Tiffany

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus★★★☆☆   3.5/5—A story carried purely by its supporting cast and dry-wit humour.The beginning was such a drag, middle was great, and the ending was a bit too fairy-tale like for what had happened in the story. I almost put the book down literally the first chapter in because she was waxing poetics about how precocious Madeline was and I nearly dropped the book right then and there. Sorry, I really just don't care to read about a genius 5 year old kid that could read beyond her age - I don't think this is as special as you think it is.I probably wasn't convinced by the story until 30% in when the dry humour really started to kick in. I'll admit - I while I understood and vaguely appreciate the attempt of feminist messaging that the story tried to push, I greatly disliked the way it was delivered both plot and character-wise. Elizabeth Zott is in short, fairly disagreeable, and was just a blank-slate vehicle to push the feminist message and story. I believe there was a line where she says “This is water, or more commonly known as H2O” and I just had to roll my eyes - this woman is pretentious. This whole “This is water, or more commonly known as H2O” spiel that sort of went on throughout the whole book (her insistence on calling the name by it's molecular make up first and foremost) deterred from the message and felt unrealistic. As a woman that works in a specialised subset of a very broad industry, industry jargon makes it harder for the average layman to understand and to even begin to want to understand - it's alienating at best, especially in Zott's time. I've literally seen people's eyes glaze over when they ask what I do, when I do not make an effort to explain as plainly as possible. I find it difficult to believe that these broadly uneducated women watching her on the television would be so moved as to suddenly change their lives - in fact, I imagine the average woman of the 1950s or 60s would probably scorn her. I wish Zott's feminist approach was a bit more realistic for the its time. Zott's approach would not be too out of the ordinary in a modern setting. However, its place in a very conservative time is jarring and unbelievable. In fact, her know-it-all attitude would be off putting to most people in this day and age, honestly.The light at the end of the tunnel was certainly the supporting cast. When Garmus wanted to make the character likeable, boy were they likeable. When they weren't - well, unfortunately, that may simply be the majority of the characters. While I'm glad it wasn't an “all men are terrible” story, it was pretty damn close to it. Pine, Hariett, Dr. Mason, and even Frask's little redemption arc were truly what made me enjoy the story.The ending was a little bit too tied up neatly for me. I was not crazy about how she went back to Hastings, disliked how there were no depiction of how she became a well respected scientist (or even tangible proof of her capabilities), her research is all conveniently funded by Calvin's wealthy mother. I feel like in the end, she has neither proved her worth nor achieved her goals with her own two hands, which seems a bit odd in regards to the message the story was trying to push.Overall, I wish the story had tackled the difficulties women faced in her time period with a bit more nuance. I think it would have been nice to dive a bit more on what it's like to be a single mother in a very misogynistic society; or what if Mad was just an average child with a brilliant mother, and her dealing with that difference in maybe drive and achievement; or if Calvin had just lived and she was able to forge her own path despite the adversities she faced. Side-note: I greatly disliked the anthromorphism of Six-Thirty (cute name though). It added nothing to the story, and felt out of place for a story following the life of a scientist. Similarly, the weird spiel on religion that had no depth to it whatsoever. I think the choice to be religious or not is an interesting topic that has persisted throughout centuries and will continue to persist, but the way Garmus went about it was questionable. Frankly, it added nothing to the story apart from contributing bloat - and I say this a staunch atheist.Although I realise this review is fairly negative, I did enjoy reading this story. It was a fun little afternoon read on a slow Friday, and for being so disappointed by debut novels I've been reading lately, this one was fairly impressive. The prose somewhat reminds me of bedtime stories written for children, but not necessarily in a bad way. Lessons In Chemistry doesn't provide any profound takeaways, and I would recommend a light-hearted, unserious approach to this when reading.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang
★★★☆☆ 3.5/5
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ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A Song to Drown Rivers was a beautiful novel to read. The prose is captivating and lyrical, quite reminiscent of traditional Chinese poetry. The questions and ideas posed by Ann Liang within the story were thought-provoking and interesting to read. With this alone, I'd recommend A Song to Drown Rivers for anyone to read.

