AUNT TIGRESS was one of my most highly anticipated Spring 2025 releases, due to it being sold as a combination of Chinese and Canadian First Nations mythology, urban fantasy, and Ilona Andrews-level snark. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like it managed to weave all its disparate strands together in an engaging and convincing enough way.

AUNT TIGRESS uses a "stories within a story" format for both its Chinese and indigenous fables that is reminiscent of indigenous writing. There are two problems with this, though. The first is that it slows the pacing down a lot: the present-day timeline barely moves forward as we spend a lot of time in the past, or out of the timeline, on backstories and expositional side stories. The second is the extent to which Qin had a sensitivity reader go through her depictions of indigenous Canadian stories and character depictions, which, I dunno.

So the pacing was incredibly slow, and all the while the book seemed to want to build up everything else except for what is most crucial to a good book: the development of the main character, the development of the world, and the development of the main conflict.

Tam Lin (a name that I presume was intentionally chosen to reflect the old fairy tale, which is unfortunate as that has always been one of my least favorite fairy tales) is I guess part tigress from her father's side (?), and seems determined to ignore the magical side of her, even though magical beasties always manage to find their way to her. She's a rather bland Mary Sue character, despite having a succubus pet/sidekick; nearly all of the secondary characters are more interesting than her.

Tam very quickly falls into a romantic/sexual something with her classmate, Janet, who is a bit too perfectly snarky (even to--gasp--Tam's Chinese mother!!) and competent and badass to be believable. I was expecting a romantic subplot that develops over the course of the book, not for us to begin in the middle of their situationship, which unfortunately affected my investment in the couple, especially as I couldn't really see or feel what either of them saw in the other. (Apparently later on in the book we learn more of Janet's backstory and why she's with Tam, which still doesn't impact my lack of investment in the two being together.)

There isn't Ilona Andrews level of world-building here, either. The jumps between timelines made things a bit hard to follow, but the best I can make of it is that the story is more or less set in a present-day Canadian city, and that Tam and her crew can see and interact with a magical underbelly. However, all of the magical elements read like they occur in a parallel universe, with very little affecting the "real" world.

I really like what AUNT TIGRESS is trying to do, but I'm afraid that none of the elements come together for me. It took me weeks to get through the first quarter of the book, and when I put it down for a while it was all too easy for me to never want to return to it again.

I was immediately drawn to Aunt Tigress by the cover, and the synopsis had me intrigued. Tam is a young woman living in Calgary where the magic from her tiger father is weak because it’s far from the forces she calls on for exorcisms and other magics, but she also knows to respect the magic of First Nations without trying to steal it. Or at least, that’s what her father tried to teach her before he died when she was 12, and her Aunt Tigress tried to mold Tam into a tiger like her. After Aunt Tigress pushes Tam too far, Tam cuts all ties to her aunt, and doesn’t see her again until she is presumed dead and Tam wants to figure out what happened. Along the way Tam is joined by her girlfriend, Janet, who has her own secrets and motivations, and Jack, a young man who has no memories from before he was eight because of a deal with made with Ms. Little, a demon and lawyer.

This is at times a very confusing read because there is so much going on in terms of mythology and motivations. I really enjoyed the storytelling and the way different characters’ histories and motivations were revealed. I also really liked the blending of different lore and mythologies to create the world Tam, Jack, and others inhabit. Learning more about the different characters made it so much better, and I loved the contrast of different motivations and goals. This is a story that deals a lot with redemption and vengeance and what stories and practices are ours. I liked how it dealt with Aunt Tigress being a thief of First Nations knowledge, and Tam’s horror to realize more about who her aunt truly was.

This is a book that started weird and confusing, but as I got more into it, I wanted to learn more about Tam and the world she was living in, as well as what was going on with her aunt. I really enjoyed this overall, and hope there’ll be more stories following Tam and Janet and their work with the supernatural world. If you’re a fan of urban fantasy and complicated characters with complex motivations, I definitely encourage picking this up!

