
Member Reviews

A charming fantasy romance that had an incredible world building. I really enjoyed this read, especially the magic and the fantasy characters. It's always exciting jumping into an entire new world like Bitter Medicine, The romance was phenomenal in my opinion, a great buildup and development between them both together and separately.

Unfortunately found this one a little disappointing and hard to finish.. the premise seemed interesting but a lot of aspects didn't seem well thought out.

There were many points where I wanted to DNF this novel; instead, I buckled down in the hopes that it would improve and meet the expectations I had going into it. Unfortunately, I did not improve.
This novel falls into a familiar ARC category for me: gorgeous cover, intriguing synopsis, and poor story execution. For what I saw on that cover and in that synopsis wasn’t necessarily reflected in the pages of this novel. Rather, this novel wasn’t certain of what it wanted to be. At times, it felt like a fantastical thriller (despite its unexplained world-building); other times, it felt like a romantasy novel. The two main plots did not know who was in charge, which led to odd pacing and disconnect chapters. Was the A-plot supposed to be Luc and Elle’s tackling of the same issue: Elle’s younger brother hunting her down? (Why he wanted to hunt her down is something I still have questions about. That was not made clear in the novel. Never mind the fact that the younger brother plot was resolved between the 20-65% marks.) Or, was the A-plot supposed to be the romance between Luc and Elle? My instincts want to claim the latter as the A-plot, considering the story was bookended with romantic moments. However,, I wouldn’t fully claim this as a romance novel. The relationship between Luc and Elle unfolded with minimal conflict and a lot of attraction; but, without that conflict to test them, it made everything feel too easy and low stakes. Which would be fine if this novel was a cozy-fantasy, but it’s simply not in that genre.
When I reflect back on the world-building, I’m met with one feeling: utter confusion. There were many questions that were simply unanswered as the story went on. What was the Bureau? How was that different from Oberon and Luc’s job? What was a “Fixer,” and why were they needed in this fantasy society? Why is there a ranking system and how does that work? How was Elle an agent—and who was she an agent for?—when she was trying to remain hidden from her family and the world? Why did Tony never change his name from Tony, considering he was “supposed to be dead”? The only element of world-building that made sense was the concept of the laes and how an object could be the source of magical energy. Without that object, a magic-wielded will die; those are the only story stakes that kept me interested in the novel.
In addition to the questions about the world-building, I had numerous questions about the characters as well. I found myself longing for more in-depth backstory for both Elle and Luc. While we received equal amounts of backstory for both characters, I found Luc’s was explained better and with more clarity. Whenever Elle explained hers, I found myself utterly confused. She was the one who almost killed Tony—not her younger brother, as the world believes—but her motivations were never explained. With that being a key subplot to this novel, it was a weakness that the reader didn’t experience clear details about important character information.
Between the two, I found Luc’s point-of-view chapters to be more solidly written. With that being said, both perspective characters lacked internal conflict. I think back to the moment of Luc’s betrayal—how easily he gives up the truth about Tony and Elle’s true identities to Oberon—and how emotionally unaffected he was by needing to make that decision. There was a lack of tension, a lack of cognitive dissonance to make Luc pause and question literally betraying Elle’s trust for the sake of “this is my job and I can’t quit due to an unbreakable vow.” I wanted to see that hesitation, I wanted to see that emotional strain making such a call would make. Even the fallout of that choice was lackluster. Within a page and a half, Elle completely accepted Luc’s decision and they moved on from the situation. Despite the fact that Luc revealing her true identity would put a target on her back and literally put her life in danger. And this was something the novel consistently struggled with: presenting life-and-death situations but brushing them off as no big deal in order to move onto the next plot moment.
This is a smaller note, but I wish this novel had more translations for the Mandarin and French phrases used within it. I am all for using multiple languages in a story, but it felt like I was missing details and conversation pieces because translations were not provided for the other languages.
Overall, this novel was a case of mistaken genre identity. It didn’t feel concrete or clearly set in a given genre, and it struggled to explain important details that make a fantasy novel shine.
Thank you to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for the eARC. Actual rating: 3.5 to 3.75 stars.
I really enjoyed Bitter Medicine, and the languages and cultures that were infused into the text are a large reason why. I loved seeing how the magic varied from culture to culture, especially with Luc and Elle and the importance of names. I also REALLY loved both Luc and Elle as characters. Their love story was fairly believable, although I wish there had been more buildup, and I was rooting for them the whole time.
That said, I wanted more exploration of the magic system as a whole and more context for character choices that were made, especially in regard to the betrayal/climax of the story. Even after finishing the book, I still don't feel like I have a solid grip on the magic system or an understanding of the company everyone works for, both of which are integral to the plot. The climax also feels out of character and resolved too easily for both Luc and Elle -- and while I'm okay with that, because otherwise it would be the miscommunication trope, and that trope personally grinds my gears -- I wish the reader got to explore more of the WHYs for things rather than just being taken through the plot and expected to figure it out (with no information or context) as you go.