There were however, many things that made the book fall flat for me. What I loved about the novel was also its downfall. The excessive amount of poetic descriptions made the pace of the story feel rather slow. Xishi's concubine training in 10 weeks from the poorest farmer girl to a snake in human flesh was simply unrealistic and glossed over. The romance between Xishi and Fanli was not compelling. Similar to the issue of the concubine training, it occurred off screen, and I would have found the tension and yearning more convincing had there been more development during their time living together. I would have been interested in reading a potential love develop between Xishi and Fuchai in comparison, despite how the legends go. Fuchai felt like the second-most fleshed out character in the story, apart from Xishi. There were a few more gripes that I had, but for the sake of avoiding spoilers I will omit them here.

This is not to say that A Song to Drown Rivers is a bad book by any means. While it is not a book I would re-read, I plan to read Ann Liang's other stories in the future.

The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim★★☆☆☆   2.5/5—ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.I came into the story expecting a K-drama-esque story, and a K-drama-esque story is exactly what I got. The story is a cute, mystery rival-to-lovers, cat-and-mouse chase (god and fox chase lol) - embodying all that you could come to expect from a K-drama. If I watched this on screen, I imagine I'd thoroughly have a good time. The stylistic choice of writing, however, made reading a struggle. There were quite a few times where I wanted to DNF due to the clunky narrative. The plot was interesting, but the way it reads like a fanfic is somewhat off-putting and made it difficult to immerse into the story. A few scenes felt immature and YA (situations and behaviour that I'd expect of a teenager but not of a 1000 year old gumiho). There was a decent amount of fluff, which I think could have been cut out to tighten the pace of the story, where it seemingly dragged a little too long from time to time. I struggled a bit with liking the characters individually. Hanni comes off as a immature, self-important bitch - but she did become more palatable throughout the story. Seokga just did not really hit for me. Truth be told, I found his dialogue a little cringe. I think Hanni and Seokga's interactions is what shined the most, filled with cute and witty banter and reminiscent of your typical K-drama romance plot. It's unfortunate that I felt as if the progression from rivals-to-lovers was a bit abrupt and needed more time.I'd probably settle for an “it's okay” regarding the book. Reading The God and the Gumiho was neither immersive nor exciting, and I struggled to complete the book. I can see why others may love the book but unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen★☆☆☆☆   1.5/5—ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.I convinced myself to finish this book by repeating to myself that this is an YA novel, and somehow that sort of managed to make the journey a bit more bearable. But upon speaking to a friend, there's no reason why I should set my expectations so low. I've read many beautifully written YA novels with incredible depth. Unfortunately, Of Jade and Dragons is not one of them. Apart from the incredibly juvenile prose, the pacing was inconsistent and the world-building lacking. For a plot that incorporated warring political landscape and a war between two nations, I knew next to nothing about the world. Or even the setting, for that matter - for me, the story suffered from severe white room syndrome.I am conflicted about Ying as a character. She had a lot of potential marred by questionable character depth. There was no depth to her grief after she witnesses her father's murder. She dives straight into revenge, traversing to a city as a simple country girl that's never known more - yet has no issues navigating away around the fast-paced world. Her father's death was only ever used to move proceeding plot points when convenient, and then abruptly forgotten when not. The book needed to take a firmer direction between Ying's dream to become the first female guild master or uncovering the secrets of her father's death.Something that really irked be was her jumping straight into suspecting Gerel as her father's murderer. I appreciate Ying trying to figure out her father's murderer, but to jump at Gerel being the culprit due to former animosity with her father just didn't make sense when in consideration of the motives. This is consistent with her actions throughout the book - she never thought twice about anything, and instead just enacts the very first idea that comes into her mind. I don't even really have anything to say regarding the side characters, because they were barely developed. If anything, I would say Ye-Kan was my favourite character in the story.The only saving grace was the last 20% of the book, where I felt the plot finally picked up and unveiled something interesting. I will give kudos to a rather good foreshadowing. However, it would have been more impactful had the pacing not been so horrendous. What could have been a bittersweet ending was marred by the lack of development of plot points and a lack of commitment between Ying's revenge or her goal as guild master.

