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Until Morning
Lexi Lee thinks she’s found her soulmate. The problem is, she has never met Night, the elusive street artist who leaves his paintings in the nooks and crannies of the city. Still, that doesn’t stop her from penning letters to him and dreaming about living in his paintings.
After a car accident lands her in a coma, she finds herself wandering through Night’s paintings and her childhood memories. Her only companion in dreamland is a boy who doesn’t understand why he is trapped there with her and wants to leave.
Christopher Fang is trying to make sense of the recent dreams he has been having, dreams in which he meets the irreverent, free-spirited Lexi, a girl unlike anyone else he has met in his world of mercenary businessmen. Soon, he finds himself seeking escape from his life in those dreams. But when he finds out that his father’s latest property development project involves taking over the inn that Lexi’s father owns, Chris must choose between his loyalties to his father and helping Lexi return to the life she left behind.
But as Lexi and Chris grow closer, the truth about Lexi’s accident comes to light, threatening to tear them apart and making them question the people they believe in, their love for each other, and what it is they are really awake for.
After a car accident lands her in a coma, she finds herself wandering through Night’s paintings and her childhood memories. Her only companion in dreamland is a boy who doesn’t understand why he is trapped there with her and wants to leave.
Christopher Fang is trying to make sense of the recent dreams he has been having, dreams in which he meets the irreverent, free-spirited Lexi, a girl unlike anyone else he has met in his world of mercenary businessmen. Soon, he finds himself seeking escape from his life in those dreams. But when he finds out that his father’s latest property development project involves taking over the inn that Lexi’s father owns, Chris must choose between his loyalties to his father and helping Lexi return to the life she left behind.
But as Lexi and Chris grow closer, the truth about Lexi’s accident comes to light, threatening to tear them apart and making them question the people they believe in, their love for each other, and what it is they are really awake for.
- GenresAsian LiteratureRomance
250 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published September 12, 2023
3 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Chua
6 books80 followersJoyce lives in the perennially sunny island-city of Singapore, where she graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in English.
She is the author of the YA contemporary LAMBS FOR DINNER (Straits Times Press, 2013), Asian historical fantasy series LAND OF SAND AND SONG and KINGDOM OF BLOOD AND GOLD (Penguin Random House SEA, 2021), and YA contemporary romance UNTIL MORNING (Penguin Random House SEA, 2023).
Her short stories can be found at museinpocketpeninhand.wordpress.com and she can be found primarily on Instagram and TikTok as @joycechuawrites.
She is the author of the YA contemporary LAMBS FOR DINNER (Straits Times Press, 2013), Asian historical fantasy series LAND OF SAND AND SONG and KINGDOM OF BLOOD AND GOLD (Penguin Random House SEA, 2021), and YA contemporary romance UNTIL MORNING (Penguin Random House SEA, 2023).
Her short stories can be found at museinpocketpeninhand.wordpress.com and she can be found primarily on Instagram and TikTok as @joycechuawrites.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2023
Read this if you enjoy:
- YA Contemporary Romance x Urban Fantasy
- Art and painting
- Emotional/Emotive writing
- Rich Guy x Girl Dynamic
- ✨Feeling✨
- Discussion on mental health and well-being
- Singaporean Literature (singlit)
📚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔: Reading this made me angry.
Angry at how underrated Joyce Chua is. Angry at how this book still hasn’t received the hype it should be receiving!
This is just my personal opinion but I think YA contemporary romance mixed with a tinge of fantastical elements may be the way to go to reinvigorate the YA romance genre! Perhaps I have been blessed by the reading gods, but I have been blessed with some AMAZING YA romance reads recently and Until Morning is definitely one of them!
