Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme that was started by Lauren’s Page Turners and I stumbled across on The Pine-Scented Chronicles. It’s a simple task to start your week: simply pick a random book from your Goodreads TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy!

This Week’s Book

Goodreads Synopsis:

Tyrants cut out hearts. Rulers sacrifice their own.

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.

Why I Want To Read It:

I’m gonna be honest, the reason I wanted to read this originally was because the first Booktuber I ever started watching, Sassenach the Book Wizard, would not stop talking about this book! She raved about it and declared more people needed to read it so that the author would write a sequel. When someone loves a book so much that they are begging for a sequel, it definitely piques my interest.

That’s not to say that I didn’t find the premise interesting, of course! Political intrigue in fantasy settings is one of my favorite things! The fact that it was Chinese-inspired had me even more intrigued. And there is a strong female lead coming into her own as a young woman (and new empress)? Yes, please!

I’ve also been wanting to fit more Asian influenced stories and Asian authors on my TBR. I know I read a LOT of white authors and that’s not saying that I should stop, but I definitely need to be more conscientious of reading diverse books. I’ve already discovered a few amazing reads by diverse authors that I would’ve missed out on if I hadn’t been consciously trying to pick up books by POCs.

Now I just need to get off my butt and actually read this book!