Review: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Title: House of Earth and Blood

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adult

Publication Date: March 3, 2020

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.

Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.

Relationship Advice For My Younger Self

If I could recount the number of times I have mentally-face palmed at my younger self for stupid mistakes, I would probably give myself a concussion. There's no doubt that I have made many mistakes that I regret due to sheer ignorance and inexperience. I wish that I had a relationship-guru back then to advise on approaching relationships so I wouldn't have messed up so bad and dug a rabbit hole for myself. However, having emerged from bad experience, I believe that the best teacher is experience itself; there is no other way to learn something than to have experienced something first. No amount of advice from Quora can beat personal experience--and thankfully, I believe that I now have had enough experience to know how to navigate the realm of relationships without hitting any unexpected land mime. Here are the dating tenets that I would say to my 17-year-old self: 

Music: Past, Present, Future

This morning, I talked to a friend about how difficult it was for me to form an opinion on something. It was as if I didn't have emotions anymore. That made me realize that I was not properly accessing my brain's emotional side because I was suppressing how I felt about everything. 

In addition to my feelings of trauma, I have been dealing with issues of emotional repression. Emotions are an area of struggle for me. I don't like being over-dramatic and emotional, and I prefer to keep emotions to myself. I don't want to feel anything to avoid feeling my pain and suffering; however, it's not healthy. To be emotionally healthy, you need to unlock your feeling brain to work with your thinking brain. You cannot think without feelings, so trying to block that facet of your brain will not help you in the long run. You need to process and let out your feelings healthy so that repressed feelings do not manifest into anger, sadness, or grief through physiological symptoms. Emotions need to be let out and processed regularly, whether through art, writing, or music. Stifling yourself by avoiding emotional outlets will only lead to a further mental block where you don't even know if you exist because you do not think and feel to form judgments. 

Review: Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

Title: Sex and Vanity

Author: Kevin Kwan

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Publication Date: June 30, 2020

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

The iconic author of the bestselling phenomenon Crazy Rich Asians returns with a glittering tale of love and longing as a young woman finds herself torn between two worlds–the WASP establishment of her father’s family and George Zao, a man she is desperately trying to avoid falling in love with.

On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have the view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Curzio Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin, Charlotte. “Your mother is Chinese so it’s no surprise you’d be attracted to someone like him,” Charlotte teases. Daughter of an American-born-Chinese mother and blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucy is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world–and her heart. Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures

On Moving On

Whenever I have time aside from occupying my life with busyness, such as when I'm on autopilot playing the piano or in the car alone with my thoughts, I always think about things that I regret doing. Sometimes, I just can't seem to silence those thoughts from my head and continue on with my life. Whether it would be shame or embarrassment, things I have done in my past affect me emotionally in a way that disturbs my day to day functioning. For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which was a result of past trauma from a terrible first relationship that left me in an emotionally unstable trainwreck. As a survivor of sexual assault, I experienced a manic phase that left my life in shambles due to things I did that I had no control over--things that still to this day haunt my conscience as much as I try to push these thoughts away.