Lexi and Chris are from two different worlds yet they both connect through art. While I am not the biggest art fanatic, I know how the arts (music, dance etc) have this amazing ability to heal and to bring people from all walks of life together. With such a unique premise, Joyce explored several themes in Until Morning such as urban heritage conversation, mental health, caring for loved ones suffering from trauma/mental health issues, and parent-child dynamics amongst others. Moreover, Lexi and Chris were portrayed with such nuance that made them both so endearing although there were times I wanted to *strangle* Chris but couldn’t bear myself to because deep-down I empathised with his circumstances. Joyce also did such a brilliant job at creating a seriously unlikeable and detestable antagonist that I cannot count the number of times I jotted down “WTF” and swore in my annotations 😂
Overall, I enjoyed the pacing and appreciated the character developments of the main characters. As with her other works, Joyce masterfully executed breath-taking yet believable scene-scapes of a romance x urban fantasy complimented with relatable dialogues, inner monologues, and emotions. I especially liked the use of “letters” in between chapters that allowed Joyce to flush out Lexi’s character and personality, and also using them as a cute romantic plot device!
However, I felt that not supplementing the beautiful prose and descriptions of Night’s paintings with actual renditions of these paintings was a missed opportunity. I often found myself wondering how these paintings would look like. Yet, I think this provides opportunities for readers to rely more on their imagination to bring these paintings to life!
Today’s song choice is inspired by Taylor Swift’s Out of the Woods - a song that I think really encapsulates the book’s vibes and Lexi&Chris’s relationship perfectly 💕💕
And if after all of what I’ve said hasn’t convinced you of how good this book is, just take Ann Liang’s word for it 🤭🤭
Until Morning comes out in EXACTLY A WEEK, on 12th September! Pre-Order your copy now and you’ll be able to receive some real amazing swag-items. WAIT NO MOREEEE
- YA Contemporary Romance x Urban Fantasy
- Art and painting
- Emotional/Emotive writing
- Rich Guy x Girl Dynamic
- ✨Feeling✨
- Discussion on mental health and well-being
- Singaporean Literature (singlit)
📚 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔: Reading this made me angry.
Angry at how underrated Joyce Chua is. Angry at how this book still hasn’t received the hype it should be receiving!
This is just my personal opinion but I think YA contemporary romance mixed with a tinge of fantastical elements may be the way to go to reinvigorate the YA romance genre! Perhaps I have been blessed by the reading gods, but I have been blessed with some AMAZING YA romance reads recently and Until Morning is definitely one of them!
Lexi and Chris are from two different worlds yet they both connect through art. While I am not the biggest art fanatic, I know how the arts (music, dance etc) have this amazing ability to heal and to bring people from all walks of life together. With such a unique premise, Joyce explored several themes in Until Morning such as urban heritage conversation, mental health, caring for loved ones suffering from trauma/mental health issues, and parent-child dynamics amongst others. Moreover, Lexi and Chris were portrayed with such nuance that made them both so endearing although there were times I wanted to *strangle* Chris but couldn’t bear myself to because deep-down I empathised with his circumstances. Joyce also did such a brilliant job at creating a seriously unlikeable and detestable antagonist that I cannot count the number of times I jotted down “WTF” and swore in my annotations 😂
Overall, I enjoyed the pacing and appreciated the character developments of the main characters. As with her other works, Joyce masterfully executed breath-taking yet believable scene-scapes of a romance x urban fantasy complimented with relatable dialogues, inner monologues, and emotions. I especially liked the use of “letters” in between chapters that allowed Joyce to flush out Lexi’s character and personality, and also using them as a cute romantic plot device!
However, I felt that not supplementing the beautiful prose and descriptions of Night’s paintings with actual renditions of these paintings was a missed opportunity. I often found myself wondering how these paintings would look like. Yet, I think this provides opportunities for readers to rely more on their imagination to bring these paintings to life!
