Yin Yang Love Song

Another sweet and thoughtful read from Kung Jessen, its love story braided with running themes about the importance of family, connecting with nature, one’s agency in writing one’s own story, finding balance and making space for rest when work pressures mount, and both the destructive and healing powers of belief. With two main threads that link these themes—one about music and one about Traditional Chinese Medicine—the story provides so much for a reader to engage with. I loved learning about various flowers and herbs, and how they affect the body, and I could feel the author’s genuine love of music throughout the work. Perhaps, most of all, I loved the celebration of generations of women, united in both struggle and hope, coming together to make something beautiful. In short, it’s a book about healing that in itself is just that.

I've enjoyed this author's previous books, so I was really looking forward to reading this one! I love how the author blends cultural aspects into her families and stories, with this one centering around a familial curse and TCM. I loved the sweetness, the banter and the humor of the romance, but I felt like I wanted to get to know more about their parents to see why they believed the way they did, There were glimpses, but more in-depth would have been better. On the other hand, some things were repetitive (the curse--same information repeated, the contracts/stress--same information repeated) and that bogged down the story for me. I do love how everything connected and tied together in the end, and I look forward to reading more of this author's work!

There is a belief in the Hua family that the women are cursed to never find love. Chryssy was never one to believe in the curse until her very last break up. The one she thought was "the one". Now, she's decided to work with her Aunties in their traditional Chinese medicine shop which focuses on healing broken hearts. Chryssy's world is thrown into a tailspin when she meets renowned cellist Vin and his brother, professionally known as The Heartbreakers.Both Chryssy and Vin see each other as the perfect opportunity. Vin has a new album and tour to promote so if the public sees him date someone and then live up to the Heartbreaker moniker, it seems to always be a recipe for success. Chryssy is looking to grow her family's business and what better way to do it then by dating someone famous. They agree it'll only be for a short amount of time, but what happens when they really start falling for one another?I don't know why I've been sitting on this review for so long. Yin Yang Love Song is one of my favorite reads of the year so far.For me this story is two-fold. It speaks a lot to letting outside forces dictate how you live your life (ie a family curse or a record label) and then there's this idea of self-care. They both are intrinsically linked because if we cannot live our lives the way we want are we really taking care of our selves? But in the story they're handled almost separately as Chryssy deals with the outside forces seemingly keeping her from finding love, and Vin is bordering on burn out with the schedule he keeps and finds himself questioning his love of music.I like how Chryssy and Vin help the other with each of these issues. Vin shows Chryssy that she doesn't need to put so much stock into this supposed curse and in turn she shows Vin that he needs to stop and take better care of himself, not just for his health, but for the health of his music.I loved seeing Chryssy and Vin together how they slowly let their guards down when they're together. I guess when you start out thinking something has no stakes involved it allows you to be more open. I also love when we get family in a story especially the typically eccentric Aunties. The older generation passing along knowledge (or fear of curses) to the younger generation.I think this book is about trying to live without expectation. Don't try to emulate what you see in others and instead just live for yourself. I also loved learning more about Traditional Chinese Medicine especially the use of different flowers and their properties.Also, I think this book slightly nudged the also great Red String Theory out of being my favorite by Lauren Kung Jessen. Either way Lauren Kung Jessen has become an author I anticipate with each new release.

This was a cute book but it felt slow. I loved the take on flowers and TCM!! I loved learning about flowers and their medicinal healing qualities, about Qi and rest and acupuncture. Honestly just a great showing of the heritage, culture and healing of TCM. The frequent point that we are the biggest change needed in that we need to choose our health as a priority *chefs kiss because she’s right! The curse breaking was done well but not a main part of the story and I felt if it hasn’t even been mentioned the story would have been fine. I loved our two mains. Vin was especially fun as we see him surface level and as he starts healing and setting boundaries we really get to see him in depth with all his layers. Chrissy with her knowledge and constant confidence and ease wa sa good counterpart to him.I didn’t like the dual POV in this one particularly. The switching just took me out of the story rhythm too much to appreciate that we even got it.Overall a cute love story with real implications about healing, putting one’s self first sometimes, asking for what you need and familial/generational struggles that need to be helped or put aside.

3.5 stars rounded up. This book was pretty slow paced, but also very cute. I really enjoy the Chinese culture and getting to learn a little about TCM. I also thought Vin and Chryssy were very cute together. The curse plot was entertaining but at some points seemed to be a bit much.Thank you to Forever publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!