Rai Reads

📚 Book Spotlight: Otherworldly Onboarding by Janelle Seegmiller

What if your next job interview wasn't for a regular office... but for a company that works with vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings? 👀

After being laid off, Linda receives an unexpected interview invitation that leads her into a hidden world of magical creatures and secret societies. As the newest Executive Administrator at the OPT Agency, she quickly discovers that this is anything but an ordinary workplace.

✨ Cozy Fantasy Mystery
🔄 Plot Twist
🤝 Workplace of your dreams
🪄 Badass boss
🕯️ Secret Supernatural Society

Blending paranormal intrigue, mystery, and a touch of workplace humor, Otherworldly Onboarding offers an imaginative twist on the classic "new job" story. If you enjoy supernatural worlds, quirky office dynamics, and mysteries with unexpected turns, this one may be worth adding to your TBR.

Thank you and for this gifted copy. 💖

Have you read any workplace fantasy or paranormal mysteries lately?

Adding more translated fiction to my shelves 📚🤍

📖 Meet Me At The Convenience Store by the Sea — Sonoko Machida
🍯 Honey In The Wound — Jiyoung Han
📚 The Memory Bookshop — Song Yu-Jeong

💭What are you reading this weekend? Recent 5⭐️ reads?

📚 My Tuttle Picks

is one of my favorite places to find unique Asian reads, whether I’m in the mood for classics, folklore, or something delightfully spooky.

Here are my recent picks from their catalogue:

📖 The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon
A fascinating glimpse into 10th-century Japan through the personal diary of a Heian court lady, full of court gossip, observations, and slice of life.

🐱 The Boy Who Drew Cats
A charming Japanese folktale about a boy obsessed with drawing cats who finds himself in a haunted temple facing something sinister.

👻 In Ghostly Japan
A collection of eerie tales exploring Japanese ghosts, yokai, folklore, and spiritual traditions through Lafcadio Hearn’s classic storytelling.

🕯️ Japanese Urban Legends
124 creepy, bizarre, and fun Japanese urban legends — from spooky hauntings to strange cautionary tales, complete with danger ratings 👀

💭Do you enjoy folklore and spooky reads? Any weekend plans?😊

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: The Wolf and the Crown of Blood by Elizabeth May

This is easily one of my favorite fantasy reads this year.

This is a dark fantasy romance set in a world where gods and mortals are separated by a magical barrier known as The Shroud. To keep that barrier intact and appease the gods, Bryony, as part of the royal family, serves as an "anchor" , ritually sacrificed, bled, and resurrected over and over again.

But when mortals begin praying to Bryony instead of the gods, the god-king sees it as rebellion and sends his deadliest weapon to restore order: the Wolf, an immortal assassin who has spent centuries perfecting the art of killing. Except this time, his target becomes the one person he cannot bring himself to destroy.

THIS BOOK. 😩

The yearning??? The PINING??? Absolutely immaculate. The kind of slow burn that makes you want to scream into a pillow.

And what I loved is that this isn’t one of those slow burns built on poor communication. They know exactly what they feel. That’s the problem. They shouldn’t feel it. They fight it because of what it means, because of history, because of duty, because everything about their connection is wrong and impossible. And that makes it so much better.

I absolutely loved being inside Evander’s head 😭 This man is TORTURED. He’s caught between wanting to kill Bryony but also wanting her in every possible way. And what makes it even better is that his conflict actually feels grounded. It’s not angst for the sake of angst, there are real reasons that make his hatred understandable.

And Bryony?? Oh I LOVED her.

She’s very much a female rage character, and after everything she’s been forced to endure, rightfully so. She hates Evander, yearns for him, dares him, challenges him, and there’s this deliciously unhinged edge to her feelings where she's like if I must die, then let it be by your hand but I’ll make sure I haunt every part of you after.🔥

That dynamic?? Inject it directly into my veins plsss.😩

This was dark, emotional, beautifully written, and so addictive. One of those books where I kept highlighting lines because the yearning was just THAT good.

So happy to be part of this May! Agatha Christie has been one of my all-time favorite authors for years, so joining this campaign feels extra special 🤍

Our May pick is The Labours of Hercules 🕵️‍♂️✨ A short story collection where Poirot takes on twelve mysteries inspired by the legendary Labours of Hercules. Such a fun and clever concept~

I’ve always loved Christie’s mysteries, so I’m excited to finally pick this one up with everyone.

Have you read this, or do you have a favorite Poirot story?

Thank you 💖

So excited to receive an ARC of The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro, and can we talk about this gorgeous cover first?? 💖

The Rainshadow Orphans sounds like the perfect mix of whimsical and dangerous: dragons, Sun Spirits, hackers, found family, and corruption in a mythical city inspired by Japanese folklore and Studio Ghibli. Can't wait to get into this adventure!

Thank you for the ARC!💖

📖What fantasy element gets you instantly? What's your favorite Studio Ghibli movie?

Screaming because I just got these two books in the mail! 😩📚

I’ve been so excited to read American Hagwon because I absolutely loved Pachinko by (still one of my all-time favorites 🥹), so imagine my surprise when I also got sent the latest Deluxe Edition of Pachinko along with it!

Thank you so much for this lovely book mail 💛 I’m absolutely obsessed and can’t wait to dive into American Hagwon!

I almost passed out from excitement~

🗓️Pub Date: September 2026

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Behooved by M. Stevenson

𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚… 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙪𝙨𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙 😂

This is such a charming fantasy romance about an arranged marriage between a duty-bound noblewoman and a prince who would much rather be buried in books than preparing to rule a kingdom.

Things take a wildly chaotic turn on their wedding night when someone tries to assassinate the prince, leaving him under a magical curse that turns him into a horse by day and back into a man at night.

I really enjoyed how this feels like the kind of classic enchanted fantasy romance you’d curl up with for a fun weekend read. The world-building isn’t particularly deep, and there are definitely parts of the plot that aren’t fully explained, but honestly? I didn’t mind much because it was just entertaining.

What I loved most was watching Aric and Bianca slowly learn to trust and be vulnerable with each other. Aric was such a refreshing MMC because he’s not your usual broody warrior who solves everything with brute force. He’s soft, blushes a lot, doesn’t know how to fight, and would absolutely choose a library over ruling a kingdom. But his strength comes from his heart, his intelligence, and the kind of wisdom that actually makes him feel fit to be king.

And Bianca, I loved her too. She’s strong, capable, and far more resilient than she gives herself credit for. I really liked how Aric saw the parts of her she struggled to love in herself and cherished them anyway. They balanced each other so well.

My only real complaint is that I wish it leaned harder into the comedy. The setup is right there. The MMC is literally a horse during the day. There were some jokes about Bianca technically riding her husband, but this could have been even more ridiculous and hilarious than it already was.

But overall? Such a fun standalone if you want a light, whimsical fantasy romance.

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fantasy | romantasy | book review | book recommendations | standalone books

My Kobo Libra Colour arrived yesterday! ✨

I’ve only ever had a basic Kindle as my e-reader, but it’s been frozen for almost two weeks now (literally couldn’t turn it off or restart it 😭), so I took that as my sign to finally get a new one.

So far, I’m honestly really happy with the Kobo Libra Colour 🥹📚