Spin the Dawn ( Spoiler Free ) Review

Title: Spin the Dawn
Author: Elizabeth Lim
Series: The Blood of Stars #1
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Date Read: 8/26/19


Spin the Dawn is sold as Project Runway meets Mulan and usually when books are sold as similar to Mulan, it is not, but this one, I could see the similarities and I do agree with this sales pitch of the book.

We follow Maia who is the daughter of a tailor and when a royal messenger summons her father to compete for the position to become the imperial tailor, she poses as a boy and takes his place. She is also given the impossible task of sewing 3 dresses, made out from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars.

This book takes place in a fantasy world that is inspired by East Asia and there are quite a few cultural references that I recognized and really appreciated when reading. As an East Asian myself, I defiantly want to read more fantasy books inspired by it.

The romance in this book is hate to love and I really enjoyed it. I usually find myself thinking romances are eh or not necessary but I really ship this one and I love the banter between the two characters. I really wanted them to be together but at the same time I wanted them to not be because I loved the bickering and wanted more of it.

The ending left me wanting more and I really wished I read this later because now I have to wait a year till the next book comes out and I need to know what happens next like now. I am glad I read it and highly recommend this book and will be continuing on with the series.

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Contemporary Book Recs

Edit: I was suppose to post this in July, but completely forgot. Whoops. So here are contemporary recs in October even though most of these are cute summer reads.


Hello everyone! Today I will be recommending some of my favorite contemporary reads since summer is here, or at least it is summer where I live, and I love reading contemporary during this season. I really enjoyed all of these and hope that if you pick any of them up that you will too!


The first book I am recommending is Love, Life, and the List by Kasie West. Kasie West is a pretty well known for her fluffy YA contemporaries. Based on all the book I have read by her, they are either a hit or miss for me. Love, Life, and the List is my personal favorite and I absolutely devoured this book when I read it. We follow a girl name Abby who enters her artwork into this art show but gets rejected because apparently her art does not have enough heart. She creates a to do list in order to gain experiences and improve her art work throughout the summer. This book also has the friends to lovers trope which is quite a popular trope that people really enjoy. If you want something quick and easy to read, this is definitely the perfect book to read, especially for those who are wanting to get ahead of or catch up on on their reading challenge.


The next book is an older release and that is Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen. Like Kasie West, Dessen is also another very popular YA contemporary author, yet I do not hear people talking about this book that often. In this book we follow the main character Auden as she spends her summer with her father and stepdaughter in a town called Colby. Auden is a straight A student and lives with her mother who works at a university resulting in Auden's life being very academic based. This book has a cute romance while also dealing with self discovery. I love how Sarah Dessen books are always realistic and the things that happen in them feel like they could happen in real life.


Another recommendation I have is Pride by Ibi Zoboi. This is a modern day Pride and Prejudice retelling that takes place in Brooklyn New York. We follow Zuri who is Afro-Latino. The rich Darcy family moves across the street and Zuri is not very happy about that. Her sister starts falling for one of the brothers and Zuri cannot stand the other brother Darius. There are so many similarities to the original story of Pride and Prejudice while at the same time having enough differences to make it its own story. It is a diverse read for those who are looking to diversify their reading as well.


The final book I am recommending in this post is Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson. Morgan Matson is such a well known contemporary author and this one is one of my favorites of her works so far. I have read all of her books that are released so far and they are all really good. Since You've Been Gone follows a girl name Emily who is an introvert and is known as the friend of her best friend Sloane who is extremely extroverted. Her best friend leaves with no traces except for a to-do list for Emily to complete over the summer. She decides to complete the list in hopes of it giving her clues to where Sloane went. This was such a cute book and I actually ship the ship which does not usually happen.


Those are some of my contemporary book recommendations. If I were to recommend all of my favorites then this post would be very long so keep an eye out for part two in the future. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you in my next post!

Ace of Shades (Spoiler Free) Review

TTitle: Ace of Shades
Author: Amanda Foody
Series: The Shadow Game #1
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read:  8/4/19

Ace of Shades was such a surprising read for me, in a good way. I read her debut novel last year and enjoyed it (3 stars) and I wanted to give her second book a chance as well since I heard even better things about it and the concept seemed very intriguing. Turns out I really enjoyed it and had such a fun time reading it and now want the sequel, which thank goodness is already out.

This book follows Enne Salta who travels to the City of Sin to find her mother. The only clue to her is the name Levi Glaisyer, a street lord and a con man. The City of Sin is sort of reminds me of Vegas. I found the world unique and interesting as well.

Out of all the characters my favorites were Levi and Lola. Enne was extremely annoying in the beginning but she grew on me more and more as the story went on. In fact, all the character became better people.

I wished the Shadow Game was explained better as I found the game to be a little confusing. I wanted to know the rules and what it was in general. In the beginning it is just referred to The Shadow Game with little information other than no one survives it. At the end of the book we do learn a lot more about it but I do wish it was explained better.

When I first started reading this book, I will admit I was a bit bored and the story was slow. It took me about 50 pages before I became fully invested in the book. But once I was hooked, the book was hard to put down.

Overall I do recommend this and it is definitely and underrated read. I think Foody's world building, characters and writing were improved from her debut and do recommend you give this one a try even if you did not like Daughter of the Burning city.

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Top Ten [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: Top Ten
Author: Katie Cotugno
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read: 6/25/19

Top Ten is a book that I have heard a lot of mixed things about and was hesitant to read it. Many people really enjoyed it but I also heard a ton of negative reviews and I am so happy to find myself being one of those who actually enjoyed it and I think it was because I was in the mood for a fun quick contemporary read.

