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BLOG TOUR: Jade War by Fonda Lee aka I’m too shook to write a review

Huge thanks to Shealea & Caffeine Book Tours for sending me a free review copy of this book. Follow the tour here!

Because I have excellent planning skills, I decided to read JADE WAR this past weekend, right before this blog post needed to be up.

This, dearest booklings, was a mistake. Because I am literally?? too shook??? to write a review? For newcomers to this series, check out my JADE CITY review here. For my fellow sufferers, imagine that review but with a lot of background screaming.

I JUST. I CANNOT USE WORDS TO DESCRIBE. this sequel is basically Jade City dialled up to eleven, also the NUMBER OF PIECES MY HEART IS IN.

You know what, I will stop shrieking (this really isn’t a review!) and show you how pretty and scarily red this book is:
If you look very closely, the silhouettes of city buildings is just barely visible. I’m extremely curious where that photo is from, since I suspect I recognise one of the buildings from Hong Kong? (New friends, that is where I currently shriek. And that would be just be so perfect since the worldbuilding just felt like home.

Not that Hong Kong is ruled by the mafia with superpowers. But this intense belonging is at once a testament to Fonda Lee’s superb worldbuilding and also a special recommendation to any fans of Asian-inspired fantasy out there — this book is one you do NOT want to miss.

(Oh and you should also check out this giveaway of STRONGER THAN A BRONZE DRAGON, another cool Asian-inspired fantasy that’s just as fun but much less terrifying. But I’m not the boss of you, maybe you like terror in your life, just keep reading this post.)

As for the characters, I honestly can only scream. But you can’t blame my emotions completely for this, I also have to stay vague to keep this spoiler-free for Jade City. *nods vigorously* That’s why.
(SHAE. SHAEEEE. My favourite. Do any of you even get why I am screaming. Trust me, this line sounds cool but you will be shrieking at your book.)

*quietly assumes that you already bought this because YES YOU SHOULD*
I absolutely wanted to save this rainbow dragon graphic for my gay son Anden but for some reason I ended up using it for Hilo instead? But he deserves it. The sheer character development that Hilo has been through, my goodness. My heart could barely take it.

(ALL THE CHARACTERS DESERVE GOOD THINGS. I HOPE THE AUTHOR HEARS ME.)
ANDEN SWEETIE when did you grow up. I had to actually take a break when I read this line because I was just terrified. the JADE WAR experience: endless terror that you desperately want.

I am also endlessly laughing at the fact that this last graphic looks like a Meaningful Life Quote Quite Possibly from Matthews 14:15. I would have redesigned it to look more modern but I suppose they say laughter is the best medicine for the soul, and my soul has absolutely been through enough.

Feel free to use any of these wallpapers for personal use, by the way! Use the last one to troll people with Life Inspiring Advice from a mafia fantasy novel, I DARE YOU.

(Please link your friends here instead of reposting these images <3)

And now, ALL the information about JADE WAR that will send you running to the bookstores on July 23!

Synopsis:
In Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis.

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years.

Beyond Kekon's borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon's most prized resource, could make them rich - or give them the edge they'd need to topple their rivals.

Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival - and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.

Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.

Book links: Amazon / Book Depository / Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY: Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon

Welcome, book fiends! Gather round our bubbling cauldron of sakura potion -- it's time for a brand new giveaway!

But first, I think this book deserves a bit of a special introduction! I read STRONGER THAN A BRONZE DRAGON as part of a book tour organised by The Royal Polar Bear Reads.

I absolutely love how this book focuses on a commoner POV that in many other books would simply be a sidekick. Anlei is a forceful protagonist with just a little hint of darkness, and her character arc is super interesting. I also adore how the book digs into the nuances of privilege and power in the worldbuilding. It’s a super fun and action-packed book that you should definitely try!

(Shout-out to Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea for buddy reading this with me!)

Oh, right, giveaway! A huge thank you to the author, Mary Fan, for giving away a signed copy to you guys when I flung myself shrieking at her, haha.

