What a glorious, glorious urban fantasy. So inventive and so unique. A wonderful read, with beautiful gay couple. Thank you author and please write more. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it uses the fantasy element in a way that worked. I was invested in the mythology perfectly and how everything was used in this universe. The characters were everything that I wanted and expected, I was invested in their story and how it worked in this. It had that crime element that I was wanting. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin wrote this perfectly and was glad I got to read this.

quite interesting. a very mythologically-themed sapphic romance with elements from some of my favorite mythologies. Aunt Tigress was a very interesting focal-ish character, and our protagonist was so fun to watch! the vibes were immaculate in all ways. 4 stars, tysm for the ARC, would recommend this book!

If there is a best new release of 2025 I really hope it is this one because the story is unlike any other, it's peerless. If I had to compare it to another work, I'd say, tangentially, 'Harrow the Ninth' (iykyk) and 'Bestiary' (which also features another tiger auntie). The title is a reference to the Chinese myth of the 虎姑婆 but being set in Canada and peopled by immigrants from all over the world, the narrative incorporates a wide range of myths and religions, from Arabic to indigenous to Scottish.

Tamara Lin comes from a lineage of tigers. Her paternal grandmother was a famed tiger who ruled the mountains of Shandong a thousand years ago. Her father died when she was twelve, and for a short time, she was apprenticed under her aunt who ran a business dealing with the supernatural since there is no one else to teach her about her heritage. It was then when she saw first-hand what a cruel and bloodthirsty monster she was, but Tamara could not fully disavow her aunt until she made Tamara complicit in something unforgivable. One day, her aunt goes missing, putting her through hell and high water on an epic quest for answers.

The perfect book for those who enjoyed "The Bear and The Nightingale" but like their fantasy a tad more modern and urban.

Myth interwoven in the very fabric of reality, ancient bloodlines brimming with magic, the unlikely yet brilliant combination of Chinese and First Nation folklore, college students fighting eldritch beings, and a bittersweet sapphic romance - this book has it all! I especially loved the way the narrative became folktale-esque in the retrospections describing characters' backstories. The whole thing felt like a fairytale and while it might not be for everyone (e.g. the characters weren't super developed and sometimes felt archetypical/cliché, but in a good/justified/fairytale-esque way) but I ABSOLUTELY loved it. I was hooked and immersed in the dream-like yet so very familiar reality, rooting for Tam (even in the not-so-few instances when I was SO mad at her!) right from the beginning. And not only did Aunt Tigress start with an earthquake, the tension was really rising throughout the book! All in all, an extremely entertaining and amazingly atmospheric read!

But, because there's always a but, albeit this one is quite small. The pacing was decent in most of the book, but the ending felt very rushed and the tension and impact greatly suffered from that. Which is a great shame - I just feel like a few more scenes, more space for justifying some characters' arcs would do the book an insane amount of good. BUT since Aunt Tigress is a debut, I hope this is something the author will eventually improve at. I, for one, will certainly be there to witness Emily Yu-Xuan Qin's journey and you should as well!

Thank you to the author and DAW for the eARC provided via Netgalley!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin is a mixed first and third person multi-POV contemporary Sapphic fantasy set in Calgary, Canada. Tam Lin has made herself as small and safe as possible, cutting meat completely out of her diet despite her nature as a descendent of a tiger spirit. When her aunt is murdered and skinned, Tam finds she can’t run from her true self forever and her new love, Janet, might be another piece of the past she can’t escape.

The majority of the book is from Tam’s POV and moves at a slower pace. The third person chapters are mostly memories of several other characters that help fill out the worldbuilding and give depth to their stories, such as Jack, a young First Nations man and Raja, a man married to a demon. The slower pacing helps give space for a darker atmosphere and mysterious tone to slowly build as we learn more about Aunt Tigress and the complexity of the world. Of the third person POV chapters, I really appreciated the ones from Jack’s POV as they go into the tragic truth that Indigenous women often are abducted or murdered and the system finds it easier to just stop looking instead of doing whatever they can to find them, specifically calling out a societal issue in modern Canadian and American societies.

What I found to be really interesting was how First Nations and Chinese traditional beliefs are combined without saying one is superior to the other or mixing them in a way that feels inauthentic. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin very specifically calls out that the First Nation beliefs do not belong to Tam and her family and that they are living on land that they did not historically belong to. There is the use of some First Nations beliefs that, to my understanding, are better left unnamed as they are called to the person who names them. I mostly say this so readers can make informed decisions even if the way I articulate is probably quite clumsy.

Tam and Janet’s relationship is very complex. I wouldn’t call the book a romance despite the second chapter being them meeting because the tone isn’t what I expect of a genre romance and the book doesn’t really change if Tam and Janet broke up or were only ever friends. Janet can’t see the supernatural world but is curious about the world Tam comes from, helping lead Tam back towards who she could have been in different circumstances. Their relationship is further complicated by a secret Janet is harboring from the very beginning and how she is connected to Tam.

Content warning for depictions of sexual assault, abuse and homophobia

I would recommend this to readers of contemporary fantasy looking for something exploring the complexity of traditional stories and immigration and fans of Sapphic fantasy who want something that doesn’t feel like a genre romance

"From debut author Emily Yu-Xuan Qin comes a snarky urban fantasy novel inspired by Chinese and First Nation mythology and bursting with wit, compelling characters, and LGBTQIA+ representation.

