Back of Book: 

A story of love and duty set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the Red Scare.

“That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other.” And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: “Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.

America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

Book Number: Stand Alone 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟

A historical, sapphic romance featuring a young Chinese American girl who must learn to manage her feelings for a girl in her math class who has a secret nightlife that she never could have imagined herself.

Lily is a perfect Chinese daughter. She gets good grades, plans to go to a nice college, and makes her family proud with the friendships she maintains. That is, until she meets Kath and unleashes a part of herself that she has always suppressed: she may be a lesbian. But she's not entirely sure. One day, Lily questions her about a cross dresser that she saw in the paper, which leads Kath to bring her to the Telegraph Club. The girls start to lead double lives as they begin to frequent the club and develop friendships with the women who visit it with them.

Honestly, I didn't find myself loving this book. I feel it was a "It's not you, it's me" situation. The idea of this book is really neat. Young Chinese girl finds herself falling in love with her classmate of the same sex in 1950s San Francisco. Much is at stake: Communism is on the rise, her family could be deported, and her traditional Chinese family could disown her for life. I liked learning about Asian American and lesbian culture during this era, but from an entertainment standpoint, I just wasn't all that invested. I didn't love the club life, none of the characters stole my heart, and I didn't exactly care for the flashbacks.

I really don't have much to say about this one, which really disappoints me. Maybe I read this book at the wrong time, but nothing about it particularly stood out to me.

My favorite thing about this one has to be how love always seems to find a way. It is inspiring to see how many women and young girls went against society to be with the people that they loved no matter the cost. I'm a romantic, so I always think things like this are sweet.

Overall, "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" was a fine read, it just didn't do much for me personally. I enjoyed learning more about the 1950s and marginalized groups during this time period. I'm sure that many people love this book, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I'm still interested to see what is up the companion novel, though.

Back of Book: 

Award-winning author Malinda Lo returns to the Bay Area with another masterful coming-of-queer-age story, this time set against the backdrop of the first major Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage. And almost sixty years after the end of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Lo's new novel also offers a glimpse into Lily and Kath's lives since 1955.

Aria Tang West was looking forward to a summer on Martha's Vineyard with her best friends—one last round of sand and sun before college. But after a graduation party goes wrong, Aria's parents exile her to California to stay with her grandmother, artist Joan West. Aria expects boredom, but what she finds is Steph Nichols, her grandmother's gardener. Soon, Aria is second-guessing who she is and what she wants to be, and a summer that once seemed lost becomes unforgettable—for Aria, her family, and the working-class queer community Steph introduces her to. It's the kind of summer that changes a life forever.

Book Number: Stand Alone Companion 

Genre: Young Adult | Historical | Romance | LGBTQIA+ 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟

A sapphic coming-of-age story set in 2013 against the backdrop of gay marriages becoming legal in the United States.

Aria Tang West is forced to stay with her grandmother in California after a graduation party gone wrong that results in nude photos of her popping up on the internet. Aria is furious that her final summer with friends before college starts has been taken away from her, but her anger begins to fade when she meets Steph Nichols, her grandmother's gardener who happens to also be a queer musician. Aria quickly finds herself falling for Steph despite a couple of major catches: Steph already has a girlfriend and Aria is pretty certain that she is straight. Her dreaded summer soon becomes an unforgettable one as she discovers her true self through various means.

I really enjoyed reading the first half of this book. I thought that the situation that got Aria to Califoria was very unique and most definitely gave the reader an initial impression of the type of person that she is. Aria's grandmother, Joan, is a really cool character and I love the fact that she is an artist as well as a photographer. I appreciated the bond that Aria and Joan have, and I feel like this is a major point of the book. Aria pinning on Steph despite the fact that they already had a girlfriend was also chill and unfortunately, very realistic for many people.

However, about halfway through the book, Aria's pinning turned a bit less one sided. The things that Aria and Steph did made me very uncomfortable, considering there was a third party still involved. This vibe was truly a toxic start to their relationship and made my interest for the story take a noise dive downward. If you're fine with reading stories that feature some aspects of cheating and/or cheating adjacent material I'm sure you'd be fine, but that personally is not my cup of tea.

My favorite part of this book focused solely on Aria, Joan, and their relationship with art. I found this side arc to be really neat, and I found joy every time it came up. Joan perspective on time and how she approaches her artwork is cool; I really appreciate her as a character. I didn't love how quick the ending surrounding Joan was approached, but I appreciate the growth it forced Aria to go through. The epilogue really tied everything together though, so I can overlook the speedy end portion a little bit.

Overall, "A Scatter of Light" is a messy, complicated coming-of-age story in which a queer Chinese girl has to cope with the situation she is forced into and come to terms with who she truly is on the inside. There are many aspects of this book I appreciate, but it is overshadowed by the overall toxic nature of a couple of the main relationships in this book. I'm sure that there are many people who would love this story, but honestly, I feel this book has quite a different target audience than "Last Night at the Telegraph Club." They are both queer coming-of-age stories, but everything else about them are starkly different. Not bad, but certainly not for me.