A List of API[A] Romance Authors That Publish Books in English

Look! A change from previous years! We’re nearing the end of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so I of course have to post a list before we run out of May. APAHM is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, APIA is Asian Pacific Islander American … and look I’m throwing everyone under this umbrella that’s peripherally involved whether they live stateside or not because reading diversely and finding new authors is good.

Melia Alexander
Bella Andre
Brittany Arreguin
Tessa Barbosa
Ruby Basu
Paulia Belgado
H. Bentham
Talia Bhatt
Suleena Bibra
Halina Cabrera
Grace Callaway
Jax Cassidy
S.A. Chakraborty
Gloria Chao (YA)
Jeannie Chin
Mary H.K. Choi (YA)
Azalea Crowley
Sylvia Day
Kali Decker
Catherine Dellosa
Sara Desai
Six de los Reyes
Sonali Dev
Piper J. Drake
Pintip Dunn (YA)
Liz Durano
Mina V. Esguerra
Vicki Essex
Hafsah Faizal (YA)
Eilis Flynn
Jen Frederick
Maan Gabriel
Elizabeth Galit
Carina Gaskell
Georgette Gonzales
Jeanette Grey
Carla de Guzman
Jenny Han (YA)
Karen Harbaugh
Farah Heron
Helen Hoang
Mia Hopkins
Amalie Howard
Ariana Jade/Arizona Tape
Uzma Jalaluddin
Julie Kagawa (YA)
Soniah Kamal
Coleen Kwan
Thien-Kim Lam
Laura Kung Jessen
Ruby Lang
Jackie Lau
Loan Le (YA)
Emery Lee
Jade Lee aka Kathy Lyons
Jayci Lee
Lyla Lee
Hudson Lin
Jeannie Lin
Lisa Lin
Dominic Lim
Marjorie Liu
Agay Llanera
Gennita Low
Jasmine Luck
Maida Malby
Arlene Manocot
Tif Marcelo
Chris Mariano
Nicola Marsh
Sandhya Menon (YA)
Courtney Milan
Anj Miranda
Bianca Mori
K. M. Moronova
Tara Pammi
Suzanne Park
Namrata Patel
Sajni Patel
Farrah F. Polestico
Cindy Pon
Tara Quan
Alisha Rai
Ashish Rastogi
Amara Royce
Jaime Ryanne
Kate Sebastian
Dhara Shah
Annika Sharma
Nisha Sharma
Mona Shroff
Nalini Singh
Sophia Singh Sasson
Royaline Sing
Camilla Sisco
Suleikha Snyder
Jesse Q. Sutanto
Cecilia Tan
Lianyu Tan
Cara Tanamachi
Marian Tee
Sherry Thomas
Melanie Ting
Julie Tieu
Gita Trelease
Jay E. Tria
Jen Trinh
Celestine Trinidad
Jen Trinh
Mia Tsai
Neely Tubati Alexander
Nisha J. Tuli
Lillie Vale (YA)
Grace Wen
Fortune Whelan
Preslaysa Williams
Ekaterine Xia
Ines Bautista-Yao
Cathy Yardley
Teresa Yea
Jennifer Yen (YA)

As always, if there’s anyone I should add (or 😱😅 anyone who wishes to be removed), please let me know! Thank you!

TBR Challenge Review: 成为怨偶的第七年 Chéng Wéi Yuàn’ Ôu De Dì Qī Nián by 宁夙 (Ning Su)

成为怨偶的第七年 (Chéng Wéi Yuàn’ Ôu De Dì Qī Nián; The Seventh Year of Being an Unhappy Couple) by 宁夙 (Ning Su)
Historical romance webnovel published in 2024

Book cover of The Seventh Year of Becoming an Unhappy Couple by Ning SuNing Jinhua and Lu Hanxiao are a match made in heaven. One is a daughter of a noble family, the other is a prince of a vassal state – childhood sweethearts, a young couple, but they ended up with a tragic ending.

Perhaps even the strongest feelings cannot withstand the erosion of time. After marriage, the young couple spent less time together and more time apart, and each felt that the other had changed. She disliked his coldness and indifference, and he disliked her indulgence and willfulness. They quarreled countless times, quarreled and made up, made up and quarreled again, and broke up and got back together, becoming a famous couple in the capital.

