During her past life, Mingshin used her cleverness to help her ex-fiancé secure the position of crown prince over his three other brothers. However, by the time she figures out she is being used, it is too late While dying she promises to correct her wrongs if she is given a second chance. So when she wakes up two years in the past, she makes sure to make good on her promise.

This book was very enjoyable to read! I found myself picking it up as often as possible. I loved that Mingshin started acting towards revenge immediately and made sure she protected herself and her family early on. I also liked that her desire to make those who harmed her and her family pay did not erase her personality or what she stood for. The narration probably really enhanced my reading experience, so I am glad I was able to listen to the audiobook. I wonder if there will be a second book based on the ending, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for confirmation.

I’m always a big fan of Natalie Naudus’s narration so when I saw she was voicing this book, I immediately had to pick it up! I went into reading with basically no information so it was really interesting to see how all the courtly intrigue developed. In a way this book starts at the beginning, and then sees how it can completely avoid that end. It was interesting throughout although there were probably some elements of the genre (ie pacing) that I had to get used to. All in all though, I was entertained and it was interesting to see how Mingshin developed over the course of the book, even as I wasn’t the strongest supporter of her budding romance with Jieh, I enjoyed seeing the nuances of the world and the characters develop. As this is the start of a series, there were some things that weren’t as exciting as they serve to set up the next book, but honestly now I just can’t wait to see what Mingshin and company will be doing next, and I’ll be looking forward to Naudus narrating that when it comes!

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli
4.5/5 Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

•••Spoiler free review below•••

The perfect mix of Chinese lore and murder mystery, A Bright Heart, is a blend of second chances, romance, and magic. Mingshin is murdered by the man she loves after she helps make him king. While dying at his feet, she begs the gods for a second chance. When she wakes up, it's two years earlier, and she has the opportunity to right her wrongs and create a new ending to her story. She just didn't expect her path of revenge to include allying with her former lover's half brother.

Read this book if you like:
- court intrigue
- second chances
- vengeful women
- riddles and challenges
- pining romance

A Bright Heart was released in October and the audiobook will be released November 14th. If it's not already on your tbr, it should be!
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Special thanks to Dreamscape Lore for sharing a free copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

a lovely debut inspired by chinese xianxia! the plot is rather simplistic, though this makes it a perfect YA read (and made it easy to follow on audio too). i love how the story often touches upon female empowerment. overall i think it was a nice read but just missed that bit of pizazz that could’ve made it amazing

also this is the first time listening to an audiobook, and the narrator was great! she paced herself so nicely

many thanks to Dreamscape Media for the audiobook!

I finished this book hours ago and will admit this book kept me in its tight grip the whole time. Even now, my thoughts are in a chokehold because I keep coming back to it. I really and truly need there to be a book two.

Mingshin gets a second chance at life and revenge after the prince she helped put in power betrays and murders her. I love how cunning and intelligent she was throughout...except when it came to love. However, I can forgive every single time I wanted to step into the book and shake some sense into her since she was so severely betrayed by Ren the first time.

Jieh is such a stand out guy. He finds Mingshin intriguing because she'd smart. He doesn't hold her back and trusts her even when he didn't have enough to go on.

An outstanding debut novel!

This filled such a hole in my cdrama and cnovel-loving heart with its time-reset revenge plot. In that sense, the plot is a wonderful use of the trope - as the blurb says, Mingshin is sent back two years prior to her death, determined to keep Ren from achieving his goals and to keep her family alive. As usual, things quickly start to go differently than the first timeline, with new allies and new opponents and new opportunities and loads of new information. I loved how this timeline unfolds, even if it does seem fast compared to the hinted-at timeline of the first life. Mingshin is older and wiser, more aware of the treachery afoot at every corner of the nobles' lives.

It's a feast of court drama and political conspiracies, with an added dash of magic and diving into Chinese mythology. Mingshin, through both her own intelligence and knowledge of how plots revealed themselves in her first life, gets to unravel a lot of them, but it's her learning how to trust her new allies and love again that is the true heart (ha) of the plot. There is a bit of a heavy lean on "love's strength conquers all", but it's cute and doesn't feel super out of place, so it's fine.

This is also a fantastic example of being the first book in a series, but still managing to have both its own contained story arc as well as an urgent plot hook for the next book, which is something I haven't seen in a while.

My quibble with the audio version is that while the narrator for the most part does a fantastic job, a lot of characters get kind of a raspy voice that feels like it's meant to imply a character is older, so imagine my surprise when Hanxin was 21.

What would you do if you could avenge your own murder?
This is a really strong start to this pretty solid book. I know I would prevent my own murder and get revenge.
This book was for sure a book that I was impressed with the detail the author took to weave this world. The romance was solid and the storyline(while at times predictable) steamed to a pretty solid finish line that hinted at a sequel.
Would I read the sequel? Yes, I enjoyed this novel well enough to take a dive back into this world.
Listening to this book was for sure an immersive experience that narrator captured perfectly. She embodied the characters so perfectly that I felt myself getting lost in this world.
Would I recommend this book? Yes!
Overall this book was solid fantasy with such a vivid foundation that I would return to time and time again.

Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for ARC audio version of this book. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

If you like:
- a second chance for revenge
- Chinese inspired fantasy
- political conspiracies
- cunning women

Pick up A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli!

I enjoyed the concept of the plot, getting a second chance at life. Mingshen enters her life from two years prior with a fierce determination. There’s really strong political conspiracies and royal intricacies that make this a super engaging read.

I loved the characters in this book! There are really notable side characters who make this book stand out. Mingshen sometimes annoyed me when she brought up that she wasn’t pretty or wasn’t like the noble women around her. Kinda gave me a sour taste but she had her reasons at times.

The main point of weakness for this book is the magic system. It was very ill defined and didn’t make much sense. I felt like some things contradicted each other. And a lot of the specifically magical scenes didn’t have the grandeur that Chenli was clearly going for.

Overall though this was a really enjoyable read, I was able to fly through it becuase I was curious about what would happen. And Natalie Naudus is a fantastic narrator as always!

Omg 🙀
I honestly wasn't expecting to like this that much, but the synopsis intrigued me and wow, am I glad I decided to check it out.
I got lucky and got approved for the audiobook from Netgalley and I just LOVED this story!
The narrator's voice was amazing and really brought the story to life for me.
Right from the start we see that betrayal the synopsis mentioned and into her 2 ywar jump to the past. I was like....WHOA! No background? Just going to throw me into that? Alright, let's see where this goes.
Apparently, Mingshin learned a lot from said betrayal, and since she went back so far she knew things about stuff that hadn't happened which gave her an advantage on planning her revenge or at least not falling for her past mistakes.
I absolutely LOVED Mingshin! For all the reasons Jieh loves her 😍
She was so resourceful, smart, strong, and sassy but in appropriate ways for the "time period" it seems to be set in. Honestly, she's one of the best FMC I have read in a while and I kept listening to find out what she'd prevent or plan next!
Not sure if we will get more or this is a standalone but....I WANT MORE 😍 haha