echo ‘Cause I think I’ve fallen
In love this time
I blinked and suddenly I have, I had a valentine
-Valentine by Laufey
Some say the reason for living is to love. Whether it’s ourselves, friends, family, or our partners, there are countless ways to give and receive love. It comes in many different forms; in words, actions, and thoughts. After all, media has given us more than plenty of portrayals of love. From Disney movies, to grand gestures of love displayed on social media, to the countless songs written about it, love seems to be the soul of humanity. The soulmates, that finding of perfect halves and the “You complete me” are ubiquitous.
But love isn’t just about finding your perfect half. It’s the trying, the reaching, the failing… Watch the Netflix movie The Half Of It for the rest of this quote about love. It’s an excellent movie with some of the best portrayals of love, especially platonic love.
Coming back to books, love stories are a pillar of literature. Classics like Pride and Prejudice, modern books such as To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before all have themes of love, romance and everything in between. It’s beautiful to see the experience in it all.
Now, take a dive into some of our members’ favourite books that hold some of these themes.
Wen Wei: Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
When people ask me what my favourite book is, I can never give only one answer. But when I try to think about it, I don’t only remember the characters in the book, or the plot, or the setting.
I remember how the book makes me feel.
I think that is a defining factor when it comes to deciding whether to read a book or not. If a book feels right, you know that you will enjoy it.
Now, you’re probably wondering: why Divine Rivals? How did it strike a chord within me so deep, that I decided to choose to write about this one book out of so many?
Picture yourself in a cozy autumn cafe, sipping a cup of hot cinnamon tea, spices warming your insides along with the welcoming fire burning in the hearth, the crackles from the fireplace soothing your eardrums and the autumn air filled with magic; one might say… divine magic.
Divine Rivals was the book I never knew I needed to read. I have to admit, it is now one of my comfort books, one of the books I think of when I think of home. The undertones of ancient lore, magic and enchantments lining the foundations of the world the author so intricately built, with notes of romance and tension of rivals turned lovers (which we all have to admit we love), form a heartwarming and hopeful story. One that is sure to put a smile on your face when it is remembered.
But don’t be fooled – with every beautiful story comes inevitable pain and heartbreak. This is what makes a story realistic, which the author has captured perfectly, with the balance of themes of love and pain, woven into the past, present and futures of the characters.
The prologue sets a good pacing for the story and lays out the foundations for the important plot points in the book; Iris Winnow lives in a world where the gods are warring and safety is not necessarily guaranteed. In fact, her own brother has enlisted to fight in the war, and she hasn’t heard from him since the day he left for the battlefield.
Dealing with a crushing fear of her brother’s fate, she buries herself in her work at the local paper as a journalist, competing for the position of columnist against her rival, who is none other than Roman Kitt. She has also begun to slip letters under her wardrobe, all of them addressed to her brother, somewhat as a coping mechanism, unaware of the magical properties of her typewriter.
The letters make their way to her rival and she has no idea that he is reading them. To put it in one sentence, Iris doesn’t know that Roman knows that it’s her who is sending letters through his wardrobe. They eventually start corresponding through their typewriters and wardrobes; and it begins their blossoming romance. (<3)
One of the many things that stood out to me in this book was the refreshing use of two points of view. The book alternates between Iris’ and Roman’s chapters which I think adds to the depth of the characters – readers are able to see things from both perspectives, how each of them perceive the world and their individual life challenges.
There was also exactly what I mentioned above – the fact that Iris has no idea who is receiving her letters, not to mention starting a correspondence with her, but the fact that Roman knows exactly who he is replying to. Top it off with the fact that the reader knows the true identities of both Iris and Roman, being able to see both sides of the story – and you would get a read that is filled with so much longing for them to be able to talk about it instead of corresponding through words alone. I personally think this adds to the reading experience because it kept me hooked with the hopes that the big reveal would happen at one point (and I always hoped that it would be soon).
The book also has historical themes, inspired by the events of the World Wars. Eventually, the two main characters find themselves in the midst of the frontlines as war correspondents, armed with typewriters – fighting battles with their words rather than with weapons. History lovers might want to consider giving this book a go because of the historical influences. You might even learn a new thing or two! (I certainly did.)
I’m not a fan of cliffhanger endings (yes, unfortunately, there is a cliffhanger at the end of this book) but in the case of Divine Rivals, it provides a smooth transition to the next book in the duology, Ruthless Vows.
On the flip side, something I felt that the book lacked compared to everything else was the fantasy. Ironic, because it was pitched as a fantasy romance (which you would expect to mean a good balance between both). In retrospect, I might even go so far to say that the historical elements outweighed the fantasy ones. But all things considered, I really didn’t mind if the fantasy was cut down on to make more room for the romance (because who doesn’t love a good romance?). Iris and Roman’s story truly makes it worthwhile.
