#Crown Prince Liwei

[littlemoondance]

I couldn’t resist making mood boards for the Daughter of the Moon Goddess duology. I loved everything about these books so much.

[chanelslibrary]

🌙𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰🌙

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Xingyin grew up as a secret on the moon with her mother, who was exiled there for stealing an elixir of immortality from the Celestial Emperor. When the Emperor discovers her identity, Xingyin flees and seeks an opportunity to train with the Crown Prince, Liwei, of the Celestial Kingdom. Her only goal is to free her mother, so when the ruthless Celestial Emperor offers a bargain for her mothers freedom, will Xingyin risk everything even love to free the moon goddess?

I really liked the world of the Celestial Kingdom. Since it is the first book, there is a lot of world building which is why it has a slow start. But once you get into this book it picks up speed, and I liked the character development. Xingyin is so headstrong, but still romantic and sometimes reckless which is very relatable. The love triangle between Xingyin, Liwei, and Wenzhi is great and honestly I still don’t know who I want her to choose!! It’s so refreshing to read a story about Chinese mythology that is written well!

Read if you love:

🐲 Dragons, Merfolk, Snakes

🏹 Romantasy

🐅 Chinese mythology

⚠️ Love triangle

✊🏼 AAPI rep

[fatedefyd]

   Xingyin has.. a complicated relationship with romance. 

   when it comes to her mother, Chang’e, Xingyin has heard all of the various iterations of the tragic story between her mother and father.  she’s heard the tales where Chang’e was the greedy and vain villainess, where Hou Yi had an affair and planned to make himself and his lover ageless, and iterations where both parties were victims of terrible timing and at the mercy of the universe. 

   as for Xingyin herself, she’s only ever had two people in her life that she had ever seen romantic interest in ; however, both of these people, like her, had their own important secrets to keep.  

   Liwei, the only crowned prince of the Jade/Celestial Emperor, was not only a close friend, despite being the only son of the Celestial/Jade Emperor, but also her classmate as they tutored privately together for a handful of years.  they’ve exchanged gifts, been each other’s confidants, and developed feelings for each other through their constant closeness ; but, ultimately, it is suddenly revealed to Xingyin the day of an agreement for an arranged marriage between Liwei and another that comes from a powerful family to keep strong alliances.  the relationship between him and Xingyin was more a relationship filled with yearning and temptations, but after the fallout of their friendship, the girl throws herself into the military to put distance between her and the pain that came with the fallout.  by the end of the novel, the two become amicable enough to be friends.

   Wenzhi on the other hand, the young and accomplished Captain of the Guard, is a seemingly tight-laced man, but has nuggets of relativity that draws her in.  he’s darkly handsome, sympathetic in his own quirky ways, but treats Xingyin like he does anyone else in his unit as he departs bits of wisdom to her.  In the following years, though she is more weary of her feelings, the two grow close not just as comrades, but as friends that  ; it’s his respect and view of her as an equal that makes his later betrayal that much more heart-wrenching, especially when, at the same time, he is using the one thing that could free Xingyin’s mother from her bindings to strengthen his own personal matters.  as the novel comes to its end, he and Xingyin are on rocky terms, at best. 

[reviewsthatburn]

The worldbuilding unfolds slowly, with early mentions of the various kingdoms supplemented later on by more detailed descriptions once Xingyin actually travels there. The descriptions are evocative but not overwhelming, tending to focus more on her thoughts about what she observes. There’s a strong focus on Xingyin’s internal life, as her relationships get more complicated but she’s still keeping her parentage a secret. She’s the daughter of the moon goddess, having grown up in secret since her mother was exiled to the moon after claiming the immortality meant for her husband, Xingyin’s father. 

Full Review at Link

[uldwyns-onwyfans]

02. Vow

Pairing: None. Uldren & Mara sibling bond.

“I will be with you always,” he promised. As an ever-loyal brother, he could give her nothing less. She accepted his devotion with a close-lipped smile and nothing more.

His first vow was to his beloved sister, long before their Human deaths and their awakening in the Distributary, long before his name was Uldren and he carried the duties of a people's prince. It was aboard the mothership Yang Liwei, in the dim light of his sister's quarters, with a well-muscled arm curled around her thin shoulders. Wisps of her blonde hair tickled his skin and her breath clouded before her lips in the chilly air of the cabin.

He loved his sister dearly and with his whole heart, so he did not mind holding her in his arms if she so desired. It was rare that he felt needed by her, and in the times he did, it scared him. Mara was an independent spirit, never even turning to Osana for guidance. So when she pulled him from his recovery bed in Medical and led him back to her quarters, he could not help but feel like something was amiss.

She tilted her head back and rested its crown against his dislocated shoulder that had been slammed into the hard steel of the killzone hours before. He sucked in an agonized breath, but did not ask her to move. Familiar slender fingers caressed the bruising on his jaw and delicately twirled a strand of his dark hair between them.

"Uldwyn." His name unfurled from her lips in the form of a question and had his amber gaze shifting from the ceiling to her in seconds. Her blue eyes were distant, somewhere far beyond the cabin where they sat in silence, and he worried she was lightyears away. Only her feather-light traces on his skin let him know she was not gone.

"How did you fare in your match today?"

An arrogant smirk tugged at the corners of his thin lips and a chuckle rumbled in his chest, "Quite well."

"Is that why I fetched you from Medical?"

"I survived. Therefore, I prevailed."

If Mara was one to smile, she would have in that moment. Uldwyn knew her well enough to know that she found humor in his ridiculous resilience even if she did not show it outright. The last time he saw her truly smile was when they were children and their feet squelched in thick mud, sunlight warming their rosy cheeks. Now, they were nearing twenty Earthen years and that guileless joy was long forgotten.

The teeth she bared now were ferocious, smiles full of deceit to twist the will of those she held under her thumb. Uldwyn knew in the back of his mind that he was one of those pawns, and yet he refused to admit it. He was her brother, he reasoned, so she must love him in some sense. He loved her so much he swore his final breath would be taken in the form of her name.

Her fingers danced over every bruise and rough abrasion on his arm and he followed with eagle-sharp eyes. The gold-plated rings she wore, encrusted with citrine topaz and amethyst, were cold against his skin. Colder than her icy eyes and the knowledge that she did not love him as much as he did her.

"How do you think of me?"

    The inquiry was open-ended and Uldwyn was not quite sure how to respond. He would, of course, answer in the way he always did when it came to Mara: in riddles and quandary. His preference was to forthright interactions, but when it came to her, he would do anything to please. He hoped one day his devotion would bring a true smile back to her face.

"How am I meant to?" he asked.

"Will you be there?" Her fingers were so cold and he wanted to push her away, but she was his blood and he could not let her go. "When the void swallows me up? When my tether breaks and I am no more?"

He would take whatever touch he could get from her, whether it was her delicate fingers tracing over scabbed wounds or a slap to the cheek that left a stinging worse than any time he was brought down in the killzone with pearls of his blood floating in the air. There was a time when she would wrap her arms around his torso when she cried and he would plant a kiss on the blonde crown of her head to comfort her. It was when they were young and had only each other to worry about.

Back then, family was all that mattered. It was still important to both of them, but in direly different ways. Uldwyn was hanging onto that innocent love he always had for his sister, hoping one day she would smile and be proud of him. Mara had grown far beyond such childish concerns. Her love for her family remained, but it had been buried far beneath a mountain of more pressing matters.

"You speak as if death is coming to you so soon," he remarked.

"It comes for us all, dear brother." She lifted her head from his shoulder and turned to face him. There was wisdom in her eyes, far beyond her twenty Earthen years, and he wondered how she had ascended so far from him. "Will you be there for me?"

For once, he could tell she desired an answer. So, with dark brows drawn in concern, he gave one, "Of course I will, Mara."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise. I will be with you always." 

She accepted his vow with a close-lipped smile that he knew was anything but true.