In the sixth year of their marriage, Ning Jinhua packed up her belongings and moved out of the mansion, while Lu Hanxiao left the capital and returned to the vassal state of southern Yunnan to tend to his father, the old prince. The couple were thousands of miles apart and had not exchanged a single letter.

Ning Jinhua thought, let it be, the young man who once held a lantern for her may have disappeared long ago. Rather than getting further tired of each other, it is better to break up. When he comes back, she will legally separate from him.

*

A year later, Lu Hanxiao stepped on a pile of corpses and became the new King of Zhennan, dominating the area. In the same year, the Ningguo Mansion in the capital was involved in a treason case and the whole family was exiled.

By the time the news reached southern Yunnan, it was the coldest month of the year. It was snowing heavily outside, with the snow was already above the ankles.

Lu Hanxiao was silent for a while, then he put on the fox fur that Ning Jinhua had sewn for him and rushed to the capital overnight.

The theme of this month’s TBR challenge is “older couple” – I’m a bit amused by how much my journey into cnovels has changed my perspective when I’m like “… sure yes a 23 year old fits.” Heh. LET ME EXPLAIN. First of all, in the time period, women/girls come of age at 15. (It’s set in made up dynasty in ancient China.) Then also, they’ve already been married for seven years – and the book goes much further, taking us well into their 40s. Anyway, they’ve also known each other for nearly eighteen years at the beginning part of the book. I did try to think of other cnovels I’ve read where the older couple would fit our current modern standards too – I know I’ve read a few, but my sieve mind has totally blanked … and more I really want to talk about this book. I have mixed feelings here, and am not entirely sure how I feel about this book, but the fact that it made me think so much will stick with me for a long time.

The universe tends to play with me – and I inadvertently pick books with similar characters/themes/tropes, entirely unknowingly. (Different authors, written at different times, so on and so forth. After reading this book I happened to pick up another with a very similar yet different heroine – so the comparison was even more stark.) Anyway, a lot of people will truly dislike this heroine. Ning Jinghua has largely had a life all of us would practically kill to get. She’s been loved, spoiled, and pampered her entire life. Her biggest blow was when her natal family was exiled … but other than losing that not entirely necessary support system, not much changed for her. (I’m over simplifying things – she had a lot going on, not the least being a secret pregnancy …) A single bowl of soup she has daily basically costs more than what an average family could live on for a year.  She makes little personal improvement, and honestly she’s never lacked for any food, shelter, or security. She is incredibly immature, and I thought it was interesting that the author actually wrote that. Most heroines in cnovels are 15-20 (or oh god, younger – though definitely not married before then …) – and they’re largely capable, often over powered. I get that’s what a lot of people are looking for and want in their leisure reading. That’s something I really enjoy as well. However, Jinghua is absolutely her age, and in fact falls far behind her peers. I’d like to note though, that it is absolutely not all her fault. Her brother bent over backwards to keep her naive, and her husband even more so. In fact at one point she realizes he likes her a bit stupid – that way she can’t and won’t interfere with what he’s doing. At that point I was like “yes ok and what do we do about it?” … but with her? Nothing. It was nothing. So what bothered me about her is that every time I thought she was finally growing or about to change… nope. Not only did she not progress it often felt like she regressed.

Not to say she’s all bad. She’s incredibly generous (though, it’s not hard to be when you’ve never had to worry about money and can basically demand endless sums … *coughs* anyway.) She rescues all the female members of her family that she can, and even provides for them. She also tries to save other acquaintances, just because she feels it’s the right thing to do. At one point she has her friend managing her dowry shops, and gets a windfall of grain and circumstances would allow her to obtain a mind blowing amount of wealth … and she tells her business partner to donate it all to her husband to feed his army because getting food in this drought has been so difficult. In fact she and her business partner friend have a falling out because of it.