I was thrilled to get access to this ARC as it was one of my preorders and had all my usual hit parade of interests. Urban fantasy set in Calgary, Canada with a Chinese immigrant family, combined with Chinese and First Nations mythology, plus a sapphic romance? Yes please. I even loved that Tam had an incubus as a pet. But ultimately I was disappointed. As an eldritch horror novel I'd give it four stars, but I had high hopes for the romance, and I found the romantic arc boring.

Tam Lin is descended from an ancient line of tigers and trickster gods. Her father is a tiger, her mother is human. They emigrate to Calgary when she is young. This book really shone in descriptions of Chinese folklore legends made real. Tam can see ghosts and from a young girl has mentored under the wing of her strange and monstrous Aunt Tigress, the ancient god manipulating the girl to fill her mysterious, evil agendas.

On one errand, Aunt Tigress is dispatched to help a woman who has been infested with witch seed on her pregnancy, but she doesn't heal the woman and instead makes a deal with the witch seed. Her daughter, who later turns out to be Tam's love interest Janet, seeks revenge against Aunt Tigress for what she did to her mother.

From that point, it felt like a third act betrayal at the 30% mark, and I really hate third act breakups that involve betrayals unless the love interest feels guilty and works hard at grand gestures and earning back the protagonist's trust. None of that happened here.

I never saw the chemistry or tension between Tam and Janet. Tam seemed desperate for a girlfriend who could accept her monstrous past, and Janet claims to like her as she is and calls her ghost girl but she's just using her to get revenge on Aunt Tigress. Even in the third act Tam admits she's not sure she's sexually attracted to Janet and thinks it's all her tiger lusting after human flesh. Janet was also a flat character who didn't feel like a whole person to me. She was just rude, brash and reckless, fetishized supernatural things, and that was her whole personality. The backstory with her mom wasn't enough character development to make me fall in love with them as a couple.

I found the POV shifts difficult as well. The story shifted from first person from Tam's POV to third person in the back stories of various supporting characters, instead of fleshing out Janet's character as primary love interest. It felt more like they were an established couple who didn't really like each other versus a romance.

It is with a heavy heart that I leave this review. The pacing issues and the romance made this a disappointing book for me. The writing style was so beautiful in the first half.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance at reading this.

I feel like 20% was ample time for me to judge if I was going to enjoy this book. While I enjoyed the characters and the story that was being set up, there was something too forceful in the way the author's voice was coming across. Instead of getting the feeling of the character being bad-ass, I elt the character was forcefully coming across as bad-ass.

I really enjoyed this book! I was magnetized by the creativity in this book the wild twists and turns it takes. I blasted through it in a few days, and I’m generally a pretty slow reader. I was taking it with me everywhere in hopes I could sneak in a few pages. While I was reading, I was telling all my friends about it.

In a few sentences, Aunt Tigress is an urban fantasy in the vein of the Dresden files, but a fresh take on the genre, with a Chinese-Canadian queer female lead Tam Lin (I’m guessing a reference to the Scottish folk tale). Under the tutelage of her Aunt Tigress, Tam has a link to the magical goings-on occurring behind the scenes at all times that the average human is blind to. The plot unfolds around a mysterious death in Tam’s family and the shockwave this sends through the magical world.

The book is so much more than this synopsis though. What sums it up the IT factor for me best I think is that it’s one of those books that really elevates itself by not making the book “about the magic,” but instead, the magic is just a backdrop to explore very real and very human experiences in a novel way. For example, you watch mortals and magical beings trying to love each other and all the consequences that come along with that.

You’re also getting a deep dive into two characters, Tam and her girlfriend Janet, two sides of a decade of pain and loneliness, otherness and grief. At times it’s captured in some really striking prose, it hurts in a good way. The exploration of queer identity and how that intersects with your family, your culture, and the other parts of yourself, sometimes hard to watch play out but feels authentic. It’s nice to see more representation in the fantasy genre these days, since historically it had not been the best at exploring diverse background.

