I Am Glad There Are A Lot of Books In The World Because It Is Never Going To Stop Raining
That’s life in a nutshell right now, so…
Sa Ye Vol 1 by Wu Zhe (Seven Seas)
You’ve probably noticed I read a lot of danmei (which includes BL from Thailand here in the States) If you’re new here, hey, I read a lot of danmei.
I read other BL too. Mostly in manga/manhua form and some mlm from the English speaking world (there are reasons I could spend days explaining that last is the smallest category and it’s not what I’m here about today so I’m going to leave it for now).
Obviously, I’m always happy to talk books and once I engage on this particular topic, there’s a question the other person inevitably asks: Have you read/watched Heartstopper?
I have not. And I’m not going to. Here’s why:
1) The purity bullshit. I have news: teenagers have sex. Should they be taught that abstinence is a good option? Definitely. You will not get an STD or get pregnant if you abstain. But teenagers are neurologically programmed to believe they’re invincible; it’s part of their development and one of several ways they break away from the family unit to become individuals. They are also horny; the endocrine system is a powerful thing. And when brain and glands team up well, let’s just say there’s a reason abstinence-only sex ed doesn’t work. Purity culture doesn’t just tell teenagers not to have sex; it shames them for the signals their bodies are sending. And what do teenagers do when they’re uncomfortable? They stop talking to you. Which means you don’t get to discuss abstinence or being safe. See the problem here? Good. I’m not saying teenagers in BL should have sex. What I’m saying is we need to at least acknowledge they probably want to (though ace spectrum rep is something we can always use more of), normalize it, and have them talk to a trusted adult or older sibling/friend/role model character about it. Please not their friends. As my older one said when I asked if he and his friends had ever talked about sex, “Mom. I’ve fifteen. My friends are idiots.”
2) Alice Oseman yaps a lot about danmei authors not showing up for the LGBTQIA+ community, especially at Pride. How they’re not visible, how they don’t march etc, etc. She does’t ever seem to have done any investigation herself as to why this might be the case which is, quite frankly, appalling considering the clout she has in the industry. The answer isn’t hard to find and yet, Oseman continues to spread misinformation despite people providing her with multiple sources to the contrary. Here’s one of them from last week: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-12/police-in-china-arrest-female-writers-over-homosexual-novels/105403258 (A brief synopsis: there is a new crackdown on danmei authors in China; these authors can be summoned to any police precinct in the country - and are often being summoned to precincts on the opposite side of the country at great personal expense (look at a map of China if you don’t know how huge it is) - to be charged with “disseminating obscene content.” If convicted, and by conviction, I mean, if the police decide you did it, these authors can have their earnings confiscated, be charged additional fines, or be sentenced to prison terms of three to ten years.
And I don’t want to hear, “Why don’t they just come here for Pride.” First of all, many of these authors live in remote areas of the country and have made less than a thousand dollars in their entire career. Second, if they can exit the country at all, do you think they’re going to be free of observation when they’re here?
So. Did you like Zhen Hun? Heaven Official’s Blessing? The Husky and His White Cat Shizun? Because someone risked their actual life to write those for you.
Which is why I will not be reading Heartstopper. Don’t ask me again.
I will, however, be reading the second book of Sa Ye when it arrives later today (yay). Author Dawn Chen (dawn.writesstuff on Threads) recommended the novel as an alternative to Heartstopper for those who want to 1) avoid Oseman’s work for the aforementioned or any other reasons and 2) read a danmei that gives a more accurate portray of life in modern China (danmei tends to be either historical or set in modern cities analogous to actual cities you can make an educated guess at if you scratch the paint off a little). It follows high schooler Jiang Cheng (apparently if this is your name, you are cursed to be a grumpy bastard), banished to a small city and his alcoholic biological father’s house by his adoptive family, and Gu Fei, who shares a desk with Jiang Cheng at school and is trying to run his family’s store, raise his younger sister, and keep any of his mother’s boyfriends from running away with all their money.
Both rightfully suspicious by nature, the two would probably avoid each other as much as possibly but for the occasional fight, except that Gu Fei’s younger sister, Gu Miao, decides she likes Jiang Cheng. The two form a bond that leads to her trusting him, which, considering how distant she is from everyone and everything except her brother and her skateboard, means something to Gu Fei as well. The little girl is the only thing that brings out any sort of compassion in Jiang Cheng - until spending time with her gives him glimpses into Gu Fei’s life as well. As time passes, Jiang Cheng starts to reveal the difficulties in his own life to Gu Fei…
And then the first freaking volume ended and I had to wait for the second one to get here.
Jiang Cheng has revealed to us, but not to Gu Fei, that while he has had relationships with women, he prefers men - this being a danmei, I’m assuming Gu Fei will reciprocate at some point. I like the idea of bisexuality playing into this story; there’s a lot of “I dated women until I met you,” in danmei but far fewer characters who maintain bisexuality and it feels very natural in this particular book. I also appreciate that, at least in this introductory volume, it’s not the focal point of the story. Jiang Cheng grows and changes a lot even in this first 400 pages, but there are things about himself that he knows and the fact he’s bi is one of them. It’s one of the things about himself he doesn’t feel the need to adjust or change, those he is very careful about who he tells (to this point, the one friend from his past life he’s still in touch with) which, I mean… see above. It’s not illegal as such, but would you want to be out in that sort of environment? Especially in a small city in the middle of nowhere?
