A book with alternate choose your own endings? OKAY! I read both and I really think the author made them both feel like decent conclusions. I don't think I have ever read an adult book with this feature, and I found it really interesting, unique, and enjoyable.

I really wanted to like this book. Female vampires, sapphic love, gothic vibes - it really should have been something I devoured but I found this to be just too long. There were times when I thought absolutely nothing happened, and it was very repetitive.
The f/f relationship was quite steamy with was the only redeeming part of the book in my opinion, but I didn't think it was a particularly good relationship either!

I saw the content warnings, I acknowledged the content warnings, and I still thought this was a book I would enjoy, but I kept being too chicken to actually give it a shot. Hopefully one day I’ll be brave because it really does sound so interesting!

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan, is a sapphic-themed, vampire, gothic horror,story set in 1927 colonial Singapore.

Now before choosing to this book take note of the TRIGGER WARNINGS** which includes violence, gore, sexual violence, sexual assault of a child. This definitely not a book for everyone.

Gean Choo’s parents has just died, leaving her alone, so needing a job she takes the position of house servant to, English woman, named Verity Edevane, who is not just a vampire she is also a monster. Then there is the head of the house staff is Po Lam whose job it is clean up after Verity and get rid of her play things (see where this is going) what follows is a dark and troubled love triangle between the three women.
Which ends with Gean Choo having to chose who will live and who will die.

Now the end is a interesting aspect of the book is you get to choose your own ending. I read them both and actually find it hard to choose. You want a happy ending, but then again you want to see the darkness win. So it's win situation.

So, the synopsis for this sounded amazing but didn’t really hint towards how dark and gritty it was going to be.

I have so much respect for the author and all of the content/trigger warnings for this because I firmly believe they should be included and yet I only see them when it comes to reading fanfic which has led me to having some very unpleasant surprises.

There was none of that here, I just really couldn’t handle a dark book when it came time to read this so I had to DNF.

This was SO interesting and tense, oh my gosh!! I loved the setting so much, I felt so drawn into every scene and new place, and felt so suffocated in certain scenes because it was like I was there. The author does an amazing job of creating tension in the main duo's scenes, but also in the scenes where they are surrounded by loads of people and still you want to see what they are up to.

Every dark part of this book speaks to my soul and I have never been more thankful to have requested this- it's sublime. Many Thanks to Netgalley and Shattered Scepter Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review:
Before i start- this book will not be for everyone, please check the content warnings and trigger warnings before coming near this.

Plot- So this has 1920s Shanghai and culture, vampires, LGBTQIA+ rep, what isn't to love. It's a dark and depressingly gritty read at times but genuinely so well written I got through it within a few days during a busy period at work as I just could not stop. It was twisty, turny and everything in between. Fast paced and the writing style was so up my alley.

Also- Pick your own ending??? can more books do this please oh my goodness.

Worldbuilding- absolutely fantastic, smashed all my expectations. 1920s Shanghai is amazing.

Characters- The part that surprises me is how much I enjoyed the character development. Not because they are in any way, shape or form decent people...but because they are all so absolutely horrendous and dislikeable watching them develop, even to make them worse, is like a celebration in itself.

Overall:
Dark fantasy, amazing cultural references for the setting and deplorable but developed characters? Hats off I wasn't sure this could pull of everything the synopsis had down for it but it met my expectations and then surpassed them

This book had me hooked since the absolute beginning. A dark gothic book set in Singapore in the 1920's. The culture is well written and made you feel like you were there. I really liked that this book had a really solid plot and it wasn't just about fluff characters you like with no plot. I also really enjoyed that there were multiple POV's. Sometimes that can get complicated and feel disconnected, but not in The Wicked and the Willing.

I received this book for free from Netgalley for an honest review.

Very intense read. The character development and the world building we're really on point. I'm very happy to have read this.

I really wanted to like this book, but ended up not finishing it. I do admire the author's prose greatly. I read her debut book: "Captive in the Underworld" and it was dark, but exquisite. [Potential Spoiler] I also liked that the author provided two alternate endings and gave the reader a choice to choose who the protagonist would ultimately be with.

