The Birdcage by Eve Chase

 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Penguin

Released: 28th of April 2022 

Kat, Flossie and Lauren are half-sisters who share a famous artist father - and a terrible secret.

Each has found their way of burying it. Over the years they've grown apart, and into wildly different lives. But an invitation to Rock Point, the Cornish cliff house where they once sat for their father's most celebrated painting, Girls with Birdcage, reunites them.

Rock Point is a beautiful, windswept place, thick with secrets, electrically charged with the one subject the family daren't discuss. And there is someone in the shadows watching the house, their every move. Someone who remembers the girls in the painting. What they did.

The sisters must unlock the truth to set themselves free - and find each other again.

What I Have to Say 

This book was a bit of a flop for me. I liked the setting a lot. It really captured the windswept cliffs of Cornwall well and the weather that was backdrop to the whole book was described really well. I also liked the characters. It was easy to get to know and care for them. But what really put me off was the way the cliffhangers were handled. 

So every few chapters we'd leave the present day story and go back to see what happened to Lauren in 1999. A lovely way to drill up tension and occasionally leave the reader on a cliffhanger desperate to read on, right? Well it would have been if every single cliffhanger hadn't resolved with the characters all safe and happy and the author telling the reader how the cliffhanger had resolved. It's like every bit of action that happened was only half written. I'm not completely against telling. It can work in some circumstances. But in the case of this book, I wanted to stay in the drama and actually see how it was resolved. 

There was also a bit at the end that didn't quite make sense. Something was explained about the grandfather and it was only in one paragraph without much detail. It seems like the sort of thing they might fix before the finished copy though. 

All in all, not the best read for me. 

My thanks go to Penguin and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

Pages: 352

Publisher: Doubleday Books

Released: 3rd May 2022

Learn about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons...and change the world.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and a new "sister" obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex's journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself.

What I Have to Say 

If there was anything the 1950s needed more of, it is definitely dragons. I loved this concept. It's an absolutely beautiful idea and the execution was fantastic. It showed the breaking down of societal boundaries as hundreds of thousands of perfect 50s housewives became big unruly creatures that society did not want. The idea of women, frustrated with their lots in life, turning into beautiful fire breathing creatures and destroying the homes, and often husbands, that kept them there was inspired. 

Alex was a great character, she was perfect to show the way society kept things quiet. As a child who witnessed everything and was kept quiet and shushed when she asked questions, she was able to tell us everything that happened at the time of the dragoning and after. I also adored Beatrice. She was an absolute gem and the perfect way to show the pressure to keep dragons from being talked about. 

I was also thrilled that the idea of trans dragons was mentioned. It was only a tiny bit and unfortunately there were no actual trans characters, but this book acknowledged and accepted that they would be involved in these events. I honestly expected the book to not mention them at all, so I was pleasantly surprised. I also felt there were parallels later in the book with transitioning and dragoning. 

It's also worth mentioning that this book is Sapphic! The main character is gay and though the romance was only a small part of the book, it was there and it made me very happy. 

My thanks go to Negalley and Bonnier Books UK for providing me with this copy for review. 

An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X. R. Pan

Pages: 400 

Publisher: Hachette Children's Group 

Released: 12th April 2022

Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology in this lyrical and magical novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Colour of After.

Hunter Yee has perfect aim with a bow and arrow, but all else in his life veers wrong. He's sick of being haunted by his family's past mistakes. The only things keeping him from running away are his younger brother, a supernatural wind and the bewitching girl at his new high school.

Luna Chang dreads the future. Graduation looms ahead, and her parents' expectations are stifling. Then her life is turned upside down by the strange new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across the town of Fairbridge.

As Hunter and Luna uncover hidden secrets and navigate the feud between their families, everything around them begins to fall apart. All they can depend on is their love . . . but time is running out, and fate will have its way.

An Arrow to the Moon, Emily X.R. Pan's brilliant and ethereal follow-up to The Astonishing Colour of After, is a story about family, love, and the magic and mystery of the moon that connects us all.

What I Have to Say 

I didn't like this as much as The Astonishing Colour of After.  I don't know why really. It just fell a bit flat for me. I do wonder if it's just that I wasn't in the right mood for this book. It's a fantastic story, based on the Chinese legends of the Moon Goddess. It skilfully wove the legends together with the contemporary setting to make a beautiful new story. Maybe I'll reread it sometime and see if my opinion of it changes. 

I'm really glad that I was already acquainted with the story of Chang'e and Houyi. I could read a lot deeper into this book and all the foreshadowing because of that knowledge. If both books appeal to you, definitely read Daughter of the Moon Goddess or at least read through the legends before you read this one because you'll have so much more appreciation for the story. 

In all, I'm really disappointed that this book didn't live up to what it should have done. I don't think this review gives it any kind of justice. Maybe I'll re-review it some time in the future.  It was really a beautiful story and I feel I should have enjoyed it a lot more. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hachette Children's Group for providing me with this copy for review. 

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

 Pages: 384

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Released: 12th of April 2022 

This was how things began: Boston on the cusp of fall, the Sackler Museum robbed of 23 pieces of priceless Chinese art. Even in this back room, dust catching the slant of golden, late-afternoon light, Will could hear the sirens. They sounded like a promise.

Will Chen, a Chinese American art history student at Harvard, has spent most of his life learning about the West – its art, its culture, all that it has taken and called its own. He believes art belongs with its creators, so when a Chinese corporation offers him a (highly illegal) chance to reclaim five priceless sculptures, it’s surprisingly easy to say yes.

Will’s crew, fellow students chosen out of his boundless optimism for their skills and loyalty, aren’t exactly experienced criminals. Irene is a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything; Daniel is pre-med with steady hands and dreams of being a surgeon. Lily is an engineering student who races cars in her spare time; and Will is relying on Alex, an MIT dropout turned software engineer, to hack her way in and out of each museum they must rob.

Each student has their own complicated relationship with China and the identities they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but one thing soon becomes certain: they won’t say no.

Because if they succeed? They earn an unfathomable ten million each, and a chance to make history. If they fail, they lose everything . . . and the West wins again.

What I Have to Say 

This book is not a heist book. It has heists in it, but the focus is on the characters and their relationships and it is written in a contemporary style. I was disappointed by this. I love a good heist book and the fact that it wasn't a thriller threw me off. It's a shame because it tempered my feelings for the whole book. I think if I'd gone into it knowing it was contemporary, I would have liked it more. 

The plot and characters were really interesting though. I liked that it showed five different perspectives and five different ways to be Chinese American, from Daniel, who was born in China and moved to the US when he was young, to Lily who doesn't speak Mandarin and has never been to China before the events of this book. 

I really liked the ending as well. It was the perfect way to close the book and I'm glad the author chose to do it that way. 

In all, I would have preferred a thriller, but it was good despite that. 

(3.5 stars)

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a free copy of this book for review.