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Let’s Talk: Shakespeare

With April being the birth and death month of Shakespeare, I thought it would be a fun idea to dedicate the month to Shakespeare and Shakespeare-related stories!

I don’t think anyone is shocked to hear me say that I love Shakespeare. It’s no secret. In fact, I’m pretty vocal about it. Shakespeare has had a huge impact on the worlds of both literature and theatre. Both things are incredibly important to me and have changed my life in different ways. It just makes sense that I would find myself feeling deeply connected to his works.

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Review: A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal.

If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition.

But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember.

Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?

When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants.

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Book Recs: 12 Book Recs for Theatre Fans

In honor of World Theatre Day (March 27th), which is unsurprisingly one of my favorite days of the year, I thought I would post some books that I recommend to anyone who is interested in theatre!

To quote the great Audra Mcdonald (who is also the actor with the most Tony Award, she’s a total badass), “I found the theatre and I found my home.” I started performing when I was 15 and it completely changed the course of my life. In the span of 3 months, I discovered what was missing from my life: Theatre. It completely revitalized me; it gave me passion and drive, and I experienced joy as I’d never experienced it before. 

I (unsurprisingly) read a lot of books about theatre. If any aspect of theatre is mentioned in a book (acting, directing, stage managing, voice performance, dance, etc.) I will definitely be checking it out. With the number of books about theatre that I read, this list could be very long. Additionally this list does not include plays, that’s another list for another time. This list focuses on recommendations for musical theatre and dance, both fiction and non-fiction.

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Review: That Way Madness Lies edited by Dahlia Adler

Fifteen acclaimed YA writers put their modern spin on William Shakespeare’s celebrated classics!

West Side Story. 10 Things I Hate About You. Kiss Me, Kate. Contemporary audiences have always craved reimaginings of Shakespeare’s most beloved works. Now, some of today’s best writers for teens take on the Bard in these 15 whip-smart and original retellings!

Contributors include Dahlia Adler (reimagining The Merchant of Venice), Kayla Ancrum (The Taming of the Shrew), Lily Anderson (All’s Well That Ends Well), Patrice Caldwell (Hamlet), Melissa Bashardoust (A Winter’s Tale), Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy (Much Ado About Nothing), Brittany Cavallaro (Sonnet 147), Joy McCullough (King Lear), Anna-Marie McLemore (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Samantha Mabry (Macbeth), Tochi Onyebuchi (Coriolanus), Mark Oshiro (Twelfth Night), Lindsay Smith (Julius Caesar), Kiersten White (Romeo and Juliet), and Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka (The Tempest).

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Let’s Talk: Literary Heroines That Have Inspired Me

I love the month of March. It’s when spring begins, it’s Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day is the 8th, World Theatre Day is the 27th, and my birthday is the 12th. March is a fun month for me. As my birthday approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about how the stories that we read when we’re young shape us into the people that we become as adults. With that in mind, I thought it would be a great idea to pay homage to some of the brilliant women in literature that have inspired me. 

I’ve been an avid reader my entire life. Reading has always been one of my favorite things to do. I remember being a little kid and begging my mother to take me to the library or to Borders Bookstore (RIP Borders, I miss you) so that I could discover new stories and get lost in worlds that were not my own. I’ve always been a daydreamer and kind of had my head in the clouds (the Pisces energy is honestly very strong here) — even as a kid I wanted to travel and go to new places and meet new people. Reading was a way for me to do those things. I was able to go to all of these incredible places without having to leave my home. Reading has continued to broaden my horizons and provide a safe place to escape when things get hard.

There are literally hundreds of characters that I could’ve put on this list, so narrowing it down was difficult. In the end, I decided to go with characters that really inspired me as a child and teenager, and I think they had the biggest impact on who I am now.

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Blog Tour + Spotlight: Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olsen

Isda does not exist. At least not beyond the opulent walls of the opera house.

Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house’s owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high—and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives.

But Isda breaks Cyril’s cardinal rule when she meets Emeric Rodin, a charming boy who throws her quiet, solitary life out of balance. His voice is unlike any she’s ever heard, but the real shock comes when she finds in his memories hints of a way to finally break free of her gilded prison.

Haunted by this possibility, Isda spends more and more time with Emeric, searching for answers in his music and his past. But the price of freedom is steeper than Isda could ever know. For even as she struggles with her growing feelings for Emeric, she learns that in order to take charge of her own destiny, she must become the monster the world tried to drown in the first place.

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Review: A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen

For fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen, and The Great British Baking Show, A Taste for Love, is a delicious rom com about first love, familial expectations, and making the perfect bao.

To her friends, high school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. Smart, kind, and pretty, she dreams big and never shies away from a challenge. But to her mom, Liza is anything but. Compared to her older sister Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and worst of all, determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang’s traditional values, especially when it comes to dating.

The one thing mother and daughter do agree on is their love of baking. Mrs. Yang is the owner of Houston’s popular Yin & Yang Bakery. With college just around the corner, Liza agrees to help out at the bakery’s annual junior competition to prove to her mom that she’s more than her rebellious tendencies once and for all. But when Liza arrives on the first day of the bake-off, she realizes there’s a catch: all of the contestants are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date.

The bachelorette situation Liza has found herself in is made even worse when she happens to be grudgingly attracted to one of the contestants; the stoic, impenetrable, annoyingly hot James Wong. As she battles against her feelings for James, and for her mother’s approval, Liza begins to realize there’s no tried and true recipe for love.

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Blog Tour + Review: Like Home by Louisa Onomé

Fans of Netflix’s On My Block, In the Heights, and readers of Elizabeth Acevedo and Ibi Zoboi will love this debut novel about a girl whose life is turned upside down after one local act of vandalism throws her relationships and even her neighborhood into turmoil.

Chinelo, or Nelo as her best friend Kate calls her, is all about her neighborhood Ginger East. She loves its chill vibe, ride-or-die sense of community, and her memories of growing up there. Ginger East isn’t what it used to be, though. After a deadly incident at the local arcade, all her closest friends moved away, except for Kate. But as long as they have each other, Nelo’s good.

Only, Kate’s parents’ corner store is vandalized, leaving Nelo shaken to her core. The police and the media are quick to point fingers, and soon more of the outside world descends on Ginger East with promises to “fix” it. Suddenly, Nelo finds herself in the middle of a drama unfolding on a national scale.

Worse yet, Kate is acting strange. She’s pushing Nelo away at the exact moment they need each other most. Nelo’s entire world is morphing into something she hates, and she must figure out how to get things back on track or risk losing everything⁠—and everyone⁠—she loves.

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Book Recs: 7 Books to read when you’ve got the travel bug

As America is now well into its 11th month (!!!) of quarantine, I am currently having all of the wanderlust feelings. In non-COVID times, I didn’t have much time to travel with my work schedule. The extent of my travel consisted of weekend or week-long trips to visit my best friend in NYC a few times a year, or some day trips around Northern California. I love adventures and trying new things, and discovering new places, and while I’ve always had the desire to travel, I’ve been feeling it extra intensely lately. Though I can’t physically hop on a train or a plane and visit some new place, I can read about it which has definitely helped with this restlessness that I’ve been feeling. If you’ve also got the travel bug here are 7 books that you should read!

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