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli★☆☆☆☆   1.5/5—TL;DR: I wouldn't recommend this book when decently translated regression novels with this exact plot and better exist and are fairly accessible, but A Bright Heart is probably a good introduction to this particular subgenre. Generic isekai/villainess/reincarnation/regression trope, written in English. This is actually my favourite trope/plot to read when reading manhwas or light novels, so I badly wanted to love this story. I cannot emphasise enough how I never get tired of reading this particular plotline. Although the beginning of the stories may seem basic and start the same, there's so many ways in which an author can take their story. It's much like how all cookies have the same basic base ingredients, but so many little adjustments and additions that make each flavour unique. However, A Bright Heart doesn't present any unique or new ideas, and the story feels too rushed overall.I think the biggest downfall of this story is pacing. The beginning was unbearably slow, but then picks up halfway through the book. All main plot events are brief, under-developed and under-described, and resolved all too quickly. This is comparing to reincarnation light novels I've read: I find that CN/KR novels tend to focus more heavily on unraveling the opposition's plot little by little and drip feeding future plot points (this is of course, aided by the usual 200+ chapters), but these pivotal events in A Bright Heart are too brief to have any impact (see: guqing incident, Hanxin's sudden marriage proposal). They act as foreshadowing, and only just barely. The butterfly effect of Mingshin's actions is barely explored in depth. I can concede that surely there must be a happy medium between the two lengths, but it felt as if A Bright Heart was trying to fit too much, in too little words. The prose itself was quite off-putting as well. It reads juvenile and stilted at times, with an emphasis on descriptors for appearances, and not much else. “We're going to stay in my uncle's home for a while. We shall be very careful. I must warn you, no one in the capital is what they seem. No one.” This read so awkwardly I couldn't help but roll my eyes. As an aside, the names Aylin and Lafne are incredibly jarring in a Chinese setting.I was not a fan of Mingshin. After her regression, she starts off by trying to warn every one of the dangers of the city (seen in quote above), but then proceeds to visit a weaponry shop without a disguise. I understand that deciding to go to the weaponry shop as two women was a decision to push further plot points, but it annoys me that this is after Mingshin clearly said they needed to be wary. Would it not be better off to have Mingshin start off floundering in this newly regained life, then transition her into cunning and intelligent character as she has a firmer grasp on her current self? To add: what's satisfying about this particular subgenre is that you get to see the MC properly thwart obstacles, only to find new, unfamiliar obstacles rise up in her way as a result. None of this occurs in A Bright Heart.As a rare occurrence, I thought the romance between Jieh and Mingshin was cute. The romance itself could have been better developed, but I think that's just a issue as a result of pacing of the plot so I don't have much to add in this case.To conclude: would not re-read, unlikely to read the sequel.

Even rating this book 1* might be entirely too generous.

Better writing than the first, which is saying something I guess.

“Magic is dangerous–but love is more dangerous still.”

Clockwork Angel is the start of the prequel series, Infernal Devices, to Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instrument series. I bought this book eReader wise early this January, and I have to say, it's a definite wonderful read! Clare takes her readers back in time to the Victorian Era, with descriptive writing and conflicts existing in the time of Victorian Era, such as the struggle for the women Shadowhunters to be proper young ladies and women that society demands while balancing the Shadowhunters' need for strong fighters.

The main protagonist, Tessa Gray, travels to London to visit her brother Nathaniel; but as the ship docks, she is kidnapped by two women, also known as the ‘Dark Sisters.' Terrified, confused, and worn out, she is rescued by two Shadowhunters: Will and Jem. They take her to the London Institute, where Tessa learns that her powers are different, otherworldly...and that there is a world within the world, a battle ready to start; and Tessa is in the middle.

In Clockwork Angel, you can see that Cassandra had changed her writing a little bit, to fit in with the mannerisms and beliefs of the Victorian Era. The speech, actions...everything is more refined. But even so, Cassandra managed to sneak in some dark humor and action scenes. And of course, the hazy, mysterious background of Will and Jem - which are bound to become bigger issues in the Clockwork Prince, the sequel to Clockwork Angel - that keeps readers entranced and entertained.

When I first picked up this book however, I was a bit skeptical. I generally have an aversion to reading books set in a different period of time from the original series, because I've already developed an attachment to the original characters. All I can say is, I definitely loved TID more then TMI. Not only the plot, but also the characters. The characters themselves are engaging, from dark-humoured William Herondale to high-strung Jessamine Lovelace. The interaction between characters, especially Tessa, Will, and Jem. You can't help but feel for all of them, in different ways.

