"I don't need to change the world. I just - I want to live, and know that it's enough."

 isbn: 978-0593184738 | pages: 384
      publication date: April 5, 2022 | source: netgalley
     genre: young adult, mystery thriller, lgbtqia+
     rating: 6.7/10 
     Writing: 6 | Atmosphere: 8 | World-Building: 7 | Plot: 5 |  Characters: 8 | Impact: 7

     A M A Z O N    |    G O O D R E A D S    |    B O O K S H O P * 
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art thieves with midterms
The Portrait of a Thief was everywhere on my Twitter feed when it first dropped on Netgalley and the mysterious cover alongside its fascinating premise bumped this onto my anticipated releases for the year. This is a story told through the eyes of children of immigrants and their quest to reclaim their identity through a series of art heists. As someone who grew up watching all the heist and spy movies with her parents, I went into this with a lot excitement and questions.

"I want you to take back what the West stole."

"Who could determine what counted as theft when museums and countries and civilizations saw the spoils of conquest as rightfully earned?"

While the synopsis places a lot of weight on the thrill of the art heists, the story shone through its introspective commentary on what it means to be Asian American. As the reader, you might have to suspend your disbelief when reading about the group's approach towards their heists - if thieves could learn everything from spy movies and Fast & Furious, the world would possibly descend into chaos already. Where the first heist was thrilling to read, the consecutives ones felt more like luck than skill. 

connecting the past to the future 
With that said, I went into this debut curious but not entirely sold on the heist plotline and that mindset allowed the story to still be enjoyable despite the main plot point being somewhat underdeveloped. While the characters are quite standard perfect-on-paper Asian Americans, their stories still echoed the same pressures and insecurities that I was surrounded with despite our paths being radically different. 

"After all these years, his parents still called it going back, as if anywhere else could not be home."

There's an understanding that feels so comforting about the struggle to identify with one's ethnicity and the feeling of not quite belonging to either place. Each character's exploration of their identity and acceptance of their futures felt like powerful declarations against Western colonization and conquest. They breathed their own identities into the histories of the countries they call home. The crew is one that gradually grew on me as their story progressed - it wasn't the excitement of their task or the sense of pride in their calling that pulled me in, but their individual journeys with their identity and their conversations that followed.

"Her future - it was worth more than the past."

For a debut, Grace D. Li tackles the Asian American experience in a way that feels personal but universal at the same time. It manages to address a topic with a lot of gravity while injecting a fun heist plot into the mix.

Hello there! I may or may not have postponed two reviews for this impromptu recommendation list but Dreamcatcher just won their first music show trophy and now I'm here sobbing in a corner. This group absolutely captivated me from debut till now with their concept and unique rock sound and after 5+ years they've finally won with their latest comeback.

In honor of this momentous occasion, here are five songs from their incredible discography alongside with a book that fits with its lyrics or aesthetics.  

the ones we're meant to find by joan he

Dreamcatcher is truly the definition of unique as with their recent release they've been spreading the message of saving the earth while we still can before the apocalypse occurs. Similarly, Joan He's sophomore novel The Ones We're Meant to Find is a mirror into a future reality when the earth is too polluted to live on and civilization has taken to advance technological cities in the sky. It offers a glimpse into the damage we are causing to our world and how time is still ticking away, bringing us closer and closer to an inhabitable planet. 
goodreads   |   bookshop*   |   review

the infinity courts by akemi dawn bowman

Quite possibly my favorite Dreamcatcher song, it's honestly a crime that they did not win with Odd Eye. The finale of their Dystopia trilogy, this title track asks for listeners to see past the perfect façade and the cracks that are forming underneath the surface. Nothing seems more perfect than waking up after you've died to a seemingly carefree afterlife, but Nami quickly realizes that the AI have taken over and there's so much hiding beneath the luxurious appearance. 
goodreads   |   bookshop*   |   review

