The Wicked and the Willing

by Lianyu Tan

When the monster gets the girl, everyone will bleed.

2023 Lambda Literary Award Winner, LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction
2023 Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Paranormal/Occult/Horror

Singapore, 1927.

Verity Edevane needs blood.

And not just anyone's blood. She craves the sweet, salty rush from a young woman's veins, the heady swirl of desire mixed with fealty—such a rarity in this foreign colony. It’s a lot to ask. But doesn't she deserve the best?

Gean Choo needs money.

Mrs. Edevane makes her an offer Gean Choo can't refuse. But who is her strange, alluring new mistress? What is she? And what will Gean Choo sacrifice to earn her love?

Po Lam needs absolution.

After decades of faithfully serving Mrs. Edevane, Po Lam can no longer excuse a life of bondage and murder. She needs a fresh start. A clean conscience. More than anything, she needs to save Gean Choo from a love that will destroy them all.

***

A destitute maidservant must choose whom to love: her vampire mistress, or the woman trying to save her life in The Wicked and the Willing, an award-winning sapphic historical gothic horror vampire novel. This novel contains two mutually exclusive endings, although most of the story is not interactive. Due to the mature content and dark themes, it is intended for adult readers only. It contains potentially disturbing scenes and an abusive romantic relationship between two women. Further content information is available from the author’s website and inside the book.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Lesbian, Vampires, Romance, Queer, LGBT

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

*** For content warnings, look inside each book or visit lianyutan.com ***

Lianyu Tan is a Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Award-winning author of sapphic speculative fiction. She is the author of The Wicked and the Willing, a lesbian gothic horror vampire novel set in 1920s Singapore, and Captive in the Underworld, a lesbian dark romance retelling of the Hades/Persephone myth. Her short stories have been published by Cleis Press.

Lianyu lives with her wife in Australia. Find links to her work at lianyutan.com and on social media at @LianyuTan. Subscribe to her newsletter for bonus content and short stories: https://lianyutan.com/subscribe

Reviews

[Alexis Hall]

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.

Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.

*******************************************

Some mild spoilers.

Firstly this book is dark as fuck. There are extensive, and I do mean extensive, content warnings on the author’s website: like some of the best content warnings I have seen outside of Ao3. And, what’s more, when I requested this book somewhat whimsically from NG (“sapphic gothic set in 1920s Singapore, yes please”) the actual “your NG request has been approved” email ALSO came with content warnings. I’ve literally never seen that before but it is standing out in stark relief against, say, a major publisher who recently tried to position a book that kicks off with a very graphic queer rape scene as a heart-warming story. And, don’t me wrong, I’m not saying you can’t get to a heart-warming story from graphic rape. Just, it’s … I kind of feel, perhaps unfairly, you wouldn’t treat straight sexual violence so cavalierly.

All of which is to say, complete respect for this author before reading a single page of the book. I should also add that I might have actually hesitated in picking up a book with these themes (not as any sort of judgement of the themes, just on personal taste/comfort grounds) but I felt so goddamn respected and cared for by the NG approval email (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write) that I wound up feeling even if I didn’t like the book I could at least try to help get the author on the radars of people who were looking for a dark sapphic fantasy romance with strong horror elements.

In any case, I liked the book a lot. But I’m also conscious I have even less standing than usual to be talking about books in this particular subgenre so, as ever, apply salt to my words. Also, the other thing I’m struggling to untangle for myself, in terms of talking about The Wicked and the Willing, is that it exists at the intersection of a lot of social, genre and, indeed, gender complexities. The thing is, I do read a fair bit of m/f dark romance because it can be a disregarded/devalued part of the genre outside its own sphere of influence (which, believe me, is extensive) and I’m aware that equivalent queer stories exist but I guess one of the things that complicates queer dark romance is that m/f tends to be written mostly (but not exclusively) by women, f/f tends to be written mostly (but not exclusively) by women, and m/m tends to be written mostly (but not exclusively) by women.

And, yes nonbinary people exist as authors and characters. And before anyone jumps down my throat I am most assuredly not saying that it’s wrong or whatever for anyone to write about people who don’t match their marginalisations. I write panqueer myself, it would be grossly hypocritical and, also, I just don’t think it’s a helpful way of looking at books or writing. But it does get more nuanced (and, again, please do not reduce this to an "AJH said it was bad that people who identify as women write m/m" – I am not saying that, I have never said that, I would never say that) when you’re looking at stories of trauma and abuse and taboo. Especially when there’s elements of eroticisation around those subjects, you kind of run up against the difference between telling stories about yourself for an audience of people like you and telling stories about other people for an audience of people not like them.

Then you get to layer on top of that a bunch of fucked up cultural stuff about the way mlm and wlw are perceived by mainstream society: which, in very broad terms, is that we assume wlw are feminist empowering moon goddesses who bathe each other sensually in rose oil and mlm are primal beasts of masculinity turned in upon itself who want to do nothing but snort coke off a stranger’s genitals in a public bathroom. All of which means—again, I’m talking about this in the most general terms—that dark romance about queer men tends to be feeding into one type of stereotype and dark romance about queer women is pulling against another. And which, in turn, means I’m personally a lot more comfortable with dark romance about wlw than I am with dark romance about mlm, but then I also haven’t gone searching for much dark romance about wlw because that feels kind of independently creepy.

Of course, I’m not saying I’ve never read a book about women behaving badly to each other, but it tends to be lit-ficcy or thrillery rather than romance-adjacent. And I’ve had a quite a few conversations with sapphic friends over the years about how they wished there was a broader range of stories about and for them, including … y’know … darker stuff.

So that’s a very long preamble to basically say: sapphic (or indeed, non-sapphic) friends, if you are looking for monstrous sapphic women who are definitely monstrous and definitely sapphic in a story full of sex, power dynamics, vampires, murder, violence, torture, horror, blood, frocks, and colonialism then this is 100% the book for you. You’re welcome.

Seriously, as long as you’re okay with or actively looking for all of those things, this is a fucking fantastic book. It’s beautifully written, the characters are complicated, fucked up and deftly presented in all their complicated, fucked upness, the 1920s Singapore setting is really well done—taking us from squalor, deprivation and oppression to imperialist splendour—there’s vampire politics going on, and, of course, it’s … well … I don’t know how to say this politely but it’s unabashedly, gleefully, sometimes wince-makingly nasty-horny. Like, fair fucking play. In short, this a book that Goes There—often it Goes There and then some—and I have nothing but the deepest love and admiration for books that Go There.

The premise is that the heroine, Gean Choo, has fallen on hard times following the death of her parents. Given an English education in a school established for the purpose, she is able to secure a job at Ambrosia Hall, working as a maid servant for a wealthy reclusive European woman. The woman in question, Verity Edevane, is—of course—a vampire. And Gean Choo has been brought to the house specifically to be her toy, lover, and blood doll: a sacrifice meant to keep Verity’s feeding in check (because she very much sees herself as one of the good ones). Complicating matters further is Po Lam, Verity’s impassive majordomo who essentially keeps her household running smoothly and gets rid of the bodies, and towards whom Gean Choo cannot help but feel drawn.

I mean, that’s the outline. From here the story is pretty much a nonstop blood murder sex chaos party. And just when you think it’s got as dark as it could conceivably get … the short answer is no. No, it hasn’t. But I think one of the things that makes it such a successful book, amidst the descent into inevitable carnage, is that the author exercises phenomenal control of the tone, firstly allowing the various narrative and emotional tensions to ramp up slowly and secondly by ensuring the characters have moments of stillness, tenderness, and connection (in various ways) amidst the horror. The first half of the book, especially, has a very traditional gothic feel—impoverished heroine, mysterious house, mysterious mistress—and the second half is getting to witness the unravelling of that. In terms of vampire lore, The Wicked and the Willing felt about 50% Dracula, 50% Vampire: The Masquerade (a roleplaying game from the 90s for anyone who isn’t a huge nerd), which is to say, vulnerable to sunlight, staking and holy water, but also existing as part of a broader society, arranged in hierarchies by bloodline, and governed by a code of conduct that is meant to stop mortal society discovering and turning on them. A detail I kind of liked and don’t see enough in vampire stories is that the vampires in this setting are not capable of being sexually stimulated (which makes sense to me because vampires are literally dead, and their sole animating fluid is blood and I don’t really want to think about what happens when a vampire ejaculates). They still experience desire, and engage in sexual behaviour, but it’s mostly desire for blood and power.

The other thing that really worked for me about the portrayal of vampires in the setting was—and forgive me while I veer wildly out of lane—how well they function as an allegory for colonialist occupation. It’s a bit ironic, really, given Dracula is mostly a story about Victorian fears over foreign aristocrats coming over here and taking our women. And this is a story about how a group of people with unchecked power answerable only to their own somewhat arbitrary system of rules (and in practice not very answerable all) will seriously fuck your shit up and kind of not even notice. In this context particularly, Verity is a fascinating villain. I’m kind a bit shocked, if I’m honest, at all the #TeamVerity reviews, because she’s … y’know … not only physically and emotionally abusive towards the heroine but also … like … actively a manifestation of colonial oppression? I mean, call me a white guilt driven killjoy but I just don’t find that hot? And, honestly, I think what makes Verity so successfully *terrifying* (as well as all the ways she’s sexy-scary, don’t get me wrong, she’s also been written extremely charismatically) is that—when we’re in her POV—she consistently thinks of herself as loving and virtuous, mostly because she’s decided she’s “better” than her fellow vampires. And, yes, her fellow vampires are probably worse than she is in the sense they do more murder, at least initially when Verity is trying to keep her hungers in check (although one of the first thing we see her do is eat a sex worker because she just didn’t feel like keeping her hungers in check that day) and they turn the humans who work for them into mindless thralls—which is obviously pretty horrible.

But, at the same time, as the book develops, it’s impossible not see Verity’s so-called virtue as little more than hypocrisy. She supposedly has a deal with Po Lam to only eat once a month or something, but she doesn’t actually keep to this deal once over the entire course of the book and by the midway point she’s found excuses to go on legit killing sprees. Similarly, Verity’s refusal to brainwash her servants just means that she manipulates them in other ways: claiming their loyalty, their silence, their complicity and in the case of Geon Choo their love. Essentially, Verity’s claim to superior moral goodness—which I did get the sense she delusionally believed in, just as delusionally believes she genuinely loves a woman whose consent she has transgressed on multiple occasions—takes more from the people she is exploiting than directly enslaving and murdering them. Her “kindness” makes them feel indebted to her and she, in turn, feels owed. Plus not enslaving or murdering someone less powerful than you isn’t kindness. It’s, y’know, it’s bar of human decency so low it’s a chalk line on the ground.

And then you’ve got Verity’s own POV sections which are masterpiece of neediness, self-indulgence, cruelty and obsession. And the fact that, abuser as she is, she is also a victim, exiled to Singapore for a misdemeanour against her sire, and having lately caught the interest of a local vampire leader—a white man from a bloodline that gives him the power to control people by voice alone (he’s a Ventrue, okay, he’s basically a Ventrue, he even wears a light grey suit). This doesn’t make Verity’s actions any more acceptable or sympathetic—at least it didn’t for me—but it offers a degree of nuance to her character by placing her within a particular context, one where power and abuse of power, are eternally and inevitably self-replicating. And you definitely don’t have to be an actual vampire for that to feel resonant.

Also, I’m super aware I’ve spent most of this review of a book set in Singapore talking about the white character. But I guess I feel more qualified to talk about the white character, and also it’s a monster book, and she’s the monster. I’m belatedly worrying I might have sounded judgey about the #TeamVerity folks, so I should add that while I was personally (albeit appropriately) horrified by her, she doesn’t behave in ways that I think are non-standard for the genre. Or rather, she’s not noticeably worse than a monstrous male lead in a m/f story: the only difference is, I think, The Wicked and the Willing is more explicitly willing to acknowledge that kind of dynamic as inherently abusive. And, more to the point, it offers both its heroine and the reader a choice of ending. More on that later.

Heroine-wise Geon Choo is … fine. She’s a gothic heroine, so the story kind of requires her to be relatively passive, plus there’s a major bedrock of pain, damage, and disempowerment that makes her reactions (or lack her thereof) feel more understandable than is usually the case for gothic heroines. I wish we’d got a little bit more of her interiority, especially leading up to the moment she chooses to defy Verity near the end, and her on-going refusal to leave Verity—despite knowing exactly who and what Verity is, and having experienced some seriously fucked up treatment at her hands. Some of this is seems to be related to Geon Choo feeling what Verity offers her, with its uneven power dynamics, is all she deserves, but she also seems to genuinely desire (at least on some occasions) Verity for herself, uneven power dynamics and all. Weirdly, the most interesting reflection on this—for me—comes in one of the three possible endings to the story, where Geon Choo and Po Lam manage to escape together, and after they’ve consummated their relationship in still-sexy-but-more-vanilla terms, Geon Choo actively asks Po Lam to be rough with her, physically and verbally. I found this section a little rushed in general, especially their discussion after it, where Po Lam (who is just the best, just the absolute fucking best, #TeamPoLam) is concerned that liking treating someone in a sexually aggressive manner might make hr a bad person, and Geon Choo reassures her. But basically I just really liked the idea that part of the reason Geon Choo spends most of the book acting like a gothic heroine is that … well. She’s just kind of a horny little masochist? And a happy ending for her involves getting her horny little masochist itch scratched without needing to surrender herself to a murderous white lady.

And I guess having mentioned it, I should probably say something about the fact this book has three endings, like a very limited CYOA. Two are available in the book itself, the third for a newsletter subscription (I have never signed up for a newsletter so fast in my fucking life - I literally got out of bed to do it). Honestly, I still can’t decide how I felt about this. On the one hand, death of the author, let the reader choose the kind of book they wanted The Wicked and the Willing to Be, so far so good. Unfortunately, I think … I think, for me, in practice, I was just left feeling vaguely dissatisfied with each ending, finding them a bit rushed and insubstantial, and even slightly damaging to the book as a whole—in the sense that each ending has to feel like an emotionally plausible choice for Geon Choo to make in moment of her making it. And I guess that mostly worked? But I also found myself wishing Geon Choo had needed to be less narratively *adaptable* because I think it contributed to her character, and her character’s decisions, feeling a bit woolly and inconsistent towards the end of the book. On top of which, in one of the endings her POV literally includes lines like “why had she done that?” I DON’T KNOW EITHER GIRL. IT WAS CLEARLY A DREADFUL IDEA.

Anyway, this review is getting out of hand. The Wicked and the Willing is a bold and fascinating read. While it didn’t always work for me on all levels (still wrapping my head around the multiple endings), its ambition, its distinctiveness and its utter commitment to its storytelling was more than enough to paper over the cracks. While they’re very different books with very different goals, I can kind of see Mexican Gothic DNA in here—just in the sense of using the tropes of gothic fiction, which traditionally position “otherness” as a source of threat, to reframe whiteness and straightness, power and privilege, as villainous forces from which marginalised people must wrest their freedom and self-worth. Well. Unless you choose the ending where, um, they don't?

PS – #TeamPoLam

[MZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I needed this book, it’s gritty and dark, and there are vampires! Set in Singapore in the late 1920’s with rich descriptions of the people and their customs it transported me to another time and culture with some gruesome details.

When I think about it, it’s strange how much I liked this book because none of the main characters are easy to like, but that might also be the strength of this book, everybody is flawed. It builds in complexity up to the point that there is no way out.

The book is written in third person with multiple POVs. Verity, a vampire of British descent, is a cold monster, but still, you also get to see another side of her. I can’t say I understand her, but I found it extremely interesting to read her thoughts. Po Lam is in charge of Verity’s household and cleanup and she seems indifferent to it all, but is she? Throw in Gean Choo, the new servant of Verity, and trouble starts. I wouldn’t call it a love triangle what’s building, but there is something going on between the three and feelings always get in the way of things. Gean Choo is the least dark and troubled character, but she was in fact the character I struggled with at times, she could be spineless at one moment and stubborn at others (always at the wrong moments of course). It does fit with her character, but it was infuriating to read.

One of the best parts is how the relationships build and become darker as the book progresses. The latter was surprising as I’m used to dark romance or fantasy to start dark and become somehow lighter. Anyway, this book pulled me in and I had trouble putting it down to get some sleep.

Bonus, you get to choose your own ending. I read them both and actually find it hard to choose. My heart wants the happy ending, but my head wants the beautiful darkness, an ending that fits this story so well.

What did I choose? #TeamVerity

This book is not for everyone you can check the content warnings on the author’s website, but I recommend this dark gothic horror story.

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[pipsqueakreviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

#TeamVerity

I typically stay away from gothic horror novels but this one is different for me for two reasons. First, it's set in 1927 colonial Singapore, and as a Singaporean, I have to give it my support especially as it's sapphic-themed. Second, I helped with the sensitivity reading for the part of one of the characters, Po Lam, so I was eager to read the entire book to see how the story goes.

The Wicked and The Willing is a compelling tale about Gean Choo, a Chinese maidservant who can't seem to get away from Verity, the seductive British vampire mistress she works for and also discovers that she has feelings for Po Lam, the majordomo. And one thing's for sure, Lianyu sure knows how to write gothic horror. She doesn't shy away from the seduction, violence and political incorrectness and she enchants us with a story that's so dark, it's actually really good. Throw in bits of culture and this book is even more fascinating to the average reader too.

What I love most is that readers are given a choice to choose our own ending and take sides. There are two of them and a third one marketed as a bonus ending in a separate book called Save Yourself. I chose my "perfect" ending. Which would you choose?

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan gets billed as a steamy historical gothic horror vampire novel with a love triangle and a choice of two mutually exclusive endings. It contains potentially disturbing scenes and an abusive romantic relationship between two women.

Let me tell you, I’m no novice when it comes to reading dark material but this was way up there. The main characters are really non-sympathetic in varying degrees, especially the vampire Verity Edevane, who is a true monster. There is nothing remotely sparkly or romantic about her narcissistic, manipulative, abusive self and I feel this is close to what a real vampire would be like. So kudos for that.

Our heroine Gean Choo finds a job as a maid servant at Ambrosia Hall after her parents die. Her mistress is the wealthy European (vampire) Verity Edevane. The real reason for Gean Choo’s employ becomes clear soon enough and the horror begins.

Even though there was a lot of cruelty and carnage, the pace and writing was really good and kept me going. But be warned, this is not your average light read (!)

I chose to read both endings (I don’t know why anyone would want to miss out on either option - in for a penny in for a pound as the English say).

f/f graphic, explicit and mostly non-consensual

Themes: Singapore 1927, vampires, blood, torture, rape, killing, love-triangle.

4 Stars

[Lee ⚜ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diversity win! This all powerful vampire is a trans ally!
Unfortunately she is also super fucking evil.

⚜ Sensitive Content & Dark Romance

This is how I prefer dark romance be handled. As a genre of horror. The romantic lead, Verity, is beautiful. She’s charismatic. She’s all that. She’s also fucking terrible. And those two things can be true at once without taking away from the other.

There is glamour, sure, (Verity is a wealthy 1920s vampire. There will be glamour) but at no point in the abuse glamorized. No weight is taken from her actions to further the romantic narrative or to soften the reader experience. Their relationship, and all the terrible things that surround it, is given the realism it deserves.

⚜ Pacing & Characterization

There were a few cases of strange pacing. I feel a couple of events were brushed over too fast or happened without much lead up. It wasn’t anything particularly immersion breaking, but it didn’t feel quite as smooth as it could have. I can’t help but notice there were also a few plot threads left hanging which was less disappointing than just confusing.

The biggest issue I had was that Gean Choo’s character always felt a little off. She never really moved passed feeling one dimensional to me. In some scenes, I wasn’t sure if she was just acting out of character or if that was her true personality shining through. Either way, I feel like her characterization just wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been.

Minor spoilers about Po Lam

I think the depiction of Po Lam’s gender dysphoria was done fantastically. Her gender isn’t poured over, but still treated as an important part of her identity.

Having her simply be accepted as she is, no explanation or label needed, was so nice to read. Gean Choo’s easy and casual respect was very heartwarming amidst… All the other events.

⚜ Final Words

This book brought a unique framing to a popular genre that was refreshing in it’s appropriate amount of grit and realism.

I’m sorry to my friends who had to listen to me ramble about this book on our lunch break. Po Lam, I love you.

Also, absolutely heed the content warnings.

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look, this is the horny multi pairing D/S sapphic vampire book. You aren’t getting cute stuff, you are getting a weird rich white lesbian vampire sucking the mouths of her scrappy Asian handmaiden while they draw deeper into a spooky codependent bloody bond. If you like dark evil sexy gay vampires doing the old “it’s so wrong and yet so right”, this book is for you. If you want porn with an actually really brilliant and well thought out plot, get ready to have your mind blown. The author took all of her kinky energy and channeled it into one place.

Many folks are gonna walk out of this experience being upset that someone wrote a lesbian book for lesbians who wanna do dark horny kinky shit and likely will wanna put the author in horny jail for what she’s done: but I say…more of this please. We have enough snooze fest sapphic fantasies about nice queers; so let’s now get to enjoy our mean queer book with icky themes. GOOD FOR HER

Also the book has multiple endings which is very cool, you basically get to pick what ship you want to be endgame. Go read it.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

SAPPHIC! VAMPIRES! 1920S SINGAPORE! If that doesn't make you want to read this book then I'm sorry, but you have no taste. No, but you should read this book if you like any of the mentioned things, plus gothic horror and villains who do NOT get redemption arcs.

This book starts off nice enough, with a girl who got a good job with an eccentric boss/mistress who may or may not turn out to be a vampire. Things are fine and dandy, but there are strange happenings going on in the background.

Gradually, the story gets darker and darker and then steps into straight up unhinged territory. I love it. With that said, do check out the content warnings before starting, since some scenes may be disturbing.

I don't remember the last time I read a book that had a "choose your own" ending, which is one of the many many things that drew me to this book. And you do get to choose.

Usually with love triangles I have a favourite and the main character chooses the wrong person just about every time, so for me to have a choice and to be able to pick who I like better is just so wonderful.

I read both endings and I like one of them more than the other. One is a happier ending, the other one bittersweet. There's also a secret third ending if you sign up for the author's newsletter and I was actually expecting something like that, and I'm intrigued to see it.

Also, can we talk about that cover??? Because wow. It represents the book perfectly.

Please read The Wicked and the Willing friends, you won't regret it.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

[JulesGP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I jumped into this book without knowing too much. Maybe that was for the best because I have not read horror books in a long time and this story scared the mess out of me.

It is 1927 in Singapore and Gean Choo’s father has just died, leaving her alone and indebted to some very bad men. She takes a job as a house girl for a mysterious, English woman, named Verity Edevane, who is flighty, deadly, and rich. The whole situation is disturbing. Nothing in this world seems right. The head of the house staff is someone named Po Lam. Gruff and cold, there’s no love in her heart for anyone but her family back home.

In the beginning, I felt so much terror for Gean Choo because “poor girl” but then the seemingly bad vs good narrative shatters into a zillion bits. The Wicked and The Willing is a no holds barred vampire book that is violent and vile, the story unravels into some heinous scenes and heart-stopping chaos. The author’s story spinning is fantastic. She envelops every one of your senses in the dark tale and I wanted it to stop but also couldn’t bear to hit pause. I listened to the audiobook and Emily Woo Zeller had me in a thrall. Top notch book but beware of all the trigger warnings in the story blurb before you decide to give it a go.

[Lady Olenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Stars

Best way to describe the grandiosity of this book is like a Sarah Waters’s novels but tenfold darker and with the Asian aspect, it just elevates the story more.

The components of the story is so rich. The three main characters were superb in their conception. There is an air of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu at the beginning but as the story progresses, I soon realised Carmilla has nothing on Verity Edevane.

The characters are all so contrasting, so layered in their personalities, history and roles they played in the story. It is an experience to read such a book. Whatever subject is on the table, the author manages to darken it to shades very close to black but holds back just enough, which leads to the reader having to discern if a character is truly evil or… or they can be both good AND evil all the same.

[Lianyu Tan]

** Click here for content warnings **

I’m so pleased to bring you this dark and sensual novel of trauma, passion and despair: the absolute book of my heart.

The Wicked and the Willing is a vampire love story, but a happily ever after (HEA) is NOT guaranteed.

It’s a gothic horror 👻🏰, inspired by forbidden lust in Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, sapphic abuse and resilience in Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, supernatural desire in Yangsze Choo’s The Ghost Bride, and the soul-destroying ending choice of the videogame Life is Strange by Dontnod Entertainment.

There is a romance path… but only if you choose it.

Featuring:
🖤 Chinese femme main character
🖤 White English femme vampire 🩸
🖤 Chinese butch
🖤 A love triangle 🔺 (technically a love corner or “V”), resolved by a choice of endings, although 95% of the novel is linear and not interactive
🖤 90:10 plot:smut ratio 💘 (this book is for adults, please don’t give it to your kids)
🖤 Almost all the triggers (see content warnings).

The year is 1927 in British-governed colonial Singapore. Destitute maidservant Gean Choo takes a job with Mrs. Verity Edevane, an enigmatic and beautiful young English widow.

Upon learning her employer is a vampire, Gean Choo makes a bargain to sacrifice her blood, then her body, and finally, her love.

Fellow servant Po Lam owes everything to Mrs. Edevane. But after two decades of loyal service, she can no longer stand by as Mrs. Edevane satiates her monstrous appetites with human lives.

Gean Choo must choose whom to love: seductive Mrs. Edevane, or stoic Po Lam. But no matter whom she chooses, one thing is certain:

One of them will die for her.

This is an own-voices novel by a Malaysian Chinese lesbian author. Please review the content warnings before deciding if this book is for you.

This book is for you if:
You want a horror story where the villain remains a villain, even after they've fallen in love.

Log your ending choice here & see what other people chose. Are you #TeamPoLam or #TeamVerity?

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - It's safe to say that sapphic romance doesn't come much darker than this...

**READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS** For real, there is a lot of really intense stuff in this book - violence, gore, sexual violence (including dub-con, non-con, sexual assault of a child). There's a reason Lianyu Tan plasters notices to read the trigger warnings all over her books. They are definitely not for everyone.

I was in the mood for something dark, gruesome, and edgy, and this book certainly ticked those boxes and more. The atmosphere of this book (especially read by Emily Woo Zeller - PERFECT narrator choice!) was absolutely captivating. It was bleak and filled with desperate people in impossible situations which is how our MCs are brought together and how their tales unfold so tragically. It was also fun and different having a 'choose your own ending' option (#TeamVerity).

*IF* the trigger warnings don't dissuade you, I absolutely recommend you visit the fantastically dark and intriguing world of vampires (and other monsters) and forbidden loves that Lianyu Tan has written so skillfully (and I highly recommend the audio version).

[Karin A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tan manages to write awefullness in such a pretty way with beautiful words.

This book has a dark and misery feel from the first page describing the tormented life of Gean Choo. You’d think her new job as a lady companion would make her life more easy but if that were true it wouldn’t be a dark romance.
Her new mistress is a person you love to hate and her handler Po Lam just lovely.
You can choose your ending. I chose to read both and one of them gave me the shivers so disturbing as the ending was.

A beautifully written dark romance.

[Jesse On Youtube · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this last year. cannot remember the ending but i remember those bangin ff scenes! 🙌🏾 🥵 if its not sapphic/enby n vampy, i don't want it

[T.J. Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa. 😳

Haunting.
Horrific.
Highly recommended. 👌

*Be sure to check out the content warnings before you read this book; it's real horror, with quite a lot that's not for the faint hearted. This is not your average book.

The penanggalen were terrifying, the auction of newborns sent a real shiver up my spine... The choose-your-ending was an amazing addition! So at least there's a happy ending... Or is there?! (I look forward to checking out the bonus third ending!)

Gean Choo needs a job.
Verity Edevane is a vicious vampire who needs another slave.
Po Lam is an existing servant who falls for the new girl.
What can go wrong? 👀

"I hope you're right, Mrs Edevane. I couldn't survive another love like yours."

This author is so different from everything I've read before, the writing is incredible and so descriptive, and the awful images invoked are powerful. I repeat, not for the faint hearted, but if you fancy really getting your hands dirty and sinking your teeth into a raw and still beating heart of a story, check this out!

[Celina · Rating 4 out of 5]

THEMES: DARK. HISTORICAL. AGE-GAP. GRAPHIC. ⁠
⁠

OH MY GOD. I am slightly traumatised. The story is solid, I have to admit it, it is the game of emotions, you just have to choose which one is going to dominate your heart. Truly dark romance at its purest. ⁠
⁠
⁠