To enter the giveaway, simply type your email address below! This means joining my takeout army for our little regular giveaways, so I will send you emails about bonus entries, who won, and more giveaway information. reload the page if this form isn't visible. Once you've entered, you'll receive an email with details on how to redeem bonus entries—so go and check it now! Because you entered, right? riiiiiight?

Blurb (buy links here):
When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei’s village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection—if he’ll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei’s noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself. Knowing the viceroy won’t protect her village without the jewel, she takes matters into her own hands. But once she catches the thief, she discovers he needs the pearl just as much as she does. The two embark on an epic quest across the land and into the Courts of Hell, taking Anlei on a journey that reveals more is at stake than she could have ever imagined.
ISBN: 162414733X. Author bio: Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.

This giveaway will run until August 15th, at which point I shall select a winner and have a new giveaway for everyone else. Yay!

This prize will be shipped internationally.

help i'm a smol marshmallow with no legal knowledge but here goes:

Official details regarding this giveaway: No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Entrants must be 18 or above or have parental/guardian permission. Giveaway, bot, or other suspicious accounts will be removed at organiser's discretion. In holding this giveaway, the organiser does not endorse this book or this publisher. The prize will be a finished copy of STRONGER THAN A BRONZE DRAGON or another substitute prize at organiser's discretion. Winner drawn on August 15th. Entrants' email addresses are collected for the purposes of entry confirmation, notifying winners, providing information regarding bonus entries, and further updates on new giveaways. These details are subject to change.

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7 smart tricks for authors/bloggers starting a mailing list // since we're all jumping on the hype train

Hello bookish fiends! Today we have a super detailed guide for authors or bloggers trying to wrap their minds around this "mailing list" phenomenon! You will want to know these tricks so you don't smush yourselves into a mud puddle infested with spiky urchins. Like bb!Alyssa did 2 years ago.

(but Alyssa spiky urchins don't live in mud puddles--SHHH I'm a fantasy author I do what I want.)
If you don't want to miss out on future tips, be sure to sign up here.

Why do you need a mailing list?

Under our capitalist overlords, we've got to earn money for books and food! (Yes, I put books first.) If you want to monetise your book blog or sell your own books, a mailing list is an incredibly helpful direct line of contact to the people who are interested in what you're offering.

So let's get to the TRICKZ that will get you ahead of the curve.

1. Don't ask people if you should start a newsletter.


Say, "I'm thinking of doing a newsletter! Sign up if you'd read it!"

If you can't be bothered to set anything up, that's manageable -- just ask people to message you their email address.

People vote yes on your Twitter poll, then forget about it. Action is the best way to confirm interest! This isn't a major tip, but I see y'all doing it on Twitter and it's a pet peeve. 

2. Mailchimp is not the only option. Really.


Okay, MailChimp isn't bad! I started on this and still use it for a few things I'm too lazy to switch over. Quick thoughts:
  • A great free plan with 2k subscribers
  • Satisfactory deliverability
  • Really user-friendly
  • Subpar tracking and automations
  • Can't easily "tag" subscribers, which means you'll be double counting subscribers for multiple lists
I've also given Mailerlite a spin:
  • 1k free subscribers with great tagging system
  • Fantastic, user-friendly automation — I can follow up on certain people who've clicked a certain link and go up to them like "heLLO I think you'd like a glass of lemonade"
  • Send rich text emails like you're just chatting with friends. WHICH I LOVE.
  • Many features removed from the free plan earlier this year
  • I had deliverability issues in the three months or so that I used it.
Eventually the spam mushrooms started creeping back onto me and my list grew too big for their free plan. So I switched to sender.net last week:
  • 2.5k free subscribers
  • Good tagging and automation
  • Because I'm super picky with templates, I wrote all my own emails with HTML, so if you're completely new to coding, make sure you're comfy with their templates.
  • (Coding is something I talk about in a future post! sign up for updates here)
  • I did encounter some technical issues here and there but their live chat support is really excellent.
  • Basically 83% the features I need? For free?? For more subscribers???
Another option is sendinblue, which has unlimited subscribers, but only lets you send 300 emails a day on the free plan.

Explore options before leaping on the generic train, okay? Okay, teacups!

