Not Your Valentine

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Thanks NetGalley, the author and publisher for having this available as an ARC.

I had so much fun reading this book. Helen’s internal thoughts had me laughing a lot! The whole premise with her ex dumping her on Valentine’s Day and have that break up go viral would be so devastating! In todays world, that really could happen, which is a bit sad as no one’s personal life should be on display like that!

I thought Taylor was so cute! Their friendship or should I say conversation did seem a bit odd when they met for lunch. It seemed as though Taylor was a bit short in his answers. I thought maybe he was reserved and when Helen asked to fake date, it’s like it opened his personality. I guess we found out later why that was.

I thought the pacing was good and length of the book was perfect. Loved Helen’s mum as it just reminded me of a typical Asian parent. Would have loved more scenes with Helen’s friends, so if this is made into a series, I’d be there for it.

This is easily a read that can be done in a few hours because it flowed so well.

The Gravity of Existence

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Thank you NetGalley for my ARC copy.

I didn't mind the darkness of the poetry. The science fiction section was probably my favourite with life outside of Earth. It felt to me a bit more relatable.

I did feel if some of the poems were longer, I would have appreciated it more. If it delved just a bit more deeper that would have been my preference, but I still understood the message that was coming across.

Definitely can see why this isn't for everyone.

Where Wild Peaches Grow

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Thanks NetGalley, the author and publisher for my ARC copy.

I definitely have mixed feelings on this book as I was close to DNFing purely because of the story. I’m giving this 2.5 stars.

Let’s start with the positives:

- I thought the book was well written

- The overall message about making amends and leaving the past behind is something we can all learn

- I was happy that the characters grew at the end

I don’t read blurbs and the cover intrigued me. As I read the opening chapters, I thought to myself, what grudge would you have to not talk to your family for 20 years? It’s got to be something particularly bad right? When it was about halfway through the book (or more), that we find out Nona’s grandmother and Ruby that meddled with Nona’s plan to elope, only for Nona to blame her dad and sister, I was like whaaat? I thought to myself, why wouldn’t Nona just take the time to listen to her dad when he came to Chicago? Why would she not talk to her family because of that? Also, why didn’t she contact Marcus and figure it out when he didn’t meet with her? It just doesn’t make sense. For grandma Opal to not reveal the truth over all the time they talked on the phone… it just all could have been avoided without miscommunication and misunderstanding. I’m not sure I particularly like this trope. It makes the characters come across as immature.

There was too much back and forth of - should I / shouldn’t I talk to her and should I avoid them between the sisters. Some parts of the story felt repeated because of it. The ending felt rushed and it was left open ended in parts. It would have been good for Julia to see Cat and for the sisters to meet their brother Ben together as I think it would have wrapped up the story a little better.

I’m still trying to get over the fact Nona wouldn’t speak to her sister for 20 years because she thought Julia revealed her elopement secret to their dad, which didn’t happen. It seems too far fetched to me. I definitely understand Julia’s point of view of feeling abandoned and that’s why she couldn’t pick up the phone, but because it impacted Nona THAT much, she could have unleashed her anger through a conversation and realised what she knew was wrong.

Before I Let Go

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I read this as part of a book club and I’m thankful for having a few chapters to read each day. The content did get heavy at times and taking a break was welcomed.

Yasmen and Josiah are a divorced couple who suffered a loss of a child and also a very close Aunty in quick succession. Yasmen went through a deep depression, whilst Josiah didn’t take the time to grieve. Josiah didn’t believe in therapy and talking to a professional, burying any trauma he’s ever experienced deep within. Yasmen and Josiah are still in each others lives as they have 2 children and also run a restaurant business together. As Josiah attempts to move on with someone new, are they both really ready to depart the love they once had or will old feelings start to resurface?

This book was a beautiful read for me. I can understand why some may not like this read, as the couple in the story could have worked things out with proper communication, having their own time to grieve and also needed the tools to work through their grief.

My heart broke reading about the loss of a child that Yasmen had to experience. I especially liked the research the author did with those who had this experience and even sought therapists out who may have helped those with such a significant loss.

Everyone wants to hate Josiah because he thought therapy was bollocks. My friend told me that this stigma is held for black men (something I didn’t know), so it makes sense that he thought it wasn’t going to help him nor Yasmen. He only thought her meds did the job, but when he eventually goes himself, he has such a profound experience and realises he was wrong.

I think Yas definitely wanted Josiah to express himself. He didn't know how and that stemmed from when his parents died. He buries it deep and didn't have the tools to cope or grieve properly. If Josiah didn’t hold the stigma surrounding therapy, used a therapist to digest his parents death when he was younger, he wouldn’t have held the "life moves on" mentality. So it was the same application to the loss of Byrd and Henry.

