribay is such a prolific and efficient writer that it really boggled my mind how he fit so much into about 300 pages.

I will say the only thing I had issues with is the believability of Jay’s story. For all intents and purposes, the events taking place in the story lead Jay closer and closer to the truth, but at some points it felt too easy. Information too conveniently falls into Jay’s lap. While I don’t know how hard or easy it is to find someone who runs away from home, I felt like Jay didn’t come across enough road blocks. It doesn’t take away from the book at all because the themes in the story carry you throughout and honestly, this didn’t bother me and doesn’t take away from my 5-star review. I just wanted to bring it up.

Ok, I’m done reviewing and ranting. This book was amazing and doesn’t read like your typical YA novel. Even though there was the average “oh I’m just a teenager who doesn’t know what I want from life,” it opens your eyes.
- 5/5 stars
- Find my review on Goodreads
- Find Patron Saints of Nothing on Amazon (and help me make a little money, but please buy the book wherever you want)
I received a copy of this book from Penguin Teen for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
Reading Update // June 14, 2019

June 14, 2019

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you’re all going to be spending time outdoors this weekend and soaking in that summer sun. I just hope there’s a little sun in June here in LA to enjoy. I wanted to approach the end of my week a little differently and give you a reading update from the week!

This week, I went to San Diego with my hubby for a few days. We just wanted a getaway with some fun in the sun. We most definitely got what we seeked out and went home with a new tan, a new burn, and a new book. We actually packed in a lot of fun and adventure for ourselves within the three days we were there. It was a great few days away from work, but I also had work looming in the back of my mind the entire time.

I checked out Mysterious Galaxy, which is a bookstore dedicated to speculative fiction, romance, and horror/thrillers. When I went to the LA Festival of Books, I saw the Mysterious Galaxy booth and surprised that it existed. I knew if I went back to San Diego, I would make a special trip over there. Luckily for me, it was about 10 minutes from our Airbnb and so we made a pit stop before heading down to Pacific Beach for lunch.

I honestly believe if I lived in San Diego, I would just go there and make friends with all the employees. I would somehow find myself working there part-time without getting paid because of all the time I spent there. If there was a couch in the store, I would most definitely have my very own butt groove imprinted into the seats.

Usually when I go to bookstores on vacation, I pick up memorabilia from the store, but I wasn’t a fan of the stuff they had available, so I decided I would pick out a book instead. If you visit bookstores on vacation, I strongly encourage you to pick out at least one book or buy a t-shirt or tote bag from the store. You can easily support a local bookstore this way and come away with a nifty little souvenir to remind you of your visit.

I picked up The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. This Assassins series has been high on my read list and I’m finally committed to reading the book. I honestly feel like if I own the book, the commitment to reading the book is baked into the receipt. Bookstores should seriously write a disclaimer on their receipts that says “note: your purchase of this book commits you to reading it. We’ll be waiting for your review.”

Of course I’m teasing about that second part.

For reading, I took Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay with me and learned that I’m terrible at reading on vacation. I knew we were only going to be in town for three days, so I hedged my bets and brought one book. I’m so glad I did because I ended up only reading half the book and finishing it when I get home. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say it was really good. Review to come next week!

One thing I noticed while we were out there was that I love reading by bodies of water. Put me in front of the ocean or by a lake and I’m totally in my zone. I love the sound of the waves or nature around me while I turn pages in my book. It’s soothing and legit my self-care. I think I’ll be making a lot of trips to the beach this summer (especially since I live so close).

But I noticed that I’m terrible at reading on vacation. When we’re on vacation, we’re out and about and checking out landmarks and nature and historical buildings and all that. I’ve worn my Apple Watch on vacation and noticed the 20,000 steps my husband and I take over the course of our day. We are not sitting by the pool people (although I would much rather be doing that). So reading kind of falls by the wayside and that was obvious here too because I only read half of my book.

