Two YA Asian Fantasy Reviews: A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli & The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love Dunn

Posted October 31, 2023 by Lisa Mandina in Review / 3 Comments

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Two YA Asian Fantasy Reviews:  A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli & The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love DunnA Bright Heart by Kate Chenli
Published by Union Square and Co on October 17, 2023
Genres: YA Fantasy
Pages: 344
Source: the publisher
Format: ARC
My Rating: five-stars
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Blurb:

What if you could avenge your own murder? A brilliant young woman gets a second chance at life in this debut YA tale of vengeance, court intrigue, and romance, inspired by classic Chinese tropes.
 
Mingshin outsmarted three princes to help the man she loved become king. But she doesn’t see Ren’s betrayal coming, not until she’s lying in a pool of her own blood on the palace steps.
 
As she’s dying, Mingshin makes a desperate plea to the gods to turn back time and give her a chance to make things right.
 
Mingshin wakes up two years earlier, her prayer granted, and swears two things: Ren will never become king, and she will never fall in love again.
 
But the timeline in this life has changed: a dignitary gifted with dark magic is threatening her kingdom’s peace, and Ren’s thirst for power runs deeper than Mingshin could have imagined. 
 
She finds herself allying with Jieh, another contender for the throne. Mingshin knows better than anyone not to give her heart to a prince. But in the viper’s nest of the royal court, she and Jieh prove a phenomenal team. Can Mingshin avert the catastrophe of her past by once again learning to trust…and maybe even love? 

My Review

So I didn’t get to this book before it was published because of some family issues. But once I was able to pick this up I was hooked! It was so good! From the very start, the way we got hooked on the main character’s dying wish to get a chance to do over all the mistakes she’d made. To go back and fix the problems she hadn’t seen as she’d helped those she thought she could trust.

Fantasy doesn’t always grab me, often it takes me a minute or two to get into and it reads slowly for me because of all the descriptions the genre seems to include. However the author kept this story moving, kept me on the edge of my seat as I was reading, turning pages as quickly as I could just to see what would happen as Mingshin got to go back in time and re-do all that she felt she had misjudged or let happen.

And right away things were different from the very first change she made. A new person came into play, one that from the start I wasn’t sure about. I mean from the very short end of her first life at the beginning, it seemed all the other princes weren’t any better than Ren was. So along with her, I kept hoping she’d remember not to let her guard down, not to think anyone was actually on her side, until they had proven in every way that they were.

This especially was on my mind at the end when it seemed like maybe she’d taken another wrong turn. So when the person redeemed themselves, it worked perfectly with the story. The whole magic and other world that we got bits and pieces of at the beginning, and more as the story progressed really added to the story as well. While I think this shows as only a standalone, I feel like there is more we need, and I really hope for a sequel!

The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love Dunn

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Two YA Asian Fantasy Reviews:  A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli & The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love DunnThe Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn, Love Dunn
Published by Entangled: Teen on October 31, 2023
Genres: YA Fantasy, YA Magical Realism, YA Science Fiction
Pages: 400
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating: four-stars
Goodreads
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Blurb:

No escape. Follow the rules. And don’t count on reality—in this uniquely vibrant romantasy from NYT bestselling author Pintip Dunn and daughter Love Dunn…

It looks like paradise…only it’s not.

This was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime family trip to Thailand. One last wish for my dying mama. Instead, we’re stranded on a lush, stunning island with ten strangers—held captive as Thai mythology unfolds around us…and within us.

Now we’re being tested. We’re expected to face our greatest fears—and possible deaths—in hopes of awakening some kind of dormant gift…or curse. One by one, we’re transforming, echoing the strange and sometimes wondrous abilities found in Thai folktales.

But my mama has only days to live, my papa is missing, and I’m forced to trust a group of strangers…including our evasive, dark-eyed tour guide, who resembles a minor god. Toss me in the ocean and feed me to the naga now.

Only I’m no hero. My days are managed by numbers and the compulsions that used to keep me safe.

I have to prove how far I can go. To survive. To protect my family.

And to find a way off this perilous island where everything is a lie…including reality.

My Review:

I have only read a few books by Pintip Dunn, but I really enjoyed them. So I was very excited when I heard about this one and was happy to get a copy from the publisher to read! While I’ve categorized it as a fantasy for the title of this blog post, it almost had some sci-fi and magical realism to it instead, or as well. The authors took different folktales from I believe Thailand or maybe some other Asian cultures that are similar, and then kind of cherry picked bits and pieces to create the different abilities the characters might acquire while on this magical island. But it was more than just the abilities, all of it fed into different situations from the folktales woven from these bits and pieces.

The science fiction aspect comes from the fact that it is a scientist holding them on this island and studying to see how they will develop the powers/abilities, and then trying to use it to bring someone back from the dead, as well as possibly other things. While I had a feeling about one person who does betray at some point, I didn’t see some of the other things that came, or that there would be more than one betrayal, or was it really? I’ve seen the complaints in the reviews, and I guess I do see their point that it isn’t really comparable to some of the things it was suggested to be like. But in the end I quite enjoyed it. It was a bit long for me overall at 400 pages, but again, I will definitely look for more books by this author, and her daughter, together or on their own!

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3 responses to “Two YA Asian Fantasy Reviews: A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli & The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love Dunn

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