Today’s song choice is inspired by Taylor Swift’s Out of the Woods - a song that I think really encapsulates the book’s vibes and Lexi&Chris’s relationship perfectly 💕💕
And if after all of what I’ve said hasn’t convinced you of how good this book is, just take Ann Liang’s word for it 🤭🤭
Until Morning comes out in EXACTLY A WEEK, on 12th September! Pre-Order your copy now and you’ll be able to receive some real amazing swag-items. WAIT NO MOREEEE
September 25, 2023
entering the ya genre after a literal decade (showing my age here) gives me mixed feelings—on one hand, it makes me awfully nostalgic for simpler times. on the other, it makes me feel old, regretful of the fact that i’ve practically severed all ties to my childhood.
that said, until morning is a special one to me—one i enjoyed for its plot, but mostly for the kind of emotions it evoked. chua’s writing is wonderfully heartfelt, with a keen eye for the depth of the human condition. this book may be ya in genre, but it’s definitely very mature in the way its characters deal with their issues. it’s something a little more personal to me, and not necessarily connected directly to the text—i suppose there’s some bias here as i wrote a story revolving around the premise (meeting someone repeatedly in your dreams) when i was ten.
the book captures that ya-specific emotion of feeling like things are bigger than they actually are. there’s this undercurrent of the burden of duty (to family, mostly) that weaves the plot together, and it added this sense of complexity that made me admire the book even more. it’s a quick, engaging read guaranteed to tug at your heart.
that said, until morning is a special one to me—one i enjoyed for its plot, but mostly for the kind of emotions it evoked. chua’s writing is wonderfully heartfelt, with a keen eye for the depth of the human condition. this book may be ya in genre, but it’s definitely very mature in the way its characters deal with their issues. it’s something a little more personal to me, and not necessarily connected directly to the text—i suppose there’s some bias here as i wrote a story revolving around the premise (meeting someone repeatedly in your dreams) when i was ten.
the book captures that ya-specific emotion of feeling like things are bigger than they actually are. there’s this undercurrent of the burden of duty (to family, mostly) that weaves the plot together, and it added this sense of complexity that made me admire the book even more. it’s a quick, engaging read guaranteed to tug at your heart.
December 12, 2023
Simply bewitching. I don’t know what else I can say about Joyce’s writing prowess except that I simply adore how magical it is. With Until Morning, Joyce transports you into a spellbinding world once again, and brings you on an enrapturing emotional journey with our leads that will capture your heart and soul.
December 24, 2023
In the lyrical UNTIL MORNING, two young people, Lexi and Chris, meet in a dream, which is connected to the moody paintings left hidden around the city by a mysterious artist who goes by “Night.” Magical realism, yes, but it also touches upon real world issues such as mental illness. I really enjoyed this.
September 11, 2023
"Until Morning" is Joyce Chua's first foray into romance, and it's also my first read from the author. Set against the backdrop of modern Singapore, the story follows Lexi, a young girl who writes letters to an unknown street artist to find solace as she finds the artist's art scattered across the places she frequents. Along the way, she also befriends Chris, a young man who happens to stumble across Lexi within a dream that they both thought were mere figments of their imagination — until they realize that they both exist in the real world and have somehow managed to meet in their dreams despite not knowing one another.
This is a tale that is best experienced blind as the whimsical storyline sucks you in and the puzzle starts to come together piece by piece. There’s a strong local element in the story which I appreciate, as it paints a picture of a well-knit community that can often be found where neighborhood shoplots-cum-homes bring people together. It's also a sad reminder of how this way of life is fading away fast as more developers seek to buy out these shoplots in order to make way for more densely populated apartments or malls. We see this playing out in Singapore and Malaysia as 'civilization' creeps into older neighborhoods to supplant them with shinier and taller buildings, all in the name of progress.
At its heart, this is first and foremost a romance story, and it's one that straddles the line between YA/NA in terms of writing. Lexi and Chris's character development is well done (loved all of the descriptions of the art!), and the resolution to all the conflicts between the characters gives readers a much-needed closure. Fans of clean romance will be glad to know that this novel suits our Asian sensibilities 😉 Give this one a try if you're looking for a light and whimsical YA romance with a Southeast Asian slant!
