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Roselle Lim – The Delights of Magic, Paris & Tea

August 30, 2020 Leave a Comment

Theme for today: Lovely books with Paris & France themes! Be sure to read the posts on Samantha Vérant & Jenn McKinlay too!

Roselle Lim’s recent release, VANESSA YU’S MAGICAL PARIS TEA SHOP, maintains the charm, elegance and lyricism as her debut, NATALIE TAN’S BOOK OF LOVE AND FORTUNE, with the added appeal of a Parisian setting.

Lim’s characters are Chinese-American and the mystical threads that weave through her books manage to tie in to the mythos of ancient Chinese magic and superstition, while deftly keeping the storylines modern and fresh.

In this storyline, main character Vanessa definitely considers her gift much more of a burden, but when she goes to Paris to study with her aunt, she discovers a new city, a possible new love, and an eclectic new array of friends and acquaintances might be just the catalysts she needs to effect an unexpected but welcome change.

While Lim is telling a vividly personal tale that mainly revolves around the Parisian transplant Vanessa, she also shines a light on the racism and stereotyping that impedes fair play around the globe. Of course in the story the good guys thrive in the end and love lands gently on a number of couples, but the plot element serves as a good reminder that paying attention and calling out bad behavior can change lives for the better, while ignoring it benefits the worst characters, both in fiction and in real life.

Lim’s writing is graceful and accomplished, allowing her to tell a layered, imaginative, entrancing tale with the lyricism and radiance it deserves.

I love magic in my fiction, and Lim constructs it beautifully. I’ve been enchanted by both books and highly recommend them if you haven’t had the pleasure of discovering them yet.

Find the books:
Roselle Lim @Amazon 
Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune @Amazon 
Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop @Amazon  


VANESSA YU’S MAGICAL PARIS TEA SHOP

From the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune comes a new delightful novel about exploring all the magical possibilities of life in the most extraordinary city of all: Paris.

Vanessa Yu never wanted to see people’s fortunes—or misfortunes—in tealeaves.

Ever since she can remember, Vanessa has been able to see people’s fortunes at the bottom of their teacups. To avoid blurting out their fortunes, she converts to coffee, but somehow fortunes escape and find a way to complicate her life and the ones of those around her. To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai.

After her matchmaking appointment, Vanessa sees death for the first time. She decides that she can’t truly live until she can find a way to get rid of her uncanny abilities. When her eccentric Aunt Evelyn shows up with a tempting offer to whisk her away, Vanessa says au revoir to California and bonjour to Paris. There, Vanessa learns more about herself and the root of her gifts and realizes one thing to be true: knowing one’s destiny isn’t a curse, but being unable to change it is.

Happy reading!


(This review is part of Read-A-Romance Month. Hope you’ll come back every day to check out my book recommendations. You can find the calendar here. Also check out The Romance of Reading, a Facebook “book club” where we’ll have great authors guest hosting every week.)

Some post and image links are connected to an affiliate portal. A small percentage of your purchases supports my work and this page. Thanks so much!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Bobbi's Book Notes, RARM 2020 Tagged With: #RARM20, #ReadARomanceMonth, Roselle Lim

#100DaysOfGreatBooks – Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune

August 17, 2019 Leave a Comment

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#100DaysofGreatBooks  #SummerOfBookLove

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Day 86 – Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim

This is one of my favorite books this year. It is elegant, lyrical and lovely. It’s also swooningly romantic, a bittersweet look at mother-daughter relationships, and a beautiful reminder of how powerful cultural and neighborhood connections and friendships can be.

It’s both funny and touching
Oh, and it has exquisite descriptions of food, and some of the most breathtaking and exciting use of magical elements I’ve read recently (or technically, listened to….).

Can you tell I liked this one?

Please read this magical journey of food, friendship, love, romance, Chinese culture and new beginnings.

It’s a delightful adventure.

(I’d also like to mention that I listened to the audio and Catherine Ho did an excellent job. The audio is here.)

Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune

Lush and visual, chock-full of delicious recipes, Roselle Lim’s magical debut novel is about food, heritage, and finding family in the most unexpected places.  