Our uh, hero is Lu Hanxiao. I’ve been thinking about his character a lot, and I don’t think he’s malicious. At least, not to our girl. But the issue is … he – well it’s hard to explain. He both does and doesn’t treat her well. In part, it’s that he doesn’t know how to. He was sent to the capital as a hostage, alone, at age 8. He had to care for himself, navigate the awkwardness of his father being a vassal king, and then the mess in his own family. While not the imperial family, it was basically the same. So he’s got no real connection or affection to his father or brothers, and in fact kills most of them. (This 😅 is a very common theme in cnovels – kill or be killed. So we don’t blame him for that either.) He spent very little time with Jinghua after they got married, but he was busy trying to literally just stay alive. Not only that, but he had nothing, and has to wrack his brain to get money and resources to provide for her incredibly lavish lifestyle. That’s not to say he’s blameless – he’s incredibly controlling, I’d even save abusively so, and they are an absolute mess. Emotional support doesn’t exist for him, and he doesn’t understand the need for it. He shows his love through material things. He also can’t comprehend her insecurity in the marriage, so there’s that too.

Lu Hanxiao loves Ning Jinghua from the very depths of his being though, and wants to give her everything good in the world. He wants her happy, worry free, and to have the absolute best. (He also thinks they can live happily and wait to spend time together once he gets done with his pesky little business of you know, taking the throne.) The issue is he doesn’t listen to what she actually wants (his time and attention). And he is ten million times next level possessive. (Another common cnovel trope…) At one point he essentially puts her under house arrest, and honestly I was as upset as she was.

At this point you’re probably like “… uh, what the fuck, Lime?” And yeah – THAT’S EXACTLY IT. This was so interesting because it’s an incredibly toxic book. I was so irritated with the author, and mad at [her] for all the melodrama and angst. Had I not read another book by her that I really enjoyed not long ago, I’d probably have DNF’d it. I also kept expecting like “ok well now things are going to change for the better, right? It’s going to happen any minute!” … And nope. Not until nearly the very end. What’s wild though is chapter 122 is where I got my “yay” and after finishing chapter 124, the final one, I literally threw my head back and yelled because “THAT’S IT?! WHERE’S THE REST?! I WANT MORE!” So it was impressive in and of itself the author kept me reading.

The book actually starts basically right after the set up from the blurb. These two damn people could’ve solved so goddamn many problems if they’d just communicated. They’re both incredibly proud though, and immature – so here’s where I say the author was realistic with the age. Even though they’ve been married for seven years … they’re both still young, just in their 20s. For her, early 20s. She’s never had to face “real life” – and everyone has been telling her how great her life is, how well her husband treats her. The thing is though, they’re basically living as strangers, and she feels isolated. One of the major themes in the book is you can’t know how a person is living, or whether they’re content or not because you aren’t that person. The author takes it both ways – with everyone first thinking Jinghua is ungrateful, to then later people wanting, even hoping she steps away … but her being happy in her situation.

Like I said, this relationship is incredibly toxic. But what really hit me is … even some books you’re like “they’re toxic, and even though they love each other and are in love, they’re better apart.” Here… that’s not the case! They both want to be together! Despite the toxicity! They’re happiest in their situation! Apart, neither would be okay. He only wants her – she’s more important to everything, even the throne. She … is okay with being controlled by him. She loves him, supports him, and wants to be in this situation. I think it was eight or nine years into their marriage (they spend a lot of time apart prior to that …) they do finally talk and he makes changes – instead of unilaterally deciding things, he explains himself or the situation. It helps a lot. She also grows up a bit and realizes the universe doesn’t actually revolve around her and money does not magically appear out of thin air, and he has important things to do. (She also has three children, so that takes her time and attention. Though the holy shit twists and turns with these children.)

Spoiler (lol but I don’t care since I don’t expect any of you to read this … and if it gets adapted into a drama … welp whatever. They’ll probably change it anyway.) One of their biggest points of contention, is that Jinghua thinks Hanxiao took their oldest son away from her when he was just born to curry favor with one of the imperial concubines. She’s very jealous of that person – and the bitch is also awful and prevents her from seeing her son in all the subsequent years … – ANYWAY. She’s incredibly angry with her husband for taking away their son. And at first you’re like “yeah guy, what in the actual fuck?” But then you start getting hints like … there’s more to the situation there. So why doesn’t he just fucking tell her? … and then when you find out the ins and outs, you’re like “… 😱🙊 well… shit. Ok, I get it now.” And since none of this makes sense, let me tell you the what and why.

