Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC copy. All thoughts are my own.

Whilst the premise of this world enticed me to pick this one up, I found the language used by the author in both description and during dialogue to be the biggest barrier keeping me from enjoying Shanghai Immortal. This is meant to be set in the Jazz Age in Shanghai, and whilst the story is very much a fantasy in timeline and characters, the language is far too modern for it to fit. I have a degree in history, and this sometimes is a challenge to switch off when reading fantasy that mixes in with historical settings or eras, and in this case, I found it impossible to accept the use of modern words. The dialogue was also very sarcastic, and difficult for me to develop any interest in the characters and their actions. I admit to losing interest along the way.

Essentially, I was the wrong reader for this, and I've placed my rating at 3 stars: someone who doesn't have the same personal historical hang-ups and likes sassier commentary will enjoy this a great deal more than I did.

This book was so fun! I loved that it was set in jazz age shanghai. All of the main cast were amazing and the main character was so witty and funny. Cannot wait to read more from A.Y. Chao

The blurb of this sounded really good but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. I’m not sure if this is YA as it’s written very YA style. Gave 3⭐️ as it’s the author’s debut and not a terrible read.

Rating: 1.75 stars
Dnf at 27%

With such a title, you’d expect me to be beautiful – all hair, ta-tas, and ass, held together with lashings of poise and dignity. Well, I’ll disabuse you of that notion right now. I am a degenerate mix of unfortunate genes and circumstances. From my dearly departed mother – a hulijing, or ‘bitch of a fox-spirit’ as I prefer to call her – I inherited my feral lack of charm; from my father – some leech-faced vampire who couldn’t be bothered to stick around – a damned inconvenient predilection for blood.

I don't know whether that sounded like the beginning of a good book to you, but it didn't to me, and I was already put off by the first page.

I had to ditch my rating system, as I didn't read enough to be able to judge the plot and world-building.

My main problem with this book was that I did not like the writing style. It was too modern, juvenile and consisted of vulgar phrases and slang, so the random fancy words felt out of place. In some cases, the dictionary didn't help because it looked as if the author threw in literal translations or just straight up Chinese phrases and words. Like what is a piss-fart? Listen, l like when poc authors use terminology from their language, but they usually add a glossary, or it's just a name of something, or you can guess what the word is supposed to mean from the context. But in this case, some sentences made no sense. For example: I laugh, startling the mortal, then just as quickly understand how much mafan this means for me. Or: The mortal puts on an expression that looks like he badly needs to dabian. I've been told it means to shit if you couldn't guess. For some reason, the author felt the need to use mafan over 40 times. I looked up the shit stick, and it appears that it isn't just made up nonsense, so I'll forgive the use of that phrase, but I don't think anyone in the 1930s, which is a part of the setting, was saying ta-tas, bamboozled, or grown ass woman. Also, one guy was named Horsey.

I couldn't stand the main character either. She, with her 100 years of age, acted immature and then had the audacity to complain that nobody respects her. And she was the I-hate-dresses type of woman who kept complaining about her qipao and rolling it up.

This book was trying too hard to be funny with a strong-willed main character and it didn't work out at all. I don't want to be harsh, but it needed a better editor at the very least. Because the author made choices, and it seems like nobody was there to fix them.

Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

First, I would like to thank Netgalley for this ARC. I was happy to get an opportunity to read this before its release. I had been looking forward to this book since I first heard of it.

Shanghai Immortal, by A.Y. Chao.

Wow, I have a lot to say!

Lady Jing is one hell of a character! She definitely made me laugh a lot, honestly, more than I can count. It’s her sassy self, her funny and childish insults/remarks that will make you giggle. But that is only a fraction of her personality. We learn more about her as we read. As always, we know very little about the main character in the beginning. Like every other book (which isn’t bad) we get to know more about her personality and her life before and now. We learn more as she confides in certain characters and as the story develops, obviously. Lady Jing grows and becomes who she wants to be, not who everyone else in her life wants her to be. She discovers more about her past and realizes so much about the people around her.