At the news of her mother’s death, Natalie Tan returns home. The two women hadn’t spoken since Natalie left in anger seven years ago, when her mother refused to support her chosen career as a chef. Natalie is shocked to discover the vibrant neighborhood of San Francisco’s Chinatown that she remembers from her childhood is fading, with businesses failing and families moving out. She’s even more surprised to learn she has inherited her grandmother’s restaurant. 

The neighborhood seer reads the restaurant’s fortune in the leaves: Natalie must cook three recipes from her grandmother’s cookbook to aid her struggling neighbors before the restaurant will succeed. Unfortunately, Natalie has no desire to help them try to turn things around—she resents the local shopkeepers for leaving her alone to take care of her agoraphobic mother when she was growing up. But with the support of a surprising new friend and a budding romance, Natalie starts to realize that maybe her neighbors really have been there for her all along.

#HappyReading  #100DaysofGreatBooks  #SummerOfBookLove

   Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune  –  amzn.to/2Zc22j4

Roselle’s Amazon page:

availableon-amazon

*Please note that the Amazon button, most cover images and text links connect to an affiliate portal. Thanks so much for your help & support!

Filed Under: #100DaysOfGreatBooks, RARM 2019 Tagged With: #100DaysOfGreatBooks, #SummerOfBookLove, Roselle Lim

#RARM19 – Roselle Lim – The Magic of Bold Choices

August 16, 2019 Leave a Comment

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A quick word from Bobbi Dumas, your host.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Read-A-Romance Month. You can find out more about this fun, month long event here. And check out all the great authors taking part this year on the calendar, here.

The theme this year is The Romance Of Reading, The Magic Of Books and we have an awesome assortment of writers – both romance and mainstream fiction authors – sharing about books, reading, romance & magic. I hope you’ll visit everyday.

(Also, be sure to check in to The Romance Of Reading FB page, where one of the RARM authors will be hosting the page each day in August. Today Karen Hawkins will also be on the page.)

Enjoy….


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Roselle Lim – The Magic of Comfort & Entertainment

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My lola (my grandmother) had a small collection of romance novels in her bookshelf. Sometime after I turned thirteen, I took one down. I came face to face with Fabio and his bronze chest. His lady friend, with her generous bosom thrusting out, snuck her hand upwards to fluff the twenty pounds of cascading blonde hair. I was a teen, of course I was enthralled.

I “borrowed” that book and read it in one sitting. After I finished ravaging her stash of four books, I went to the nearby public library to get my fix. (My grade school’s book fair didn’t offer a good selection of romance.)

At the library, I took out ten to fifteen novels at the time. I’d carry my stretched out plastic bag full of books home, hoping it wouldn’t break.

I read by nightlight until the sunrise. These courageous heroines and their bold choices gave me courage as a teen. I gained a bit of self-confidence, and learned of those things my mother would never tell me. These wonderful novels gave me a better glimpse of what happened between the prince and the princess after dark and after ever after.

Romances gave me comfort and entertainment. They fueled the part of me who wanted to write the type of stories I was reading.

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Roselle recommends:

Helen Hoang – www.helenhoang.com – @Amazon

Tif Marcelo – www.tifmarcelo.com – @Amazon


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2019 RARM Questions:


Tell us about a time in your life that felt magical to you.

While attending a Chinese dance performance, I heard an erhu live for the first time. I got chills—its sonorous tones reverberated through my body and my mind in a way I had never before experienced. Two strings, separated by a finger’s width, holding every possibility. The soloist tugged the bow as a cascade of notes floated through the silence. In a concert hall holding over a thousand people, all faded away except those notes. I heard nothing else.

This became the seed of this novel. It was a siren call, tugging me to discover. I wondered about the character who played an instrument so evocative, what their backstory was, and how it could shape a story.

Inspiration strikes at the most surprising moment.

A new idea is exhilarating. It’s my favourite part of writing. Potential is at its fullest and anything can happen. Magic meets creativity as worlds are made, characters are brought to life, and, in my case, a menu is prepared for the food in the novel.


Tell us about a book that was magical for you.

Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate was my introduction to magical realism. I had never before encountered a novel where the ordinary is magical: the weather, the food, emotions. The subtlety was in contrast to the fantasies I was used to reading. It revealed how magic exists in real life. I yearned to see passion turn into fire or tears becoming handfuls of salt.

This book inspired me to take a look at my own culture: its superstitions and unique magic.