Jinghua (we’ve established she’s no brain trust), wasn’t having a good time after getting married. She felt neglected, and also instigated by shitty people around her, thought she’d fix her marriage by having a baby. (Yeah, we all know how that goes. But she was very young, and this was ancient China.) Anyway, she was too young. And alone. She had an extremely difficult birth, and while the book doesn’t explicitly state it, I think she had severe postpartum depression. So much so that she had a psychotic break. Further instigated by shitty family, she decides everything is hopeless, so she plans on a murder-suicide for her son. She tries to stab her infant son in the heart with a hair pin, and is about to commit suicide. Thankfully the baby cried and someone heard the fuss and ran in to stop her in time.  (She’s also entirely blocked this from her memory – so she thinks her son’s birthday is 20 days later than it actually is. When they finally reunite just before he turns six, she thinks that imperial concubine is the one who caused his horrific scar, and that’s … a whole other thing.) Anyway, her husband actually brought their son to the imperial concubine because she’s a gifted healer, and was the only person who could save him. He also leaves their son with the other woman because he’s afraid of Jinghua having a relapse, or doing something to him, and honestly he doesn’t really care about or for the son because of all these problems he’s caused and the harm done to his wife as she nearly died in childbirth. (Look I’m not saying these relationships or reasons are healthy, it’s just what it is – and I might be stating it a bit badly.)

Jinghua does eventually figure/recall out what actually happened, and feels very sorry about it. She wrongfully hated her husband for nearly six years. But … you see why he didn’t simply tell her the truth? How do you say “well I let our son be fostered elsewhere because you lost your mind and tried to murder him. You just happened to think she’s the other woman but I don’t care about her.” He’d rather her hate him and misunderstand him than upset her, or possibly set off a relapse. A good chunk of the book is like that. (And truly, fear of another psychotic break is … a good reason to not clarify things. Especially in a time when psychology basically was an unknown.)

We also have people facing the consequences of their actions. Jinghua is selfish and spoiled, so even when she’s not the one causing problems, a lot of the time Hanxiao thinks she is/was the issue. (Actually most of these things never truly become problems, because he’s so indulgent, that even if she’s wrong, he’s like “my wife is never wrong, and even if she is … no she isn’t” and sides with her.) There’s one such instance where he doesn’t believe servants are mistreating her because in his mind they’re all just subordinates, and even he defers to her ~always, so how would his underlings ever even dare to not treat her with the utmost respect? Which 🤦🏻‍♀️. Guy. But there are a lot of times where he did so much for Jinghua, and never told her, so she just doesn’t appreciate it. She does truly love him though, and is willing to give him her everything, and would never leave him. Prior to the start of the book there had been a time where she might have, but that window closed quickly.

Honestly, my most favorite character in the book is Jinghua’s older brother – but unfortunately he’s only in a tiny fraction of the book. (He offers to take her away …)

Seven Years is a really compelling story, and it really pushed my “who are you to judge” boundaries. We have a few couples where the inside and outside perspective is totally different. (And they all resolve nicely too, so I appreciated that.) A common line or variations of it was “You are not a fish, so how can you enjoy the fish’s happiness?” And I found it interesting that these various characters would urge the other to change or leave, but the other person wouldn’t, because they were where they wanted to be in life.

It’s not an easy journey of growth and relationship development, with a lot of difficult outside factors and obstacles too. He becomes the emperor in chapter 107, and there are some cold wars between them that take place that finally get them to talk and change. As I said, when the book ended I was like “noooooo.” I’d definitely be willing to read more books by this author. I actually liked the other book (Years After the Substitute Marriage) by her more, but I’m not mad at all I read this one. So much food for thought! A toxic book that … works. What a ride.

(Oh erm 😅 I feel like I should note I read this book via google translate so there’s that too. I’m pretty sure I caught any errors, but, you know.)

Grade: C- 

​Belated TBR Challenge Review: 寻郎​ (Xún Láng; Looking for a Gentleman/In Search of Love) aka 女心理师之江湖断案 (Nǚ Xīn Lǐ Shī Zhī JiāngHú Duàn Án; Female Psychologist Solving Cases in the Jianghu) by 明月听风 (Ming Yue Ting Feng ; Bright Moon Listens To The Wind)

I had to chuckle while copy/pasting the title of this post, because it might be the longest most complicated one I’ve ever had. To explain, the original title was 寻郎 … and apparently there’s a simplified version where the title was changed to 女心理师之江湖断案 – I listened to it as an audiobook on OverDrive, so I’m not entirely sure which version I listened to, although upon finding more, I think I read the latter.