mexican gothic by silvia moreno garcia

The song that started it all for this group. This was an iconic and explosive pre-debut song with a horror-inspired music video that I could not stop re-watching. The lyrics taunt the listeners to chase after the girls who are embodied as haunting nightmares. I was a bit stuck on this song until I thought of Mexican Gothic - on the surface level, there's not a lot of similarities but like the man in the MV, Noemi finds herself stuck in a creepy house and starts hallucinating creepy images and both gave me absolute chills.
goodreads   |   bookshop*   |   review

a thousand steps into night by traci chee

Technically Dreamcatcher's official debut song, Fly High is a prequel to their Nightmare series and explains how the girls released a curse that transformed them in the first place. The MV starts between light and innocent tones before switching to darker colors when the curse is unleashed. I instantly thought of Traci Chee's latest release A Thousand Steps into Night because Miuko goes through a similar transformation process when she is kissed by a demon. While their journeys are quite different, there's this feeling of unlocking power that comes with the change that both use to their advantage to propel their stories forward.
honorable mention because I love a good corruption arc - beyond the ruby veil by mara fitzgerald 
goodreads   |   bookshop*   |   review to come

the wolf of oren yaro by k.s. villoso

I have followed Dreamcatcher since their pre-debut days but I think Piri was the first song that made me an official stan of the group. I love the haunting melody played on the flute and the message of this song feels softer as it depicts someone losing their sense of self while waiting for their loved one. It's desperate and powerful in a way that's completely captivating. A character that embodies those traits perfectly is Talyien. Her story starts with a desperate journey to find her betrothed and follows a complex web of politics as she tries to maintain control of her throne. It's action packed with so many twists and her character is as alluring as the flute's melody.
goodreads   |   bookshop*   |   review

These are just five songs that I love and they honestly have one of the best discographies in the kpop industry so I'll definitely be revisiting this in the future to update. Please let me know if there are any books you've read that fit the theme of these songs and if you haven't checked out Dreamcatcher's latest comeback, what are you waiting for? 

"Everything would tilt and stick for as long as that crucial piece of the moon was missing. But the archer would help find her. Together they would return to the sky."

isbn: 978-0316464055 | pages: 391
      publication date: April 12, 2022 | source: physical-own/ebook-tour
     genre: young adult, mythology, retelling, contemporary fantasy
     rating: 7.8/10 
     Writing: 8 | Atmosphere: 8 | World-Building: 8 | Plot: 7 |  Characters: 8 | Impact: 8

     A M A Z O N    |    G O O D R E A D S    |    B O O K S H O P * 
     B O O K D E P O S I T O R Y    |    B A R N E S A N D N O B L E S
links with an (*) are affiliate where, when used to purchase gives me a small commission to support my blog at no extra cost to you!

the classic story of love and misfortune
An Arrow the Moon was hands down one of my most anticipated releases for this year and honestly, Emily X.R. Pan did not disappoint with her sophomore novel. A gorgeously lyrical story, we follow Luna and Hunter in their senior year of high school as a crack in their town grows wider, parental secrets are unearthed, and fireflies reveal the magic that binds them together. This is a story with layers that, with each changing POV, takes all the loose threads to create a love story that's as magical and timeless as its inspiration material. Luna and Hunter's relationship starts and ends like a classic and leaves you feeling changed and unable to go back to where you were before reading their story.

There was a point around the halfway mark where I felt a little lost in the world of Fairbridge, like there were so many introduced threads and it would be difficult to tie everything together. But Emily X.R. Pan manages to do just that because it all works out in the end. There's a simplicity to the everyday routines of our characters that is mixed in with the smallest sliver of magical possibility that elevates the atmosphere to another level. I can't help but leave this story knowing that I'll come back to it again and again in the future and it will always leave its mark on me.

the constellations of relationships
There's always something comforting about a story that just gets little nuanced aspects of your life. Luna and Hunter are mirrors of each other and their relationship is one that's been written in the stars of the universe for ages. While I'm not the biggest fan of instant chemistry in love stories, theirs works because of how in tune they are with each other - they literally breathe together, it's the most precious thing.

