july 2022 releases: two moxiang tongxiu novels in one month?

Hey hey! Half the year is over and we only have 6 months left before ushering in 2023. How insane is that?! I already feel swarmed with all the upcoming releases for this year and authors are already announcing their future plans in the years to come. Every year is a busy reading year for me, but I’m not complaining.

This July, I’m only bringing you 7 releases that I’m highly anticipating. Two of them are from Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (Heaven Official’s Blessing Volume 3, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Volume 3). We are actually getting more than one this month. Yay!! I’ve read from all the authors before except Gina Chen who is debuting with Violet Made of Thorns. We’ll be starting new series with Julie C. Dao and F.C. Yee with their July books! Tasha Suri’s novel is part of the Remixed Classics series by Feiwel & Friends.

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what souls are made of: a wuthering heights remix
– tasha suri

standalone
July 5th 2022 by Feiwel & Friends
age range: young adult
genre: historical fiction, retelling, gothic
rep: Indian-white MCs and SC, Indian SCs, Black SC, sapphic SC

As the abandoned son of a Lascar—a sailor from India—Heathcliff has spent most of his young life maligned as an “outsider.” Now he’s been flung into an alien life in the Yorkshire moors, where he clings to his birth father’s language even though it makes the children of the house call him an animal, and the maids claim he speaks gibberish.

Catherine is the younger child of the estate’s owner, a daughter with light skin and brown curls and a mother that nobody talks about. Her father is grooming her for a place in proper society, and that’s all that matters. Catherine knows she must mold herself into someone pretty and good and marriageable, even though it might destroy her spirit.

As they occasionally flee into the moors to escape judgment and share the half-remembered language of their unknown kin, Catherine and Heathcliff come to find solace in each other. Deep down in their souls, they can feel they are the same.

But when Catherine’s father dies and the household’s treatment of Heathcliff only grows more cruel, their relationship becomes strained and threatens to unravel. For how can they ever be together, when loving each other—and indeed, loving themselves—is as good as throwing themselves into poverty and death?

🪷 After reading Empire of Sand and The Jasmine Throne, you know I’m here for any Tasha Suri’s upcoming releases. I’ve never read the classic this retelling is based on so I wouldn’t be able to catch any similarities between What Souls are Made of and Wuthering Heights. I’m just excited for Tasha Suri.

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heaven official’s blessing volume 3
– moxiang tongxiu

series: heaven official’s blessing #3
July 12th 2022 by Seven Seas
age range: adult
genre: fantasy, romance
rep: LGBT (m/m couple)

heaven official’s blessing volume 3 – moxiang tongxiu

Gods should never meddle in the affairs of mortals, but Xie Lian is not one to follow the rules when lives are at risk. He spits in the face of heaven and its laws and descends in a fury to save his country from drought and civil war. Yet this golden child gets a harsh dose of reality when he discovers just how little one individual—even a god—can do to save a crumbling nation. As the people reject and betray him, one young soldier stands by Xie Lian—a boy with a face wrapped in bandages and a fierce loyalty in his heart. In this chaotic past, can an unshakable bond grow from the ashes of unimaginable destruction?

🪷 Frankly, I totally blanked out on which part of the entire series did the flashbacks to Xie Lian’s past happened because it was BRUTAL. And I think Volume 3 is the start of the downfall of Xian Le Kingdom, and Xie Lian’s life in general. Will I survive recounting every moment of Xie Lian’s suffering in the next few books? sigh.

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these twisted bonds
– lexi ryan

duology: these hollow vows #2
July 19th 2022 by Clarion Books
age range: young adult
genre: fantasy, paranormal, romance

arc review | these twisted bonds – lexi ryan

After Abriella’s sister was sold to the fae, she thought life couldn’t get any worse. But when she suddenly finds herself caught in a web of lies of her own making - loving two princes and trusting neither – things are not quite as clear as she once thought.

As civil war wages in the Court of Darkness, Brie finds herself unable to choose a side. How can she know where she stands when she doesn’t even know herself anymore? In this darkly romantic thrill ride, the more Faerie is torn apart from the inside, the clearer it becomes that prophecies don’t lie and Brie has a role to play in the fate of this magical realm – whether she likes it or not.

