romantasy – tender curiosity

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

I’ve been meaning to read this one for a while now as it gets a lot of love on Bookstagram. I was even more excited because the synopsis included “For fans of Leigh Bardugo, V. E. Schwab, and Fullmetal Alchemist” – all of my favorites! Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood especially is one of my favorite anime of all time and I couldn’t wait to see the inspo. It’s safe to say this book does indeed live up to the hype.

BOBH introduces the most unique magic system I’ve ever read – coding magic. Mages use a spellograph which is essentially a magical typewriter, and must code spells in order to perform magic. This is where Fullmetal Alchemist comes in – if you’re familiar – the law of equivalent exchange: to gain something, one must lose something of equal value. In order to perform these spells, the mages must siphon an equal amount of energy required for it…from somewhere. That’s where it gets crazy.

Sciona becomes the first woman to become a highmage in a terribly sexist high magistry of elite mages. There, she begins to uncover the darkest secrets among the most powerful. Dark academia vibes, an intricate magic system, and a deeper dive into themes of sexism, racism, and colonialism. M.L. Wang is a phenomenal storyteller.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Great Big Beautiful Life leans more on women’s fiction than Henry’s usual romances and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved the premise of two writers competing to write a tragic heiress’; Margaret Ives, life story. The chapters alternate between present and Margaret’s past, unfolding a bigger mystery as to why they were all on that island. I ADORED the grumpy x sunshine dynamic between our two writers, and because of the nature of the story alternating between past and present, there’s a slow burn romance. At some point Margaret’s family tree got a little confusing as we went through her great grandfather, grandfather, parents etc, but I rather like the Taylor Jenkins Reid vibes it gave me. By the end, my heart was full. It was just the book I needed after going into book depression from Blood Over Bright Haven. Thank you so much to libro.fm for the audiobook! The narrator, Julia Whelan, was perfect!

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

An unexpected favorite from Q2! I knew I’d enjoy the story but I didn’t expect to love it so much. It was fun, lighthearted (for the most part), and even relatable in many ways. Right off the bat the academic rivals tension between Alice and Henry was palpable. At an elite Beijing international boarding school where Alice, the only student there on a scholarship, can no longer afford to attend, she comes up with a creative plan to make money – an illegal business proposition, if you will, to use her invisibility to spy and get information/evidence for the rich students — all in partnership with her rival, Henry. It’s giving academic espionage. Of course, things never go as planned, and that’s where it gets fun!

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

I had high hopes for this one but it didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting. Is it whimsical, dreamlike, and Studio Ghibli-esque? Absolutely. You travel to alternate worlds and timelines by jumping through puddles, conjure daydreams and trade your regrets which becomes birds. Everything about this book feels magical. But that’s kind of all there was. Atmosphere, vibes, and a vibrant world of magical realism. The substance was…lacking? The romance also felt off for me. I wanted to love this, but I needed more from the story.

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

This book was…something LOL. It is very much an Olivie Blake book. Succession with magic – three siblings vying for their father’s Wrenfare Magitech company worth billions. This inheritance game gets MESSY. Their family is almost as dysfunctional as my family, and that’s saying a lot. There’s drama, greed, ambition, and some incredibly unlikable main characters. The first half of the book was absorbing in the most WTF way, but things kind of fall off after that. I think it would make a great HBO show to watch, but the story itself reads pretty slow. It’s entirely a character-motivated story. I think I went through every emotion in this family saga – disgust, shock, excitement…get ready for a slow simmering chaos.

Villains are Destined to Die by Suol and Gwon Gyeoeul

When I started grad school I basically stopped reading everything I loved, including manhwa/webcomics. What better way to get back into it by rereading one of my favorite villainess isekais? Penelope gets transported into a game she was playing…except she isn’t the heroine of the game, she’s the villain. I hated everyone for treating her terribly, but Penelope really transforms the character in the best way. The art is stunning, the story makes it impossible to just stop after 1 volume – I ended up staying up until 3am continuing (goodbye sleep schedule). This will forever be one of my favorites!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

This was another one that I wanted to love but it just didn’t work out for me. It definitely felt like a me problem not a book problem. I think it was because it was last in my string of science fiction reads and I was getting burnt out on the genre, so I had a hard time focusing on the story. It’s a somewhat comical novella about a murderbot that hacked its own system so it could be self-aware. It couldn’t really care less about it’s job to protect a team of scientist on some distant planet, preferring to spend time in isolation watching a TV show. But of course, there’s danger afoot on this planet – what will this murderbot do now with free will? I’m definitely going to give book 2 a try when I’m back in a sci-fi mood! I love the premise of this world, it was just the wrong time to read it.

That makes 7 books! I’m incredibly happy to be reading consistently again and picking up all the things I once loved now that I’m done with grad school. Thank you for reading and see you in the next blog! Expect to see more reads from me soon 🙂

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I read science fiction every once in a while, but I didn’t know this was hard sci-fi and let’s just say I spent the first quarter of the book confused by the scientific information overload. Astrophysics? Energy transfer? Astrophage? I’m just a casual reader! Once it started clicking, I gained more interest in the story, but the pacing felt a little too slow in the middle for my liking. Despite my lukewarm feelings on the first half, I LOVED the last quarter of the book. I never thought I’d love an alien rock-spider thing so much? The buddy dynamic between Rocky and Ryland had my whole heart. Rocky really carried this entire book. If you like incredibly high stakes (the sun is infected and gradually leading earth into an ice age), space exploration, missions to save earth, and unexpected friendships across galaxies, then this book is for you!

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year! I loved Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess so I was excited to dive back into her lush and magical world. It was marketed as enemies to lovers, one of my favorite tropes!! Except…it wasn’t quite what I was imagining. Right off the bat the romance felt like it was building really fast…too fast? And then a plot twist blindsided me! The rest of the book felt more like reluctant allies than enemies. Nonetheless, I enjoyed diving into the vibrant world of divine politics and mercurial immortals. I really grew to enjoy how cdrama-esque it felt. I used to watch cdramas growing up so it was nostalgic in a way.

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

This has got to be one of the most hyped book in recent years. Was I curious? A little — but I had no intentions of getting the book any time soon. Lo and behold, my cousin got me a copy so I felt obligated to read it since it’s her all time favorite series. Does it live up to the hype? In some ways, yes! The dragons, the war college setting, and exciting trials alone made it such an entertaining read. The overarching plot was also interesting and felt very weighty? The ending had me SHOOK. What I did not enjoy, and I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, was the romance. It just wasn’t for me!

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I seldom read self-help books I heard a lot of great things about this one and wanted to incorporated a little nonfiction into my repertoire. The beginning was incredibly boring. In fact, I was close to DNF’ing this many times. But I pushed on, and started to gain interest in the psychology behind habits. To save you the time, here were some of the key ideas that stuck with me from this book:

If you start with small and simple habits on a daily basis, over time there will be significant change
Cues can trigger good AND bad habits, i.e. if you pull out your phone and see Tiktok in front of you, you’re more likely to start scrolling. I actually used this to stop doomscrolling on Tiktok altogether by just moving it into a hidden folder and adding a 10 minute daily limit
Discipline & environment > motivation. Motivation is overrated and environment is more important. If your environment has a lot of good cues, then you will find yourself practicing good habits more often. The great thing is you can shape your own environment!
Consistency is key

4 books down! This is the most I’ve been able to read in a very long time and I’m on track for my reading goal so I’m quite happy!! As always, thank you for reading and see you in the next blog!