Before I end this review, I absolutely have to insert a quote from one of the many letters from Iris and Roman’s correspondence. The words they write to each other are filled with so much meaning, and I find that repeating their words to myself can help me get through a particularly rough spot in life. I personally crave genuineness in a romance, and I got just that when I saw how beautifully they worded their messages to one another.
“Because you are not alone. Not in your fear or your grief or your hopes or your dreams. You are not alone.”
So, if you’re looking for a read filled with romance, fantasy, hope and magic, you’re in the right place. But be warned, once you begin your journey in the world of Divine Rivals, you will never look at a typewriter the same way again (it’s a good thing!).
Ryan: This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
I must confess, I’ve never been one for novels that focus purely on romance.
I’ve always been into plot-heavy stories, ones with many characters and moving parts. Murder mysteries, thrillers, fantasy and sci-fi sagas that stretch across several thick volumes. Stories with worlds I could drown in, populated with characters I get to watch rise to power and fall from grace. Tales with long tangents and beguiling mysteries that unfold piece by piece. Stories grandiose in tone and wide in scope, that track an ensemble cast rather than a single person.
I’ve also never been into novellas.
I’ve nothing against them as a medium, but as mentioned before, my taste skews towards the lengthier end of the spectrum. I like thick books. The kind of book that you can use as a doorstop, the type of book that could probably shield you from a bullet. Novellas are longer than short stories but shorter than full novels, which confounds my sensibilities. I was unsure of how much a writer can really do in such a short amount of pages. A hundred, maybe two hundred pages in large print? That feels like no space at all!
I relate all this to make sense of the fact that this romantic sci-fi novella, crafted by two writers and published by Simon and Schuster in 2019, is my favourite book in years.
This Is How You Lose The Time War is not only a phenomenal book on its own terms, but good enough to break through my layers of biases to capture my heart. I was moved, I was compromised, I had my proverbial socks knocked off. The little book had received consistent praise and buzz in the years since it was released, but still, I found it so much better than I thought it could be. Smarter, better written, more emotional. It was the greatest pleasant surprise of my life last year when I read it for the first time.
So. What is it about, exactly?
The novella tracks the correspondence between two spies on opposing sides of a war. But more than being separated by ideology and physical distance, they’re separated by time. As the title of the book suggests, their conflict is one fought across the vast expanse of time as well as space. Red and Blue, dual protagonists of the novella, flash up and down the thread of history, visiting locations familiar and foreign as they carry out the bidding of their superiors. They do all the things you expect of a spy, but in more fantastical contexts than you might be familiar with. Red assassinates Julius Caesar and goes undercover as an advisor to Genghis Khan, while Blue infiltrates a dystopian tech-world to destroy a computer that has become a God. As it turns out, shaping the flow of human history to ensure the dominance of one’s employers in the far future takes a lot of wild moves.
The majority of the narrative is told through the letters they leave behind for each other after missions. (And before you ask, yes, it IS crazy that this is the second recommendation in this article about characters in a war writing letters to a partner on the other side of it.) Red and Blue, as well as their world and the far-future empires they fight on behalf of, are characterised beautifully through each letter.
Their relationship, unspooling throughout each greeting and sign-off, changes with each interaction. Their first letters are taunting, triumphant, rivals boasting to the other that they’ve already won. Later ones delve into different territory. Some are funny, some are heartfelt, some shockingly vulnerable. We learn about them as they learn about each other. Red tells of her search for the meaning of life in her youth and Blue reciprocates with a personal story about the hunger that sets her apart from her comrades. We learn of their favourite sensations, their favourite books, their least favourite places in all of history.
Reading through Red and Blue’s correspondence feels like– I hope you’ll forgive the comparison– reading through the chat history between yourself and a friend you got to know online. You can trace with clarity the way your relationship changed here, or that night where you learnt so much about them there. It’s like seeing the whole history of two people laid out before you, all the moments of vulnerability, the rough patches and the lovesick days all linked together like beads in a bracelet.
You almost start to forget that there’s a war going on.
But of course there is. And with war, comes the threat of them losing it all.
As the letters pass back and forth, both agents find themselves growing irrevocably closer. But as their relationship deepens, so does the threat of betrayal hanging over their heads. Both agents are trusted by their respective organisations, but are at the end of the day merely tools to them. Each exchanged word is potentially valuable intel in the enemy’s hands, every sign-off and greeting further damning evidence against them if their side finds out what’s going on. One of them might tire and betray the other, turn in their whole history and have the other obliterated. And that’s before Red senses a strange presence following her through time, a shadow always just out of reach…
This Is How You Lose The Time War is a book that excels on every level. Its prose is phenomenal, lyrical and dripping with personality. The characters and the relationship that grows between them is fascinating, and tinged with that edge of danger you’d expect of two spies on opposing sides of a crazed war across time. It’s consistently funny, and at times beautiful and occasionally shockingly tender. It made me feel far more than I thought I would, and kept me on my toes throughout.
I loved every page of it, and have only enjoyed it more on rereads. It’s a book I would recommend to anyone, and hey– that’s you now!