There is a variety of culture and many different languages. There are characters that are not typical heroes that we can like, as well as characters that we can dislike. The story has funny and touching moments. I really liked how they created a new world and showed the complex relationships between different magical groups. There's also a strong focus on romantic relationships, and there are some very attractive and exciting scenes. This book amazed me in many more ways than I expected. When we are born, we have to learn about how the world works by ourselves. This is the kind of worldbuilding I really like - instead of giving out a lot of information all at once, there are cleverly placed clues about how things work. The author did a great job of blending different parts of the story together. They focused on the love story between Elle and Luc, but still made sure the other parts, like the setting, were well-developed and interesting. I really enjoyed the slow progress of everything.

This was a cute story, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought it would. The writing and characters seemed a little juvenile. I liked the concepts of the book, but the execution was lacking and I didn’t feel immersed in the story like I wanted to. The romance disappointed me as well; the emotional connection between the leads was weak.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order next year and will recommend it to students.

Absolutely adored the angst in this book -- it was truly such a good time. I recommend to anyone looking for a fun and intense romp!

Bitter Medicine is a fantasy/paranormal romance novel written by debut author Mia Tsai. The novel features a world where paranormal beings exist alongside humanity without their knowledge, all coming from myths and creations of different cultures - so our protagonists are a Chinese Immortal and a Half-Elf Fae - many of whom work together for a Fae Company under its boss Oberon. The story doesn't focus too much on how this setting should or could work, and instead deals largely with the romance between its main duo: Elle, the aforementioned immortal - who conceals her magical/medical skills to hide herself and her older brother from her dangerous but still loved older brother - and Luc, a half-elf who serves as Oberon's best fixer, meaning he kills or gets rid of whatever stands in Oberon's way, despite his dislike of what that entails and what that means about him. The story follows the duo as they finally admit their feelings for one another, come into conflict due to their secrets, and have to figure out what to do about it.
And Bitter Medicine tells this story really really well, and drew me in quite strongly. The story's approach to the romance begins kind of slow burn as both characters are afraid to spit it out, but once they do it gets incredibly steamy in the best way possible. And when their secrets do come out, Tsai takes the story in directions that really aren't the usual way - for example, not to spoil too much, this book avoids the usual romance plot arc where the characters get together, break apart due to a conflict, and then get back together again and reconcile....events and difficulties do occur, but our characters approach and deal with them in different and understandable ways, and this diversion from the usual plot arc really works. Tsai's refusal to go with normal pathways for this romance, and the development of her characters, their plot arcs, and the setting around them, wind up really working and being highly enjoyable, such that I could barely put this book down. If you're looking for a fantasy romance, this is definitely something you should be into.
------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------
Elle works as a middling-rank shopkeeper for Roland & Riddle, the faerie temp agency, drawing magical glyphs for B and lower level agents. It's a waste of her magical talents as a descendent of the Chinese god of medicine, but Elle is determined not to let on that she can do more, for fear it'll attract attention to her real identity..and to the thought-dead older brother Tony who she once saved from her murderous younger brother Yìwú. Only by staying hidden can Elle ensure her safety...and that of Tony.
There's just one problem: Agent Luc Villois, the half-elf agent who has been patronizing Elle's shop for the last few months, and who Elle has a serious crush on. For Luc, Elle can't help but customize her work without him knowing to give him better results, and to hope that one day he might want more from her than merely glyphs.
And unknown to Elle, Luc is just as infatuated with Elle as she is with him, and keeps coming back to her not just because her magic seems to have saved his life, but also because well...he wishes he had the courage to ask her for more. But Luc is not just the ordinary agent he pretends to be, but the top "fixer" - assassin, spy, thief, cleanup man - for Roland & Riddle's top man: Oberon. And Luc's latest mission is, unknown to him, to track down Elle's brother Yìwú....who has seemingly tracked down Tony and Luc and aims to finish the job he once started years ago.....
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Readers who are familiar with romance will start Bitter Medicine and think they can see what's coming here, because the book is structured in a really familiar way. You have a story whose perspective shifts between each of the two main characters, each of whom is falling for/has a crush on the other. Both characters have secrets that if discovered threaten to put the two in opposition to the other, especially when Luc's secret job puts him on the hunt for Elle's younger brother. So what you expect to happen is something like: the two characters fall in love, have a romantic moment, discover the truth about each other and break up, only for Luc to decide that Elle is more important and switch sides/not quite fulfill his orders in order to help Elle and to be with her, after which they reconcile. This is how most books of this type work, but Bitter Medicine doesn't take that tack at all.
And it's able to avoid that tack by making each of its main characters have depth and background that makes them something more than either just a romantic partner for the other or the person their secret suggests they should be. In Elle for example, you have a person used to struggling with being torn all over the place by her emotions. On one hand, her magic (and her) wants to be free and used, but on the other she has to keep it hidden to protect Tony; similarly, she is on the run from her other brother Yìwú for fear of him killing her and Tony, but at the same time she loves Yìwú as a sibling and as she remembers him, so she doesn't actually want to ever take a stand and confront him. And of course she longs for the family she left behind and let them think she and Tony were dead, but at the same time wants to get free of that family who only thought of her and Tony as tools to do their duties (especially Tony). So it's probably less of a surprise that when Luc's secret is revealed, her reaction is not to reject him, but something different.
Meanwhile Luc is a man who is torn apart by his job as a Fixer and what it leads him to do...and what his boss Oberon makes him do, under threat of using Luc's true name (given when Luc didn't realize what that meant) to compel him if he doesn't comply. Luc has a softer side he only previously shares with his aunt, a Sphinx, and it's that side that colors his greatest failure, a failure (which I won't reveal here) that he is desperate to try to correct. Luc is thought of as a monster by those who work around him and don't know the truth, but Elle - who has a brother she still loves despite her believing him to be a monster - is able to see those other sides or give him a chance to show them, which prevents the pain of a rejection coming from her.
Of course all of the above only comes after a ton of pining and "cannot spit it out" moments, as you would expect from a romance like this, and god are those moments painful (in a good way). But when the two characters do finally get together romantically and share a good kiss and hot sex (we do get one very nice sex scene), it pays off in spades. And then the book takes its last act and all the character development to change things up dramatically by drastically altering the status quo, forcing a difficulty onto Elle and Luc's relationship that isn't caused by one of them betraying the other, and the way they adapt to that new status quo is extremely well done, as they deal with depression, loss of power, and more.
The result is really great, and I really don't want to go into too much more depth without spoiling, but let's just say this is a really great urban fantasy romance/paranormal romance/whatever you want to call it, with great characters, romance, and plotting all the way through the end. I highly recommend this if romance is what you're looking for.

