Posted on by hrchow12

Giving back to the writing community

So, this year marks a new chapter for me as an author. Though still battling imposter syndrome (as I think most authors do to some extent), I’m making a conscious effort to give back to the writing community this year.

As such, I’m officially a judge for the WriteHive Indie Ink Awards! As a judge, I’ll be reading six books in the next six months, scoring them in a rubric and rating them in the categories they were nominated. Out of the nominees, I’ve actually already selected the six I intend to read and downloaded my first read. Best Audio Narration & Best Light Read are the two categories I’m feeling in this season of life, so that’s where I’ll be hanging out.

But personally, I’m a big fan of book awards as a way to distinguish and lift up authors (indie authors especially) and I’m so excited to be a part of it.

But that’s not all!

This year, I’m also a 2025 WriteHive Mentor! This is an extra special opportunity for me since I was actually a 2023 WriteHive Mentee with EJ Dawson as my mentor, and I learned so much! I was so excited to pay it forward, and even more excited to pick Erin Scheuer as my mentee. I absolutely fell in love with her rock star/celebrity romance Love Songs and Other Lies, (which reads JUST like a K-drama, you all—squeee!!!), and we clicked instantly on our first call.

She’s entering into the revision phase, and I’m so excited to see her take her manuscript to the next level. Everyone is absolutely going to love her sweet, complicated characters, and I’m so excited for the world to meet them! Check out the mock cover and moodboard I put together for her!

It was also super interesting to be on the other side of the submission/rejection process, and I learned quite a lot. (Separate post coming on that soon!)

All in all, this has been such a positive experience so far, and I’m so glad I was able to take the leap to jump into these opportunities! I’ll be posting the books I review for Indie Ink awards here just like any other book, but when the results come out I’ll definitely post an update on the winners! And of course, if anything exciting happens with Erin’s Love Songs & Other Lies, I’ll be sure to post about that too, because I’m pulling hard for it!

Thanks so much for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

When to DNF a book

If you’ve been reading my review posts this year, you’ll have noticed that for (what seemed) like a long stretch, I was in a huge reading slump. Meaning that it seemed like I kept picking out and reading books that weren’t for me. Now, this is almost certainly due to several reasons: environmental factors, mood, and also my desire to read all the books on some random “most popular series list” I found.

And honestly… I probably should’ve DNF’d (do not finish, i.e. gave up reading) a lot of them. Before this year, I tried not to DNF. I have a Goodreads reading goal of 60 books a year. While I’m not married to it… it does still stick in my mind. So when I’ve already invested an hour-plus into a book, it’s hard for me to give up on it. And then there’s always the FOMO (fear of missing out) that MAYBE the book gets better and turns out amazing.

But, through my reading slump, I found that was *rarely* the case. So, I started trying to come up with a way to encourage myself to put down books I wasn’t enjoying. After all, there are SO many books out there, why spend time on the ones not for me?

At first I tried, “If I’ve thought about DNF’ing it twice, it’s time to DNF.” And I think this works well for when the book isn’t working for me somewhere in the middle, but honestly, I found that wasn’t strong enough. I was still reading books that didn’t HOOK me—books that didn’t make me WANT to read.

So recently, I’ve also decided 10% is my benchmark. (As a audiobook reader, this is easy to gauge, but it’d be easy for a print book too.) If at 10%, if I am not LOVING a book—if I’m not actively looking forward to reading it—then it’s not for me. It seems like a high bar, but honestly, I’m tired of reading books that aren’t a good fit. I want to get to the point where I *only* finish books I can rate at four stars or higher. Heck, if I only finish five stars books—even better!

Because there are millions of books out there, and thousands of books I know I will 5-star LOVE, so why settle for anything else?

That said, it means that I may not make my reading goal for the year, I might post fewer reviews (because I don’t review books I don’t finish), and it means that I will be starting a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing. But that’s okay. I’m writing this to hold myself to the conviction that it’s not about the number of books you read in year, but finding the books you love.

And if you needed to hear this too, then let this be your sign. If you’re not loving that book you’re reading, put it down and move on.

Just my half a cent, but I seriously needed a change, so we’ll see how it goes!
Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Review – The Rose Code

I’m a big fan of Ken Follett historical fiction and WWII novels, so I can’t help but feel like this book should’ve held my attention more than it did.

It details three women who go to work as codebreakers in Bletchley Park in England in WWII. The story is spliced between them during their time at Bletchley, and them a few years after the War ended… in which they are rather miserable.

Initially the work is freeing for them, each in their own way, and they become close friends. However, as they go on, the story really goes into the sacrifices they have to make to keep their secrets… which ends up tearing them apart and leaving them all with their own invisible wounds.

While the book ends on a positive note, I still thought it was kind of a downer. Specifically there’s an event that happens in the middle that I really just couldn’t get over. (Feel free to Twitter DM me if you want the full rant.)

The author’s notes at the end of where the direct inspiration came from was super interesting, but overall, I thought the book was a bit too long and too slow for my taste. But if you want heavily researched historical fiction about the women of Bletchley Park, than I recommend you give it a look!

Watch out for about the 60% mark though… it’s a doozy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

My sad, pouty face at 60%. If you know, you know.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by hrchow12

Audiobook Review – The Night She Disappeared

The Night She Disappears follows three POVs: Tallulah (a 19yo mother, who mysteriously goes missing along with her boyfriend), her mother, and a mystery novelist who’s just moved to the area.

While the premise was interesting—couple disappears with out a trace—and there were a few little twists and turns I didn’t expect, I had a hard time falling in love with the characters. Particularly, I found Tallulah’s passiveness rather frustrating, and overall I found the tension just a little low. I’m not sure if that’s because it seemed overlong, or because the sense of danger wasn’t really there.

If you’re looking for a solid mystery in the English countryside that takes it time, it might be worth a look.

⭐⭐⭐½

Hmm… do I fear a reading slump coming on?! Surely not!

Thanks for reading!