Through this book, you will find spine-racking battles, intriguing mysteries, and a twist at the end, that tells you that the book is only the beginning. This book will certainly leave readers impatient for the sequel!

I accurately predicted the whole plot the moment she met Xaden. Unbelievably cookie cutter and un-original. The prose is subpar if not completely amateur, and the worldbuilding is vague. The only reason I've rated this book 2*s is because unfortunately, I do enjoy clichés and common tropes that Fourth Wing has included.

I wanted to at minimum, enjoy this book (in a junk food sort of manner). I've been craving a good vampire novel for a while, but this is not it.

1. The writing itself wasn't bad fundamentally, but suffered from a lot of tell instead of show. We're told over and over again how powerful Vincent was, yet we don't see it ever (quite literally - all his actions happen off screen and are only briefly mentioned).

2. I'm terribly tired of the sassy, bitchy heroines that plague this genre nowadays. Nothing wrong with a headstrong heroine, but I feel like there's a severe lack of empathy for others that have been a common theme amongst all these heroines and Oraya is not an exception. Her driving motivation for going back to her hometown doesn't even make sense. It's demonstrated quite well that her whole town was razed. In what world does it even make sense for someone related to her to still be alive?

3. Plot-driven book with so many plot holes I don't even know where to begin. Lack of explanation of magic, lack of explanation for the whole trial (frenzied killing only happened the first night - then?). Oraya is a human living in a vampire-centric world, yet she always gets away because she's more powerful. When she's not, her father conveniently intervenes to save her. No sense of real danger or urgency whatsoever.

4. Can we please stop using the “fuck” an exorbitant amount of times when the setting is clearly not modern? Reading curse words every few sentence makes the whole story feel childish.

5. The least convincing romance I've ever read. Raihn and Oraya literally just exist in the same place, and there is little development between them between hating to suddenly loving each other.

Reading this felt like everything and nothing simultaneously happened. There was an attempt at political intrigue, but it didn't feel well executed. The magic system was fascinating, but it felt as if the plot only skimmed the surface - perhaps the author attempting to too much, all at once. I think the story would have been stronger if it went all in on one or the other.

All things considered, I enjoyed Ning as a protagonist, but felt that all other characters within the story fell flat. The story felt too short to have properly fleshed out all the side characters, and even the male lead/main antagonists. While Ning made a compelling protagonist, the pacing (and perhaps even overall plot) of the story let her down.

Overall, not bad, but not great. Would not re-read.

Felt like The Secret History fanfiction, but with even more obnoxious characters (who had no reason to be as obnoxious as they were). The writing is incredibly purple prose and overly pretentious for no reason.

Fireborne: 4/5
Flamefall: 3.5/5 (4/5 on a good day)
Furysong 3.5/5


I started Fireborne morning of December 16th, and finished Furysong by noon of December 17th. I came into the series without reading any of the synopsis or reviews - I only knew that it had dragons in it. I think it was the best decision I've ever made. The Aurelian Cycle is such an impressive debut series by Rosaria Munda, and while I don't exactly love it quite yet, I think I will with time. The highlights of the story included the prose and character development. I cried so many times reading the series - certainly, not a comfort read by any means. I came to love the characters that I wasn't fond of in the beginning: Power, in particular - I'll always have a soft spot for him. Lee I've loved from the beginning. I still have mixed feelings for Antigone, but she certainly makes a compelling MC.

There were a few gripes: a lot of lore terms that sort of muddled within the story; other countries, which I wish had been incorporated more seamlessly starting in book 1; Lee and Annie's relationship. In truth, I think it would have been a beautiful friendship. Lovers, however, I'm still not entirely convinced by. I think Power was done dirty, and that Annie and Power together would have been incredibly compelling. I loved the way he lifted her up, made her independent in all the ways Lee couldn't. Similarly, I wish there was more depth in Delos & Griff's relationship, and the exploration of the shift of servitude and power. Pacing also became a significant issue in books 2 and 3. Furysong felt slow, but the ending felt rushed.

In my opinion, I think the fantastical aspect of the story fell flat as well. It felt as if you could replace dragons with any other object or magic system, and it wouldn't change much at all. For me, this series was less fantasy, and more political intrigue. Don't get me wrong, I love political intrigue and The Aurelian Cycle does it splendidly; however, I wish it tapped more into the fantasy as well.

