en-US Wed, 07 Aug 2024 13:45:51 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review6738578254 Wed, 07 Aug 2024 13:45:51 -0700 /review/show/6738578254 Hsinju gave 5 stars to Sheine Lende (Elatsoe, #0) by Darcie Little Badger


i read sheine lende earlier this year (in april 2024), and i loved getting to know more about elatsoe's grandmother. this can be read as a standalone.

i loved the mystery and tension of shane's mother's disappearance, of many near-death experiences throughout this story. i loved the familial bond and friendship and community throughout time. it's packed with adventure and suspense, but i think what grounded me the most to the story was the love and support the lipan apache mc (and some scs) have toward each other and their local community.

also if you loved kirby in elatsoe, get ready for nellie (and more!) in sheine lende.

unrelated but please read dr. little badger's . ]]> Review6533955854 Sat, 25 May 2024 20:10:22 -0700 /review/show/6533955854 Hsinju has read Funny Story (Audiobook) by Emily Henry
bookshelves: 2024-read
This is my third Emily Henry book, and maybe it's because I just finished it and the memory is still fresh, but I might love this more than Happy Place and Book Lovers.

Daphne Vincent (33) and Miles Nowak (36) became roommates when Daphne's ex-fiancé Peter dumped her after his bachelor's party and got together with his childhood best friend Petra, who was Miles' girlfriend at the time. As Daphne looks to get out of small town Michigan (but only after a library readathon she's hosting in the near future), Miles promises to show Daphne around the town, as she never got to go anywhere with Peter. With family drama blowing through the two roommates, they have to fight for their bond and the friendship that is shifting into sexual territories.

We do love a story where the characters struggle with childhood trauma. With a father who had been largely absent during Daphne's childhood, she felt like she was always waiting to be chosen, waiting to be important enough so her dad (or, really, anyone else in her life other than her bestie of a mother) would stay, and moving around growing up definitely didn't help. Miles struggled with protecting his little sister Julia from their mother's emotional abuse, but his childhood had also led him to being very rarely riled up even by the worst things, not necessarily in a good way.

Daphne and Miles are two people who have seen each other at their worst, and I think that's what made their bond so strong. For most of the book, they weren't dating each other. They go on cute friend dates where Miles, a scruffy charming guy, showed Daphne around the town, half of whose population he had befriended with. They get to see one another being in their realm — Daphne doing story hours for children at the library and Miles making friends with strangers of all ages — and gradually, their fake relationship that Daphne panic-lied to Peter about became very, very real.

Miles showed Daphne how to build a life not just with him but also without him, unlike how Daphne's life used to circle around Peter's when they'd been a couple. Fellow librarian Ashleigh (Persian) also played an important role in Daphne's life: being her friend who sticks around.

If Narnia is also one of the books you've read growing up, you'd definitely appreciate the mention of it in the story. Also shout out to Daphne being very adamant about audiobooks count as reading, because, duh, of course it does.

My head canon is that Daphne is autistic and Miles is demisexual. There are also various queer minor characters: Barb and Lenora are definitely an older lesbian couple, and Cherry Hill founders are husbands.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan, and it was awesome. ]]> Review6524274378 Wed, 22 May 2024 12:38:48 -0700 /review/show/6524274378 Hsinju gave 5 stars to Dear Wendy (Audiobook) by Ann Zhao
bookshelves: 2024-read, 5-star, absolute-faves, asian, audiobook, fiction, lgbtq-aroace, lgbtq-trans-enby, new-adult, own-hardcopy, chinese-american
this was amazing and so cute!! i love how platonic love is described and shown in dear wendy and i feel like the story healed something in me as an aroace-spec person! this is the not-romance book i didn't know i needed, and i want more of these stories!

listened to the audiobook and it was great! would def recommend! i'd also want to read it again in print to see how the instagram posts and other media were formatted

maybe i'll have a more coherent review soon, but these are my thoughts as of now ]]> Review4490219457 Mon, 19 Feb 2024 14:19:00 -0800 /review/show/4490219457 Hsinju has read He Who Drowned the World: A Novel (Audible Audio) by Shelley Parker-Chan
bookshelves: 2024-read, asian, audiobook, fiction, historical, lgbtq-achillean, lgbtq-sapphic, lgbtq-trans-enby, lgbtq-aroace, own-audiobook, retelling, specfic-fantasy
all characters really said, “*fuck around* and find out!” ]]> Review6255198339 Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:30:24 -0800 /review/show/6255198339 Hsinju has read Check & Mate (Audiobook) by Ali Hazelwood
bookshelves: 2024-read, audiobook, fiction, lgbtq-sapphic, new-adult, romance
oh to love something as deeply as mallory and nolan love chess — ]]> Review5919438044 Sun, 11 Feb 2024 14:40:18 -0800 /review/show/5919438044 Hsinju gave 5 stars to No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs (Audiobook) by Nury Turkel
bookshelves: 2024-read, asian, 5-star, history, biography-memoir, nonfiction, politics, social-sciences
everyone should read this book

rtc.

]]> Review4468224829 Tue, 30 Jan 2024 07:02:38 -0800 /review/show/4468224829 Hsinju has read Daughter of the Moon Goddess (The Celestial Kingdom Duology, #1) by Sue Lynn Tan
bookshelves: 2024-read, asian, audiobook, fiction, librofm, specfic-fantasy, romance, own-audiobook, mythology
i know it's xingyin's life and all, but this was so much fun!! i especially loved the side character shuxiao ? ]]> Review6206808632 Fri, 26 Jan 2024 20:12:11 -0800 /review/show/6206808632 Hsinju has read Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (Audiobook) by Chen Chen
bookshelves: 2024-read, asian, audiobook, biography-memoir, chinese-american, lgbtq-achillean, poetry
omg this was so good??? familial love as trauma and wordplay across mandarin and english??? and gay? everything i’ve wanted in a poetry collection ]]> Review6055872337 Wed, 10 Jan 2024 23:52:56 -0800 /review/show/6055872337 Hsinju has read 雖然想死, 但還是想吃辣炒年糕: 身心俱疲, 卻渾然不覺, 一位輕鬱症女孩與精神科醫師的12週療癒對話, 陪你擁抱不完美的自己 (Paperback) by Baek Se-hee
bookshelves: 2024-read, asian, biography-memoir, mental-health, nonfiction, own-hardcopy, read-in-chinese, self-help, translated-work
i think i read this at the right time (read: when i'm having regular breakdowns) & i'm looking forward to picking up book 2 ]]>