Big thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon for providing me an ARC to review.

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai is a gorgeously written debut romantic fantasy that takes place at a fairy temp agency. When it comes to Romance I am not normally a fan of office/workplace romance, but Bitter Medicine might just have changed my mind about the whole subgenre. I cannot say enough how much I adored the concept of the Bureau and all the fun and fascinating details of the fae world that Tsai developed around the most heart wrenching story of love, family duty, and self-acceptance I’ve read in a long time.

Ellie is a Chinese immortal, posing as a mediocre magical calligrapher. She’s been sacrificing any chance at joy and hiding her true magical potential in order to protect her eldest brother from their youngest brother who needs them both dead to fill the role of family heir that her eldest brother refused to take up.

Luc is a French half-elven fixer for the controlling head of the bureau whose terrifying reputation and lack of interpersonal skills have cut him off from his colleagues and left him desperately lonely. His only goals are to impress his boss enough to earn leave to pursue a curse breaking personal project whose victims have haunted him for years.

When Elle starts personalizing Luc’s glyph orders and saves his life, he comes requesting a magical commission that might challenge her for the first time in years, but at the same time could reveal her and her eldest brother to the brother hunting them.

The chemistry between these characters is electric from the first moment they’re on page together. I adored how absolutely in love Luc is from the very first page. The adoration between these characters who so clearly and deeply want to be seen and loved and yet whom familial duty and work hold back and force them apart has my whole entire heart.

Elle is such a self-effacing and yet unbelievably badass character. Luc is the unbelievable badass that you will love for how soft he can be for Elle (and also his cooking, nothing sexier than a man who can cook omg the way this book made my mouth water)

The way Tsai writes magic made my heart flutter from page 1. I could not get enough of Elle’s xianxia-inspired magic, and the oh so cool calligraphy/glyph magic. Every new and inventive use felt fresh and fascinating and yet so innately a part of who Elle is as a person. I hope to read so much more fantasy from this author. I could lose myself in her magical world for hours and I absolutely did, binge reading this straight through in 6 hours.

On top of being eminently bingeable Tsai handles an interracial/multicultural romance with so much nuance and grace I was swooning. We love a man who doesn’t tolerate racist microaggressions. The multicultural aspects definitely hit me in all the Asian diaspora feels, of having family and a home impossibly far away that you can never return to because you have been irreparably changed by leaving. Of having expectations and duties heaped upon you and feeling that no matter how much you sacrifice it will never be enough in the eyes of your family and the harrowing journey to self-love and self-acceptance for who you are instead of what you can do for those you love. I actually wept my heart out at multiple points and then had it pieced together masterfully.

Bitter Medicine is hands down my favorite read of 2022 and I already can’t wait to read it again to linger with my new favorite couple.

I wanted to enjoy this as the premise sounded super promising, but ultimately I was left wanting more from both the characters and the plot itself.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon for the digital ARC of BITTER MEDICINE.

This is a fun, contemporary fantasy with a lot of heart. Elle works a dull job at a fairy temp agency providing goods to different agents ranging from those haunting cemeteries to one of the agency's top security experts. Over the last year, she's struck up an unlikely friendship with Luc, a very hot agent whose work for the agency is mostly classified. That's fine with Elle, she doesn't ask him a lot of questions about his background, and he doesn't ask her much about hers. When he asks for a personalized commission, Elle and Luc begin to spend more time together and find that it's very hard to keep their secrets from each other. Work complications and family drama ensue, both working to keep them apart.

The world-building and magic system in BITTER MEDICINE is as delightful as it is intriguing, and Tsai has carefully crafted a world rich with linguistic diversity. Elle and Luc's relationship dynamic is really lovely, and you root for them through the whole book because they make each other so much better.

I was especially struck by Elle's journey through the book. Elle is a character that gives of her whole self, sacrificing her own happiness and dreams to ensure that those she loves are taken care of. She is convinced that no one wants a relationship with her unless she can offer something in return. At one heartbreaking point, she asks her mother, "Did I not do enough?" For someone who has already sacrificed so much for her family, Elle's question is heartbreaking but begins a journey where Elle rebuilds her life and rediscovers art.

This is a book as much about the love between these two characters as it is about finding yourself, being a little more selfish, and living your life without regrets. It is a powerful reminder that redemption is always possible and that it's never too late to reach for what you want.

Thank you, Tachyon Publications, for allowing me to read Bitter Medicine early!

Mia Tsai created a very promising contemporary fantasy inspired by xianxia which will take readers on an interesting ride.

There is so much that is great about this story but I don't want to spoil anything!! Just to give you an idea I can say that is set in very interesting time and and has fascinating characters. I would recommend this book to anyone!.

For a debut novel, this is really solid! I love that this book was inspired by Chinese mythology, in particular 仙侠 (xianxia). While I can’t say that I fully understood the magic system in this book, I thought it was really interesting, particularly the bits about Elle’s calligraphy—those were an absolute pleasure to read. The romance between Luc and Elle was steamier than expected, but for the most part it was incredibly sweet and fluffy, peppered with yearning and the occasional angst. Their chemistry was lovely to witness and there were moments that made me audibly gasp because they were just so cute! I liked that this book tackled ideas of familial duty through Elle and workplace stress through Luc—these are highly relevant issues that I’m sure many readers can relate to. Altogether, I enjoyed this and would love to read more of Mia Tsai’s works in the future. Rating: 3.5 stars

Elle and Luc are two duty bound characters in a beautiful magical world. Elle is fighting to protect her family by making her self smaller to hide, Luc is the mysterious half-elf agent of Roland & Riddle who has forgotten who he is outside of his obligations to his job.

