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A review by 30something_reads
Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"SO CUTE! So. Fucking. Cute." - me during the majority of Bitter Medicine.
A little weird, very charming, and utterly sweet genre-bendy goodness. Urban fantasy meets Contemporary Romance with some of the most earnest and tender characters.
The world is set up in a way where the fae and magical creatures are living quietly alongside/behind the scenes in modern day. Our characters work for the magical company, Roland and Riddle, and the descriptions of the bureaucratic minutiae that occurs was very Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy funny to me.
So, in essence, it's kind of a workplace romance. But it's also full of family dynamics, secrets, and dangerous missions.
Elle and Luc are a couple that you root for immediately. Their respective quiet yearning (OMG the YEARNING!!!) from the start just had me by the heartstrings. The mutual secret pining was delightful. I loved them. I loved their journey.
I read this in tandem via e-book and audio and I really enjoyed the narrator. It was also really nice to be able to hear the multiple languages used spoken out loud.
I also really enjoyed the author's note on language in the afterward:
...and her reasons for including English, Chinese, and French dialogue.
When discussing growing up in the Taiwanese diaspora, in a multilingual environment, she mentions the experience of a conversation partner switching to a language she didn't know and how it often felt like "a door being shut."
A little weird, very charming, and utterly sweet genre-bendy goodness. Urban fantasy meets Contemporary Romance with some of the most earnest and tender characters.
The world is set up in a way where the fae and magical creatures are living quietly alongside/behind the scenes in modern day. Our characters work for the magical company, Roland and Riddle, and the descriptions of the bureaucratic minutiae that occurs was very Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy funny to me.
So, in essence, it's kind of a workplace romance. But it's also full of family dynamics, secrets, and dangerous missions.
Elle and Luc are a couple that you root for immediately. Their respective quiet yearning (OMG the YEARNING!!!) from the start just had me by the heartstrings. The mutual secret pining was delightful. I loved them. I loved their journey.
I read this in tandem via e-book and audio and I really enjoyed the narrator. It was also really nice to be able to hear the multiple languages used spoken out loud.
I also really enjoyed the author's note on language in the afterward:
...and her reasons for including English, Chinese, and French dialogue.
When discussing growing up in the Taiwanese diaspora, in a multilingual environment, she mentions the experience of a conversation partner switching to a language she didn't know and how it often felt like "a door being shut."
I wanted to bring some of that to Bitter Medicine, which is why I did not provide translation. There isn't anything in the non-English dialogue that's critical to the overall understanding of the text, but I wanted explicitly for readers to experience the shutting of the door, the dropping of the portcullis. The English-speaking West operate on strict English accessibility (and likewise, Mandarin-speaking China operates on strict Mandarin accessibility.) The only acceptable language to speak is English because the dominant culture has an imperialist desire to know everything. If it cannot be known, it must then be conquered and colonized. People of the dominant culture can and do get upset when they suddenly no longer understand what's happening because they've been denied the access they believe is theirs. But that's a discomfort I'm willing to bake into my book.