Hello, friends. โจ Today I’m excited to kick off the blog tour for A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli! Special thanks to the TBR & Beyond Tours team for organising the tour and including me in it.
Thanks to Union Square & Co. for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Click here or on the banner above to check out the rest of the fantastic bloggers on tour!


A Bright Heart
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Publication Date: 17 October 2023
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Rep: Chinese Rep
Panda Rating:
(3.5 pandas)
๐ SYNOPSIS
What if you could avenge your own murder? A brilliant young woman gets a second chance at life in this debut YA tale of vengeance, court intrigue, and romance, inspired by classic Chinese tropes.
Mingshin outsmarted three princes to help the man she loved become king. But she doesnโt see Renโs betrayal coming, not until sheโs lying in a pool of her own blood on the palace steps.
As sheโs dying, Mingshin makes a desperate plea to the gods to turn back time and give her a chance to make things right.
Mingshin wakes up two years earlier, her prayer granted, and swears two things: Ren will never become king, and she will never fall in love again.
But the timeline in this life has changed: a dignitary gifted with dark magic is threatening her kingdomโs peace, and Renโs thirst for power runs deeper than Mingshin could have imagined.
She finds herself allying with Jieh, another contender for the throne. Mingshin knows better than anyone not to give her heart to a prince. But in the viperโs nest of the royal court, she and Jieh prove a phenomenal team. Can Mingshin avert the catastrophe of her past by once again learning to trustโฆand maybe even love?
โ ๏ธ CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNINGS
Death, attempted murder, mentions of blood, drowning, violence, loss of limbs
๐ BUY A COPY!


TL;DR: A Bright Heart was an enjoyable YA fantasy debut with a lot of potential! Mingshin was a fierce, determined and easy to root for character and I loved her story of vengeance and justice. Even though I’m not very familiar with Wuxia stories, I appreciated how the author brought the popular second-chance revenge story trope to a wider audience and I think she delivered an intriguing story full of court intrigue, mystery, a bit of magic and mythology, as well as a sweet slow burn romance. This is a great introduction to Chinese fantasy and mythology and I’m already looking forward to the sequel!
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