I know you came here for book reviews. And the rest will just be reviews. But this, here? This is why, when someone says their books aren’t political, you are absolutely, one hundred percent required to call bullshit. Because saying your books aren’t political is taking the political stance that you don’t care about what’s happening to other writers or to the people their characters represent. And that is a lack of sympathy and empathy I’m not willing to entertain or to support with my money or my time.
Sa Ye: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9798891604681
Zhen Hun: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638589365
Heaven Official’s Blessing: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781648279171
The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781638589297
Grave Birds by Dana Elmendorf (MIRA, 7/1)
I remember getting an email about Elmendorf’s first adult book, In the Hour of Crows, last year and thinking, “I am going to hate read this book” because the MC’s name is fucking Weatherly and it’s a mashup of Appalachian and Southern Gothic which are two great tastes that very rarely taste great together unless Tananarive Due is casting spells on them (I’m listening to The Reformatory right now).
Well, I am here to tell you that sometimes, I am an asshole because it was really good. I read it in less than twenty-four hours and when I got an email about Elmendorf’s second adult book, I smashed “read it” so hard on NetGalley that I almost broke my finger. I devoured it in slightly over twenty four hours because I started it Wednesday and Thursday, I had an appointment and the kid had an appointment so I was forced to do actual… life (ew).
Grave Birds is fantastic and it is fantastic because it is dark without being macabre. The best way I can think of to describe it is: like an episode of one of the 80s nighttime soaps, Dallas or Dynasty, with a supernatural twist. And that is high praise from someone whose family pulled over to the side of the highway in their Dodge Caravan, plugged their tiny black and white portable TV into the cigarette lighter, and ran the car battery down to find out who shot JR when we didn’t get to my Grandfather’s house in time. I laughed a lot, I was horrified a lot, I thought I’d figured the surprise out at least five different times, and I really enjoyed following our heroine, Hollis, on her journey. I enjoyed that she wasn’t perfect, that she was trying real hard, and that she had her dream but knew when to say enough. I liked that her found family stuck with her, even when she was being weird, and, perhaps even more importantly, despite their being at different stages of life. And I liked that Cain liked her because she was weird. We weird girls could use a few more like him.
I also really enjoyed the horror element of Grave Birds. Big horror, splooshy horror, monsters… they’re effective and I love them. But the tiny, personal horror in this book was something special because it was personal and it was small and it was something that, because of those two defining characteristics, seemed so very possible, so very real. Something that could happen to anyone. Something that could surprise you one day and never let you go. And that is truly terrifying.
In the Hour of Crows: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780778310495
Grave Birds: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780778387473
The Reformatory: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9781982188351
Love at First Sighting by Mallory Marlowe (Berkley, 8/12)
I did not have a social media influencer/men in black romance on my list this spring (well, I did, but you know what I mean). I also only read hetero romance when it’s offered as an ARC, though I have to say, I’ve learned to trust Berkley because they choose really well.
This is a serious story about finding the person who loves for who you really are, and not who the world expects you to be, wrapped up in an adorably goofy tale of two gorgeous and awkward strangers meeting in extremely bizarre circumstances only to discover they have a common interest, only to discover they are extremely attracted to each other, only to discover they’re each who the other one has been looking for all their lives. It is funny, sweet, strange, sad, uplifting, and satisfying in turns and it had a depth to it I didn’t expect when I first started, which iI appreciated Marlowe’s ability to maintain while giving us car chases, fashion montages, (maybe) alien encounters, and epic villain monologues. Plus an ex-fuckboi magician named Aleka-Sam, which I am still giggling about.
Also, such a perfect portrayal of what the men in black division of the federal government would be like if it were real the way we would like to imagine it’s real (I say this because I am aware that aliens were supposedly declassified, whatever, we have bigger problems).
At the end of the day, Love at First Sighting is a reminder that you should always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. In which case, honestly, still be yourself. Because there is someone out in the great big world who will think you’re the brightest star in the sky.
Love at First Sighting: https://bookshop.org/a/56337/9780593640104
As I mentioned above, I’m currently listening to Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory (I grabbed it from a “list of books to read if you liked Sinners” which I definitely did and I wish I had saved the link so I could 1) give credit and 2) share the link). I finished Love at First Sighting on Saturday and had my eye on when Vol. 2 of Sa Ye was arriving so I didn’t start a new novel but I did read Vol. 5 of Lullaby of the Dawn which flagged a little in Vol. 4 but picked up again in this newest installment so I’ll need to grab Vol. 6 at some point. The next book in the review pile is The Possession of Alba Diaz by Isabel Cañas which I am super excited about.
Until next time!