3. Don't use embedded sign-ups.


Use a page on your own website. Don't embed in your blog posts. Don't use a landing page by your email provider. Don't use a third-party form.

Because you might want to tweak your signup, and the changes might not translate to your embedded form. Because you might want to change providers, and now all your forms in old blog posts are wrong. Because the third-party form provider might vanish, and your links are now dead. Yes, I learned these the HARD way.

Plus, I hate those Captchas! Maybe I'm secretly a robot, but I always get them wrong and it's torture to sign up for anything, which makes me not sign up. Using your own landing pages gives you the option to avoid them. (I've never noticed a particular uptick in bot signups when they're removed.)

If you don't know how to set up landing pages, I will teach you that in a future post (stay updated here). But for now, set up a redirect from a page on your own website to a landing page of your email provider, or embed the sign-up in a static page and send people there.

When you level up and want to make changes, it will be much easier to tweak your own page!

... and yes ... I am pointing you to mailchimp's signup form for tutorial updates ... because if I changed it now, I'd have way too many dead links to fix. DO AS I SAY not as I do.

4. Reconsider using tips or tutorials to make people sign up.


—uh, Alyssa, YOU ARE DOING THIS.

You see, these rules are like writing rules, where if you know why they exist, you're free to break them. I'm not the boss of you. You're your own boss. Or you're an underemployed millennial who wants to dismantle capitalism?? Sign me up for THAT mailing list.

Anyways, my email list for future blogging/website tips? It's the first list I started, and the one with the worst engagement. I don't expect to sell anything from it. I just want to make sure the few people who are still reading get to see my new content. I'm so benevolent. *hides Slytherin scarf*

Authors: The reason you shouldn't use "how-to" posts to entice people to join your list is that you're likely giving advice on how to write to other writers, when the people you actually want on your list are people who think your book idea sounds cool and will want a copy 30000 years later, when revisions are finally done. I won't lie, tutorials can create amazing sign-up numbers, but think about who are the right subscribers for your newsletter! Tutorial posts are a common suggestion for mailing list beginners, so I just wanted to say my piece against them for fiction writers building their platform.

Book bloggers: Tutorial posts are an AMAZING way to connect with other bloggers and I do love to do that!! I'll shake all the hands like an octopus! But if you want your audience to be comprised of a wider audience of non-blogging readers, then you might want to think of other content ideas.

5. Don't act like a company sending me discount codes I'll never use.


I personally love author newsletters because they're an intimate way to talk with my closest supporters. I say hello teacups I need your help to choose a title because I'm a silly indecisive goose. I say they say dystopian is dead, my book is going to prove them wrong.

So I don't get it when author newsletters have weird block formats and speak in the third person and paste their blurb in wholesale! I mean, nothing against these authors, it's just not my style. That's up to you!

(On the other hand, I'm personally not a fan of lifestyle-ish author newsletters. I like to talk books more! But that might be because I'm still a book blogger at heart, so eat your chocolate however you want. YMMV.)

6. Don't do it just because they all say you should.


Mailing lists actually can take a lot of time, and mistakes, and effort. It's definitely not "build it and they will come" or "passive income". If someone's mailing list reached 10K in 2 days, it's probably because they were already influential.

Start a mailing list if you have the time wouldn't mind modest results. It's great, but I don't feel like it's a must.

So if you find all this confusing, it's fine to ... not. 

Alyssa, of course I find this confusing! You keep telling me what NOT to do, and it's turning me into a porcupine in headlights! Tell me something TO DO.

7. Convert your social media followers to email friends.


You know what? I'll be real. Social media is still going to reach more people. Emails aren't going to go viral!

So find a way to turn your social media reach into an email list. Here's why — social media is owned by corporations who like algorithms. Ugh. You can't control them, or their decisions when they decide to wipe you off the map but keep the racists around.
PSA. A misconception about mailing lists: A lot of people just shout "no algorithm!" six times as though this is a ritual to ward off the demons of social media.