寻郎 (Xún Láng; Looking for a Gentleman/In Search of Love) aka 女心理师之江湖断案 (Nǚ Xīn Lǐ Shī Zhī JiāngHú Duàn ÁnFemale Psychologist Solving Cases in the Jianghu) by 明月听风 (Ming Yue Ting Feng ; Bright Moon Listens To The Wind)
Fantasty romance set in multiple words, web novel fully published June 24, 2014

Because of course everything is complicated, there are also two blurbs. They are as follows:

Looking for Love book cover1. Su Xiaopei, an older single woman and criminal psychologist. She met the mythological matchmaker on her blind date. She was told that her destined lover’s soul had been knocked into another world due to a car accident. She had to bring this strange man back, otherwise she would live alone for the rest of her life. She thought she had met a mentally unstable individual, but when she woke up, she had arrived at her destination in her pajamas…

2. A woman without any romantic cells is told by a god of marriage, a Yue Lao, to bring back her destined love, otherwise she will live alone for the rest of her life.
But what does that stupid man look like? I don’t know.
What kind of personality? I don’t know.
What does he do? I don’t know.
Is it okay not to find him? Of course not.
Su Xiaopei, who believes that everything has logic, has hit a wall this time.

In a word: This is a story about a modern female psychology expert who goes to ancient times to fall in love with a adorable warrior and solve cases.

You know a book a book is good when you’ve read it multiple times, know exactly what happens and what is coming, and yet it still makes you cry. Every. Time. (And this isn’t even my favorite book I’ve read by this author, though it might be a close second.) It also has such an interesting premise. What if you take a woman who is “too old” (which, *eyeroll* she’s only 27, but) and totally uninterested in romance, and have her be visited by the Chinese equivalent of a Cupid who tosses her into an ancient world to find her destined mate. What happens? Hijinks! And yet there’s so much more substance to it too. You laugh, you cry, you’re mentally disturbed, the author really puts you through the wringer in this book. It’s got mystery, is a bit of a psychological thriller – different worlds and settings, there’s so much! Continue reading

TBR Challenge Review: 咸鱼继母日常 (The Laid-back Life of a Stepmother) by 明栀

咸鱼继母日常 (The Laid-back Life of a Stepmother) by 明栀
Historical [Chinese] romance published in 2023

Book Cover for The Laid-back Life of a StepmotherWen Ye, who had worked hard to become a company director in her previous life, was reincarnated as the daughter of a concubine in an ancient aristocratic family after a car accident.

After learning the truth, Wen Ye completely gave up.

She had no interest in the power struggles and favoritism within the household; she just wanted to lie down and be a lazy person, occasionally turning over.

The consequence of her laziness was that she was still unmarried at the age of twenty. Her concubine mother was extremely anxious and pleaded with the main wife.

The usually strict main wife gave Wen Ye three options:

1. A newly minted scholar

2. A cousin from the main wife’s family

3. A widowed Ministry of Justice official with children

After considering for a day, Wen Ye finally chose the third option.

Upon hearing this, the concubine mother grabbed Wen Ye and began to worry: “These days, being a stepmother is difficult. Why are you doing this? I think that new scholar is quite good.”

Wen Ye swallowed the last bite of mung bean pastry and said, “This new scholar has a cousin who grew up with him in his hometown.”

The concubine mother was speechless for a moment: “Then there’s your main wife’s cousin…”

Wen Ye took a sip of tea and said, “There are too many people in that family, with two mothers-in-law alone.”

Moreover, each branch of the family had so many concubines and aunts, and she couldn’t be bothered to serve them.

The concubine mother: “…”

Wen Ye put down her teacup and continued, “This Ministry of Justice official is different.”

The concubine mother: “How is he different?”

Wen Ye: “Both his parents are deceased, he has a carriage and a house, an elder brother and sister-in-law above him, and a son below. When I marry him, I won’t have to manage the household or bear children. As for the little one, I don’t have to worry about him either. As the saying goes, a sister-in-law is like a mother. Mrs. Lu can be considered half a grandmother to the little one.”