What I found most disappointing: I wish that Ixion posed as a more compelling villain. The questions posed within Fireborne: in the face of two evils, how do you choose the lesser? With the power to choose which regime rises and falls, how do you cope with the choice? How do we break this senseless cycle of violence? All this sort of dissolved as the series went on when the balance clearly tilts to one side where Ixion clearly becomes the extreme.

Touches on some incredibly thought-provoking and challenging topics. I came into the story with no expectations and ended up crying at the end. When two sides both have their evils, how can you choose which to side with? I loved Lee, cried with him, empathised with him. I didn't love Antigone (and I think Annie is a blasphemous nickname for such a unique name - but I've never liked the name Annie), but I came to respect her and her decisions in the end. The themes the author wanted to explore were well-executed, and incredibly impressive for a first book. I'm not a fan of dual POVs and am still not, but I think in this case, it lend rather than took away from the message the author wanted to convey.

I think the most disappointing thing was that dragons weren't really integral to the story - you could take them away and replace it with any other element and it would continue to read the same. Labelled as a fantasy, but doesn't really take advantage of fantastical elements.

I didn't love the story, but I think I will with re-reads. Fingers crossed that the sequel remains within lines of expectations.

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang★☆☆☆☆   1.5/5—ARC received on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.I wanted to enjoy this book. The title and cover art is catching, synopsis promising, and for the first 20% of the book, I found the plot intriguing and wanted to know more. However, it all takes a nosedive shortly after. For a story centered around a war between magic and science, there is little to no in-depth exploration in the differences between the two. Similarly, a severe lack of world-building when it should have been pivotal, considering Pangu and Rome come from two entirely different planets, connected through this portal that is never explained. Use of magic has a physical toll on the user, and we see this depicted in Ruying for all of 1 or 2 chapters before the idea is entirely dropped.On a related note, the author should have highly considered creating a fictional race adjacent to the Romans for this story. To call the colonisers “Romans” only elicits the imagery of Ancient Rome, yet the Romans here use technology and science. It's a little disconcerting as a reader, and we've already created a fictional world adjacent to China. Why not just commit to an entirely fictional universe? Characters are dull and underdeveloped. Ruying spends the whole book idolising Meiya, whom she calls “kind”. We only ever see Meiya cruelly putting her sister down, and she takes the award for my most disliked character. The rest of the characters suffer the same issue: too much offscreen character building. Lots of tell, instead of show: “Meiya is kind, Grandma is intelligent, Taohua is strong”. We never see any of this demonstrated through action on screen.Romance was unconvincing. The dialogue between Antony and Ruying was dry and so boring to read. Ruying is gas lit, brainwashed (in the most obvious way; it wasn't even subtle), and clearly in a Stockholm Syndrome situation. Time skip occurs, and suddenly - Antony and Ruying are in love. I greatly dislike that we had one random chapter of Antony's POV to depict that he'd actually fallen for Ruying. Why not just show it in his actions instead? What made him fall for her? I have no clue, because both romance and her killings seemed to all happen off screen through time skips! All of which leads to severe lack of development. And to preface all of this with her initial Author's Note just seems in incredibly bad taste (and I say this as someone who has no issues reading problematic dark tropes - I would entirely remove the Author's Note at this point). I understand what the author was trying to attempt, but I truly think that proper execution of the idea requires a more delicate touch.What truly made me miffed (spoiler alert) was that Meiya and Baihu kept Ruying in the dark the entire time until the end. It's like they were begging for Ruying to be brainwashed, and were baffled by the end result.Other various dislikes:- Chinese text itself embedded into the narrative (although I did enjoy its application within the story). As a native Chinese speaker, I would prefer to have footnotes instead to make reading flow more consistent- The rebel group and Phantom are underdeveloped if not non-existent. Zero buildup prior to their appearance- The Author keeps writing. Like. This.- Use of time skips to skip crucial character and plot development, resulting in flat characters- Failed attempt at painting characters as morally greyFor a promising and rather strong start to the story, it peters off quite fast and tragically. The ideas and concepts that author attempts to explore requires a more skillful hand.