Zhen Li: I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang
If you asked me if I was a romantic, I would reply that it depends. Yes, I admire romance and love, this deep feeling that lights with happiness. No, because I also see it as incredibly unrealistic. Love was not like what we see in the movies, the books we read and the media we consume.
This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy romance, of course I do. While I do enjoy a love story, I’m often picky with the ones I choose to read. I’d flip through the first few pages, scanning the lines and by the end of it, place it back on the shelf or continue my journey into this world I’ve fallen into.
Hence, when I discovered that Ann Liang’s third book I Hope This Doesn’t Find You was about two co-captains, I thought why not and gave it a go. As a former school prefect myself, it was an oddly familiar concept. Besides, the typical co-captain situation called for a rivals to lovers trope, and what fun that would be coming from this author.
You see, I first discovered Ann Liang through her debut, If You Could See The Sun, a story about two academic rivals teaming up in their own situation of events. Clearly, the author was eager to pen more stories with similar tropes as shown in this book.
We’re introduced to our female protagonist: Sadie Wen, every Asian parent’s dream daughter, school captain, valedictorian and who’s so compliant and helpful. A pleasure to have in class, her teacher says. But under her pleasant nature and perfect character, Sadie channels all her frustrations and complaints into email drafts. Without holding anything back, she pours everything into these strongly-worded paragraphs. Sending them would be an absolute disaster, so she leaves them for her own eyes. What people don’t know won’t hurt them anyway.
Next, we have Julius Gong, golden boy extraordinaire who seems to effortlessly beat Sadie in everything. From track-and-field, mathematics tests, charming parents to send their children to their prestigious high school, Julius has somehow been slightly ahead of Sadie, leaving her just a few steps behind.
Despite being the people-pleaser she is, Sadie is incredibly stubborn when it comes to Julius, being one of the few who despises him. In fact, he is the only one she’s able to say no to. They bicker about everything, even the smallest details.
Sadie’s world is turned upside down, an entire tornado of chaos when the emails are accidentally sent out. Her unfiltered words about people suddenly gaining an audience. As a consequence, her perfectly crafted world is crumbling into a nightmare, with people telling her what they think since they know what she truly thinks of them. But interesting enough, amidst it all, the only one who still seems to see Sadie for who she really is, seems to be Julius.
We follow Sadie as she attempts to fix what someone may do when their deepest thoughts about their schoolmates and teachers are leaked, make it up and try to get everyone to forgive and forget. It’s the trying and chaos that follows which is part of the book’s charm.
The author has said it herself, this book is for the pathological people pleasers, the perfectionists, those who are afraid of not being seen as enough, the ones whose only desires are to be liked by others. Sadie encapsulates all of that, her bright points and flaws. At times, there were moments where I thought this girl needed therapy to resolve her more-than-daddy-issues situation. Julius, on the other hand, grapples with issues of his own. Seeming confident, he really is just a boy who is trying his best to measure up to his brilliant older brother.
As the story unfolds, Sadie and Julius slowly realise they’re not so different. The shared stubbornness and competitive nature just made their rivalry all the more intense, but it also meant that they could understand each other better. Vulnerable moments are held tenderly between the two, sprinkling hints of comedy, but it’s heartwarming to read.
My strongest gripe with this story is that we never see Sadie and Julius enough as a couple. We get the development of their relationship, the tension and bickering between them and the slow-burn of them learning things about each other. But when their confessions are finally exhaled into the air, a few pages are flipped and it ends. Having it conclude with Sadie reading the email Julius sent in reply to hers is cute, and definitely ties the story together, but it honestly gives an unsatisfying ending. However, I enjoyed it nevertheless.
Something that also irked me slightly was the way Sadie and Julius talked to each other. To specifically narrow it down is a bit tricky, but I’d describe it that they don’t talk like high-schoolers. I either found their dialogue too long-winded, or slightly out of place. I understand the intended emotional depth, but it’s to a point where it’s almost overdone. To achieve the effect of quotes meant to tug at your heartstrings and swoon is not easy, but I find the way Ann Liang wrote it to be a bit much, at least for me.
That being said, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is everything I expected it to be, and a little more. With the cheesy rom-com moments, the teenage drama and shenanigans you expect from secondary school kids, it was still a captivating enough story. In all, it’s about finding yourself, speaking your truth. The world doesn’t end when you slip and fall, you just have to try your best to pick yourself up and move forward.
This book also serves as a reminder that no matter the grades you bring, the medals that are tucked into drawers or the achievements you strive to fulfill, you are enough. Your value is not defined by your merit and shiny medals, but the space you hold in this world. Sadie realises this as we progress through the book, slowly accepting herself and navigating through the pressure placed on her by others, and especially, herself.
Despite its flaws, this book was an enjoyable read. I recommend it to those who like romance or young adult books. It’s quick to devour and definitely very entertaining. Trust me, you’d find yourself wanting more as you read line after line.
Written By Zhen Li, Ryan and Wen Wei