My reading life aside from that is a total burning trash heap. I’m in the middle of four books, I have three books to review for work, and I don’t know when I’ll have time to participate in either my book club reading or the Dune buddy read I signed up to be in. Ever have that feeling you’ve put way too many things on my plate? I feel like this might be par for the course for me because I always pile food onto a tiny ass plate believing that I’m “portion controlling” but really I’m taking more than I can handle.

So the focus of this weekend is to get back on track. I’m going to finish my work book, write that review. Then I’m going to finish up my half-read books and hopefully feel better about my place in my TBR.

How’s your reading life been going?
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan // Review

June 13, 2019
I went into reading Girls of Paper and Fire with little knowledge of the book. You have to admit, marketing teams don’t do the greatest job explaining books in their blurbs and that completely makes sense. However, this book gave me some serious Raise the Red Lanterns meets The Hunger Games vibes. The stories aren’t verbatim, but I loved the addition of concubines in a fantasy series.

First, let’s talk about the setting of this book. It takes place in a fantasy where humans, beasts, and in between live within their own class system. The beasts are considered “demon” caste based off of real animals but with sentient minds. Think Tony the Tiger. Humans are considered “paper” and are just plain old humans. Then there’s the “steel” caste which are amalgamations of both humans and demons. These are folks who look human, but have animal traits like a tail or ears. For all intents and purposes, the demon caste is at the top of the class hierarchy, then comes steel, and then comes paper.

In this world, eight human girls are picked from eight of the provinces in Ikhara. For one year, they’re to serve as concubine to the demon king (similar to that of The Hunger Games: to show dominance over the paper caste). As all the girls for that year have been chosen, Lei never assumed she’d be picked too until the general of the king’s army came and took her from her small village home in the same manner her mother was taken a few years back.

The only reason why Lei’s taken is her eyes; she just happens to have golden eyes that no one else in the world has seen. The general believed it’d be a wonderful addition to the other paper girls and for the king. The rest of the story follows Lei as she becomes a paper girl forced to pleasure the demon king in anyway he wants. None of the girls want to be there, but some understand their duty to the king and do what they must to please him. Please be warned, there is some sexual assault depicted.

As the story continues, rebellion begins to take place as the king’s kingdom uprises and one of the paper girls turns out to have a bigger secret than Lei assumed.

This is most definitely a different kind of fantasy novel and I noticed a few reviews where the readers didn’t quite understand the method Natasha Ngan took when writing this story. I wanted to take a minute and talk about the points:

First off, Lei isn’t your typical “girl on fire.” She’s not strong and she’s not ready to fight for a cause she doesn’t understand. She’s a little aloof and clumsy and very afraid of her duties as a paper girl (I would be too). She’s also more determined to find out what happened to her mother than raise a rebellion against the king. I thought this trait made Lei a very real person and it lended well to the overall direction Natasha Ngan is going with the novel.

I didn’t see a lot of action in this first book, but that’s okay because it’s world building and such. It’s a tad boring in the beginning, but it does pick up towards the middle part.

I absolutely loved the use of concubines as a theme in this story. I don’t agree with the methods obviously, but it really draws back to a huge part of Chinese history. It wasn’t until mid-century that China made concubinage illegal which means that wealthy men were keeping concubine up until the communist revolution. It was frowned upon for a man to have more than one wife, but keeping concubine for bearing children was okay (eye roll). This is why I had so many Raise the Red Lanterns vibes while reading this book. I’ve also seen depictions of concubines in modern Chinese fantasy dramas as well. Here’s my source for more info.

There’s also a lot of representation especially LGBTQ representation. I don’t want to give anything away and spoil it, but I thought it was very real and beautiful.

However, I will say this book isn’t completely amazing. First off, there was Lei’s eyes. The entire story they boasted about how her eyes were so unique for someone born from humans. I thought this might indicate some magic or something, but it really fell away.

Also, despite the amount of world building done here, there isn’t a lot of history. Much of what is built throughout the story is the current issues. However, there isn’t much explanation on the steel caste (those who are both demon and human). There isn’t mention of why certain traditions existed or even a map of Ikhara (only a map of the palace). I would have loved to know more about the traditions and why they are the way they are.

I was also confused by what happened to all the other Paper Girls and women in the court towards the end. I feel like the focus was on one particular point and then everything else kind of dropped off.

The other thing was the queen. In the story, the paper girls are asked to take a special contraception to avoid pregnancy and a queen is mentioned randomly throughout. However, there wasn’t any queen showing up to events or balls and I honestly asked myself where she was in the midst of all the action.

But aside from that, a pretty strong start to a new fantasy series. I’ll most definitely be keeping up with Natasha Ngan’s work and probably read the second book once it publishes.
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim // Book Review

June 11, 2019
When I first picked up this book, I thought I was picking up a romance. I think being published by Berkley always has that reflex of assuming the novel is a romance. While it’s not entirely a romance with two protagonists that fall in love, it is a book about love. It’s about the love you have for your family, for your neighborhood, for your roots, and for food.

Here’s more about the book

Natalie Tan just found out her mother died, but as an intense agoraphobic, she hasn’t left her house in years. It’s funny how the woman who’s never left her house suddenly dies on the first day out. Natalie’s been away for seven years and in that time sharpening her culinary skills in kitchens around the world.

Now she’s back in her little apartment home above the Chinese restaurant her family used to own in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. But things aren’t the way they used to be as her neighbor’s businesses slowly shutter. With the growing tech scene in San Francisco, smaller neighborhoods begin to experience gentrification. It’s great for the city, but bad for the hardworking folks who’ve lived in the area for generations.

Natalie decides in order to revive the neighborhood she’ll reopen her grandmother’s restaurant and hopefully bring more life back to her little street. Before opening, she’s met with the local tea shop owner (and mystic) who prophecies that Natalie will need to help three of her neighbors before she can open her restaurant. She’s handed a book of her grandmother’s recipes guaranteed to help anyone with any life issues they may be facing.

So Natalie goes to work to help three of her neighbors using recipes from her grandmother’s cookbook. As things seem to be going well, it turns out the recipes aren’t and the magic in her grandmother’s cookbook isn’t as powerful as she thought. Natalie now must figure out what’s going on with the cookbook, continue to go through the process of opening her restaurant, and discovers some secrets her family’s kept from her for all these years.

Ok, I’m going to gush about this book. I gave it five stars I liked this book so much. The themes in this novel are most definitely the draws.

First off, food. Food is the big theme of this novel and also comes along with a few recipes from Natalie’s grandmother’s cookbook. Honestly, the food part reminded me so much of Chocolat. With food and magic intertwined, you see how what Natalie makes is not only delicious, but powerful. If you’re a food person, you’re most definitely going to enjoy this book.

The second theme, family. I think family is probably the most important theme next to the food. While Natalie and her mother didn’t have much beyond the two of them, it’s obvious throughout the novel that the neighbors on her street care and can be considered family. I think this is the reason why it was so important for Natalie to reopen the restaurant. She wanted something that people can come to and enjoy and facilitate its customers to go out and explore the rest of the street.

The family theme plays such a different role when it comes to the discovery of Natalie’s father. It’s a question you have stuck in your head the entire time you’re reading and Roselle does an excellent job covering all her bases.

The third theme, gentrification. Over the last seven years I lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. If you weren’t aware, Greenpoint used to be known as “Little Poland” where the highest percentage of Polish immigrants were living in and around the area. When I first moved to Greenpoint, it was so obvious the Polish community ran things. All the restaurants and shopping had Polish-speaking employees. The food was always top notch. And kids would drive down the street blasting Polish electronic music every time their national soccer team played in the World Cup. It was a different world in the middle of a huge city.

However, over time, gentrification took over making room for skyscraper housing projects and buying out the Polish owners one by one. I saw this beautiful little neighborhood turn from “Little Poland” to one of the most coveted neighborhoods to live in. It’s great for the community, but bad for the folks who have lived here for generations.

