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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai follows Ella and Luc where Ella is a descendant of the Chinese God of medicine, an ignored middle child. Luc is half-elf and works for an agency named Roland & Riddle. You can think about the above-mentioned agency, as equivalent to a private organization that works on a contract basis in the real world. This was enough to get me excited about this.
Bitter medicine didn’t disappoint at least not in the first half. I was hooked. The world-building was amazing. The plot build-up was so good. Luc’s current mission was to arrest Elle’s rogue brother and the more time they spent together not knowing how close they were tied up.
Elle keeps her real identity hidden for the sake of his elder brother. Her character is unique with she not trying to play the hero all the time. And keeping a distance in building a life. The only person who wants her to break free from the clutches of her life right now is Luc, an A-level agent from the agency. Elle’s crush on Luc is cute.
Luc is a French guy who is super hot (of course) knows his way around weapons and is good in combat. Like most of the fantasy/sci-fi stories, Luc is a broken/tortured soul where his boss/guardian has abused him for centuries making him work every single day without breaks. Bitter medicine talks about the exhaustive workplace load through Luc’s work and his relationship with his boss Oberon. He is always on standby for some mission or performing managerial duties or training. He feels burned out.
With so much happening in the first half, I was expecting some good moments in the second half.
Check out the full review on my blog https://co408810518.wordpress.com/2023/03/13/book-review-bitter-medicine-by-mia-tsai/
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc copy of this book.
I don’t quite know how I feel about this book, but as of right now, I feel that it was just fine. There were parts of it that I absolutely loved and other parts that fell short.
I loved the magic system and the world-building in this book. I thought it was done very well and I enjoyed finding out new things as the book went on. The author did a great job of showing the world instead of just info dumping. On top of that, I found the world interesting and it is not something I have seen a lot of and definitely not done in the way the author did it.
I also felt that the plot was interesting and it was the main thing that ket me turning the page. The author did an amazing job of intertwining different storylines together. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how everything was connected.
Now the thing that made it really hard for me to fully get invested in this book was the two main characters. I just did not care for either of them and I found myself putting the book down despite my interest in other parts of the book. I also felt no chemistry between them so that defiantly did not help.
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Tachyon Publications and Netgalley for the review copy. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Bitter Medicine starts as a fantasy romance but deepens out into a story of choice.
We meet Elle as she is at work. It is clear that the work does not give her much challenge to her skills and that a lot is going on with her family. When Luc enters the store there is a clear attraction going on between them. As the interactions between them grow so do the fantasy elements surrounding them.
When I first started this story I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into. It started off a bit slow and the fantasy wasn't quite so well defined. But as the story progressed I got sucked into the lives of Elle and Luc. They both have a lot going on. Where Elle is in hiding with her brother from her other brother, Luc is stuck in a service that makes him do things he doesn't want to.
As we get to know Elle and Luc better the fantasy elements of the world start to clear up. Elle is an immortal with a lot of talents towards potions and the like. While Luc is a half elf. And as we see more of the world and the other characters (Lira, Tony, the Wrecking Crew) this story deepens out quite a bit.
In the end it is all about choices. For Elle the choice to live a little instead of hide. Even after the event, she still needs to make that choice. Where as Luc has to make the choice to choose himself. To stand up for himself and get his own life back. It is interesting to see how they move through that. And it was good to see that after the event things weren't so easily moved away from. Elle needed a lot of time to get used to her new normal. And Luc respected that. Respected that their relationship wasn't going to just continue on from before naturally.
All in all this was a great book to read. I certainly wouldn't mind reading more in this world or more about some of the side characters. Tony or The Wrecking Crew please.
Content Warnings
Trauma | Attempted Murder
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2023 reads: 68/350
2023 tbr: 24/100
elle, a descendant of the chinese god of medicine, is employed as a magical calligrapher (which is way below her qualifications, but necessary so that her murderous younger brother doesn’t find her). but she still likes to challenge herself, specifically through providing her client and crush, luc, with high-powered glyphs.
while the magic system was unique and interesting, some aspects of it confused me. i wish this was explored a bit more in-depth so i could have a deeper understanding of this aspect of the story.
the main focus of this book was romance, though. i thought that the romance was nice, but it didn’t captivate me as much as i was hoping it would.
2023 tbr: 24/100
elle, a descendant of the chinese god of medicine, is employed as a magical calligrapher (which is way below her qualifications, but necessary so that her murderous younger brother doesn’t find her). but she still likes to challenge herself, specifically through providing her client and crush, luc, with high-powered glyphs.
while the magic system was unique and interesting, some aspects of it confused me. i wish this was explored a bit more in-depth so i could have a deeper understanding of this aspect of the story.
the main focus of this book was romance, though. i thought that the romance was nice, but it didn’t captivate me as much as i was hoping it would.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Bitter Medicine immediately hooked me with the premise of a romance between an elf and immortal. And what begins as this fantasy premise, only evolves. The fantasy elements begin to bloom and we are able to see a world full of talents and dangers. With cute chemistry and plenty of awkward moments - this made me feel very seen - you instantly root for them. But beneath the surface, Bitter Medicine turns into an introspective story about choice.
Who are we? It takes a universal theme and breaks it down for us in a way that manages to resonate with readers. Are we just a sum of all the things we do for people? Our skills, high test scores, and jobs? Or are we just who are family is, where we were raised? Bitter Medicine unexpectedly struck a chord within me.
Bitter Medicine immediately hooked me with the premise of a romance between an elf and immortal. And what begins as this fantasy premise, only evolves. The fantasy elements begin to bloom and we are able to see a world full of talents and dangers. With cute chemistry and plenty of awkward moments - this made me feel very seen - you instantly root for them. But beneath the surface, Bitter Medicine turns into an introspective story about choice.
Who are we? It takes a universal theme and breaks it down for us in a way that manages to resonate with readers. Are we just a sum of all the things we do for people? Our skills, high test scores, and jobs? Or are we just who are family is, where we were raised? Bitter Medicine unexpectedly struck a chord within me.