Monica Tsai spends most of her time coding on her computer. She hardly goes out and is more comfortable online than socialising with her peers. She spends most of her time with her grandparents who raised her.
Her grandmother Yun doesn’t speak of the past, but now her memories are fading. And with it, Monica’s chances of learning about Yun’s family, her cousin Meng, are slowly slipping away. Monica decides to ask Louise Sun, a young archivist for her help to find Meng. As they uncover Yun and Meng’s past, they learn about the Phoenix Pencil Company and its magic. Yun teaches her granddaughter the secret of their blood in combination with the pencils. Meanwhile Monica and Louise grow closer and Louise, who has learned about the pencils from Meng, gives Monica an alternative to Yun’s method.
This magical realism book was a very good read. I was rooting for the romance between Monica and Louise – in my opinion it took far too long for them to get together.
Read for the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 9: A book with a “type C” character
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️