Today I’m excited to participate in the Bookstagram & Creative Tour for Love and Other Moods by Crystal Z. Lee hosted by MTMC Tours! Love and Other Moods is a coming-of-age story set in contemporary China, about falling in love, learning to adult, finding strength, and discovering one’s place in the world. Make sure to visit all the stops in the tour & to enter the tour-wide giveaway!
Now read on below for a review, a fan-made trailer plus an International giveaway!
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Love and Other Moods by Crystal Z. Lee
Published by Balestier Press on December 10, 2020
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Goodreads
Buy on Amazon|Book Depository|B&N
Source: MTMC Tours, Author
I received this book for free from MTMC Tours, Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Love and Other Moods is a coming-of-age story set in contemporary China, about falling in love, learning to adult, finding strength, and discovering one’s place in the world.
Naomi Kita-Fan uproots her life from New York to China when her fiancé’s company transfers him to Shanghai. After a disastrous turn of events, Naomi finds herself with no job, no boyfriend, and nowhere to live in a foreign country.
Amidst the backdrop of Shanghai welcoming millions of workers and visitors to the 2010 World Expo, we meet a tapestry of characters through Naomi: Joss Kong, a Shanghai socialite who leads an enviable life, but must harbor the secrets of her husband, Tay Kai Tang. Logan Hayden, a womanizing restaurateur looking for love in all the wrong places. Pan Jinsung and Ouyang Zhangjie, a silver-aged couple struggling with adapting to the ever-changing faces of their city. Dante Ouyang, who had just returned to China after spending years overseas, must choose between being filial and being in love. All their dreams and aspirations interweave within the sprawling web of Shanghai.
This multilayered novel explores a kaleidoscope of shifting relationships——familial friction, amorous entanglements, volatile friendships——in one of the most dynamic metropolises of the twenty-first century.
What to expect from Love and Other Moods?
“For Naomi, existing on the hyphen—balancing her Japanese, Taiwanese, American identities—feeling here nor there, a drifter among homes and countries, was a perpetual state of mind.”
Love and Other Moods is a hypnotizing story that transported me directly to Shanghai. I read this book in a couple of days with rainy weather and I don’t know what it was about this book, but it was the perfect companion for these days. We meet Naomi, a young woman that moves to Shanghai with her fiancé, but after finding out he was cheating on her, Naomi breaks off the engagement and decides to stay in the city and start a new life. Through her we explore the streets of Shanghai and experience everyday life and I must say that I have officially moved Shanghai to the top of my bucket list because I MUST visit! From the beautiful buildings to the delicious food, this place sounds wonderful. ♥
Love and Other Moods is a story that takes you places as if you were exploring on your own, but besides the wonder of traveling and finding a new home, this book also covers (in a great way!) themes such as heartbreak, falling in love, the struggles and hardships of a career and their work environments, what it is like living in a foreign country, as well as opens up the question of “where are you from”.
And when it comes to Naomi, this quote from her answers this question:
“Where was one from? Was it where you were born? Raised? Resided? She had a different answer to each: born in Taipei, raised in Tokyo (until age 5) and Southern California (until age 17), then resided in New York before moving to Shanghai.”
I really enjoyed reading Love and Other Moods and now I am off to daydream about visiting Shanghai!
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Places I would like to visit thanks to Love and Other Moods!
- First of all, I would love to visit Shanghai’s World Expo, Naomi worked there for a while so I am curious to see all the different pavillions of participating countries!
- Naomi signed up for a city tour when she just arrived to Shanghai and one of her stops was the Pearl Tower. It has a history museum and it is a place that I would not like to miss, I love learning about the places I visit.
- She also had tea at Yu Garden and went to Shanghai’s Opera House, so I will add those to my bucket list as well!
- Love and Other Moods also mentions Shanghai’s Postal Museum that is located on the banks of Suzhou Creek and it is a nearly hundred-year-old building with stately Corinthian Colums. I looked it up and it looks absolutely beautiful!
- I would also love to visit Shanghai in Spring to watch the beautiful cherry blossoms in Luxun Park!
- And something I won’t forget to do is to street walk down the historic alleyways full of Shanghai’s traditional architecture called Shikumen nongtang.
Not sure if I will able to do this soon (especially now that traveling is restricted due to COVID, stay home friends!) but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is a possibility in the next few years. ♥
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Fanmade Book Trailer!
I asked Melissa to teach me how to do Book Trailers and I had a lot of fun making this one for Love and Other Moods! It’s obviously not the best (videos were limited) but I still like how it turned out. 😀
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INTL Instagram Tour-wide Giveaway!
Head over to my Instagram account where you can enter to win 1 of 3 paperback copies of Love and Other Moods! This is open international & it ends on January 30th, 2021 at 11:59pm EST.
Tour Schedule:
January 18
@paperfury – Boostagram + Book Blog
January 19
@bookisheunoia – Bookstagram
January 20
@thereaderandthechef – Bookstagram + Book Blog
January 21
@ya.its.lit – Bookstagram + Book Blog
January 22
@jenniaahava – Bookstagram
January 23
@booksshack – Bookstagram + Book Blog
January 24
@thereadingcornerforall – Bookstagram + Book Blog
January 25
@agingerlyreview – Bookstagram
January 26
@thegirlonthego_reads – Bookstagram + Book Blog
January 27
@yelli3_reads – Bookstagram
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Hosted by:
About Crystal Z. Lee
Crystal Z. Lee is a Taiwanese American bilingual writer and a member of the Asian Authors Alliance. She has called many places home, including Taipei, New York, Shanghai, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She was formerly a public relations executive who had worked with brands in the fashion, beauty, technology, and automotive industries. Love and Other Moods is her first New Adult novel. Her debut children’s book is forthcoming in 2021.
Aah, love everything about this!! ?✨ That book trailer is AMAZING!! ?✨❤️
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