Since You Asked is a very short and fun read. Nothing flashy, just a cute comedy about a Korean American girl who manages to get a sarcastic column in her High School's newspaper. She has to deal with her immigrant parents' way of raising their children, and navigate sophomore year of high school. The humor was on point, and I liked seeing Holly go from being completely negative about everything outside of her friends, to opening up more to things around her. There's no dramatic ending, just another end to a year of high school. I thought that was perfect. Not everything ends in happily ever after, or all hell broke loose. It's high school, things happen and life goes on. 3.75 out of 5.

Stormdancer was such a slow start, and did a little too much force feeding of Japanese culture references into Shima through long winded descriptions early on. I feared it would be a book I would struggle to get through, but right around chapter 10 it found its mark. Mostly because it stopped trying to shove its glossary in to the story, and got down to business of the characters. Next thing I knew I didn't want to put it down. Sadly with Thanksgiving happening, I had to. As soon as I had the time back to read, I picked this book back up and jumped right in. I love the connection and bond that grows between Yukiko and Buruu. Kristoff writes it perfectly, and it just flows naturally. Plenty of moments where I laughed aloud at the two of them communicating with each other. After the ending of this first book, I'm diving right in to Kinslayer. 4 out of 5

After Stormdancer finished on a high note, I was eager to jump right in to Kinslayer and felt it continued off on the same note. Unfortunately I felt there were too many perspectives being dashed to and from in this second book, and quickly my enjoyment waned. At times it happened so fast, I almost forgot which character it was, creating a lack of cohesion at times. With Yukiko, there just wasn't enough of her and Buruu this time around, and even then her story arc was kind of lackluster. I tried, but I just didn't enjoy this book as much as the Stormdancer. I'm hoping as I jump in to Endsinger that Yukiko returns as the primary focus, and the amount of other viewpoints are condensed a bit.

It's books like this that I wish Goodreads would adopt a rating system that utilizes a half star system. 3 stars is too little, and 4 stars is too much, and I tend to round up which causes me to overrate books. 3.5 out of 5

Thank goodness Endsinger was more cohesive than Kinslayer. In the beginning I was worried it was going to be another jumbled mess of perspectives. And there were definitely times that it was annoying, and a couple that were flat out worthless. Thankfully Kristoff did something with this book that many don't when they have the final battles, and that was to actually have it feel like a true fight. Too many books I've read recently kind of rush through the final battle sequence and I'm left unfulfilled, and going "That's it?". A couple more positives about this book were twists that left me legit surprised, and the feels at the end.

The Lotus War as a whole was a trilogy of highs and lows. When the series is hitting the high notes, it is amazing and super fun ride, and when those lows hit it can feel like you need someone to throw you a rope to drag you out of it.

In the end, Endsinger was much better than I expected and I battled between a 3.75 and 4 star rating in my mind. As I type this I should be in bed, so I'll go high and give this book a solid 4 out of 5.

I loved Amy Tan's novels all the way up to Bonesetter's Daughter (which is still my favorite of hers), and than Save Fish From Drowning happened and I never finished it it was so bad. I was weary going in to The Valley of Amazement, but the novel started off great. I was drawn in by the characters rather quickly. Sadly after chapter 2, this began a descent in to just baffling decisions by characters who you would think would have better insight based on previous incidents. While I know they were needed to push the story being told, they just never sat as ever making sense. The entire courtesan period past Chapter 2 was a slog to read through. When magic started going over customs and rules, I ended up skipping whole sections out of sheer boredom as they seemed endless. Knowledge is great, but it felt more like I was reading a textbook and not a novel during that part.

After a certain life event for Violet (don't want to spoil), the book got better to the point that I didn't find myself struggling to read again. Unfortunately it still wasn't a read I found fascinating like the novels of Tan's I always enjoyed. The ending was the saving grace of this book not receiving a much lower rating. So a good start and great finish to The Valley of Amazement, but a very sub-par to mediocre middle of this book. I wonder if, and hope that, Tan can recapture what made Bonesetter's Daughter so fascinating. I give this book though a 2.75 out of 5. If not for the ending, it was pushing more along 2 stars.