political drama – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: A Song to Drown Rivers

Author: Ann Liang

Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 325

Publication Date: 10/1/24

Categories: Historical Fiction, Romance, Politics

Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds.
Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.

Content Warning: violence, death

I’ve heard lots of good things about this book so when I saw it on KU I had to read it.

This is a really fascinating historical fiction story about Xishi, one of the most beautiful women in China, and I had never heard about her and her legendary beauty but I was engrossed with this tale.

Xishi is telling this tale about how she has had a rough childhood because of the war between the Yue and Wu. And we learn she is the most beautiful girl in the village and that draws the attention from a military advisor from the Yue side. They want to use her to infiltrate the Wu kingdom, make the king fall so deeply in love with her that they won’t know what hit them when the Yue attack. But can she do it? This girl from a lowly village with the most beautiful face?

I thought the training part of the book went super fast and wish it was more detailed. I wasn’t confident in Xishi’s skill to woo a king at the end of her training. At times I felt her character was so weak, I wasn’t sure how Fuchai would become obsessed with her, but he does. She must be that beautiful but I wanted more from her personality. Also I felt like Zhendang’s story fizzled out too fast – she poses as Xishi’s lady’s maid but I felt like she barely had a role when they are at the Wu’s.

The romance that built between her and Fanli was filled with so much tension, angst, longing even if they don’t have many scenes together. Maybe it’s a bit of insta-love but I don’t mind it with how things were taking place for Xishi.

And even though King Fuchai of the Wu was the enemy I liked how he and Xishi interacted with one another. She had to pretend to like him but I think eventually she did, at least as a friend. It was just sad all around how everything ended but I love how this story showed how war is something created by the powerful and everyone else is a bystander and gets caught in the crossfire.

Quotes from the Book:

“When men say they want a lover, what they often mean is they want a mirror; they wish to see themselves reflected back at them in the best light.”
Ann Liang – “A Song to Drown Rivers”

“The men will fight for their thrones and their power and their legacies, but to them we are nothing more than crickets and ants, insignificant, expendable.”
Ann Liang – “A Song to Drown Rivers”

Final Thoughts:

This story is tragic but so compelling. I love how the story was told and how everything unfolded with some twists and turns that I was not expecting. At times I did want more from the characters and the political drama but it was still entertaining. The bravery of Xishi to basically go into a lion’s den to try and take down the opposition was inspiring but her realization who the true enemy was came too late. The love story is filled with such longing – oh the heartbreak! I thought this was a great read and look forward to reading more from this author.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Not Here to Be Liked

Author: Michelle Quach

Format: eBook (Kindle Unlimited)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 9/14/21

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, High School, Feminism

Emergency Contact meets Moxie in this cheeky and searing novel that unpacks just how complicated new love can get…when you fall for your enemy.

Eliza Quan is the perfect candidate for editor in chief of her school paper. That is, until ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her. Suddenly her vast qualifications mean squat because inexperienced Len—who is tall, handsome, and male—just seems more like a leader.

When Eliza’s frustration spills out in a viral essay, she finds herself inspiring a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between those who believe she’s a gender equality champion and others who think she’s simply crying misogyny.

Amid this growing tension, the school asks Eliza and Len to work side by side to demonstrate civility. But as they get to know one another, Eliza feels increasingly trapped by a horrifying realization—she just might be falling for the face of the patriarchy himself.

Content Warning: misogyny, bullying, sexism

Eliza has being Editor in Chief for the school newspaper, the Bugle, in the bag…or so she thought. Plans change when Len challenges her for the spot and wins.

Eliza’s a pretty strong character but not really likable. She kind of has tunnel vision when it comes to the Bugle – her whole life is about the Bugle. Eliza marches to the beat of her own drum. She is tenacious and doesn’t back down even when bad things happen, which I loved about her but she definitely had flaws. It’s nice that she represents the immigrant family and I like how it showed how children of immigrant parents they have to do things like help their parent with filling out forms or making phone calls because of the language barriers. I could relate to some of that!

The romance is very interesting. I can’t say I loved Len at first but I actually like how he calls Eliza out so many things. Both Len and Eliza had imperfections which I liked a lot and it’s very much a rivals to lovers trope but I loved that both of them weren’t totally likable – but they still made a cute couple by the end of the story.

Feminism, and sexism is a main theme of the book and though Eliza’s stances are strong, I thought it was interesting how different situations start too complicate her original feelings on these issues. I do wish she could have avoided that conflict with her best friend by just being honest.

Quotes from the Book:

“Because everyone loves a girlboss until she tries to tell you what to do.”
Michelle Quach – “Not Here to Be Liked”

Final Thoughts:

The more I learned about Eliza and Len, they grew on me and I was rooting for the romance by the end of the book. I like how the story touched on feminism, sexism and being a child of immigrant parents. I thought this was an entertaining story.