I loved this book. It was beautifully written and well-executed with such a unique world and perspective. I loved the different use of so many languages and how they were presented in the book. It was such a unique way of incorporating different cultures in languages that I haven’t seen before.

I really appreciated the realistic nature of the characters. They were assertive but able to listen, brave but not reckless, and supportive of eachother in some of the huge revelations in the book. I also really enjoyed how the romance was such a slow and realistic build. I also just really loved how Elle was a strong assertive woman who still cried, loved her family and learned to stand up for herself, and learned to not see herself as less than everyone around her.

Overall, I really loved this book and I will definitely be telling my friends about it!

EXCERPT: "As a contemporary fantasy debut, Mia Tsai’s Bitter Medicine is an extraordinary and distinct blend of agent thriller, the supernatural, and romance. Although these different elements do get lost in one another, the overall way they play out together is a welcome form of 'medicine' for readers craving a groundbreaking work of fiction."

Full review published online at Asia Pacific Arts Magazine.

A capably written fantasy/romance with a strong element of Chinese mythology, something I tend to enjoy despite not having much familiarity with the source material.

Even in the pre-publication copy I received via Netgalley, the editing is good, with just a few very minor mistakes. As is often the case, that's accompanied by assured prose and a well-plotted, well-paced story. It's clear from early on what the protagonists' goals are, which drives the plot forward, but it's not clear how they will achieve them, which keeps up suspense. They work hard and sacrifice and make tough choices and call on allies to help them - in other words, they protagonize, they don't get handed fortunate coincidences to get them to the goal. Along the way, they feel things deeply, but they didn't come across to me as whiny, which is an easy trap to fall into when your characters experience strong emotions over legitimately terrible life events.

There were a couple of issues that kept the book out of the gold tier of my Year's Best list. Firstly, the Agency for which the protagonists both initially work is nebulously and inconsistently defined. It's not a government agency or bureau, because the supernatural world doesn't (apparently) have a government, but it's referred to as the Agency, and part of it is called the Bureau, and it operates in most respects exactly like a government agency (or bureau). And yet at the same time it's a company with a business model that's conspicuous by its absence, founded by Oberon (who is the world's worst boss); and Elle, the female protagonist, while known as "Agent Mei," appears to be part-owner of a business that operates somehow within the larger company, supplying magic to other agents. She's a cross between Q and an independent shopkeeper. It doesn't feel like it's been thought through all the way.

The other thing that challenged my suspension of disbelief is that, apart from the fact that she is technophobic, Elle reads very much as someone born in the US in the late 20th century, not (as we are told) in China in the late 19th. It's not as bad as, say, the first Iron Druid book, where the protagonist is supposedly 2000 years old, but both looks and acts 20, but I did notice it. Elle's supernatural age is largely what I've decided to call a character decal: stuck on the outside rather than integrated into the design, like those toy cars that have stickers portraying windows rather than actual windows. You see it a lot in steampunk and gaslight fantasy, where the heroine has a decal that says she's brilliant and independent, but actually keeps making the most stupid decisions imaginable and having to be rescued by a man (and at least Elle is very far from that; she rescues the hero first before he rescues her, and then they conspire to rescue him again).

Those two issues, while they reduced my enjoyment slightly, certainly didn't damage it fatally. This is a fine piece of writing, and I'd happily read a sequel.

Two warnings about the content: the sex scenes do get graphic, and there are a few untranslated Chinese characters, transliterated Chinese words, and French sentences dropped throughout, which the author discusses in an afterword (it's a deliberate choice, for a good reason). If you're reading on a Kindle, it can translate for you, though you won't miss anything vital by not having them translated (again, by design). If either of those things is a dealbreaker for you, this probably isn't your book, but if, like me, you're fine with them, I recommend it.

Summary: In this paranormal contemporary fantasy we follow a Chinese immortal and a French elf in their journey of romance, humor, and adventure. Elle, the descendant of the Chinese god of medicine, is destined to be a talented doctor. Unfortunately, she is otherwise employed as a magical calligrapher at a fairy temp agency. Luc, a half elf, is the temp agency's top security expert. Luc must lay low due to a curse he cast on two people from a previous mission.

Review: Wow!! This was a very unexpected and fun journey. It was a unique experience that took alot of risk but made it all work together in a beautiful way. I adored this book and the characters in every way. This is my third 5 star read for this year and I am hoping the trend continues. My overall rating for this book (obviously) is a strong 5/5.

Extended Breakdown:
Story: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Magic System: 5/5

This book is a xianxia fairy tale... A very interesting world where a female descendent of the chinese god of medicine meets a half-elf. She and her elder brother has to avoid their evil younger brother. Of course she falls in love...

I love the detailed and inventive world. The characters are sweet and likable. I love the family drama too. It's interesting and a fresh read....

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

i wasn't sure what to expect going into this, but i really did end up enjoying it! i loved the premise, i loved how the author wove multiple cultures into the narrative, and the lore and world building was intriguing.

i also HIGHLY suggest reading the author's note that's at the end (and i almost think it should be put at the beginning, because it sheds a different light on a certain aspect of the book!)

that said, i feel that the start of this wasn't as strong as the end. i found the writing at the beginning to be choppy, and the dialogue was at times hard to follow; sometimes there would be moments where it felt like the people talking weren't having a cohesive conversation. this got much better as the book went on though, and by the end it flowed well! it was just difficult to get into at the beginning.

i also adored the mutual pining between the MCs, but the way that they got together was incredibly anticlimactic. considering their personal insecurities and burdens, it felt like there should have been more getting to know each other—or at the very least some sort of event to throw them together—before they crossed those boundaries. as it is, their coupling came across as a bit premature. but i am also a lover of slow burn, so maybe that's just me!

overall, this was still an fun, diverse urban fantasy, and the romance was unbearably sweet!