Readers of Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, and Ben Aaronovitch will devour this gory story - and the sweet-as-Canadian-maple-syrup sapphic romance at its monstrous heart.

Tam hasn't eaten anyone in years.

She is now Mama's soft-spoken, vegan daughter - everything dangerous about her is cut out.

But when Tam's estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox, and an ensemble of old enemies.

The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she's falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That's just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.

Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can't hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can't help but wonder...

Do monsters even deserve happy endings?

With worldbuilding inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada, LGBTQIA+ representation, and a sapphic romance, Aunt Tigress is at once familiar and breathtakingly innovative."

I can see the reason why this book is getting Ben Aaronovitch comparisons, which I love, but it's also so uniquely itself.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Aunt Tigress is a wonderfully creative, strange, and compelling urban fantasy with fascinating characters, an addictive sapphic romance, and First Nation mythology galore.

Oh my goodness, this one was fantastic. From the start, I loved Tam and her relationship with Janet and the mythological creatures around her. The inclusion of mythology and magical creatures was incredibly well-written, especially the way Emily seamlessly wove them into a real-world setting. This story was darkly magical, mysterious, and haunting, and I could not have enjoyed the adventure Janet and Tam embarked on more. I loved their sweet romance and how it was threaded through and propelled by the story. The characters were interesting, and I adored the incorporation of many of the characters’ memories and stories. Aunt Tigress is a story filled with culture and stories that reminded me of the joy of reading storybooks and mythology. Emily’s prose presented the story and Tam’s character beautifully, and I enjoyed the pacing. The settings were entertaining, and the witty characters and inventive plot perfectly complemented the strange, wonderfully monstrous story.

Thank you to the publisher for the free ARC!

OH MY GOSH. This was so much fun!! The writing was beautiful and captivating and it sucked me in almost immediately. I swear only a few pages in. I am a big fan of Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, and this gave me threads and snippets of it. Like the world-building, the magic system, was all very exciting to learn about and see develop in the pages. The characters were the best too. I found myself so enamoured with each of them and loved the story/myth parts that were sprinkled in the chapters. So good. I have no bad thoughts. Also, the final lil twist at the end was brilliantly done. All the stars for this one.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for supplying me with an arc in exchange for my thoughts.

When Tam was young, Aunt Tigress cured her of illness—an act which, against her mother’s wishes, brought Tam into a world of magic and folklore. From then on, Tam’s life was marked by her run-ins with mythical creatures. As much as she tries to put it all (including some tragic and affecting incidents in her youth) behind her so that she can focus on college and taking care of her mom and the hot girl Janet she’s been seeing, the mark that her no-good child-stealing witch-aunt Tigress left on her life is unmistakable. When Aunt Tigress is killed, Tam is forcefully pulled into danger and into a world she’s been told to resist. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin’s novel feels full and tactile—its characters are messy, harsh, and human, its world bloody and rich with sensory detail. And look, you don’t just name your characters Tam Lin and Janet with no thought behind it, okay? We’re going deep in on folklore here. This is the author’s debut, and I cannot wait to see what they do next.

This book was weird. So weird that at a few places, I had to put it down for a bit to process. But it was so interesting I kept picking it right back up again! The combination of bits of Chinese and Canadian First Nations folklore was refreshing. The main character annoyed me enough at times that I wanted to shake her, but still I kept coming back to this book to see what happened next. I'd love to read something else set in the same universe.

Aunt Tigress is a fantastic, sly, clever, original, wonderful, heart-breaking book. Emily Yu-Xuan Qin brings together Chinese and First Nations beliefs and myths--as well as the Tam Lin story--to create something that is unique and memorable. Tam is a tiger, but she's forsaken her tiger part, trying to just be a good human. But she isn't, and she can't be, and when her Aunt Tigress dies and leaves behind Tam's undead familiar and a lot of enemies, Tam has to reckon with her true nature and how it affects her family, lover, and those around her. The journey is stellar and engrossing, and the denouement is something to revel in and roll around in like a cat in catnip. I love the mixing of myths as well as the superb queer representation and acknowledgements about being Other, and being more than one Other at the same time.

Based on the description and cover of this book I knew I would love this book. Our protagonist, Tam, is messy, queer, and full of heart, all while thinking she doesn’t deserve love.

“You make me feel that falling in love will save the world.”

I very much enjoyed the storytelling method employed by Qin that wove together the past and the present in such a satisfying way that showed how all of the characters were more connected than they realized. Janet, Tam’s girlfriend, has a pretty tragic connection to Tam and her Aunt Tigress. I caught the early hint at it but it still had a great emotional impact.

I enjoyed how much Janet and Tam grow individually and how that helps them grow together throughout the book.

“You don’t have to see, and you don’t need to change,” I tell her. I lower my voice. “You’re perfect.”

While the story follows Tam, a Chinese-Canadian, we do get lots of Chinese mythology, but this story also pulls from many myths including Scottish, indigenous, and Arabic.

“I think to myself, that Tigers are not easy to love.”

The writing style in this is unique and may not work for everyone, but if it works for you, you’re going to absolutely love this story and may find your new favorite read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @dawbooks for the #gifted ARC and finished copy! All thoughts are my own.