Tag: ann liang

ARC/ALC Book Review: I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Magical Realism Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: April 14th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Everyone loves Chanel Cao—except Ares Yin.

While Chanel has spent her entire life curating a picture-perfect social media personality—from her body to her hair to her camera-ready smile—Ares has spent his trying to hide in the shadows. But Ares’s brother is missing, and Chanel’s parents have secretly separated, and their only hope is each other.

Ares is willing to do whatever it takes to find his brother, and Chanel will do anything to keep her parents’ secret. When the two meet and share a vision of the future—where Ares’s brother appears, as Chanel’s house burns to the ground—they are determined to use each other. Ares believes Chanel is the key to finding his brother, but Chanel is convinced if she gets Ares to fall in love with her, she’ll save her family house—and her parents’ crumbling marriage.

But Ares isn’t interested in the fake personality that Chanel has used her entire life to get affection and adoration. If she’s going to save her reputation, she’s going to have to let Ares get to know the real her—and risk real feelings.

Thank you to the publisher for an ALC and Storygram Tours for the gifted copy.

WHAT A RIDE.

I have read and loved many of Ann Liang’s books so I jumped in head first when this came across my email and it did not disappoint.

Note: I do need to go back and read If You Could See the Sun because that is one of the few I haven’t read. I had no issues with reading Moon though!!

Any who, this was a JOURNEY. It read like a coming of age novel, add in a romance, character arcs and romantic suspense?! I was glued to my headphones. I loved the push and pull between Chanel and Ares. It’s a short book that brings a well executed slow burn.

The little touch of magical realism worked perfectly. It didn’t overwhelm the plot but rather influenced it enough to keep things moving. It brought the intensity up and kept me wondering how things were going to settle.

I loved the growth for both Chanel and Ares AND the fact that it was dual POV (not dual narrators though FYI). There’s a lot of good conversations in here and while tough I do think it stayed in the young adult category well.

it was just a really dang good book y’all.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Magical realism romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: mild-moderate
  • Content warnings: kidnapping of a child, arson, street fighting

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Never Thought I’d End Up Here by Ann Liang

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: June 3rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the author of the instant New York Times bestseller I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, Never Thought I’d End Up Here is another hilarious and romantic romcom from Ann Liang, this time following a former model determined to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.

Leah Zhang has spent her whole life in LA – it’s all she’s ever known. But after accidentally wishing her cousin ill health and a very depressing marriage at her wedding, her parents stage an intervention. She’s forgotten most of her Mandarin, has zero regard for etiquette, and can’t hold a conversation with her own grandparents for longer than a minute. Their solution? Send her on an intensive two-week travel program across China’s most beautiful cities. To them, it’s the perfect opportunity for Leah to get back to her roots. To Leah, it’s simply a much-needed escape.

But before Leah can even begin to enjoy the luxurious hotels, stunning scenery, and mouth-watering cuisine, she finds that also on the trip is her former classmate and least favorite person cynical, sarcastic Cyrus, who’s somehow only gotten more annoyingly handsome since they last saw each other.

While Leah might be tempted to shove him off the peak of the Yellow Mountain when nobody’s looking, she can’t get rid of him just yet. After all, she might never get another chance to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.

Yet the deeper they wander into China’s provinces, the deeper Leah finds herself falling in love – with the boy she once thought she despised, the home she never thought she’d call her own, and the parts of herself she thought were already lost.

GOOD THEMES.

I love a good young adult book I feel I can actually hand to young adults. Ann Liang continues to deliver fantastic coming of age novels that hit you in the feels and supply a sweet romance too.

I loved the traveling aspect of this one. Touring cities with beautifully written imagery brought China to life. And I loved that this immersion for Leah helped her reconnect with her roots. It wasn’t perfect and filled with fumbles and I feel that’s a resonating aspect that we all go through with big experiences. Leah was letting go of a future she thought she had to participate in and found a way to be and love herself. The growth of Leah’s confidence was one of my favorite themes.

And the romance? Oh it was the sweetest childhood friends turned enemies turned slow burn lovers. Cyrus is down bad and I am here for every moment of that. The romance isn’t the front of this story but does provide such a good dual plot line that brings a lot of growth moments for the characters too. These are the kind of travel romances I adore reading.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: bullying (recounted), body image (theme throughout)

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: February 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Snarky and romantic, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.

Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a “pleasure to have in class.” It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She’d never send them of course — she’d rather die than hurt anyone’s feelings — but it’s a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie’s work.

All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. “You’re attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you’ve been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft…”

Sadie doesn’t have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them… that is, until they’re accidentally sent out.

Overnight, Sadie’s carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It’s her worst nightmare — now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they’re not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there’s one person growing to appreciate the “real” Sadie — Julius, the only boy she’s sworn to hate…

THIS IS ACADEMIC RIVALS.

You know when a trope is mentioned and when you read it, you feel like that trope was not actually there? NOT the case for this book. This was an intense and passion filled academic rivals and I loved that. Sadie and Julius were at each other constantly but you could also clearly see the chemistry between them.

I liked seeing Sadie grow over the book. Bless her heart, being so consumed by people pleasing and trying to make things right was eating her up. And I liked watching her understand that you just can’t please everyone, and that those who love you will stick with you.

This was pretty solid for YA in regards to content. I didn’t love the underage drinking house party, but language and romantic content wise it would be okay for teens. Which is always a plus for young adult books.

I have enjoyed this author’s previous books and will definitely continue to pick them up.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: parental abandonment, cyberbullying

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ARC Book Review: A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★☆
Audience: Historical Fantasy Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: October 1st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the famous Four Beauties of Ancient China, A Song to Drown Rivers is an epic historical fantasy about womanhood, war, sacrifice, and love against all odds.
Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall—and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL Y’ALL.

I am sitting here to write this review after finishing it the previous day and I still haven’t figured out how I feel about it and what I want to do about it. I DID enjoy the audiobook. If you want to read ASTDR I would definitely recommend that avenue. Loved the narrator, no issues on that front.

My main issue stems from how short this book felt. It is barely over 300 pages and for a standalone fantasy that can be hit or miss. I thought things were moving TOO FAST and I couldn’t keep up with the speed of the timeline. It also made the main romance line feel off-kilter. I would have loved more connection and time between them.

I didn’t mind the plot. It’s one I’ve read before, but do enjoy often. But, as the story went one it took some final turns that have me in a befuddled state. I think it boils down to this not being the style of fantasy romance I personally like.

I’ve enjoyed Ann Liang’s previous books in the YA Contemporary Romance category, and I would still read her next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical fantasy romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: make-outs; low innuendo
  • Violence: moderate-high
  • Content Warnings: weapons violence, poisoning, attempted murder, actual murder, loss of life, war themes

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph