Today’s holiday story celebrates the Lunar New Year, the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar. The Lunar New Year isn’t until February 2021, but it’s still a wintery holiday so I’m including it. And it’s my blog and I do what I want to, to paraphrase Lesley Gore 😀
Click for blurb
The Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar, a time for family reunions, and for saying goodbye to the past and hello to the future. Clint, however, doesn’t want to bid farewell to what happened after last year’s celebration, when he and his Cousin Maggie’s handsome friend, Weaver, shared an unexpected but long-desired passionate encounter. East is East, and West is West, and Weaver seems to want to keep it that way, but maybe Clint can bridge that great divide this coming New Year and show Weaver what it means to be loved and accepted.
Re-reading this book (I read it for the first time back in 2016) made me miss Malaysia. Malaysia has a huge Chinese population, especially in Kuala Lumpur where I lived, and the Lunar New Year is a really big deal there. I loved watching the lion dance, I loved the tossing of the noodles, all the red envelopes, and the atmosphere in general. So in a way, reading this book was like coming home…and not.
Anyway. Enough about me, this is supposed to be book recommendations, not me being maudlin about not really knowing where my home is at the moment 🙂 Red Envelope is a short slice of life in the characters’ lives on the Lunar New Year, with a quick flashback to events previous year. Clint and Weaver are an interracial couple where Clint is Chinese and Weaver is American, and they’re both very likable. All the characters are, but maybe I love Clint’s mother the most, though. Is that wrong of me, considering it’s a romance story? 😀
I learned to cook from my mother, who believed that measurement in cooking what based on experience plus taste buds, not agreed upon standards.
Quote from Red Envelope
Yes, Clint’s mother! I totally agree!!
It’s a cute and humorous story. And if you’re in a holiday mood but have maybe overdosed a bit on Christmas and want something different, this is the perfect book for you.
I swear you’re going to be more Chinese than me. My mother’s going to adopt you and sell me into the foot massage industry.
Quote from Red Envelope
Foot massage industry? That’s weirdly specific 😀
Nell Iris 