I received a copy from Feiwel & Friends through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Set in late 1700s Korea, Shin Haewon and her sisters spend as much time as they can at their local secret book lending shop, Five Willows. Not only does Five Willows secretly loan out books censored under Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty’s rule, Haewon is also an illegal book transcriber for them under the name Magpie. Everything changes when Haewon’s older sister, Jade, falls in love with a wealthy man who is accompanied by his uptight friend who looks down on Haewon and her family. The more time she spends with this irritating man, the more she realizes they may have misjudged each other on a colossal level because they have a lot more in common… including their secret identities with Five Willows!
I absolutely loved every second I spent reading this. We follow Shin Haewon and Lord Yu Seojun through their rotating perspectives in this excellent Pride and Prejudice retelling. Every time I picked up this book, I had a really hard time putting it down because it was just so good! I loved the characters and the story itself so much that I can’t wait to purchase the book when it comes out toward the end of May.
If you’re not familiar with the era and you want to pick this up, I encourage you to do at least a little research to familiarize yourself with what was going on politically at the time. While it’s not a must, and the author does give context in the opening and author’s note, I think it really can’t hurt before you get started!
All in all, this is an excellent book. If you’re a fan of June Hur, like Pride and Prejudice, enjoy a slow burn romance, strong sibling bonds, and/or top tier writing, you cannot go wrong with this. I enjoyed the previous novel I read from June Hur and got excited when I saw she had something new coming soon. I think this is going to make it into my top 5 books of 2026 even though we’re still early into the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment