Review: The Poppy War by RF Kuang // My Favorite Book of the Year and Forever

For once… a regular book review? 

I truly never post reviews on my blog of books that aren’t ARCs (and therefore had to post). The last time I did this was literally the year I started blogging, since everyone knows reviews get low engagement and I’m sad when people don’t talk to me!

But today I’m making history!! Because 1) I have absolutely zero blog post ideas anymore, and 2) I need to officially recognize my love for The Poppy War on my blog with a review.

Before I get into the very long review, I want to note that I picked this book for an English project, so I’m more analytical than usual since I had to look at the book in a more critical lens. It reads more like an essay than my other reviews, because I actually had to write an essay!

ARC Review: Forest of Souls by Lori M Lee // Fantasy Inspired by Hmong Shamanism that Sadly Fell Flat

[holds head in hands]

Why is this the year of me being disappointed by Asian fantasy?? Take me back to when I loved every single Asian-inspired YA fantasy book I read, PLEASE!

I’m very sad to be here today with a review of Forest of Souls that is… not as nice as I’d like to be. There are certain things that I think could work for certain people, and I did enjoy some aspects of the story, but unfortunately, I wasn’t the right audience for the book.

ARC Review: The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar // The Delightfully Sapphic QPOC Romance of My (and Your) Dreams!

Is there anything as beautiful as feeling represented in media?

The Henna Wars was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I’m so excited for everyone else to be able to read and love this as much as I did. I expected a lot of things going in to this book, but I honestly was really surprised by how much I connected to the main character as a queer person of color!

I’m here today to hopefully convince you all to pick up this wonderful book. I know a lot of people are eagerly awaiting this book’s release, and you will not be disappointed!

ARC Review: The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall // The Sad Face on the Cover is Me

For once I am here today not to love an Asian fantasy but… to hate on it.

(The crying in the distance is me! It is always me but especially today!)

I was so very excited to read The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, and things actually started out well in the first few 100 or so pages! But then it took a turn for the worst and I ended up disliking it a lot more than I enjoyed it.

So I’m here today to talk about the things I did and didn’t like about this book! (There’s a lot more I didn’t like, of course.) I rarely hate the ARCs I get so I feel kind of terrible about not liking this one, but I received it for reviewing purposes and review I shall!!

Blog Tour Review: What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter // A Cute, Cheesy Romance Set in the Book Blogging World!

It isn’t every day you get to read about book blogging in an actual book.

I’ve always wanted to read about a teen book blogger like myself, and so when Simon & Schuster reached out to me about the chance to read What I Like About You, a book with exactly that, I couldn’t help but say yes!

Though I had one slight issue with the book, it felt more of a personal than universal thing, and I still had lots of fun reading this cute romance. Told in a modern, fresh voice, Halle’s story is definitely unputdownable, and you’ll find yourself loving all the relationships she forges and needing to know what happens next!!