This certainly was a surprise! Bitter Medicine was taking the blue pill in The Matrix. In for the sweetest love story of an unlikely couple that will ravage the Gods for ages.

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.

La fantasía urbana es un caldo de cultivo perfecto para el romance paranormal y hay que reconocer que Mia Tsai mezcla de una forma tan equilibrada ambos subgéneros en Bitter Medicine que no se puede decir que haya un exceso ni un defecto de ninguno de ellos. Para ser una primera novela, hay que reconocer que consigue un equilibrio perfecto en la trama, con toques de humor y acción que le sientan muy bien.
La historia gira entorno a Elle, una descendiente del Dios chino de la medicina que trabaja en una tienda de hechizos de protección y Luc, un semielfo francés cliente habitual. Aunque hay una atracción innegable entre ellos, la situación de ambos no les permite ponerse a pensar en establecer relaciones más que profesionales.
Mia Tsai ha entrelazado en esta historia de amor los hilos de las obligaciones familiares y laborales de una forma ágil y creíble. Elle está dispuesta a sacrificar su libertad por proteger a su familia y Luc se debe tanto a su trabajo por razones que poco a poco se irán desvelando que ambos parecen condenados a seguir sus trayectorias divergentes sin posibilidad de encontrarse nunca. Pero claro, la casualidad siempre está presente para ayudar a las almas en pena, y Luc le pedirá ayuda a Elle para su próxima misión, que está íntimamente ligada con el pasado de Elle.
La construcción de mundo que lleva a cabo la autora es encomiable, ya que a la tradición feérica occidental más conocida por estos lares añade la fantasía asiática algo más desconocida. Los personajes están construidos desde el cariño y aunque algunas de las opciones que escogen son un poco rocambolescas, tampoco rompen la continuidad de la historia. Me gusta especialmente el desarrollo de Elle, desde el autosacrificio más encomiable a la vez que absurdo a la autoafirmación más valiosa, un camino nada fácil de recorrer.
Bitter Medicine no ha venido a remover los cimientos de la literatura ni lo pretende, pero sí que está aquí para hacernos pasar un buen rato.

Mia Tsai's beautiful debut is a gorgeous blend of east and west fantasy. A romantic yarn with good plotting, terrific prose, and a romance comprised of romantic chemistry that practically sizzles off the page. Mia Tsai is absolutely one to watch and her characters will absolutely win the reader's heart.