Well, first of all, there is an algorithm: email spam filters, your service providers' terms of service, and also your readers' minds. On a good day my email list may get 50%-70% open rates. My smol Instagram account's posts might be seen by 50% of my followers and it might also get seen by four times as many non-followers. Don't leap on the hype train just for the demon rituals!

But you won't lose the subscribers because of a social network's say-so ... take your list with you unless they unsubscribe.
I've tried several modes of tweets / social media posts to convert followers to email friends, and here's my experience:

does NOT work: "Want to find out 10 reasons romance is dead? get the deets here: [SIGNUP LINK]"

This is the classic "lead magnet" style that lots of other email list tutorials will suggest, to entice them with some sort of secret or benefit or incantation. My personal results are dismal. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I'm not doing it anymore!

sometimes works: "I just started a newsletter, please join here! [SIGNUP LINK]"

This isn't fancy, but it will get your closest followers to join you. I've literally signed up because an author I liked said "I will feel bad if this doesn't work". The guilt trip annoyed me, but it worked!

If nothing else, here's your takeaway from this post: a mailing list is not going to inherently net you new fans like an ad. For me, I use it to continue to engage with people who already like what I'm doing! That's why giving a blunt invitation is better than writing up clickbaity ~content upgrades~ to lure people in.

best for me: "Friends, my latest newsletter drops Saturday. I'm talking about [TWO TO THREE SPECIFIC THINGS]. Join here! [SIGNUP LINK]"

I'm upfront about what my intentions are, I show them I'm super cool and they should do as I say, and I give them a gentle time limit. It's like the Inigo Montoya method of networking ...

maybe works?? "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to join my murder newsletter."

and that's a wrap! If you'd like to see how I do my authorly newsletters after learning from 2 years of mistakes, here's the link. ... I will feel bad if this doesn't work? Ha!

Any questions about mailing lists? Comment below! Oh, and leave a link to your newsletter + join up with other people's too — there's no better way to learn about newsletters than observing how others do it!


.S. My next post is about how to start a stylish book blog or author website for FREEEEEE. If you want to stay updated on that, head here.

Looking to promote to book lovers? My giveaways are promoted to around 1.5K dedicated newsletter readers, may reach over 30K impressions on Twitter and a potential audience of over 50K on Instagram. Email me to sponsor one now or find out more!

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GIVEAWAY: Spin The Dawn by Elizabeth Lim // mulan adventure and celestial dresses

Welcome, book fiends! Gather round our bubbling cauldron of sakura potion -- it's time for a brand new giveaway!

Today, we're giving away a signed copy of SPIN THE DAWN by Elizabeth Lim, pitched as Project Runway x Mulan. yES PLEASE. In order to become the imperial tailor, Maia Tamarin embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses, from the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Aren't you enchanted just by that summary? This is a super hyped book and I'm very lucky to have read an ARC, so huge thank you to Elizabeth for giving away a signed copy. If you enjoy magical adventures and slow burn romance, be sure to join this giveaway!

To enter the giveaway, simply type your email address below! This means joining my takeout army for our little regular giveaways, so I will send you emails about bonus entries, who won, and more giveaway information. reload the page if this form isn't visible.
Look at this gorgeous aesthetic, illustrated by Tran Nguyen — can't you just feel the exciting adventure that Maia embarks on!

Once you've entered, you'll receive an email with details on how to redeem bonus entries—so go and check it now! Because you entered, right? riiiiiight?

Blurb (buy links here):
Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There's just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia's task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor's reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.
Full review by moi to come.

This giveaway will run until June 10th, at which point I shall select a winner and have a new giveaway for everyone else. Yay!

This prize will be shipped internationally.

help i'm a smol marshmallow with no legal knowledge but here goes:

Official details regarding this giveaway: No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Entrants must be 18 or above or have parental/guardian permission. Giveaway, bot, or other suspicious accounts will be removed at organiser's discretion. In holding this giveaway, the organiser does not endorse this book or this publisher. The prize will be a signed copy of Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, or another substitute prize at organiser's discretion. Winner drawn on June 10th. Entrants' email addresses are collected for the purposes of entry confirmation, notifying winners, providing information regarding bonus entries, and further updates on new giveaways. These details are subject to change.