Though my initial thought of Lady Jing’s character was that she was annoying. I quickly became keen of her. I wanted to know more about her. Which pushed me to continue. You begin peeling back the layers and uncover who she really is. She is stubborn and does as she pleases, she is loyal and kind. She has a desire to help and can do more than the ones who surround her, believe she is capable of. She let others get under her skin. Such as Lady Soo, who I must say is the most annoying person in this story! She is written to be the villain, and might I add, was written as a great one! I can really feel my own hate for her grow. You can definitely get a great sense of Lady Jing’s hate for her too.

The plot is less action-packed than I assumed it would be. It’s still very much interesting, it’s just not the book you want to pick up if that's what you’re looking for. There is some action, but it’s closer to the end of the book. It’s more of a calm yet amusing plot. It makes you feel many emotions, such as anger, love, laughter, and sadness.

Okay, when I first got into this book, I somehow did not realize it had romance in it. How? Idk… But omg it’s just perfect. Now the romance is only REALLY apparent in the last 150 pages, give or take. It was just so perfect and sweet.
Now, because I didn't know there was any romance in this novel before reading it, it was not apparent that he was the love interest. But now that I know and I think back to the moment he was introduced, I can definitely see it.

The plot at first is a little slow, in my opinion. It definitely made me question if I was going to finish it. I couldn’t stay attached and wasn’t too sure where the story was going to go. But after a little, it picked up and became more clear. I was more and more intrigued. I really wanted to see her succeed and prove she was right about the villain. The last 100 or so pages were my favourite. I’m really glad I didn't stop reading it.

I wish we would have seen more of Lady Soo and Lady Jing interact. I think we see them interact about two times before the main character goes somewhere to figure things out and shine a light on the truth. Then once after that, in a flashback, and once at the end. So maybe one more interaction between the two would have been nice. So, four times (not counting the flashback) in total would have been a decent amount.

This was written for an adult audience. But solely for the reason that Lady Jing's character is very childish, I feel like it would really depend on what you like to read and not really the age. But I am personally not sure that an adult of forty or more years would read this. I think the age range for this book is sixteen to mid-thirties. So obviously it’s best to place it in the adult genre. Whether you will read or like this book depends a lot on personal preferences.

Overall, this was a great read that I would for sure recommend it to others who I know would love it too. Lady Jing is the main reason I enjoyed it. Her character’s personality is the best. She is powerful, and I loved how determined she is. I think we readers all love a woman with power and who put others in their place! So read this when it comes out, you won’t regret it.

4 out of 5 stars

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Shanghai Immortal is everything I love wrapped up in one delightful, enthralling, hugely hilarious package.

I love c-dramas and reading about ancient Chinese culture and history. And I knew this book was the one for me when I read its summary, but I was also afraid that I wouldn't love it as much as I wanted to love it. Well, Little Jing came with her outspokenness, beguilingly witty and hilarious yet soft personality, and she made me fall in love with her and the book.

Little Jing is a powerful (in social status, in mental and physical abilities) deity but she's been bullied and looked down on since she was a child. She's traumatized, and the author doesn't sugarcoat things. Everything she's experienced, everything she's felt then and now, and the consequences on her character are all on the page to see. I'm not an immortal deity, but I could relate to Little Jing so much. I always felt like an odd duck not fitting in anywhere and being torn to two sides. I love Little Jing so much that I don't think words can describe it. She's hilarious and beguiling, and for an immortal with a temper, she can be such an innocent cutie. Little Jing is one of my all-time favorite characters, becoming the Queen of All Female Characters.

Mr. Lee is a very interesting male protagonist. I like firm people who don't change their values yet don't remain stagnant, either. I kind of feel like he's still some of a mystery because he himself adapts to his environment and according to the circumstances--and what trouble Little Jing is in. We love to see committed and dedicated love interests!

Lady Gi, girl, I love you. Can you be my friend, too?

Big Wang, Lord Ma, Lord Nioh, and Old Zao are all fabulous side-characters, with their own personality and quirks. They made me love them more and more as the story progressed.

