Published by Tachyon Publications
Age Group: Adult
Format: Fiction
Genres and Categories: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Authors, Asian Authors, Asian Characters, Queer Characters, Assassin Characters, Deity Characters, Diverse Representation, Magic Users, Elves, Fae/Fey, Chronic Illness, Mental Health, Trauma, Romantasy, Urban Fantasy, Xianxia, Curses, Healing Magic, Various Magic, Chinese
My Rating:
Published on: 14th March 2023
Pages: 272
Disability Representation: Chronic Fatigue, PTSD, Recovering from illness, Trauma
Buy this Book! Amazon UK / Amazon US / Barnes & Noble / Blackwells / Bookshop.org US / Waterstones / BookBeat Audio
Add to Goodreads
In this inspired contemporary fantasy, a Chinese immortal and a French elf try to balance new romance, familial loyalty, and workplace demands. In her debut novel, Taiwanese American author Mia Tsai has created an unforgettable paranormal adventure that is full of humor, passion, and depth.
As a descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, ignored middle child Elle Jiang was destined to be a doctor. Instead, she is underemployed as a mediocre magical calligrapher at the fairy temp agency. Nevertheless, she challenges herself by covertly outfitting Luc, her client and crush, with high-powered glyphs.
Half-elf Luc, the agency's top security expert, has his own secret: he's responsible for a curse laid from an old assignment. To heal them, he'll need to perform his job duties with unrelenting excellence and earn time off from his tyrannical boss.
When Elle saves Luc's life, they begin a dangerous collaboration, but their chemistry blooms. Happiness, for once, is an option for them both. But Elle is loyal to her family, and Luc is bound by his true name. To win freedom from duty, they must make unexpected sacrifices.
This book was provided for free by NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!
Content Warnings:
Please note
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programmes I earn a small commission from items purchased using links featured in this post at no extra cost to you. Click here to learn more.
Every purchase you make through Just Geeking By helps keep this blog running.
Bitter Medicine Review
As a disabled reader and someone who has always been interested in healing magics in fantasy, Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai sounded very interesting to me. That side of the storyline and world-building was as intriguing as I expected; however, quite a bit of this book just wasn’t my cup of tea.
Firstly, the synopsis of Bitter Medicine is quite misleading in the way that it describes Luc as having a curse. It made it sound to me that there would be some aspect of healing happening, especially considering the title of the book. What is described as a curse is not actually a curse. Someone knows his true name and is using it to control him; that is very different from a curse. The healing of a curse versus that type of trauma is two completely separate things, and this adds a certain level of trauma to the storyline, which I was not at all prepared for as someone with PTSD (see the content warnings for more details).
Likewise, the saving of Luc’s life happens in a roundabout way. The synopsis suggests that something happens in the book, when in fact it happens off-page before the book even begins, and it is nowhere near as dramatic or romantic as the synopsis makes it sound.
Luc and Elle’s relationship is sweet and endearing, and both are likeable characters. What I disliked was how quickly Elle’s personality changed as soon as the sex scenes started. It felt like she became a completely different person, and in this way, it reminded me of moments in some anime and manga where the female character becomes over sexualised. That’s not to say in any way that women should not enjoy themselves in the bedroom or take control, rather that it didn’t feel like a natural personality transition. It felt very disjointed, and that made those scenes feel awkward to me.
Overall, Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai was an enjoyable read with some interesting characters and great world-building. It has a nice amount of representation, and there’s a scene towards the end of the book where a character is recovering from something (spoilers!) that was very well written. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t quite work for me personally. The main issue for me was that I went into it expecting one thing and got something else. It is also very slow-paced, and it just felt like I was slogging my way through it at times. The light-hearted nature of Bitter Medicine was just a bit too light-hearted for me, considering some of the themes discussed in this book, and it didn’t mesh well with me.
About Mia Tsai
Mia Tsai is a Taiwanese American author of speculative fiction. Her debut novel, a xianxia-inspired contemporary fantasy titled BITTER MEDICINE, will be published by Tachyon Publications on March 14, 2023.
She lives in Atlanta with her family, and, when not writing, is a hype woman for her orchids and devoted cat gopher. Her favorite things include music of all kinds (really, truly) and taking long trips with nothing but the open road and a saucy rhythm section.
Over to you
Thank you for reading my review for Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai!
Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations, 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!
Support Just Geeking By
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did please consider sharing it on social media using the nifty buttons at the end of this post <3
If you enjoyed this content please consider helping to support my blog. You can do this in multiple ways (click here to find out how!) or by donating via Ko-Fi to help me reach my current goal.
Discover more from Just Geeking By
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.