This is what I thought of as I read this book and thought about the gentrification efforts in her neighborhood. It’s a difficult place to be because on one hand you want to welcome more businesses and folks to a neighborhood who may need a little financial help. At the same time, it’s displacing so many people who have called the neighborhood home. I can imagine the kind of fight Natalie was in for as she tried to revitalize her neighborhood with the help of her neighbors.

The last thing I want to mention is that this book does talk about grief and loss, but it’s not as devastating as I’ve read it in other books. For Natalie, the death of her mother is sad but also hopeful. At first, she saw herself free from her mother’s opinions especially when it comes to opening a restaurant. But as the book progresses, you see that she learns a lot about her mother and what she left behind in order to raise her. It makes the story way more hopeful than just a story of grief. Natalie openly celebrates her mother and her grandmother through the joyful process of cooking.
I received a copy of this book from Berkley for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
New Releases Tuesday // June 4, 2019

June 4, 2019

Happy Tuesday, but most importantly, happy new releases Tuesday!

This Tuesday feels like May because the publishing train keeps on chugging and putting out some amazing reads for us this summer. We’ve got a famous Queer Eye personality publishing his novel. We have a few very interesting diverse reads coming out as well. There’s so many great ones that I put together the list of my highly anticipated. The ones with descriptions are on the top of my list, but all of these stories sound so good! I can’t wait!

Naturally Tan by Tan France

This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura

I’m extremely excited for This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura. First off, the cover is gorgeous. I can’t tell how this picture is rendered, but the beauty of an Asian woman’s face on the cover of this book is really thrilling. It’s not a historical novel, but it’s about a young girl who works for her family’s flower shop only to have it repossessed by the very people who they purchased it from. It also talks about the Japanese internment camps in America during WWII. In fiction, it doesn’t seem like this time period gets covered (or at least recently), so I’m excited to read something connected to it.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

I’m kind of intrigued by this one, but I know it’ll be the big book publishing today. I feel like I have to mention it because of Elizabeth Gilbert’s success with her nonfiction novel Eat, Pray, Love. Now, Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction again with a historical story exploring sex, promiscuity, love, and a little coming of age. It’s not very high on my list, but it’s on my radar. I’ll be keeping an eye out on how reviews look for this one.

You Cannot Mess This Up by Amy Weinland Daughters

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick

I received a copy of this book for promotion, but the story is kind of intriguing and a good inclusive read for Pride month. It’s the story of four teenagers in love. They’re in two separate relationships, but the behavior of one person is little appalling and someone threatens to expose all of their secrets if they don’t talk to them. The other couple somehow gets involved and become collateral damage to this secret someone. I’m so excited about YA thrillers lately. I’m going to enjoy this one.

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

I’m slightly intrigued by this title because it’s the #1 selling novel in the YA Fantasy genre right now and that kind of statistic is hard to not look at. It’s the story of a young woman playing warden to grimoires for sorcerers (who are eeevil), but one of the books somehow escapes her. Because it was under her watch, she’s now the main suspect. However, she thens allies with a sorcerer making her question herself and her beliefs. It sounds kind of cool and I do love evil sorcerers and magic, so I might check this one out too.

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

I saw my friend on Instagram read an early release of this book and she was marking pages with highlighter and there were a ton of little stickies attached to it. This book is going to be so good that I’m considering buying it. It’s a mystery of a missing girl and her family. The story follows a young Chinese family who’s eldest daughter disappears randomly. It sounds like it’ll be unpacking a lot of family secrets before getting to what happened to Sylvie. I think it’ll be good for those who love mysteries, harrowing family dramas, and diverse stories.

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

The Summer We Lost Her by Tish Cohen

Full disclosure: Links will take you to Amazon. If you use these links to buy a book, it’ll give me a small commission. However, if you much rather buy indie or at Barnes and Noble, please do. Just know if you use my Amazon link, you’ll be helping me out at no additional cost.