Top Ten follows Gabby and Ryan who are best friends since freshman year in high school. Now graduated. One of the things they do is make top ten lists of random things so they decide to recall the top ten moments of their friendship.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that their friendship is not perfect. It is evident that both characters truly care about each other, but they argue and get mad at each other which are things that happen in real life and I enjoyed how their relationship was not always cookie cutter perfect.

One of the main characters, Gabby also has anxiety and it is mentioned throughout the book and does play a role in the story. I really appreciated how her anxiety was not just mentioned once and never touched upon again. It was part of who she was and I appreciated how we could see how it affected the choices that she made and some of her everyday struggles and I did relate to some of the choices that she makes. Gabby is also bisexual and I had no idea about that going into the book. I do not know if the representation was good as I am not an own voices reviewer but I did not see any problematic issues when reading.

The one thing I wished this book did was instead of having the top ten moments as a countdown from 10-1 it was mixed up and told in chronological order. I feel like if it was told that way, the story would of been more enjoyable and easier for some people to follow.

Overall I do recommend this book hesitantly mainly because I know that it is not for everyone. But if you are craving a contemporary and this book does appeal to you, definitely give it a chance. I will hopefully be able to read another Katie Cotugno book before summer ends as this was the perfect summer read.

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Girls of Paper and Fire [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: Girls of Paper and Fire
Author: Natasha Ngan
Series: Girls of Paper and Fire #1
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read: 6/24/19

Girls of Paper and Fire is a book I heard a lot about ever since it came out. I heard mostly good things about it and really wanted to give it a shot and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it.

This book is an Asian inspired fantasy following a girl name Lei who has golden eyes. As a result she one day gets chosen to become one of the kings paper girls and taken from her home. However, she is the ninth paper girl and usually only eight are selected. Lei does not want to be a paper girl and throughout her time as a one, she starts to fall for one of the other paper girls. Yes there is a f/f romance in this book.

This book does have a trigger warning for rape and sexual assault as well. It also says it explicitly in the beginning of the book before the book even starts so only read this if you are in the right head space to handle the subject matter.

The beginning was slow. I feel like I have been saying that about a lot of the book I have been reading lately, but it is true. It took me several chapters to understand the world and to become invested in the story and the characters. Once I pushed through that point, I was invested in the book and flew through the rest of the book because I had to know what would happen next.

I wished some of the side characters got more character development because I really knew nothing most of the other paper girls and most were very forgettable. I thought that the paper girls would all have a stronger friendship then they actually had and was slightly disappointed by that.

Overall I do recommend this book especially if you are looking for a diverse fantasy read. I definitely will be reading the sequel when it comes out and so am so glad that I finally picked this book up!

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The Truth About Forever [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: The Truth About Forever
Author: Sarah Dessen
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read: 6/19/19

Since it is summer and I have been craving a contemporary I finally decided to pick up another Sarah Dessen book. Sarah Dessen is an author that has so many contemporaries released and the ones I have read so far, for the most part, I really enjoyed. I do hope to pick up another one of her books before summer is over.

The Truth About Forever follows a girl name Macy who lives a perfect academic life. Her boyfriend is the top student in the school. She is also very studious, studying for the SATs all summer and helping her boyfriend out working at the local library while he is at brain camp. She and him are very type A. Macy also gets an unexpected catering job where she meets new friends and starts to get out of her shell. In this book (before the book starts) it is mentioned that her father passed away and it mentioned and does affect the family throughout the story.

The one thing I love about Dessen's books is that they are realistic, have important messages, the characters grow, and family usually plays an important role in it. Yep, parents do exist. I feel like in every YA contemporary book I read, the parents are usually absent which I think their presence in this book and Dessen's other books, make them more realistic.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book and they all have distinct personalities. They were each their own person and I could tell them all apart no problem. Macy went through a lot of character development and self discovery in this book and it can easily be seen how she became the person she is at the end of the book.

Overall I do recommend this and I will be reading other books by the author in the future!

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Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating [ Spoiler Free ] Review

Title: Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
Author: Christina Lauren
My rating: 4/5 stars
Date Read: 5/27/19

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating was a very surprising read for me. I picked this one up because it seemed like a quick and easy read I could fly through and that was what I needed at the moment. I was surprised on how much I enjoyed the book and now want to read all the Christina Lauren books.

This is an adult romance following Josh and Hazel who are great friends and have a pact in a way not to date each other. They also double date, setting each other on blind dates that for some reason always go wrong. This book is obviously friends to lovers trope but I actually enjoy that trope so it did not bother me at all.

Josh is Korean and I cannot speak for the Korean representation but I will say that I though Hazel was a but racist when it came to the pronunciation of Josh's Korean name. To me it felt like she was not trying to pronounce it right but I am not an own voices reviewer on the rep and cannot say anything about it. Other than that though, I did not see any problems about race.

I will say the first 3/4 of the book were really strong but the end of the book was kind of eh. I felt like a lot of unnecessary drama was introduced and it kind of ruined the book for me towards the end which is why I did give this book 4 stars instead of 4.5.

Overall I really did enjoy this book and will read other books by Christina Lauren. If you are looking for a cute fun adult romance to read definitely check this book out. Sorry if this review is kind of eh. I took the SATs the day I am writing this and my brain is still fried.

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