With thanks to the author & publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is a tale that is best experienced blind as the whimsical storyline sucks you in and the puzzle starts to come together piece by piece. There’s a strong local element in the story which I appreciate, as it paints a picture of a well-knit community that can often be found where neighborhood shoplots-cum-homes bring people together. It's also a sad reminder of how this way of life is fading away fast as more developers seek to buy out these shoplots in order to make way for more densely populated apartments or malls. We see this playing out in Singapore and Malaysia as 'civilization' creeps into older neighborhoods to supplant them with shinier and taller buildings, all in the name of progress.
At its heart, this is first and foremost a romance story, and it's one that straddles the line between YA/NA in terms of writing. Lexi and Chris's character development is well done (loved all of the descriptions of the art!), and the resolution to all the conflicts between the characters gives readers a much-needed closure. Fans of clean romance will be glad to know that this novel suits our Asian sensibilities 😉 Give this one a try if you're looking for a light and whimsical YA romance with a Southeast Asian slant!
With thanks to the author & publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 14, 2023
"It's not about avoiding the difficult moments; it's about finding joy in spite of them. We can't expect to be happy all the time, and I'm not going to fear living just because there will be times when happiness is in short supply." - Until Morning by Joyce Chua
Dreamy, whimsical and almost ethereal in every page, Until Morning is an erudite story of star-crossed solace who connect through their dreams, and art.
Lexi Lee has met the boy of her dreams - literally - against the backdrop of the paintings of the illusive and mysterious Night. In her dreams, she is in the world of Night's paintings as she meets and falls for Chris Young, a young man who carries the weight of her father's expectations.
Unbeknownst to their dream selves, their presence in each other's lives in the real world is in the midst of conflicts and complications, which begs the question - should these star-crossed lovers remain in the real world or return to reality.
Until Morning is a light, breezy read with a dash of magic and whimsy that makes it enjoyable and dreamy. Reading it feels as seamless and cosy as being in one of Night's paintings. While it may be a story of forbidden love due to social status, it is also a story of two struggling souls who yearn to be true to themselves, to stand up for what they believe in, and to finally find peace and solace with each other.
Lexi and Chris' love story is wholesome, heartwarming and pure. It is filled with nuances of selflessness, of thinking and constantly considering the other person, and of being true to one's self before opening up to another. It is a gorgeously romantic story that is ideal for a cosy, picturesque Night in.
Dreamy, whimsical and almost ethereal in every page, Until Morning is an erudite story of star-crossed solace who connect through their dreams, and art.
Lexi Lee has met the boy of her dreams - literally - against the backdrop of the paintings of the illusive and mysterious Night. In her dreams, she is in the world of Night's paintings as she meets and falls for Chris Young, a young man who carries the weight of her father's expectations.
Unbeknownst to their dream selves, their presence in each other's lives in the real world is in the midst of conflicts and complications, which begs the question - should these star-crossed lovers remain in the real world or return to reality.
Until Morning is a light, breezy read with a dash of magic and whimsy that makes it enjoyable and dreamy. Reading it feels as seamless and cosy as being in one of Night's paintings. While it may be a story of forbidden love due to social status, it is also a story of two struggling souls who yearn to be true to themselves, to stand up for what they believe in, and to finally find peace and solace with each other.
Lexi and Chris' love story is wholesome, heartwarming and pure. It is filled with nuances of selflessness, of thinking and constantly considering the other person, and of being true to one's self before opening up to another. It is a gorgeously romantic story that is ideal for a cosy, picturesque Night in.
September 27, 2023
This book deserves more hype. Yes I finished it in two days.
September 7, 2023
📖 ARC REVIEW 📖
Thank you @penguinbookssea for an early copy of Until Morning by @joycechuawrites. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: September 12th, 2023
Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑
As someone who enjoys reading about the technicalities of fantasy novels and appreciates as much detail as the author could give as possible in a novel, I surprisingly enjoyed Until Morning’s mystery surrounding Lexi and Chris’ meeting in their dreams as well as Chua’s beautiful descriptions of Night’s paintings that leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader. For some reason, they can connect and see each other in their dreams through Chris’ (aka Night) paintings, which elicits a lot of emotions for Lexi, as much as they have become an escape for Chris when he painted them. Given that, I appreciated how this novel handles the importance of mental health with both Lexi’s and Chris’ mothers’ conditions as well as their own.
