Hi! It’s Annie!
Sorry for the recent schedule blips. It’s really busy for us right now! It’s been way too long since I’ve done a post about books and recently I started working at a library. Books are probably going to become my career. So I feel like I need to have far more posts about books on this blog than I already do. And despite the fact that I’ve been reading like crazy recently, I’ve reviewed very few of the books that I’ve been reading despite the fact that I’ve been loving so many of them recently! A lot of the ones I’ve read recently were perfect for end of summer and beginning of Fall vibes. So this is going to be an amalgamation of suggestions of books that I’ve read that really fit into the vibes of the changing seasons. Not all of the books that I mention in this post are great, so while most of these are going to be suggestions I’ll also go into why I may have not connected so much with related or sequel books. But I hope all of these transport you somewhere for a little while if you need an escape! SOME MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
‘Daughter of the Moon Goddess’ by Sue Lynn Tan:
I’m not usually one to really like recommended books from BookTok. While I do really like romance; I especially like wholesome romance and I don’t seem to be a fan of a lot of the tropes that are usually liked on TikTok. But these books were calling my name. I mean, people were saying the two books in this series were like a C-Drama in book form, so I had to try it out. And this has to be some of the best world building I’ve seen in a fantasy series for a while. One of the things that I loved about these books were her descriptions of everything down to leaf colors and the different Kingdoms as well as the different seasons. The characters travel on clouds and spend their time in these gorgeous pavilions. Some of the Kingdoms are actually within the sea. As in underneath the sea and covered in shells and aqua colors. Some of the Kingdoms are more greenery based with waterfalls. Others are deserts based in fire. Every place they go in these books feels distinct and rich. Her flowery language in describing these places only transports you as the reader further. Xingyin is such a strong female lead and so fun to read about. The surprising part of this for me was that I liked it despite the fact that there was a true love triangle. Most K-Dramas and C-Dramas don’t have true love triangles where the main female character is equally interested in both guys. Usually they both like her, but she pretty much only likes one of them. In this she goes back and forth on them pretty consistently throughout the series. I liked both of the love interests in the first book! Liwei is the more lighthearted Prince character while Whenzi is the tougher general character. Both are really likable and you become attached to both.
The problem for me here was the second book; ‘Heart of the Sun Warrior’. ‘Daughter of the Moon Goddess’ ends with pretty much every loose thread resolved. It ends in a tidy bow. So I think I was confused when I heard that the author had planned this as a duology the entire time she was writing. The love triangle is just as strong in this book, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. I personally liked both love interests enough that I didn’t have a huge preference on who she should have ended up with, but I just wanted her to pick someone. Both of the love interests in the second book are basically interchangeable and don’t have much character development. You could probably switch all of their dialogue and it wouldn’t matter. Which is a pretty significant issue for character development. They constantly argue over her the entire time, particularly about who knows her better and which of them hurt her worse. Which are both really pointless topics. She also spends most of the book pretty in love and dedicated to one of them and doesn’t end up with him at the end for some pretty superficial reasons. I really wanted to love this book! I once again loved her descriptions of all of the places that the main characters ended up at and some of the family dynamics were beautiful! But the villain also didn’t make much sense to the plot, especially considering the last book. I didn’t hate this book, but I think I’d like to just stick to the story in the first one, personally. I felt like it was cleaner in the first one, but returning to the world was nice in the second book. I would absolutely read anything else this author puts out! I’m just not a fan of love triangles.
‘The Comeback’ by Lily Chu:
I’ve written about ‘The Stand In’ by Lily Chu on this blog before. This one is similar in that it follows a kind of K-Drama plot line. But I liked this one even better! This follows a very stressed and over-worked woman who one day comes home to find a stranger in her apartment. The stranger turns out to be a pretty famous K-Pop idol and their relationship builds before she really knows who he is. One of my favorite parts of this one was the main male love interest. I don’t feel like many romances write the male love interests to be very emotionally intelligent or openly affectionate. What I liked about this was that he was very much both! There’s not a whole lot of miscommunication between the two main characters. Though there were complaints from some readers because, while they never break up because of miscommunication, the main characters do break up not once, but twice. Fortunately, these breakups make sense. One is the fault of the female character while the other is the fault of the male character and they are both moments of character flaws that the characters have to work on to better themselves because of. By the end of the book their relationship is really healthy because both characters have worked on making themselves better and their relationship better by extension. And I just loved how adorably affectionate he was with her. There are so many cozy and cute moments of just the two of them in an apartment together, which is what gave me cool weather and Fall vibes. It’s a great romance to curl up with for the season!
‘Love and Gelato’ by Jenna Evans Welch:
This book takes place during the summer and I can absolutely see why this book is so well loved. It simultaneously fulfilled my want for a good travel book and a good romance. I know that the author spent years of her life in Italy and it really shows. There was a lot of care and love put into her descriptions of every place in Italy that the main character goes to. And the romance build up is SO good! I’m a really big fan of friends to lovers tropes, but I feel like most authors want to go for a trope that feels more exciting. The two main characters becoming best friends and then slowly realizing they love each other while exploring gorgeous places in Italy is all I’ve ever wanted. If you’re wondering where the Fall vibes come in here; I mostly thought of this book because she spends her time in Italy living in a cemetery. I’m not kidding. I can usually go either way when it comes to creepy vibes like this, but it was great! The cemetery felt just as beautiful as the other parts of Italy she described and I really want to go there now. I also really want gelato now. I guess I’m going to have to try harder to find a good gelato place semi-close to me! Don’t make the mistake that I made and watch the Netflix movie. They change so much of the plot and none of it is good. The characters are almost completely different from the book and so much worse. Definitely one of the biggest examples of “the book is better than the movie” that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. But the book is amazing and you absolutely should read it if you’ve ever even entertained the thought of traveling to Italy.
These are only some of the books I’ve read recently, but I feel like these books are the best for Fall reads. Personally, I’ve already been leaning hard into the season. I’ve already been eating pumpkin flavored foods and enjoying Halloween vibes while I pick out what I’m probably going to wear for the holiday this year. Even though it’s still nearly two months away at this point. Which is weird to think about. But, especially with my new job and related Master’s degree program, expect more frequent posts about books that I like! Because I know that there’s so many that I still haven’t talked about!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 