B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C Reviews / C- Reviews#ownvoices / Alternate POV / Asian Americans / Cancer / caregiver burnout / Chinese American heroine / Contemporary / dysfunctional family / family relationships / fiction with strong romantic elements / First-Person / musician / neurodiverse / neurodiversity / POC / POC author / Vietnamese Americans / Womens-Fiction13 Comments
When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, a hurt and angry Anna decides that ... more >
A- Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / diversity / dragons / f/f / Fairyland / Fantasy / fiction with strong romantic elements / LGBTQIA+ / Magic / magical powers / Malaysia / POC / POC author / Regency England / SFF8 Comments
Dear Ms. Cho, Three and a half years ago, Sunita and I reviewed your first novel, a regency-set fantasy titled Sorcerer to the Crown. I liked it enough to request an ARC of the sequel, The True Queen. I have to admit, though, that I was a little apprehensive because ... more >
A- Reviews / Recommended Readsabuse survivor / fiction with strong romantic elements / Glasgow / humorous / loneliness / office worker / Scotland9 Comments
Dear Ms. Honeyman, Is your debut novel literary fiction, women’s fiction, or romance? Its trenchant humor is almost enough to put it in the first category, its focus on a lonely woman’s relationships with her work colleagues and other acquaintances would no doubt prompt many to place it in the ... more >
B Reviews1980s / dystopian / fiction with strong romantic elements / geek / geek culture / near-future / popular culture / video games / YA science fiction17 Comments
Dear Mr. Cline, Your 2003 2011 novel, Ready Player One, was aptly described by USA Today as “Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.” Much like Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ready Player One begins with an impoverished boy obsessed with a worldwide contest. Wade Watts loves ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ Reviewsadventure / Boxer Rebellion / China / engineer / fiction with strong romantic elements / POC / POC author / Scientist / steampunk27 Comments
Dear Ms. Lin, I’ve enjoyed your recent historical romances very much, so when I saw you would be writing a new series set in a steampunk world based on China during the era of the Boxer Rebellion, I requested a copy for review. The heroine and narrator of Gunpowder Alchemy ... more >
C+ ReviewsContemporary / fiction with strong romantic elements / Marquess / Regency England / Time-Travel / values conflict6 Comments
Dear Ms. Ridgway, In his book The Art of Fiction, the late author John Gardner wrote: …whatever the genre may be, fiction does its work by creating a dream in the reader’s mind. We may observe, first, that if the effect of the dream is to be powerful, the dream ... more >