Narration in Bitter Medicine alternates between Elle Mei and Luc Villois, who both work for the Agency, which seems to exist to give nonhumans a place to learn to interact with humans safely under the direction of Oberon (possibly the Oberon). Or something. It's a little unclear, to be honest, what the Agency is for, but they both work there.
Elle is at least a century old and does magic with Chinese calligraphy. She makes and sells glyphs to people in the Agency to help them do their jobs more safely and effectively. She also feels responsible for looking after her older brother, Tony, who used to have magic but no longer does. He is in danger from their second brother, who, as it turns out, is Luc's target. Luc is a half-elven super-agent of some sort who is almost too badass to be believable. He’s 230-something years old. He has a crush on Elle that she’s (of course) unaware of.
As they work together to bring down Elle's second brother, their unspoken attraction becomes very spoken and acted on. In these instances, it was good to have these ancient people doing consent checks, even though neither of them would have been raised to do so. It was especially refreshing to have Elle also checking with Luc for his consent: often in m/f romance, it feels like it's all the male partner receiving permission and the female partner receiving instruction. So, that was a good thing.
Less good were the pacing and the characterization. Pacing-wise, there were a number of instances where I would have preferred the story move along faster, and others where I could have done with more detail and explanation. With regard to characterization, I didn't really feel that any of the characters were fleshed out much beyond their role in the story (hot love interest, evil scheming boss, supportive gay brother, happily violent coworkers, etc.). This wouldn't ordinarily be a huge problem in a book this length, except that the two leads also felt more like cardboard standees with labels draped over them like boas than characters a reader could get invested in.
I enjoyed the author’s note on language following the narrative, which brought up some salient points and I applaud Tsai’s decision to depict language in this way. But the note on language was my favorite part of the book, and that's not great. As a debut piece, Mia Tsai's Bitter Medicine shows promise, but for me it missed the mark.

Going in to this book, I wasn't quite sure about how YA it might be, how romancy it might be, how urban fantasy it might be.
I'd say that it's mostly romance with an urban fantasy bent. I wouldn't call it YA.
Unfortunately, I was hoping for mostly urban fantasy with a romance bent. If you want a romance then you might really like this!
The writing is decent. I liked that Elle was a magic practitioner who worked out of a studio instead of slinging spells around to blast all the baddies. I didn't like so much that Elle had decided to give up her entire life and hide away her talent for family members who really had not asked her to do this. As for Luc, he's an assassin cinnamon roll. Both of these two spend a LOT of their time noticing just how adorable the other person is. Neither of them seem to have much clue how the other person perceives them.
The author has created an interesting world, but it didn't necessarily feel well thought out. I felt rushed through it when I wanted more detail. Most of what the author wanted to focus on was about the budding romance between the main characters and I could have done with fewer adoring gazes and more looks at how exactly the world of magic interacted with the mundane world. Just not what I was in the mood for, but it might be exactly what you like!

An okay book, with a lot of unexplored potential.
This book felt "half-baked".
So many correct ingredients, but none of them fully used. The world-building is sparse, and unfortunately not in a way that is forgivable. The book is pitched as a fantasy with romance, when really it is a badly written romance with a sprinkling of magic that isn't fully explained. The "facts" of the characters (i.e. age, origins etc.) by no means match their characterization. The characters often make decisions/take actions that are so absurd and inconsistent that I began to wonder if I was confused.
The dialogue was mediocre, and at times unbelievable.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 86%.
There was no disclaimer for explicit sexual content - which would have been greatly appreciated. This book is not my thing, a part from my personal preferences clashing with its contents, I also found this book to be, for lack of a better word, boring. It had so many aspects that I would usually love (fae, xianxia etc.), so I'm so sad this book wasn't my cup of tea.
I hope whoever else reads this enjoys it, and thank you to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mia Tsai is a brilliant writer. Bitter Medicine flawlessly builds a multicultural city center in a way that so many contemporary fantasy stories are missing out on. Our city centers are luscious and full of life, and Mia Tsai captures that life impressively through a fantastical world. It's genuine, heartfelt, and full of honesty.

I had to stop after 25% of the book. I found it hard to connect with the style and the characters, and the storytelling was confusing. There were scenes that I liked, and the beginning was strong to hook me right away, but I couldn't keep the same level of interest as before. I think it's a matter of likes and tastes, so I'm sure other readers will enjoy it more than me.

While I applaud what Mia Tsai is trying to do with Bitter Medicine, it just wasn't the book for me. I liked the world building and the magic systems, but for most of it it felt like I was slogging through the story.