Overall, the setting and the characters were unique. However, I did not enjoy the plot as much, particularly the way each scene transitioned into the other. Tan's writing style is amazing, but the storyline of this book was not as intriguing to me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an advanced digitical copy of this book.

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan is a dark fantasy sapphic romance set in Singapore in the 1920s. It is very adult and should be read only after checking out the content warnings. There are tons of them including SA, racism, classic, DA, gore, and violence. The main character, Gean Choo, Is caught in a love triangle between Verity, a. Powerful vampire and Po Lam, her majordomo. As the book progresses, we learn more about Verity's motivations and how Gean fits into everything. The world building in the book is very gothic and surreal. The mansion sounds like something straight out of interview with the vampire. This book is gratuitously, violent and definitely a good read for people who are a fan of gore and horror.

Listen, I was on-board the instant I heard "vampire lesbians" I will personally drag paranormal romance back into fashion, kicking and screaming, if I have to. And I will demand that this time we do it all with queer people!

However.

This should've just been a straight-up historical fiction novel. Keep the lesbians, obviously, but all of its genre trappings are actually the weakest parts: as a romance it falls flat because nobody interacts enough, as an erotica it's frankly icky because nobody enjoys the sex they're having, as a paranormal it feels watered-down because the vampire plot is just a tangent. None of that works.

What does work? The solid historical novel that's buried inside this one.

The strongest feelings this book provides are actually about it's sense of time and place:
It's 1927. It's Singapore. It's the British Occupation. It's local identity vs. colonization, it's class conflict, it's poverty and desperation and the criminal underworld that springs up when the world above it is toxic too. That part of this book is supurb.

There's a novel buried in this one about an orphan in colonial Singapore who takes a housemaid job nobody wants for the rich widow of a British lord who won't release her financial and social hold on the nearest town because she wants luxury, and opium, and maybe even the privilege to kill a few locals nobody will ever look for - thanks to the careful work of her simultaneously most loyal and most resentful local employee. Our naive housemaid gets sucked in to the privilege and the danger, and then has to choose between that rush and her own values in the midst of a historical crisis that makes keeping your ethical bearings really, really hard.

Which is to say: this is a book that would benefit from dropping the metaphor.

It's not a good romance novel. It's not a good erotica. It's not a good paranormal novel.

It is a good historical novel, and I really wish that had been given the room to shine.

The Wicked and The Willing by Lianyu Tan
Love demands sacrifice. Her blood. Her body. Even her life.
Singapore, 1927.
Verity Edevane needs blood.
And not just anyone's blood. She craves the sweet, salty rush from a young woman's veins, the heady swirl of desire mixed with fealty—such a rarity in this foreign colony. It’s a lot to ask. But doesn't she deserve the best?
Gean Choo needs money.
Mrs. Edevane makes her an offer Gean Choo can't refuse. But who is her strange, alluring new mistress? What is she? And what will Gean Choo sacrifice to earn her love?
Po Lam needs absolution.
After decades of faithfully serving Mrs. Edevane, Po Lam can no longer excuse a life of bondage and murder. She needs a fresh start. A clean conscience. More than anything, she needs to save Gean Choo from a love that will destroy them all.
~
We’ve officially moved into spooky season and this book is perfectly fitting for this time of year. A f/f vampire love triangle set in 1920s Singapore. There are some triggers in this book so proceed with caution. That being said, I thought Lianyu Tan created a wonderful story. Throughout the book I found it hard to like Mrs. Edevane, but I’m sure that was the intention. The main character, Gean Choo is infatuated with Mrs. Edevane, but is drawn to Po Lam the more time they spend together.
What makes this book stand out is the ‘choose your own ending’! I won’t tell you which ending I chose but I will say I only read one ending. I didn’t want to cloud my perception of the story by reading them both.
Give this one a read and tell me which ending you chose!
Copy provided by @netgalley. Author @lianyutan
#lgbtq #lgbtqia+ #pride #wlw #sapphicromance #vampires #lesbianvampire #queerbookclub #queerbookstagram #queerrepresentationmatters #lesbianromance #literature #fiction #lgbtqfiction #lesfic #lovetriangle

The cover for The Wicked and The Willing was what drew me in first and then when I read it was a dark, horror, sapphic ,vampire, love triangle romance novel I jumped at the chance.