There’s something visceral and creepy about the fantasy elements in this book, kind of like The Witcher series. From the womb-invading witch seeds to Tam’s ghoulish, blood-sucking pet fox, the world of Aunt Tigress has got an edge to it, adding unexpected depth and grit that I really loved.

I have to knock a star off only because, like others have said, the relationship between Tam and Janet didn’t quite gel. The intimate scenes on occasion were a little off-putting. There’s one at the beginning depicting violence that, while it makes sense why it happened, it’s still upsetting, particularly given the circumstances for why the victim is in that situation. But that’s just one blip in an otherwise fantastic read.

Aunt Tigress gets a 4/5 stars from me. Highly recommend! I’m a fan and I’ll be checking out the author’s next one.


*This book was provided by the publisher at the reviewer’s request in exchange for a fair and uncompromising review

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was a letdown. The premise invited me, the family storyline and the idea of a mythological urban sapphic fantasy and the main lead, Tam, wanting nothing to do with it. The romance felt shallow, it's not representative of a true bond between Janet and Tam, and that has quickly bummed me out. I had to look up what First Nation mythology was as I was reading this, and I didn't sense the connection of this within the writing. In other words, it didn't flow onto the page, as if it was just a piece of writing that was "assigned" and just needed to be submitted on time.

I liked the fast paced action in the beginning, but it quickly slowed down, and I dreaded flipping the page asking myself constantly "Is this it?". High highs and low lows. Not much explanation on the worldbuilding, and relied on prior knowledge to the mythological basis of the story. I could understand that a majority of the time, it would actually work, especially with more mainstream mythological pantheons. An increase in storytelling that was present in the beginning of the book would have worked.

Overall, a good hook, but you got to have more oomph in order to really pull the reader in

Thank you to Netgalley and DAW for the arc! Hoo boy, was a miss for me, and I put down the boot at 65%. Here’s some of my sentiments while reading (other than my blatant apathy):

-The family history and oral storytelling in the beginning was wonderful and whimsical and intriguing. I wish we got more of that. Instead, the focus quickly shifted to the incomprehensible. There’s a lot of monsters as well as magical mayhem, but everything was muddled and had seemingly no order or rhyme or reason. As such, I had nothing to latch onto. Many times while reading I would just internally exclaim “Sure! Why the fuck not, I guess!”

Once again, one of the weakest aspects in this urban fantasy romance was the romance. I simply wasn’t impressed or invested in the slightest. Janet seemed like a caricature, tbh. And once again, I was internally screaming “sure, what-the-fuck-ever!” To top it all off, it was insta love. No fucking thanks.

The plot was there I guess. The pacing was off, and the plot dragged early in to the book. Soon enough, I found myself not being able to read it anymore.

Also, were there any sensitivity readers for this? I’m giving bombastic side eye to the “representation” in this book. Was there even a message, or was the author just co-opting First Nation mythology for funsies. The world may never know, or at least I won’t.

So, overall, nah fam. I’m not sure I could recommend this to anything, as it didn’t do much well, and even in its better moments, it’s not anything groundbreaking. There are a slew of better sapphic urban fantasies out there. -3 stars

What a glorious, glorious urban fantasy. So inventive and so unique. A wonderful read, with beautiful gay couple. Thank you author and please write more. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I've requested an arc of this book on a whim and now I'm not entirely sure what I've read.

There's so much I loved about it. The Chinese and First Nation mythology, which in its combination is so very unique. The sapphic story which is so sweet at one moment and kinda gory the next - but always compelling. And the underlying theme of who is the monster and if they can be heroes as well.

However, I had the feeling that every time I continued the book, I had a different kinda story at hand. To me it did not seem cohesive, which ultimately left me more confused than anything.

As with a lot of stories...this might be a 'me' problem. So I'll just recommend you check it out on your own. As I said, there is tons to love.

3,5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @dawbooks for the eARC!

