Books like Red String Theory

Wow! Wowie! To be honest, I am not someone who ever knows the ending of a thriller. I guess whatever part of the brain decides if you'll be good at solving mysteries, I don't have it! And every time I thought I knew where Gillian was leading me, the reader, I was always very wrong.

I really loved the powerful message of the strength of mothers throughout this book. I liked that this was time travel, but not so complicated that I couldn't follow it. I loved how this book explored the idea of "what if" and second chances in a really unique and compelling way. It was absorbing and fast-paced, and it definitely went down easy for me.

I loved everything about this book: the dreamy New York co-op apartment setting, the relatable main female character Clementine (a book publicist!), the lovable main male character Iwan (a chef!), and the fact that they lived seven years apart. I found it had the perfect balance of witty banter, romantic yearning, depth of feeling, and a sense of place. It also deals with tougher issues, such as grief in Clementine’s loss of her beloved aunt and a sense of self in Clementine’s search for her future path and the aunt’s own background. 

And, like every true romance novel should have, that incandescently happy ending! This is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year.

I wanted to read this because the title made me think, "Yes, I want to know what it's like to be in someone else's shoes." And...yes, this delivered. I really enjoyed the journey that Nisha and Sam go on, swapping places. Along with the other supporting female characters, what I read felt so feminist and empowering.

As a reader, I marveled at all of the subtle messages we were given about what it means to truly support other women. This all came in a very fun, entertaining, and page-turning book! Loved!

I read this book in less than twenty hours—not that I had time for it, but this book demanded it.

The main characters’ emotional and tangible goals are set up so well, I felt drawn in immediately. There was so much push and pull between the two as they learned to open up and work together to write a rom-com, so much (clashing) personality and voice (I always love Center’s voicy characters).

I loved the romantic sizzle on every page, the perfectly paced plot of her helping her idol fix his writing, and the incredible banter. *While the book contains some language, there wasn’t a hint or even an implied spicy scene.

Today most people associate Chinatowns with restaurants and tourism. In the past and for many Chinese Canadians, Chinatown was a ghetto and place of exclusion. But for many Chinese and other first-generation migrants, Chinatown was simply home. It was where friends (and sometimes families) lived and socialized, operated businesses, and felt a sense of belonging through mutual support networks and devotion to Sun Yatsen at KMT and other political meetings and events. Peter Kwong’s The New Chinatown tells a complicated narrative of Chinese political, social, and cultural life and dispels many Chinatown stereotypes. In my book, I tried to tell a similar story of Chinese political and social lives that weren’t defined by Chinatown stereotypes.

Some horror books manage to create a sense of dread that builds slowly over time, dropping little clues and breadcrumbs for the reader along the way, hinting at the horror just around the bend. Other books keep their secrets. If you’re a Devil Wears Prada fan, you will enjoy the trope of “new employee is completely disgusted by the lifestyle & culture modeled by their co-workers but eventually find themselves adapting to the point of getting sucked into it and believing in it.”

I also enjoyed the sapphic longing and desire that developed between some of the main characters. This works in tandem with the complexity of the story and the growing tension. I will not spoil the direction of the storyline and what ultimately makes this book land squarely in the horror genre, but I will say, it does not disappoint.

A well-crafted debut from Ling Ling Huang. This… show more.

The railroad worker and the interpreter; The Hong Kong beauty/midwife and the fishmonger’s daughter; the Kung fu master’s family turned tong bosses and the civic leaders and charity organizers; the merchants and the opium dealers; the church ladies and the rice wine hooch brewers; the lofan (white) Aunt Elva with a painful secret….

These are some of the unforgettable characters from Chin’s sprawling family. I loved this glimpse into the Chinese American experience in New York City during the same time my family was muddling through in Georgia. I also have reason to believe my grandfather knew some of these characters personally through his correspondence and Chinese liberation work. Chin did honor to all of the ancestors with this skillful weaving of history, memory, anecdote, and a daughter/granddaughter’s loving intuition.

The experience of being a teenage exchange student living with a Beijing family whose mother is dying of cancer and whose father makes an aborted sexual pass on her marked Solimine deeply enough to inspire this novel. The author wisely shifts the focus away from herself and adopts the role of frame narrator as she reconstructs the family’s history and events leading up to her arrival, where she inserts herself into the story. The narrative unfolds in flashbacks, impressionistic vignettes, and haunting poetic imagery to capture fleeting moments which build in intensity. It’s the kind of novel readers may not find easygoing on first acquaintance – the cracked-glass cover design nicely conveys the initial impression – but promises to improve on rereading.

An absolute tour de force from the author of The Joy Luck Club. This novel is not as famous, but it’s actually my favourite Tan book. It has that epic sweep across history that I adore, whereby the movement of history catches people in its wake and hurls them hither and thither, uncaring of the consequences of its wreckage. The novel follows the experiences of a Chinese woman before and after Japan’s invasion of China in the 1930s and 40s and on to her move to America after the war. Reading this novel was truly immersive and fueled my interest in writing about war and showing how my own characters are caught up in its inexorable flow. A brutal and beautiful novel. 

The stories in Thank You, Mr. Nixon combine history and family, characters reflecting on the ravages of time and how their lives have been buffeted by world events outside their control. There’s even a ghost of a Chinese girl writing from the afterlife to President Nixon in Hell. She thanks him for his historic decision to establish diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China, a decision that changed her family’s life forever. The story is profound, moving, and very funny all at once. Jen is a master of the short story form, and this collection is superb.