City News

Ever since the Night War and the Demon King emerged victorious, he deemed three castes for his people: Demon, Steel, and Paper. Demons are beastly creatures of enormous physical strength, creatures like himself. Steels are hybrids between demons and papers. Paper, the lowest caste of them all, consisted of humans with skins as thin as paper, easily torn apart by their demon superiors.

To show command over his lesser subjects, each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. Their families are showered with wealth and glory, and it's the highest honor they could hope for.

This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

Lei lives in a remote village with her father, where the chaos in the capital left them untouched since her mother was snatched by royal guards ten years ago. Now, the guards are back, and this time, it's Lei they're after -- the girl with golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the Demon King’s palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance envelopes her into an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

A war might be coming. But we have the wings to fight it.

I rate Girls of Paper and Fire a 9/10. This was one of the first romance novels I’ve read which featured a relationship between two girls. When I read about a forbidden romance budding in the description of the book, I expected Lei to fall in love with a guard, a typical cliche of many royal romance novels. I was surprised when Ngan introduced a female as Lei’s love interest, and it was a completely new experience for me to read about what love feels like between two females and the struggles they have to overcome for their love to exist.

An additional reason I found this book particularly enjoyable was the feature of an Asian protagonist. So rarely do I see Asians represented as the main character of a novel. Ngan also embedded many traditional Chinese cultural aspects into the story such as the layout of the palace and the traditions they have. As an Asian American, the cultural connection allowed me to almost perfectly envision the setting of Lei’s story.

I would recommend this book to any romance readers. Even if you may have qualms about a female-to-female relationship, this book is a worthy exploration and could change your perspective. Ngan described their love so beautifully that my heart couldn’t help but flutter for the two heroines.

Checkout Girls of Paper and Fire from the Newport Beach Public Library.