The plot was amazing! Always filled with adventures yet we still had time to drink tea--and other things--and eat xiao long bao. I personally need this balance because to me, this is what makes the story even more real.

The worldbuilding was so beautiful and immersive. Every detail was there, and yet, the book didn't get wordy nor did it have lengthy descriptions.

Gorgeous book in all aspects, from the characters to the plot and worldbuilding and the writing. Shanghai Immortal is one of my all-time favorites. 5 stars are not enough!!!!!!!

And look at that cover!

I do believe it's part of a series but the book is a beautiful standalone with no cliffhanger. Just the promise of more things to come.

Shanghai Immortal is a very fast-paced, fun, and irreverent novel. While it's technically a historical fantasy, most of the action either takes place in immortal Shanghai, or is so heavily influenced by supernatural powers that it doesn't feel like a historical novel. Jing got on my nerves for the first few chapters; she was just so rude and had the biggest chip on her shoulder. But as the story went on, I began to really enjoy reading about her antics. I liked her friendship with Lady Gi and her slowly developing romance with Tony Lee. I would've liked a bit more about him and his past. though. He was such a sweet person but I felt he wasn't quite as developed as he could have been. This story wraps up nicely, but I loved the writing style and mythology, so I'm hoping that Jing and Mr. Lee are called off to another adventure soon!

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Now here comes the review…

DNF’d at 22% - my rating is based on what I have read so far.

I think the main problem I am having with this particular book is the way it is written, the style of prose. To me it is so incredibly impersonal and makes it so hard to actually form any sort of connection with the characters. I also disliked the juxtaposition of the flowery Courtly language, the somewhat more formal language and then the overall casual language and swears. It just felt a bit like whiplash going back and forth between all of these types of language within a paragraph or a few sentences. One sentence would be flowery and the next extremely crass. The marriage between styles of language here was just confusing.

Also, at 22%, there’s nothing happening in the story. There’s no forward motion, and all the characters are pretty forgettable. I have ZERO idea what Big Wang looks like even though he’s played an important role up to this point. Even our FMC gets lost in translation amongst the issues the different styles of language causes. Overall, just going to move on from this one before I hit book slump territory which is nearing.

On a positive note, the world sounded beautiful and magical, and I liked the element of Chinese mythology becoming the backdrop of this world.

Following the journey of half-vampire half-fox Lady Jing in an alternate Shanghai, this book is a niche taste. I absolutely loved the world, it's so lush and full of history. I felt completely immersed in this Shanghai where monsters and demons roam free in 'hell' and I came to adore the main character.

Lady Jing is immature and selfish to begin with, but as we travel with her and make friends, her loneliness morphs into gratitude, and we see her develop into a true Lady. I liked that this book had her motivations as the main focus, but this also meant that the plot was lost in the fray. This led to the pacing being very slow and no action happened until about 70% of the book. I enjoyed the romance, however, and how slowly it developed, but the plot was not enough to give this a higher rating.

We travel with Lady Jing and Mr Lee for most of this book, until at 85% where this book truly takes off. All the action and reveals were packed into the end of this book, and I'm glad it's a standalone, but it felt too slow. I didn't understand the point of Mr Lee, other than to teach Jing about gratitude and love. And the other characters felt real, but their role in the story was very minimal, and did nothing for the plot. They were, however, fleshed out.

Overall. I adored the world and the writing. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-arc!

This was a really hard read, and I don't even mean this in terms of the plot. Jing's character was SO frustrating to read because of how immature and reckless she is. This book is advertised as an Adult book but I really think this should have been YA, even maybe middle grade. With the repetitive "piss-fart"s and "ta-tas" and the tantrums and immense whining from Jing about being treated like a child, I was really struggling with getting through the book. Her character was too juvenile. I also understand the author's intention in wanting to create a Shanghai setting, but it was almost jarring having to pause and consider the language because it doesn't really get explained (and had I not already known some of the language, it would have been a much harder read for me), and Jing's character didn't help with the flow of the story at all. I'm also not really sure I understood the plot of the book (I was very distracted by Jing) and it wasn't until I was past the halfway mark when I felt like the story really picked up. Honestly, I wasn't really a fan of any of the characters and I thought the romance was awkward and forced, especially since there was no build up. I think the ideas in this book were very interesting, but the execution fell short and I could see the attempts at humor. Ultimately, with all the repetition and lack of growth/development in both the plot and characters, unfortunately this book is not for me.

{AD|GIFTED} I admit I had a little trouble getting used to the writing style at first but then I was swept away by the richly layered worldbuilding and memorable characters. Jing is half-vampire, half-hulijing fox-spirit, and such a prickly character. She's irreverent, immature and mischievous but so much fun to read about.

Determined to get revenge on the hulijing immortals who constantly belittle her, Jing tries to foil their plan to steal a dragon pearl from her guardian, the King of Hell. Alongside this, she is charged with protecting a mortal man. However, she soon finds herself distracted by the handsome Tony Lee as they travel across immortal then mortal Shanghai. Jing's inability to believe herself worthy of love and friendship is explored throughout the book and some of the revelations about her childhood abuse and trauma are devastating. I love that she's shown gradually realising her self-worth thanks to Tony Lee's outsider perspective.

This is the first in a planned trilogy but it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. Instead, the author has established a world with so much potential for more stories that a sequel feels inevitable. I really need to know if Jing ever gets her tails (and how many!) and what changes Tony Lee might be facing after the events at the end of this book. Highly recommended.

I unfortunately had to DNf this book at around 45%. I found the MC incredibly immature and unlikable, and she never really grew at all through the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the world building, but the pacing was a little off and I do feel like the start of the story, as well as the repetitiveness surrounding our MC's past and currently enemy slowed the start of the book down.

I wanted to love this book, the concept is really interesting, but the execution is one dimensional. This is also being marketed as an adult book but I found the main character and story line to be YA at best. I found myself struggling through this, it was very boring and just didn't seem to be going anywhere - I DNF'd ~30%.

Also, the way the main character speaks and the overuse of juvenile terms such as "piss-fart" drove me absolutely insane. Every time she would say something of that nature, which was VERY often, I found it so cringey and inauthentic.

Half-vampire, half-hujiling (fox spirit), Lady Jing was pawned off to the King of Hell as a child. She begrudgingly runs errands for him, one of which is to bring him some mortal. She overhears some courtiers' plan to steal the dragon pearl, an object of immense power. Jing wants to expose and get back at them for the way they have always treated her. She uses the mortal Tony Lee to go on her 'quest'. When her actions put him in danger, she must choose to claim her destiny or lose something better than revenge.

The pleasantly descriptive narrative jumps right into the story and Jing's snark. I adore her snark. The 1st person POV with its elaborate engrossing details makes this a truly movie-like experience. The writing is embellished in quirky lyricism, presenting creative image-driven figurative speech. The mythology is rich and immersive, framing the backdrop of this tale. This 'hell' is more like a supernatural realm, a supernatural Shanghai containing monsters and deities, spirits and even roosters (thought that was hilarious)!

I really liked the quotable, philosophical musings-type dialogue and the 'court speak".

I enjoyed the non goody two shoes aspect of the protagonist. She has a temper, she likes to get into people's faces and her quest is for revenge. But she bangs down the door of your heart and takes residence. You feel for her and the unfairness and loneliness of her circumstance.

There were parts of the book where I was cackling with laughter. Her pairing with Tony Lee is a basically comical situation thanks to how opposite they are. She is chaos, he is calmness. Like magnets, these opposites attract and I'm here for it.

There were two minor gripes I had with this story. One was I sometimes had to guess at things. For example, there was a character who was not really explained who he was and so I was 'reading him wrong". The other is that coming to the end it felt a little rushed. After that beautiful pace until then I wish the book had been a bit longer so the finale could breathe.

This book is about wanting to belong and also how one person can enter your life and change your worldview completely. I loved how surprising and entertaining the book was, such a wonderful story just oozing with charm.

I really could not get into this book. I went in with such high hopes. I love Asian mythology, and was so excited going in, but absolutely nothing could get me hooked. The imagery was the best part, and I loved imagining this alternate 1930's Shanghai hell. The writing style was good as well. But that was the highlight of the book for me. I found the characters either completely unlikeable or just boring. The plot was very slow to pickup. In the end, I couldn't even force myself to finish it. Maybe I was just in a reading slump, I'm not sure. But I hope to pick it back up one day with fresh eyes and finish it because I had such high hopes.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an eArc of this book.

This book was very different from what I somehow expected, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be a slower read, more fantasy heavy than romance heavy, but it turned out to be more romance heavy, and I ended up reading the last half of the book in one sitting.

To be honest, the plot mostly felt like a fairly flimsy excuse to bring the two characters together. But the world building was absolutely amazing, which in my opinion really made up for that. The writing style was great and really fun, and I did really like the romance, especially how it starts with him being deathly terrified of her but quickly resulting in witty banter.

Wow. What a book. I know this doesn't release until June 6th, but this is such a perfect read both for AAPI month and for mental health awareness month. Lady Jing was such a good character. I didn't like her at all at first; I hated her, in fact. She was very childish and self-sabatoging. She had no control at all over herself and was verbally abusive to anyone who seemed to care about her even a little bit. But there's so much more to her than that.

I don't think I really felt connected to Lady Jing until she arrived at mortal Shanghai and started experiencing panic attacks, as well as realizing that there were gaps in her memories of childhood. As someone also only recently trying to come to grips with PTSD from childhood, I related with Lady Jing so much it hurt. Her anger, confusion, and emotional immaturity felt like desperate coping mechanisms instead of indications of childishness. From this point on, I was so engrossed in the story I had to finish the rest of the book in a single day. I loved the setting, the relationships Lady Jing developed in the course of her growth, and the rich mythological background entwined throughout the story. I was caught by surprise with this heart-wrenching debut fantasy novel, and I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

In theory this sounded like something I'd love, but when I actually opened it, and was greeted with the word ta-tas in the first chapter (probably first page too, but it showed up as the second for me) I knew this would not be the case.

I'd be willing to overlook it, if it didn't keep showing up repeatedly among other, ill-fitting words. That really brought the book's rating down for me.

Then the main character, Lady Jing, she can be almost 100 all she wants, but she doesn't act like it at all. She acts like a kid, worse than, even.

And to be honest, I knew not to expect an adult-adult book from this, but I also wasn't expecting something that feels like middle grade either. If it was more like YA than middle grade, I probably would've liked it more.

I found it hard to get invested in the story and if it wasn't an arc I likely would've dnfed. There's just nothing there that would pull me in, even though I BADLY wanted to find something that would.

The romance was bland, but not the worst thing I've read. I think it could've used more development.

So yeah, I'm disappointed. I would read something else by this author in the future though, because I believe that her next book could be better.

If you liked Daughter of the Moon Goddess there's a chance you'll like this one too, they remind me of each other.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This was ok- very fast paced which is a double edged sword. It reads fast but it doesn't leave much space to explore any character in its complexity. Felt a bit rushed in that sense.
The dialogue did not flow as well as it could have and I felt that the author was trying to make the main character a bit too 'relatable' and sassy and funny.

The world and worldbuilding were the best parts of this book in my opinion and it kept me interested trying to understand it more. Definitely enjoyed this aspect however, overall this was just not my cup of tea. However the idea and world were pretty good so I will be open to reading more from A.Y.Chao in the future!

4* - it was definitely a good read, but not one I wasn't able to put down.

I loved the characters, although Jing's spitting on everyone was a little gross. That was the only thing I didn't really like about her. Throughout the book she constantly felt like people were out to get her and in some cases that was true, but in others it seemed like she was looking for a reason to push people away.

Mr Lee was a mystery. I kept feeling like there was a hidden agenda towards him being in immortal Shanghai and when the reason finally did come out it was a little bit of a let down, I'll have to admit, although showcased the love between siblings and what people will do for their family.

All in all it was a fun read and I really enjoyed seeing Jing's growth throughout the book and overcoming her fears.