I also can’t help but empathize with Lexi and Chris when at some point in the story they didn’t want to wake up from their comas and just stay in their dreams to escape the painful and difficult realities of their lives but ironically, they were each other’s motivation and strength to wake up and face reality. I don’t know about you, but I feel like this makes their romance so much more painfully beautiful and heartwarming, along with this line - “…I want to see how this story plays out” that Chris tells Lexi before he wakes up. I relate to them wanting to escape in a way, especially with Chris who needed to grow up drastically fast to help his family and their business.
With its relatable characters, beautifully described art, and love letters, Until Morning is a short and devastatingly beautiful fantasy romance novel you’ll surely enjoy.
Thank you @penguinbookssea for an early copy of Until Morning by @joycechuawrites. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: September 12th, 2023
Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑
As someone who enjoys reading about the technicalities of fantasy novels and appreciates as much detail as the author could give as possible in a novel, I surprisingly enjoyed Until Morning’s mystery surrounding Lexi and Chris’ meeting in their dreams as well as Chua’s beautiful descriptions of Night’s paintings that leaves a lot to the imagination of the reader. For some reason, they can connect and see each other in their dreams through Chris’ (aka Night) paintings, which elicits a lot of emotions for Lexi, as much as they have become an escape for Chris when he painted them. Given that, I appreciated how this novel handles the importance of mental health with both Lexi’s and Chris’ mothers’ conditions as well as their own.
I also can’t help but empathize with Lexi and Chris when at some point in the story they didn’t want to wake up from their comas and just stay in their dreams to escape the painful and difficult realities of their lives but ironically, they were each other’s motivation and strength to wake up and face reality. I don’t know about you, but I feel like this makes their romance so much more painfully beautiful and heartwarming, along with this line - “…I want to see how this story plays out” that Chris tells Lexi before he wakes up. I relate to them wanting to escape in a way, especially with Chris who needed to grow up drastically fast to help his family and their business.
With its relatable characters, beautifully described art, and love letters, Until Morning is a short and devastatingly beautiful fantasy romance novel you’ll surely enjoy.
October 20, 2023
“….𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆”
Read this if you like :
🌃 Grumpy x sunshine
🌃 Hidden identity
🌃 Unique meet-cute
🌃 Mental health rep
This is probably the most unusual meet-cute story between both MCs that I have ever read. It was so unexpected as I didn’t read the blurb and it was so dreamy!
The story follows Lexi who meet Chris through her dream. Lexi always wanted to live in Night’s paintings and she write letters to him. Their first meet confuse them as they never meet in real life before and Chris decided to find out the real reason. Chris is the only child to an urban development tycoon, Gerald Fang, and he often escape through his paintings. He then finds out that his father’s latest property development project involves the inn owned by Lexi’s father.
Joyce always surprises me in a good way. I like the idea of the meeting, something I have never read before. It’s dreamy, melancholy and I feel like living in Lexi’s place. The urge to escape reality and live in someone’s painting, especially her favorite artist. I have no idea who Night is at first place, I was a bit surprise but slowly try to solve the puzzle and the reason behind their meeting. Then all the connection revealed one by one until the end. I hate that Chris take his time to stand for himself and his mother, that he always follow whatever his father ask him to do and even keep the secret without telling Lexi and her family. I hate his father even more for using his power and he neglect his wife who needed him more.
It was really an enjoyable and unique read. I just hope we’ll get extended epilogue as I need more of their happy ending.