I think what drove Yas for divorce was also that Josiah kept tiptoeing around her and treating her like she was precious. She didn't know their business was not going smoothly and they had no money in the bank to pay for lawn mowing. I felt as if he threw her depression back in her face by painting over that nursery wall. Josiah felt like it wasn't productive sitting there every day, day in day out. I think he felt like she needed to stop and come back to reality. He didn't understand depression, so therefore had judgement from a practical point of view. Yasmen was all emotional. So really he lacked emotional intelligence. They were two opposite people at the time. They weren't going to work out if they continued that way, so I think Yas thought divorce was the only solution for self healing from such a devastating loss.

Kaseem was such a sweetheart and the whole time I was thinking “what is Deja’s problem?”. I knew it wouldn’t come easily and we got our answer towards the end of the book. I think a child can hold anger when they don’t really understand fully what’s going on. If you only hold a certain piece of information, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and can be very confusing for the child. Overall, I thought for how well Yasmen and Josiah were co-parenting, they had pretty decent children. Deja holding attitude was within her own reasoning.

I think this book is really raw and emotional. It embraces a topic that maybe not many people would know about or relate to, but is as real as it gets for those suffering loss and depression. I would recommend not reading this book if those are triggers for you.

Last Tang Standing

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I really wanted to like this book and was actually going to DNF, though reading through the mixed reviews, I thought I’d proceed anyway. There may have been moments I skimmed read.

Let’s start with what I liked… I thought the author’s writing was engaging, witty and fun. I liked her style and would love to check out her other work. The main reason why I bought this book was because it was set in Singapore and my heritage is there. I like to have representation and support BIPOC authors. The premise intrigued me - Andrea Tang being a 33 year old who is the last in her family to get married, so she’s the “Last Tang Standing”.

The book definitely explored the family and cultural pressures that some people face in todays world - where tradition outweighs personal needs and wants. The MC Andrea felt like a pariah because she is getting on in years, and in her family’s eyes, being unmarried was frowned upon. Though some of us in today’s day and age may not feel this pressure, there are still so many that have this idea of success being housed around having a good job and also marrying someone with a good job. Can we really judge this mentality? Andrea’s mum makes a point of why she acts the way she does and her sacrifices have always been to see her children succeed. With this in mind, you can start to (somewhat) forgive the harshness of her actions. I personally have only felt some of this expectation of having a good job though never felt like I had to meet someone with a good job also… however you define what a good job is.

So the main problem I had with the MC Andrea is her alcoholism. Honestly, she has a drinking problem and if she wasn’t drinking every day, she was drinking every other day. I don’t see how this is funny or entertaining… it’s a serious problem. Because of this, she lacks maturity. Andrea is a successful lawyer who is trying to make partner at her firm, but she goes into work so many times hung over and you’re telling me she’s supposed to be a professional? If you want to make partner, you might take your job more seriously or have more respect for yourself to be the best individual to make partner? Very frustrating to read.

I agree with other reviews how there’s topics which can cause an uncomfortable feeling amongst readers. There’s “casual racism” which I didn’t really feel was challenged enough by those that could educate others, there’s Chinese privilege (which by the way still exists in Singapore), there’s inappropriate comments surrounding weight and plastic surgery, the queer cousin won’t be accepted and disowned unless she marries a straight person, there’s ageism, there’s fat shaming, an inappropriate comment in reference to pedophiles on page 12 and did I mention how much alcoholic drinking is in this book by the MC and her friends?

The person Andrea ends up with, isn’t even a convincing romance. I didn’t really get the sense that much spark was there. They were colleagues and they were just getting to know one another. To me, it didn’t really scream out hot burning desire. It really felt short for me.

The reason I stayed until the end was to see if Andrea would grow as a person. We did see this towards the end where she quits her job, tries to stop drinking and truly think about what she wants to achieve in life. If you blink you may miss it as it’s only covered in very few pages.

The book is also long for not much character building. Since we get Andrea’s internal monologue, we get her judgemental commentary of those around her, but we don’t really get to know anyone in too much depth… or maybe that’s the point? Everyone in her life is so surface level, including the MC, so no one has any real substance to them? Not sure if intentional or not.

I am sitting here still with mixed feelings on the book but as I said I would still like to check out this author’s other work. It could just be that this book didn’t really hit, but that’s not to say her other work won’t. I feel like this story could have been really great and a missed opportunity.