The concubine mother: “…”

Mrs. Lu, the sister-in-law who was only twenty-five: “…”

The topic for the TBR Challenge this month is “rizz” which is “romantic appeal or charm” and after thinking about my recent reads, this is the book that most fits. In both a romantic and general sense. The actual title/translated a bit more directly would be “The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Stepmother.” “Salted fish” also being slang – it now means “people who have no intention of doing anything” or “someone who lies there and does nothing.” It started as an insult but was adopted by people in response/as a backlash to overbearing and excessive work culture. It’s very “yay slacker” and to be honest in this world, you have to respect and celebrate it. Writing this review also had me wondering about reincarnation (not exactly something I know about, and people disagree on whether or not you “can” reincarnate into the past, but let’s leave that for another time). Continue reading

TBR Challenge Review: 灯花笑 (Deng Hua Xiao) by 千山茶客 (Qian Shan Cha Ke)

灯花笑 (Dēng Huā Xiào) by 千山茶客 (Qiān Shān Chá Kè)
Historical [romance] novel set in Ancient China published in 2023.

Cover of Deng Hua Xiao by Qian Shan Cha KeLu Tong went to the mountains to study medicine for seven years. When she returned home, she discovered that everything had changed.

Her older sister was harmed by others and murdered. Her older brother was unjustly imprisoned and executed. Her father went to the capital to voice his grievances, but encountered a suspicious flood along the way. Her mother went crazy overnight and died in a fire.

Lu Tong packed up her medicine box and went to the capital for vengeance.

“Pay back your debts with coin, pay back your murders with your life!
If there is no judge, I will be the king of hell!”

***

One after another, the noble families in the capital encountered troubles.

The commander of the Imperial Guard, Pei Yun Ying, secretly investigated the matter. A female doctor at Renxin Medical Center became his main suspect.

However… before he could find any evidence, she took action against him first. (Taken and lightly edited from NU. Original source.)

The premise/prompt for the February TBR Challenge was “Previously, In Romance… (suggestions: part of a series, author you haven’t read in a while, Old School)” and it felt like … both everything yet also nothing I’d read recently fit. So we’re going with an author I ~haven’t read in a while – who happens to be one of my favorites. (I’m also currently rewatching/background watching The Double which was adapted from one of QSCK’s novels, and it’s still such a great series and production.) Also … 😅 a book set in Ancient China is “old school” right? Anyway maybe because everything is terrible I didn’t love it as much as I expected – or more that I felt that the romance wasn’t as strong as in some of her previous books … but it’s still a really excellent story, and I have high hopes for the drama adaptation. I think all of her books have been licensed/are planned for or various stages of adaptation. I finished the book a week ago and still keep thinking about it. Continue reading

An Ongoing List of Black Romance Authors 2025

Hello friends! The world is terrible so I’m very late. My apologies. Also I haven’t read any English published romances since the end of 2023, so forgive me for not being on top of things. I have added a few names this year though, and as always please let me know about anyone who should be added! Thank you! ❤️

As always, if anyone would like to be removed from the list, please let me know and I’d be happy to do so. (Or 😬 if I got things wrong and they aren’t a romance author. I haven’t read every author on this list yet.)

And thank you, Denise, for always adding names and letting me discover new authors!

TBR Challenge Review: 被嫌弃的童养媳是锦鲤 (The Abandoned Child Bride is a [Lucky] Koi) by 尹云白 (Yin Yunbai)

被嫌弃的童养媳是锦鲤 (The Abandoned Child Bride is a [Lucky] Koi) by 尹云白 (Yin Yunbai)
Historical romance

The Wang Family’s child bride Su Wan is a lucky koi.

After Su Wan entered the Wang family, her future husband Wang Luo Sheng passed the imperial examination and the Wang family became increasingly wealthy.

But the Wang family believed that everything they had was thanks to the well-educated concubine Yang Yunyan and that the legal wife Su Wan was ignorant, clumsy, and could only bring shame to the Wang family.

Su Wan, who transmigrated into the book, was furious. She had the luck of a lucky koi but still suffered such a humiliation.

So before she married Wang Luo Sheng, Su Wan packed up her things and went to find Shen Lin, who treated her like a treasure in the book after she was divorced.

