Book Details: Book Title :   Mei's Mermaid Mission  by Crystal Z. Lee Category :  Children's Fiction (Ages 3-7) , 42 pages Genre :  Children's Picture Book Publisher :  Balestier Press Publication Date :  Mar 1, 2024. Content Rating :  G Book Description: The mission of the Mermaids International Rescue Alliance (MIRA) is to guard the ocean and protect the sea creatures. There are many mermaid members in MIRA from all over Asia, such as Princess Hwangok (Korea), Roro (Indonesia), Jiao (China), Ningyo (Japan), Songkhla (Thailand), Duyung (Malaysia), Sovann Macha (Cambodia), Sirena (the Philippines), and Mei (Taiwan).  Mei's Mermaid Mission  is an exquisitely illustrated picture book that follows Mei as she travels all over the Asia Pacific region to gather the team of heroic mermaids in order to stop the pirate from polluting. Can Mei and the MIRA mermaids stop the pirate in time? Over twenty sea animals and over twenty locations ...

Review: Yellowface - R.F Kuang - May 2023 This book is one of those that has been sitting on my bookshelf staring at me, it's one of those books that I was almost scared to read as I had built this book up so much in my head and I was terrified that it would crash and burn and not meet the expectations I had created. It was actually in my mind a good read and touched several aspects of strands and issues that have been over the past few years floating around the book world. The biggest one is the race of authors and whether an author of one race can write about another race. To be honest, I have seen many non-whites writing about white characters and there not being an issue, but then you flip the script and it is an issue that I have seen authors attacked for. In Yellowface, we have two frenemies June Hayward and Anthena Liu. They were both great writers but June was just another white female and became part of the sea of faceless average white writers whereas Anthena was Asia...

The Year of Cecily Lisa Lin (From Sunset Park, With Love, #1) Publication date: January 17th 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance This is the year of Cecily Chang. San Francisco attorney Cecily Chang is ready to tackle the New Year head on, so she creates a list of resolutions guaranteed to reboot her life—right after her dutiful visit home to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for the Lunar New Year. Cecily prepares to face her critical, meddling mother, nosy relatives, and the chaos and drama family togetherness brings. At least the food will be delicious. This holiday, Cecily vows to remain calm—as long as she doesn’t see him. Jeffrey Lee deeply regrets how he ended things with Cecily ten years ago, but he felt it was best for her at the time. When he runs into her again during the New Year, he sees it as a sign. Now a successful screenwriter, Jeffrey is determined to win back Cecily’s heart. But Cecily doesn’t believe in signs or second chances and embraces her new resolutions...

Love & Resistance Kara H.L. Chen Published by: Quill Tree/Harper Collins Publication date: July 4th 2023 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely, but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when the infamous Mitzi Clarke (influencer, queen bee, bully) makes a pointed racist comment in class. Olivia knows what she must do: let it go. But Olivia is tired of ignoring things just so she can survive. This time, she defends herself. And that is the end of her invisible life. Soon, Olivia discovers, and joins forces with, the Nerd Net: a secret society who has been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at Plainstown High. But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends...

Eight Goodbyes Anna Gomez Publication date: January 31st 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Women’s Fiction “A heart-wrenching tale of two people destined to be together. Simon and Tessa are fantastically portrayed as star-crossed lovers whose lives are worlds apart. Even those who are not fans of romance will enjoy the relationships, scenery, and beautiful prose of this book. Five stars!” ~ San Francisco Book Review One universe, nine planets, 204 countries, 809 islands and 7 seas, and I had the privilege of meeting you.” –Unknown When Tessa Talman first meets Simon Fremont, not only is she attracted to him, she’s intrigued by how different their lives are. He’s a dedicated scientist, practical, pragmatic, and grounded. She’s a head-in-the-clouds romance author. As their relationship grows, they meet in places around the world, while continuing to live in different countries. Though their feelings for each other deepen, their priorities remain the same. Simon is in...

A Warm Rainy Day in Tokyo Kana Wu Publication date: March 31st 2022 Genres: New Adult, Romance Bella Bell lives a perfectly ordinary life with a perfectly ordinary office job in suburban California, where she longs to break free from her perfect sister’s shadow. So when Little Bear Café chooses her to train its new franchisee in Tokyo for the summer, she jumps at the chance. But even a dream come true can get complicated. From the moment she steps on the plane, she annoys her pompous, handsome seatmate, insults her apartment manager, and gets caught up in her new neighbors’ drama. And everywhere she turns, she keeps running into the arrogant stranger from her flight—and she can’t seem to get him out of her head. Ryo Yamada is at the top of his game: a high-powered job, no shortage of potential girlfriends. But his life is turned upside down when his family asks him to return to Tokyo for good because of his sister’s failing health. And now he finds himself avoiding his chi...

Review: The Obsession - Jesse Q. Sutanto - February 2021 Ever since I first saw the cover of this book, I knew I wanted to read it as it drew me in and I also loved the sound of the story. Other than that, I went in blind which for me - tends to make me enjoy the story more so than if I had an idea as that's when I get disappointed. The book was a little confusing, to begin with, and we are presented with Logan who is back at High School this semester and ready for a fresh start. We learn that Logan had a "secret relationship", though as we will discover Logan's feelings tend to run more one-sided with a girl named Sophie. Sophie then died and Logan spiraled out of control. Now he's back for a fresh new year and it looks like a new girl in his sights - Delilah. Delilah is new at school and lives with her mum and her mum's abusive cop boyfriend Brandon. Delilah is Sophie's doppelganger and now Logan wants to date her and so his weird stalkerish behavior com...

Review: Our Moon Festival - Yobe Qui - September 2020 As I had a former boss who was Chinese and having watched a few movies and read a couple of books that relate to various moon festivals. When I saw this cute picture book come up, I decided to give it a read. This book was so adorable and captured the various Moon Festivals from the Chinese - Zhong Qui Jie, Vietnamese - Tết Trung Thu, and Japanese - Tsukimi. The other thing that was beautiful and colorful and captured the happiness of the families gathering was the beautiful illustrations from Christina Nel Lopez.  Each section covers the various foods and traditions from eating mooncakes to lantern lighting for each culture. If you are wanting to do something different for your family this coming year as it seems like we are in lockdown all over again, then this could be a special celebration to not only teach your children about different holidays and celebrations but also form your tradition of togetherness in your bubbles....