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Rockstar Book Tours Review: The Legendary Mo Seto by A. Y. Chan

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Rockstar Blog Tours Presents The Legendary Mo Seto by A. Y. Chan

The Legendary Mo Seto
A. Y. Chan
Publisher
Published June 4, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Legendary Mo Seto

A fast-paced, high-kicking debut that’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Stand Up, Yumi Chung as a young taekwondo artist uses an ancient book to help save her dreams—and her father.

Twelve-year-old Modesty “Mo” Seto dreams of being a taekwondo champion. Even though her mom disapproves, Mo can always count on her dad, who is her number one fan and biggest supporter. Lately, Mo has been on a losing streak, and it doesn’t help that she keeps losing to her archnemesis, Dax, who’s much bigger than her. If only she were faster, stronger, not so petite. Mo can’t even lean on her dad like usual with how distracted he’s been lately.

When Mo learns about the chance to audition to star alongside her idol and legendary martial artist and movie star Cody Kwok, she knows this her chance to prove to her dad, to the world, and to herself that she can compete with anyone, no matter her size. Unfortunately, Dax is auditioning, too. As Mo and her nemesis progress to callbacks, someone attempts to sabotage the movie set and Mo’s dad disappears—and both events seem linked to a mysterious book, the Book of Joy.

The book contains information on a secret dance-like martial art developed by Mo’s ancestral grandmother. Armed with these powerful moves and an unexpected ally, Mo embarks on a high-octane adventure to rescue her father, save the movie, and discover an unexpected joy in being small.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Review

Reading this book took me back to watching Jackie Chan movies back in the day. I loved the energy of the scenes showing martial arts sparring or competition. Mo is a great character, too. She has goofy, awkward moments, but she is also incredibly sincere and passionate about everything she does.

I liked the relationship she has with her mom. Really, she struggles to understand both of her parents and believes they don’t see her for who she is or don’t value her for the things about herself that she cherishes. As the story progresses, Mo’s understanding of her parents changes, and she begins to see them in different ways.

Her relationships with others evolve as well. Mo and Nacho cling to their close friendship even as sparks begin to fly between them. There are hints at a possible romance, but their feelings remain on the sidelines as Mo deals with more urgent problems like her missing dad and the audition sabotages.

This story has a lot of pep in its pages, making it a lot of fun to read. I think readers who enjoy books about martial arts, movie auditions, or exploring relationships with family and close friends will find lots of reasons to love this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Mo and her family are Chinese American. There are other characters whose families are from other parts of Asia.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Mo and another character seem attracted to one another.

Spiritual Content
Mo begins to learn moves for a secret form of martial arts. When she executes the moves, she feels happy inside.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some scenes show Mo sparring with opponents. Someone sabotages the movie auditions in increasingly dangerous ways. Two people kidnap others. Mo fights people dressed in black.

Drug Content
None.

About A. Y. Chan

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

A. Y. Chan grew up in Canada’s Greater Toronto Area reading all the middle grade and young adult books she could get her hands on. To this day, those remain her favorite genres. After achieving her black belt in Taekwondo, she explored other martial arts, such as Wing Chun, Hapkido, and Muay Thai. These days, she continues her martial arts training some mornings, writes in the afternoons, takes long walks to muddle out plot points, and falls asleep reading.

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Review: The Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

The Night in Question (The Agathas #2)
Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
Delacorte Press
Published May 30, 2023

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Night in Question

How do you solve a murder? Follow the lessons of the master—Agatha Christie! Iris and Alice find themselves in the middle of another Castle Cove mystery in the sequel to New York Times bestseller The Agathas by powerhouse authors Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.

Alice Ogilvie and Iris Adams became the talk of Castle Cove when they cracked the biggest case of the fall: the death of Brooke Donovan. Together, the Agathas put Brooke’s killer away for good, and since then, things around town have been almost back to normal. Quiet, even.

But if Alice and Iris know anything, it’s that sometimes quiet is just the calm before the storm. The truth is, Brooke’s disappearance wasn’t the first mystery to rock Castle Cove, and it won’t be the last. So when their school dance at the infamous Levy Castle—the site of film starlet Mona Moody’s unsolved death back in the 1940s—is interrupted by a violent assault, Iris and Alice pull out their murder boards and get back to work.

To understand the present, sometimes you need to look into the past. And if the Agathas want a chance at solving their new case, that’s exactly where they’ll need to start digging. Only what they uncover might very well kill them.

My Review

The first book in The Agathas series introduced an unsolved Castle Cove mystery involving a film star named Mona Moody. I love that this second book explores more of what happened to her.

I enjoyed the number of female characters and the scenes connecting them with one another. It felt natural– I didn’t even notice until looking back at the end of the book. But there are a lot of female characters and a lot of scenes showing connections between them. Female characters are also very often the ones making the bold moves at the forefront of the story.

At the beginning of the story, I struggled a little bit with Alice’s negativity. She’s been estranged from her old friend group and feels pretty hostile toward them. She has some pretty unflattering thoughts about them, and after a while, it started to feel pretty mean. At one point, she finds an unconscious girl who’s been severely injured, and instead of caring that she could die without help, she rushes off after a potential suspect. I think the idea was that she’s kind of an impulsive person who can get laser-focused on one thing and sort of ignore everything else. And that makes some sense, but it felt kind of cold to me.

Iris’s empathy and vulnerability balanced out my feelings about Alice, though. And as the story progressed, Alice warmed and experienced some vulnerability of her own. I enjoyed the relationship between them quite a bit.

I’m not a super experienced mystery reader, but I thought the pacing of the mystery here was excellent. I’ve read books where the last few chapters wind up the story in a mad rush that leaves me feeling dizzy. None of that here. The elements came together in ways that raised the intensity without making me feel overwhelmed by the speed at which things unfolded. All in all, I thought it was very nicely done.

Would I continue this series? Absolutely. I really enjoyed this one and how it tied together past and present.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Major characters are white.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used pretty infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
The girls learn, in passing, that a peripheral friend (and high school graduate) works at a strip club to pay for college. At one point, Iris laments that she hasn’t kissed a boy yet.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to domestic violence. The girls find the victim of a violent attack. Iris sees someone in the midst of trying to kill someone else. A person waves a flare gun, threatening to use it to kill someone. Someone hits a girl over the head with a blunt object, causing head trauma. A girl sustains injuries to her face that require stitches. Someone kicks a girl in the stomach repeatedly, breaking one of her ribs.

Drug Content
Alice notices teen boys passing a flask at a school dance. Adults drink alcohol at a social gathering.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE NIGHT IN QUESTION in exchange for my honest review.