On top of that, there's also the exploration of familial relationships and pressures that made the story more personal even when I was struggling with elements of the plot. It is just ingrained in every Asian American household that love is something expressed in different ways and that is spotlighted with the juxtaposition of the Yees and the Changs. Each family has made sacrifices for their child and has internalized that choice in contrasting ways. No matter what lines were crossed by the parents, there's a part of me that understands and hurts for them and that probably made the ending all the more impactful.

It's probably fitting that I finished this novel around midnight and the first thing I did was look out my window to the moon. This is truly a story that leaves its such a strong impression and simply put, to take the words straight from the story, the next time the moon is full, look up.

thank you so much to TBR AND BEYOND, Little Brown, and Emily X.R. Pan for providing an e-arc for this book tour - all thoughts are 100% my own. please click on the banner to check out the other amazing stops!

j o u r n a l     s p r e a d

i'm super excited to share my journal spread for an arrow to the moon as well! if you'd like to journal with me and see how i created this spread, click here!

a  b  o  u  t     t  h  e     a  u  t  h  o  r

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"Either we choose to stay alive, or we give up. And if it's living we choose, then we do whatever it takes."

 isbn: 978-1454946540 | pages: 488
      publication date: March 29, 2022 | source: physical, publisher
     genre: adult, historical fiction

     A M A Z O N    |    G O O D R E A D S    |    B O O K S H O P * 
     B O O K D E P O S I T O R Y    |    B A R N E S A N D N O B L E S
links with an (*) are affiliate where, when used to purchase gives me a small commission to support my blog at no extra cost to you!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are 100% my own.

1. an immersive historical setting
The Wolf Den is a story that jumps right into the world of 79 CE Pompeii. The author sets the readers right into the everyday lives of Amara and her friends and does not shy away from the blunt and abusive environment they are in. It's a story that feels like a slap when you first start reading but that also becomes the hook that keeps the pages turning.

2. accessible writing and characters
The historical setting is set up in a way that is very accessible and straightforward. While it was a bit surprising how modern the language felt at first, it becomes part of the story as you continue. The unapologetic language states the abuse as an indisputable fact that the reader has to grapple with alongside Amara as she comes to terms with her life as a prostitute and how to win back her freedom.

3. a conversation of slavery and sexism
I think, save for maybe 3.5 men, the rest of the male population is crude, demeaning, and honestly trash. But it works for the setting because the author is using the characters' experiences as prostitutes in Pompeii to paint this picture of injustice. The she-wolves are constantly put down and used by the men and the story revolves around their understanding of self-worth and humanity. In a society where everything is measured by wealth and ownership, Amara challenges that with the strength of her mind, redefining what it means to be a woman of her time. 

4. survival and friendships
This is a story that is built on the relationships between the characters. Of course, there's competition between brothels and the fear of losing business, but within Amara's groups, there's a sisterhood that is explored. Elodie Harper allows each of the she-wolves to have a fully fleshed-out backstory and personality that made them seem more than just characters on the page. 

5. the start of a new journey
As the first in a trilogy, The Wolf Den served as an introduction to Amara's story. After all the hardships and pain she's experienced in the first novel, there's both hope and fear for what the next step of her journey will entail. Rather than a fast-paced adventure, The Wolf Den is a slow but powerful exploration of Amara's life and how there are no limits to one's potential, even if they are a prostitute of Pompeii.

I went into this thinking it would be along the lines of Circe with more of a mythological touch but Into the Wolf Den is a very raw and insightful historical fiction novel. It serves to portray the lives of these women as they're navigating through what life has handed them and using their resources to build better lives for themselves. It's sad, infuriating at times, but at its core, a story of empowerment and friendship.