Sadly the book I don’t think was for me, while I did like the style of writing I was lost with the lack of excitement within the first half of the book, I didn’t get anything until the second half of the book when things start to pick up. I was hoping for more blood and gore at the start considering it was labelled as a dark horror vampire book. Maybe I just have too much of a high expectation when it comes to a vampire story. 🤷‍♀️

I did like that towards the end of the book the reader gets to choose the ending they want, which love interest they want to live or die. Now why can’t all love triangle books have this? I always find the main character picks the wrong one.

Thank you Netgalley and Shattered Scepter Press for the digital copy for review purposes.

The Wicked and the Willing features:
- A love triangle
- 1920’s colonial Singapore
- Choose your own ending
- Lesbian sex and bloodsucking
- Abusive F/F relationship

Gory and extremely dark, The Wicked and the Willing is a portrayal of an abusive relationship between vampire mistress Mrs Edevane (Verity) and her newly employed human female companion; Gean Choo. Gean Choo finds herself infatuated with Verity, but soon develops feelings for the mistresses other employee; Po Lam. But who will she choose?

One of my favourite things about this novel was the “choose your own ending”. The reader gets to choose the outcome, so don’t worry if you dislike one of the possibilities! I ended up reading both endings and they’re equally as satisfying.

I also loved how considerate the author was in supplying us with content warnings prior to reading.

What starts off as an element of mystery, turns into a web of darkness, betrayals and lust, set in 1920’s colonial Singapore. Tan writing is nuanced and there is no shying away from details. This book was full of lesbian sex which was uniquely written. Most of the time, It wasn’t cute or romantic. It was hungry and twisted.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TW: Racism, abuse, violence, death, torture, rape, CNC, dub-con, SA during childhood (not on page), attempted suicice, suicide, suicide ideation, self-harm, misogyny, ableist language.

It’s a gritty and dark read.. perfect for a stormy night! The author submerses the reader into a world with perfectly flawed characters and a dark storyline to follow. I’ve never read a choose your own ending book but it was such a fun twist to be able to choose something different than my “normal” happy ever after.

Lianyu Tan is the master of dark sapphic romance! This book was a sexy, wild ride and perfect for anyone who likes messy, vampire love triangles.

Thank you NetGalley and Shattered Scepter Press for this eArc.

Read content warnings for this book before starting it.
It’s not for the faint of heart, at all. It’s so dark, full of abuse, gore, death, violent sex.
On the upside, if those won’t phase you, it’s fast paced, well written horror with wlw romances.

1927 in colonial Singapore, Gean Choo takes a new position as a lady's companion to Verity Edevane, a role that strays from the standard role and into horror as she finds herself as not just a companion to a wealthy woman, but her play thing and personal meal to keep her bloodlust in check. Despite knowing where her loyalties must lie if she wishes to keep her position in Ambrosia Hall, her life becomes complicated as she feels herself drawn to Po Lam, Verity's majordomo. She knows that she cannot have both, but who will she choose?

Did you ever read one of those Choose Your Own Adventure Goosebumps books and think to yourself "man, I wish I could decide the ending of other books?" Have you ever found yourself unhappy with who the protagonist chooses when the love triangle finally comes to an end?

Welcome to The Wicked and the Willing, a <b>dark</b> sapphic love triangle romance with beautiful writing, graphic gory horror, and a choose your own ending.

Dark romance is easily one of my favorite genres, and I KNOW I am not supposed to be starry eyed over the murderer who thinks herself different because she's not <i>as</i> horrible as other vampires, but can you really resist?

But unlike typical dark romances where the villain/morally grey might redeem themselves and the darkness gives way for redemption, Verity keeps ahold of her darkness and drags you deeper into the carnage and brutality of who she is. I absolutely adored Po Lam and it is not hard to see why one would want to pick her ending as opposed to the literal monster.

I, obviously, read both because I'm not just team pick your own ending, but also why choose?

There are extensive content tags on the author's website that detail each warning, a brief summary, and what chapter. Additionally, there is not just the two endings included with the book but another third ending called Save Yourself available on the website.

I jumped at the chance to read this based on the unique possibility of two endings. The content warnings are extensive and I loved the dedication the author had to assure that the reader is informed.