Wang Luo Sheng got rid of the ignorant child bride as he wished and made Yang Yunyan his legal wife.

However, why did his family become more and more destitute? Where were the fame and money he had in his previous life?

Wang Luo Sheng looked at the big house and the new shop that the once poor Shen family had bought in the city, and fell into confusion…

So the prompt for this month’s TBR Challenge is “New Year, Who Dis?” and I felt the last book I read, 被嫌弃的童养媳是锦鲤 (The Abandoned Child Bride is a [Lucky] Koi), where our heroine gets rid of her trash ass ex was the perfect choice. I’m a staunch supporter of “die with regrets, asshole” and this book embodies it. Look, it’s not a good January, and in the states we’re only looking at worse and worse, thus finding joy where we can is key, and this is my joy. A glow up man, a good life, calling out people for their shit, and winning in life. It’s a bit of a “turn your brain off book” and we all need that sometimes. The “who dis” vibe is strong where the toxic people are cut out of their lives completely. Continue reading

TBR Challenge Review: 逐玉 (Zhú Yù, Chasing Jade) by 团子来袭 (Tuán Zǐ Lái Xí)

逐玉 (Zhú Yù, Chasing Jade) by 团子来袭 (Tuán Zǐ Lái Xí)
Chinese historical romance published in 2023

Chasing Jade book coverAfter her parents passed away, Fan ChangYu faced a string of hardships—her childhood sweetheart broke off their engagement, greedy relatives wanted to seize her inheritance, and with a sickly five-year-old sister to care for, she decided to take a matrilocal husband in name only.

Her plan centered on a man she had saved: wounded, with nothing to his name but a strikingly handsome face. They quickly reached an agreement: she would take him in to recover, and he would pretend to marry her, helping her hold on to her family assets.

Once the family business was secure, Fan ChangYu prepared to write the divorce agreement, as promised. However, a war erupted, and soldiers were recruited; her “husband” was conscripted and vanished without a trace.

The next time she saw him, he was drenched in blood, lying in a wounded soldiers’ tent. His handsome face was smeared with blood, while his simple soldier’s uniform was torn to shreds. Seeing the hardship he had endured, Fan ChangYu’s eyes reddened with tears.

“Don’t be a soldier anymore,” she whispered, her voice choked. “Come back. I’ll slaughter pigs to support you.”

He barely opened his eyes, coughing up blood. “You… wanted a divorce…”

Her eyes filled with tears. “No divorce, no divorce!”

[Mini Theater]
Xie Zheng, the Marquis of Wu’an, became renowned at a young age, his achievements in battle granting him the title of marquis before he even turned twenty. His methods in military command were famously strict and ruthless, making him unmatched across the entire Dayin dynasty.

Recently, however, the soldiers noticed something peculiar about their marquis. He no longer resided in his spacious command tent, preferring instead to squeeze into the cramped and shabby tent designated for the wounded.

Though he’d taken a serious injury—a wound deep enough to bleed through his armor—under normal circumstances, he’d be back on his feet within a couple of days. Yet this time, he’d been lying there for over ten days with no sign of improvement.

The camp’s grizzled strategist clicked his tongue after visiting him. “Hmph. If someone is by your side to wipe your brow and feed you medicine, of course the wound takes longer to heal!”

It wasn’t until the marquis’s mysterious wife—who had never shown herself before—snuck into the barracks, wearing her husband’s tattered soldier’s uniform, and took his place on the front lines, fearing her “delicate, sickly husband” might die on the battlefield. Only then did the “gravely wounded” marquis leap up from his bed in shock, hastily don his armor, and rush to chase after her.

As the blood-red sun set, a lone goose cried across the vast sky.

With a butcher knife in hand, Fan ChangYu hacked off the enemy general’s head and squinted toward the distant friendly troops kicking up clouds of yellow dust as they approached. She pulled over a nearby soldier and asked, “The one charging at the front, wearing that bright armor with the Qilin shoulder guards and riding that big horse… why does he look a bit like my husband?”

The soldier: …Isn’t it possible that he actually is?