4 / 5 ⭐️
Read this if you like :
🌃 Grumpy x sunshine
🌃 Hidden identity
🌃 Unique meet-cute
🌃 Mental health rep
This is probably the most unusual meet-cute story between both MCs that I have ever read. It was so unexpected as I didn’t read the blurb and it was so dreamy!
The story follows Lexi who meet Chris through her dream. Lexi always wanted to live in Night’s paintings and she write letters to him. Their first meet confuse them as they never meet in real life before and Chris decided to find out the real reason. Chris is the only child to an urban development tycoon, Gerald Fang, and he often escape through his paintings. He then finds out that his father’s latest property development project involves the inn owned by Lexi’s father.
Joyce always surprises me in a good way. I like the idea of the meeting, something I have never read before. It’s dreamy, melancholy and I feel like living in Lexi’s place. The urge to escape reality and live in someone’s painting, especially her favorite artist. I have no idea who Night is at first place, I was a bit surprise but slowly try to solve the puzzle and the reason behind their meeting. Then all the connection revealed one by one until the end. I hate that Chris take his time to stand for himself and his mother, that he always follow whatever his father ask him to do and even keep the secret without telling Lexi and her family. I hate his father even more for using his power and he neglect his wife who needed him more.
It was really an enjoyable and unique read. I just hope we’ll get extended epilogue as I need more of their happy ending.
4 / 5 ⭐️
September 29, 2023
"Until Morning" is a captivating novel that effortlessly blends the boundaries between dreams and reality.
Lexi is a dreamer, both in her fascination with the elusive street artist "Night"and her vividly penned letters to him. Her world takes a dramatic turn after a car accident sends her into a coma, where she becomes an involuntary wanderer through Night's enigmatic paintings and her own memories.
The narrative gracefully weaves between Lexi's dreamland and Christopher's reality, creating a mesmerizing juxtaposition of two vastly different worlds.
Lexi is free-spirited and Chris is more reserved and pragmatic in nature. Both have their struggles and traumas.
What happens when these contrasting personalities come together in the real world?
Well read the book find out.
The Author has unveiled a lot of human emotions that are usually hidden due to Societal constraints.
The most important aspect to me was "Childhood Trauma".
The author has done a commendable job in narrating such a sensitive topic.
Key elements to pay attention to here are Self-discovery,Remorse,Denial, Repressed memories, childhood trauma and Hope.
The situations and personalities struck me as being really relatable. We frequently run into circumstances where the past has moved on but we are unable to.
It is intriguing and heart-wrenching at the same time.
With a good mix of all the above this was an interesting read.
Thank you For the ARC Penguin SEA.
December 31, 2023
"I feel like the older we get, the more complicated our wishes become. We don't only want more, but we also want more impossible things. Or, maybe, we just begin to realize how hard it is to have even the simplest things."
"Funny how wishes seem so similar when I look at them now. They all point towards one thing: escape."
"Funny how wishes seem so similar when I look at them now. They all point towards one thing: escape."
August 3, 2023
This is a story I never thought would see the light of day. I was a starry-eyed 23-year-old when I first wrote this book in 2013, but after years of querying to no avail, I thought there was no space in the market for my little whimsical book. It was only when I finally pivoted into writing fantasy that I got signed by Penguin Random House SEA, after a decade of querying.
So when the acquisitions editor asked me if I had any other projects under my belt – particularly romance – I pitched this one tentatively, wondering if it would once again get rejected. Not only was it not rejected, but it also received a lot of love from the Penguin team, and I realised that, truly, all rejection is redirection.
So to all the dreamers out there, this one is for you. I hope you find a piece of yourself in this story, where anything is possible, and never stop dreaming.
So when the acquisitions editor asked me if I had any other projects under my belt – particularly romance – I pitched this one tentatively, wondering if it would once again get rejected. Not only was it not rejected, but it also received a lot of love from the Penguin team, and I realised that, truly, all rejection is redirection.
So to all the dreamers out there, this one is for you. I hope you find a piece of yourself in this story, where anything is possible, and never stop dreaming.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews