Brittanica Bold's Reviews > Bitter Medicine

Have you ever felt like you came across a book at exactly the right time in your life? Like the stars aligned and you were meant to read something given your current frame of mind? Well, this week I read Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai and I fell absolutely in love! Seriously, this author now has my undying loyalty for all future releases at this point.

So, what’s so great about it? Let’s find out!

What I liked about the book:
1. That cover is gorgeous! I love the deep, luscious blue color accented with the cream-colored lettering. I love the juxtaposition of the sweet embrace against the chaos of a busy city background. And I especially love how this couple already has me seeing their HEA with just the cover! Add to all of this the deep backwards v-neckline, the couple of tchotchkes, and the promise of heartache, and you have yourself a winning cover in my opinion!

2. I loved that the author dedicated this book, her debut novel, to herself! The dedication simply reads:

“To me, because I could.”

Yes, girl! Damn right you can, and you SHOULD! Love it!

3. I absolutely adored the writing style. It was lite, it was cheeky, and yet it had tension bubbling beneath the surface I couldn’t wait to dive into.

Mia Tsai did a great job weaving in background information without making it stunt the flow of the writing. She also did a fantastic job of creating the romantic tension that comes from two people totally into each other, probably knowing the other is into them, and yet not acting on it. The whole will-they-won’t-they was so masterfully done from the very first couple of pages that it hooked me until they finally did.

4. I loved the amount of worldbuilding and magic present in this story. It definitely had an old-school mythological feel to it, given all the background, the gifts individuals had, and the talk of Gods. It also gave me the same feels I typically have when reading mythology that is new to me, in that I trusted the author implicitly to get me to the end of the journey knowing she would answer my questions in due time. I can easily say, I do not have this kind of patience for any other genre.

5. These characters were easy to love!

Elle was a humble, peacekeeper type who was just plain adorable! Not to mention, she was the least selfish individual I have read in a while. She sacrificed her life every day just to make sure her family stayed alive, even though they were basically all trying to kill each other. Downgrading her job, downplaying her skills, allowing herself no romantic or even friendly relationships (outside of her best friend which is still strained), and committing herself to a life of drabness, she was perfectly content as long as she was loyal to her family.

Enter Luc…Luc was a trained killer, known for having no personality (aka never letting anyone in), yet he let that baby shine with Elle! He invoked the badass with a heart of gold persona so freaking well! Loved him and loved him for Elle! When he was around, she reminded me of all the feelings you have as a young person falling in love: the giddiness, the stupid jokes, the blushing…awwwwwwww I definitely got the heart flutters reading this one!

Furthermore, I loved watching their characters unfold for the reader as they did for the other MC. It was fun getting to discover more about Elle and Luc as they discovered things about each other.

Ok, let’s talk about Tony. What a ham! Dude was totally in love with himself in the most humorous way possible, and even gifted Elle a “housewarming” gift of a picture of himself! As much as he loved himself, the reader could see just how much he loved his little sister and was loyal to her like no other. Check out this snip from his conversation with Luc:

"If you’re serious about her, you need to show it. No half-assing. She deserves the best, and if you aren’t willing to do that, you can kindly fuck off. She’ll get over you eventually."

6. The amount of representation in this story was insane! Tony was gay, Luc was bi-sexual, Pei’s (a co-worker of Luc’s) preferred pronouns were they/them and I eagle-eyed their sections to make sure there were no slips into she/her. We also were gifted with an interracial relationship between Elle who was Chinese and Luc who was White, Elle’s best friend was a lesbian and Black, and there were several call outs to racist bosses/clients/etc. showing that this representation was no accident; this was clearly planned to show representation for so many groups. I absolutely loved the thought that went into this; It didn’t feel like the author was just trying to check the diversity factor box.

7. I loved how there were so many people in this book that there is definitely room for more stories. Spinoff potential is a huge plus in my book, and this one definitely had it!

8. So many fantastic lines and scenes!

Just because it’s the truth doesn’t mean she has to be reasonable.

– Oh Gods, that hits close to home

He’s going to seduce her with caretaking. Of all the paths he could take, like accidentally getting too close and oops! kissing her, or doing that stretch that shows stomach between shirt and waistband, he’s chosen mother henning. This is how Elle knows she’s gotten old.

– I mean, same girl. Same.

Luc: Is an hour enough time to prepare?

Elle: Yeah, I just need to get dressed and put my hair up.

Luc: I think you look nicer with it down.

Elle: Um. Thank you. I’d return the compliment, but your hair isn’t long enough to put up.

Luc: Would you believe that it was, once upon a time?

Elle: No way!

Luc: Long hair isn’t practical for what I do. But yes, when I was much younger, I had hair to my shoulders.

Elle: *giggles* I bet you were so pretty.

Luc: Perhaps, but you’ll always have me beat in that department.

Elle: *mouth drops open*

– This whole scene is just beautiful, but 1. him with long hair? That’s incredibly hot! I definitely like guys that can rock the long hair look. 2. This compliment had me reacting the same but with a blush as well!

There’s no question he wants answered more than how she likes her pleasure, no directive more pressing than how good he can make her feel…”Tell me how to touch you,” he whispers into her ear.

– WHY IS THAT SO HOT?!?!?!

“Lovely,” Luc murmurs between her gasps, holding her hips, grinding her down until the base of him stretches her to the brink.

Elle doesn’t want to be lovely. She wants to be fucking destroyed. She wants to be destroyed with him and by him…

– YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

What could have been better:
1. Ok, one of the only things I didn’t like about this book was how loooooong most of the chapters were. When I see a chapter is going to take me over 15 minutes to read, I die a little on the inside and reconsider my life choices that lead me to a book. I don’t have an attention-span problem, but I DO have a commitment phobia. I can sit and read 3 to 5 minutes chapters like candy for hours on end, but as soon as I see a 20-minute chapter I’m like “Wait, what? That’s, like, 1/3 of an hour, or 1/5 of a typical film length. But I have shit to do!” when I very well know that shit will not be done regardless.

With that said, I did finish the book in one day, but only because it was so good. If this book had lacked in ANY areas I typically rate a book on, it would have been hard to keep reading with chapter lengths involving that type of commitment.

2. The only other thing I think could have been better revolved around the villains.

I wish more time was spent on William, Elle’s younger brother. I feel for how villainous he was, we really didn’t get a lot of present-day insight into him. On one hand, I totally understood his motives and why he was doing what he was doing; on the other hand, I obviously didn’t want him to win given what that would mean. But his “ending” did leave some mixed feelings for me. What will the future hold? What was Lily’s backstory? Will there be a second book to clear this up???

Overall, I think there was a missed opportunity for developing a robust character in William, probably because the story was stretched between two villains.

Speaking of which, unless there is a second book in the works for these characters, I feel we missed out on how that ending impacted Oberon, Luc’s boss. Throughout the entire thing I had a really bad feeling that Luc was related to or somehow affiliated with Oberon in a way that he wasn’t aware of, but we never find out where Oberon ends up after Luc’s last stunt. Again, I’m really, really hoping there will be another book that follows these characters, but with perhaps a different set of main characters, in which this can be resolved.

Final Thoughts:
I’m going to be honest: this one caught me by surprise. I expected to like this book, but I couldn’t help but love it. Check it out as soon as you can!

Final Rating: 4.5 stars

Huge thank you to Edelweiss, Tachyon Publications, and Mia Tsai for the free copy of this book. My above review is honest and voluntary.