Naive but fierce Little Sunshine (Female Lead) vs. “That woman is so crude” to “Why doesn’t that woman like me?” Marquis Xie (Male Lead)

Just reading the book blurb/description made me chuckle again. Does it give a lot away? Sure – but actually not that much. (These books are long though this book wasn’t that long at 180 chapters including the extras, and a lot of these cnovel chapters are shorter than you’re used to.)  The author, 团子来袭, is a new favorite for me. In fact immediately after finishing this book I read another fully translated book by [her], and am eagerly waiting for the others in the works to be finished. (And hoping if she has a larger backlist they get picked up!) Anyway the theme for December’s TBR challenge is “it’s a party” and … I guess … there are parties in this book? Nothing is jumping out at me but there are various celebrations and it’s one that feels like it most fits out of my recent reads. (And yikes my reading seems to have really slowed since November which … let’s not get into why 😒.) Continue reading

Belated TBR Challenge Review: 深藏不露 (Beneath the Surface) by 退戈 (Tui Ge)

深藏不露 (Beneath the Surface) by 退戈 (Tui Ge)
Ancient Chinese historical romance

Song ChuZhao, who grew up in the border area and is unrivalled in her skills, exchanged “souls” with Gu FengJian, who lived in seclusion due to an injury in his childhood. Since then, the weak scholar Gu Wulang can ride a horse and draw a bow, and the unrestrained Song Sanniang can debate with scholars. Gu Fengjian was thinking about how to deal with it when he heard something knocking on the window pane from outside. The sound was very light and varied in pitch. It must be a stone. He walked out of the door silently, turned to the side, and sure enough, he saw the person who had been muttering just now on the high wall not far away. The two of them, one tall and one short, looked at each other from a distance, and showed extremely complicated expressions at the face that was extremely familiar to each other. Song Chuzhao’s voice trembled, and he tentatively asked: “Gu…Gu Wulang?” Gu Fengjian nodded quickly. Song Chuzhao was obviously relieved and adjusted [her] posture to make himself more stable. Gu Fengjian: “…” In his life, he never thought that his face would appear in a place like the top of the wall. – Translated from the original book page 

Or the blurb on NU:

On such a day, the fifth young master, known for his secluded scholarly pursuits and refined demeanor, accidentally revealed his mastery of martial arts and was now capable of effortlessly piercing a target with an arrow from a hundred paces.

The third young miss, raised in the untamed borderlands and unbound by convention, revealed a hidden talent. She could now debate with a room full of scholars, her wit and knowledge matching theirs blow for blow.

To everyone’s astonishment, these two had been hiding their true abilities. They were both forces to be reckoned with!

​November’s prompt is “it came from the 1990s” and … knowing absolutely nothing about the author let’s just pretend she was born in the 90s. That’s my prompt connection. I already skipped October’s “Spooky (Gothic)” because I felt nothing matched as much as Carrying a Lantern in Daylight so, yeah. Anyway, Beneath the Surface was an absolute delight. It might just come in second as one of the softest sweetest books I’ve read in my c[romance] novel journey, and that’s really saying something. If not clear, we’re talking about a body swap romance. And the most perfect delightful one. Imagine if you swapped bodies with the person most suited to fill in all your “deficiencies.” That’s what we’ve got going on with our pair. And they overall have the most wonderful, loving families – which also (sadly) isn’t something you see too often in cnovels. Anyway I loved this book and I know I’ll absolutely be re-reading it. I also keep clicking on the author’s name in NU hoping there will be more books for me – another historical, but no such luck yet. Alas. Another important thing is I think this book would be a great introduction or onramp to reading cnovels – nothing too difficult to accept culturally. Continue reading

A Working List of Native American Romance Authors

Hi friends, my apologies for being late on this! Happy Native American Heritage Month!
You may know I’ve been pretty “away from things” for the past year+ so this list hasn’t changed. As always I’m looking for more people to add – so if you know anyone please hit the comments, thank you!

Xio Axelrod
Maggie Blackbird
Marcella Bell
Christina Berry
Isobel Carr/Kalen Hughes
Pamela Clare
Louisa Cornell
Robin Covington
Kari Lynn Dell
Cynthia Eden
Yasmine Galenorn
T. J. Michaels
Danica Nava
V. S. Nelson
Alex Powell
Sharon Sala
Pamela Sanderson
Cynthia Leitich Smith (YA)
Dee Tenorio
Kristine Wyllys