🪷 I’ve been waiting for the next book in These Hollow Vows duology and fortunately, I received an ARC! What will happen within this Faerie love triangle? Who will Abriella choose–Prince Ronan or the Unseelie rebel? This book is almost 500 pages long so I’m going to take my own sweet time with it.

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the dawn of yangchen
– f.c. yee

duology: the yangchen novels #1
July 19th 2022 by Amulet Books
age range: young adult
genre: fantasy
rep: Asian

Plagued by the voices of Avatars before her for as long as she can remember, Yangchen has not yet earned the respect felt for Avatar Szeto, her predecessor. In an era where loyalty is bought rather than earned, she has little reason to trust her counsel. When Yangchen travels to Bin-Er in the Earth Kingdom on political business, a chance encounter with an informant named Kavik leads to a wary partnership. Bin-Er is a city ruled by corrupt shang merchants who have become resentful of the mercurial Earth King and his whims. To extract themselves from his influence, the shangs have one solution in mind: a mysterious weapon of mass destruction that would place power squarely in their hands. As Yangchen and Kavik seek to thwart the shangs’ plan, their unlikely friendship deepens. But for Yangchen to chart her course as a singularly powerful Avatar, she must learn to rely on her own wisdom above all else.

🪷 I don’t know anything about this except that F.C. Yee is writing about another Avatar. That’s it.

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violet made of thorns
– gina chen

duology: violet made of thorns #1
July 26th 2022 by Delacorte Press
age range: young adult
genre: fantasy, romance, retelling
rep: Asian

violet made of thorns – gina chen | blog tour + arc review

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer—unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom—all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom—or doom them all.

🪷 Been keeping an eye out for Violet Made of Thorns ever since Gina Chen started promoting it on Twitter. Got an ARC for this too, so I’m definitely getting to this before the publication.

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team chu and the battle of blackwood arena
– julie c. dao

series: #1
July 26th 2022 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
age range: middle grade
genre: fantasy
rep: Asian

Clip and Sadie Chu couldn’t be more different. Popular, athletic Clip wants to become his school’s first seventh-grade soccer captain, while brainy star student Sadie is determined to prove that she can do anything her boastful brother can.

They have just one thing in common: they love laser tag. Like, really love it.

When the Blackwood Gaming Arena comes to town, bringing virtual reality headsets and state-of-the-art courses, they couldn’t be more excited—or competitive. But then a mysterious figure appears and claims to be a part of the game, forcing the Chus and their friends to save themselves from a sinister force lurking inside the simulation.

Together, they must fight their way through epic battlegrounds that will test their speed, skills, and smarts… but will Clip and Sadie learn that they’re far better off working together than competing for the ultimate victory?

🪷 Julie C. Dao’s writing captured me when I read Rise of the Empress duology. I heard that this middle grade will be a series but I don’t see further news confirming other books yet. Regardless, the synopsis is interesting, the cover is intriguing, and I’m waiting for the release date to be here.

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the scum villain’s self-saving system volume 3
– moxiang tongxiu

series: the scum villain’s self-saving system #3
July 26th 2022 by Seven Seas Entertainment
age range: adult
genre: fantasy, romance
rep: LGBT (m/m couple)

the scum villain’s self-saving system volume 3 – moxiang tongxiu

To save his sect from destruction, Shen Qingqiu has at last submitted to Luo Binghe–though he wishes people would stop saying it that way! Unfortunately, they’re not wrong.

Luo Binghe has finally made his desire for his old master clan. For all that Shen Qingqiu longs to return to their peaceful days together on Qing Jing Peak, he knows it’s impossible now that Luo Binghe has darkened into a true demon lord. But as Shen Qingqiu begins to uncover more of Proud Immortal Demon Way’s hidden plot, including his host body’s own backstory, he realizes he must learn to see Luo Binghe for who he truly is if either of them are to survive.

🪷 Okay, let’s see. I just need to know more about Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe. How is the ex-master-disciple going to interact from now on?

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