Magic doesn’t have to be as grand as flying horses or vengeful dragons. It exists in the butterfly who kisses the bare skin of your arm while taking a walk, in admiring the design of a single snowflake you caught on your fingertip before it melts.


Tell us about a “magical moment” in your writing or your career?

After sobbing in the theatre when I watched Crazy Rich Asians last summer, I dreamed of having my book adapted to screen. Then in June I received an email from my film agent letting me know John Wells Productions and Warner Brothers had agreed to adapt Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune into a TV show. It’s cliché to say, but it really was a dream come true.

I started thinking about dream casts, about having Asian American writers involved to bring the show to life. My book is about my culture, yet diaspora Asian representation is rare. Now the inspiration boards I had created for my characters, which often featured real-life actors or actresses, would be made real.


For writers who use magical aspects in their books, what attracts you to those elements? For those of you who don’t, are there specific themes or elements you’re attracted to and find yourself going back to? Why do these resonate with you?

From infancy to adulthood, I’ve been fed a steady diet of fantasy. As a young child, my grandmother told me Filipino fairytales. When I got older, I sought fairytales from around the world. Each exposed me to our differences and, more important, our similarities.

Seeking out the extraordinary is a pursuit that makes life more riveting. To me, magic makes a novel more interesting. A regular novel is an ice cream sundae, but a fantasy novel is an ice cream sundae that grants wishes with every spoonful. The added whimsical and otherworldly elements completes the escapism.


Creativity is a kind of magical experience. What inspires you, keeps you going, helps you when you lose focus, etc.?

I’m inspired by my fellow women of colour authors. Their strength, their perseverance, their success. I get so much joy seeing their work on bookshelves in libraries and bookstores.

Hearing from readers who loved my book keeps me going. It’s why I write. There are days when I feel like giving up and quitting. Writing is hard, but when a reader reaches out to tell me how much they loved my book and how it reminded them of their family, it cheers me up and helps me push through the darkness I think all writers experience.

And, to be honest, the only thing that helps me focus is my husband threatening to cut off the Internet. Yes, I’m serious and, yes, he’s followed through on the threat more than once.


DRAWING – is hosting The Romance of Reading page, and her giveaways will take place there.

Drawing – Author is generously giving away this thing (open to international, though international winner will receive an ebook.)
To enter, leave a comment below. Open until August , 2019 11:59 PM EST.

However, all comments will also be entered to win a bundle of books from the Week 3 participating authors. You may enter by commenting on this original blog post and/or on the Read-A-Romance Month Facebook page post, here.

Each first unique comment at each space offers an extra chance to win, so check in with each author. Must comment by 8/28/19 11:59pm Eastern to enter.

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credit to Shelley Smith

Roselle Lim is a Filipino-Chinese writer living on the north shore of Lake Erie.

She loves to write about food and magic. When she isn’t writing, she is sewing, sketching, or pursuing the next craft project.

Connect with Roselle:

www.rosellelim.com | Twitter | Instagram

Discover all of Roselle’s books:

availableon-amazon

*Please note that the Amazon button, most cover images and text links connect to an affiliate portal. Thanks so much for your help & support!

Filed Under: RARM 2019 Tagged With: #RARM19, #ReadARomanceMonth, Roselle Lim, The Magic Of Books, The Romance Of Reading

Recent Notes

Roselle Lim – The Delights of Magic, Paris & Tea

August 30, 2020

Lim’s writing is graceful and accomplished, allowing her to tell a layered, imaginative, entrancing tale with the lyricism and radiance it deserves.

Jenn McKinlay – Paris Books Are Always A Good Idea

August 30, 2020

This book was a great mix of deeper themes like extended grief and reclaiming one’s true self when life has become all work and no joy, held in tension with elements like reconnecting with old loves and finding them completely different than the hazy version of a decade ago.

Albertalli/Saeed – Say Yes to Yes, No, Maybe So

August 29, 2020

Today’s theme is: Some Awesome YA! Be sure to check out the posts on Sandhya Menon & Stephanie Perkins too! YES, NO, MAYBE SO is a warm, funny, engaging story, but it deals with so many issues in ways that are inspiring and uplifting, even as it reflects realistic disappointments and setbacks, that it is […]

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