#AuntTigress #Netgalley #Bookstagram

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of the book!
First, I would like to say that it is clearly obvious the love and care the author put into the book. They worked extremely hard, and though I saw no sensitivity reader listed, I hope there is one, particularly for the Indigenous plot points and culture of the book.

I feel the author has a lot of really great and fantastic ideas, but some of them felt a bit. . .too much? As in there was just quite a lot of action happening in a relatively short book that might have more naturally fit into a duology. Despite the extremely on-the-nose name shout outs (Tam Lin and Janet), I also couldn't feel much of the connection between the two other than being told it was... there? Janet felt extremely tailored to match the plot. I did really like the ace-spectrum rep (at least I think that's what it was)

The familial love was a real strength of the book, and something I thought it did extremely well. Tam and Aunt Tigress, Tam and her mom, Tam and her dad, Tam and her stepbrother, Aunt Tigress and her brother.

I did enjoy it! I do think of others who will enjoy it.

So, I'm a little torn. On the one hand, I think this was a pretty solid debut for the most part. There were times when the writing really stood out, where turns of phrase jumped off the page and created a vivid atmosphere that made me want to keep reading. Even though there were a couple of awkward spots, I think the writing is really promising for a debut author.

On the other hand, there were a couple of issues I had. The first is that I'm a little unsure about the representation. The problem with that is that I can't articulate exactly what I'm unsure about (there were a few instances that gave me pause) and I'm not part of those groups, so I can't speak to it. I'd definitely be interested to see what the groups represented think of it, particularly a First Nations reviewer, considering First Nations mythology is heavily represented in this book and is even directly advertised by the publisher. Given that this is a debut, I don't know if there were any sensitivity readers or not.

The second is that the pacing is a little uneven, in my opinion. While, for the most part, the story follows Tam's 1st-person POV, there are more than a few instances where the story jumps to a 3rd-person(?) POV in the past. I do think that, in the end, the author connected all these jumps well, there were a couple of instances that I think interrupted the flow of the story where they were placed.

Third, while there were a lot of instances where the writing was really strong and evocative, there were also more than a few moments where the writing left me a little lost and confused. I'm not sure if it's just me or there was something missing in trying to get across certain things. Like, it felt a little too vague in certain aspects, where I couldn't quite picture in my head what the author was trying to get across. I don't know if those are things that'll be caught in editing in the final product or if it's just an aspect of the writer's style, though.

Lastly, the central romantic relationship between Janet and Tam never really fully worked for me. That has last to do with Tam, as a main character, and more to do with Janet. I feel like she never quite passed that threshold into full characterhood(?). I could see why the narrative had them interact with each other, but I couldn't quite make myself buy into their relationship outside of that. It may be because Janet, as a character, is a bit more like an urban fantasy protagonist herself, in that she's heavily sarcastic and quippy. I do think she has some good character moments, though; it's just those moments with Tam never quite hit the mark. Especially after a certain revelation in the book which I felt never really resolved in a way that made me buy into their relationship as a romantic one.

So, overall, I think this book has some good points, especially for a debut. I think the way the plot all eventually came together was really well done, despite a few hiccups in pacing. I'm just a little unsure about certain aspects of the representation and the way the First Nations mythology was incorporated into the story. Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable enough or part of any of those groups represented, so I can't speak with any authority on whether or not the representation was "good" or not. For now, I'll tentatively recommend this book to pick up in Spring 2025.

quite interesting. a very mythologically-themed sapphic romance with elements from some of my favorite mythologies. Aunt Tigress was a very interesting focal-ish character, and our protagonist was so fun to watch! the vibes were immaculate in all ways. 4 stars, tysm for the ARC, would recommend this book!

I really enjoyed reading this book, it uses the fantasy element in a way that worked. I was invested in the mythology perfectly and how everything was used in this universe. The characters were everything that I wanted and expected, I was invested in their story and how it worked in this. It had that crime element that I was wanting. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin wrote this perfectly and was glad I got to read this.