book review

Mixing the popular tropes including sports romance, British-American culture clashing, and sports vs academic prowess, See You at the Finish Line is a M/M romance book that simultaneously feels familiar while also quite different from other similar books. Besides revolving around a less popular sport within the sports romance book genre (somewhat shocking considering two of the rowing positions are called the cox and stroke, the pun opportunities are endless), this is a romance book that prioritizes its main characters’ individual journeys and growth inspired by each other, rather than straightforward romantic coupling. Full of university-set drama and effective plotting, this book seamlessly blends romance and queer literature, telling a story with far more substance and intention than meets the eye. Endearingly sweet, well-intentioned, with just a little bit of light-hearted cringe for comedic purposes, See You at the Finish Line by Zac Hammett is a wonderful debut novel that’s a great sports novel for non-sports enthusiast as well as those looking for British university shenanigans. Before I get into the book’s strongest elements, there are a few notable elements that are worth mentioning that can be potential deal-breakers for some. While Hammett has utilized it as a very effective…

Part 1 of June C.L Tan’s planned urban fantasy paranormal duology, Darker by Four is pure YA anime/manghwa/donghua inspired goodness. An elite exorcist training academy, flashy magical spells and talismans, dangerous revenant spirits, plus visits with the local reapers and the Ten Gods of the underworld, this book is pure, unadulterated fantasy goodness. High on action, mysterious intrigue, and teenage/young adult angst, where this book may be a little lacking in emotional depth or nuance it more than makes up with consistent entertainment value. As a long-time anime fan, Darker by Four was right up my alley! Apart from its strong anime feel and presentation which I’ll get into shortly, Darker by Four’s most notable element is its incorporation of traditional Chinese folklore. In Tan’s world, qi serves as the base for one’s magical core, providing the ability to cast spells and wield spiritual weapons in addition to being able to see paranormal entities. Besides general Asian cultural references such as food and family traditions, the book’s story also heavily revolves around the Taoist mythology of the Ten Kings of Hell along with grim reapers who strongly resemble and follow the roles of the Heibai Wuchang. That said, this book…

A heist set for a mysterious magical book, a power struggle between state and church, a tense reunion between ex-partners, and legendary beings trapped and abandoned by the God of Thieves, Ruth Frances Long’s The Book of Gold has a lot of interesting concepts to say the least. The start of the Feral Gods trilogy, this book has a lot of narrative content fitted into a sub three-hundred-and-fifty-page book that is part fantasy, part 16th century historical fiction adventure. Though the story has a variety of plotlines that lay the groundwork for the series to expand on, at its core it’s a tense and strained second-chance romance between individuals standing on different sides of the law and state, all in pursuit of otherworldly power. Action and relationship oriented, the Book of Gold is a competently crafted book that despite a sense of mismanaged focus, is still a fun and light entertaining fantasy read. At first glance, the Book of Gold appears to be a simplistic rogue x knight trope applied to a fantasy heist storyline. The book has all the elements one would expect such as an unorthodox assembled ragtag heist team, economic disparity between the nobility and the common…

While historical Regency romance isn’t usually my thing, Jane Austen inspired time-traveling isekai fanfiction is a hyper-specific concept that I love. The BBC’s miniseries Lost in Austen is one of my favorite hidden gem series and when I saw the premise for The Austen Affair, I had high hopes that this book would be able to work similar magic. Fortunately, Madeline Bell’s debut novel did just that all while doing its own thing despite loose similarities and ideas. Over-the-top and laugh out loud funny, this book is an unapologetic love letter to Regency romance readers and Jane Austen fans. While the romance and character writing isn’t quite as strong as its comedic punches, this is a really fun, light-hearted guilty pleasure kind of read meant to entertain. I will openly admit that I’m not fond of Regency, or really any similar period romance novels despite understanding their popularity and appeal. However, having read Pride and Prejudice as a rare classic literature required read in high school that I didn’t hate, I have a soft spot for Jane Austen-related content. And one of my favorite Austen-related spinoff projects was BBC’s mini-series Lost in Austen that at the time, felt like an…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Atria Books via Netgalley. A romance story across time mixed with traces of speculative fiction and fantasy, Amy Tordoff’s debut novel All We Have Is Time is an accessible story filled with interesting historical fiction snapshots spread over the course of four hundred years. Time-travelers and immortal beings are two common elements separately, but this book’s unorthodox cross of the two gives it a unique spin and for its characters, different repercussions from its genre’s norm. Easy to follow and generally fast-paced in nature, All We Have Is Time is a safe pick for historical romance readers, though those looking for a strong speculative fiction storyline or deeper introspective character work may find this book underwhelming and bland. Marketed for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, at first glance All We Have Is Time appears to fly too close to the sun with what is clearly one of its inspirations and at risk of being highly derivative. Both books feature a withdrawn female protagonist cursed by a fantasy being with immortality and walking through history a shadow of a person. Both books also feature a tragic…