Gean Choo: She was cute but her personality was so green. Given the theme, I was hoping she would have had some backbone. because if she did, I am sure we wouldn't have needed to choose the ending. I admit with my whole precious heart that I am NOTHING like Gean Choo. I will smack you if you try to do the shit that Eme did to her. Like my God, when was it enough? ⁠
⁠
⁠
Po Lam: I really think it was unfair for the heart to be involved in this story because whatever the choice was taken, one was bound to be hurt. ⁠
⁠
⁠
Mrs. Edevane: I am all for older women being fine like women and looking so good and tasty, I get weak in the knees but Eme was a fucking RED FLAG you can see from a distance. I have forgotten that "King" boy's name but the only time I loved Mrs. Edevane was when she slayed him, fucking god, I would have kissed her in all that gory scene. I still wonder if the finger grew back, though? ⁠
⁠
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☆⁠ Open endings are good, but rare. Even if a book has an open ending it still leaves questions like which is one is best, which was was meant for the story, do any connect to the plot, and which one closes the book the best: I usually prefer if the whole thing is done and I can decide on how I feel instead of deciding which end is which. In my opinion, none of the endings were suitable, but if I am to choose, I would take the "Save Po Lam" coz that made more sense. Save Yourself was such a Shakespeare, I don't even want to let my heart think of it as an option. ⁠
⁠
⁠
𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙁𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬.⁠

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars and # Team Verity

This an historical novel that takes place in Singapore in 1927-28. The story centers around Verity, who is a 200 year old wealthy British expat Vampire. She lives on an ocean front estate with several human servants and employees. Her majordomo is Po Lam who runs the household and helps dispose of the dead bodies after Verity is done feeding. Then along comes Gean Choo, 20 years old an innocent or is she? She is hired as a companion to Verity. As the story moves along it gets darker and much more violent. Po lam has feelings for Gean Cho and Verity also has taken her a lover.

At the end of the book you need to choose your own ending, will Gean Choo pick Po Lam or will it be Verity?
I found Gean Choo very frustrating and week and I believe that she would not have the fortitude to choose Po Lam, she would choose Verity.
She is too damaged from her upbringing and is to insecure to resist Verity, she is enthralled by her and under her spell.

I was very interested in Verity intellectually and the author did a fabulous job portraying her character. Po Lam was my favorite character and I kept rooting for her throughout the book to get the girl and to have a HEA ending but…

I kept wondering why I was reading this very dark romance with all the violence, perhaps I am under its spell as well because I stayed up way too late reading it. Overall this is a very good read for those who like vampires, historical fiction and don’t mind the violence.

I’m looking forward to reading the new third ending when it is released next week.

ARC received from NetGalley for a voluntary and honest review.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

The F/F vampire novel I never knew I needed!

The Wicked and the Willing takes well-worn vampire lore and breathes new life into it.

The setting: Singapore, 1927.

The lesbian love triangle: Gean Choo, a 19-year-old who needs money and stability and someone to need her in the death of her debt-laden father. Po Lam, the 33-year-old majordomo to Mrs. Edevane, who has served her mistress for twenty years and is just so tired of it all. And Mrs. Verity Edevane, English vampire well into her her second century, who needs blood and a fresh young girl to make life interesting again.

The elements throughout are fascinating, as is the world-building of the vampiric society. Nothing is sacred. Everything has an end. No one is innocent in an imperialist society.

And the ending? Well, the ending is nothing short of fantastic.

[CW ✨]

This was a journey. I was pulled in by the idea of a sapphic gothic horror vampire story set in 1920's Singapore because, well, who doesn't love the sound of that?

This book is dark. It is also graphic and violent. I found it to be slow and drawn out at times, but I also couldn't stop reading either. Although the relationship between Gean Choo, the main character, and her vampire mistress, Verity, is obsessive, possessive, manipulative and abusive, and that the story can be slow and drawn out at at times, I couldn't stop reading. I needed to know what happened next.

What I found disappointing was that the story presents us with a love triangle, but I didn't feel any chemistry between the main character, Gean Choo, and Po Lam, their vampire mistress's majordomo. I wished there was more, particularly because of what Po Lam's character represents in the story.

I don't know if I enjoyed this, but it is undeniably an intriguing read.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to get to read this and it ended up being a really great dark vamp horror romance. All of the characters were well developed and I enjoyed reading them. They were so well developed that it was kind of a disappointment when the part of the storyline between Gean Choo and Po Lam felt underdeveloped to me. Nothing much actually happened between them so their storyline felt both slow burn and insta-love at the same time somehow. Which was a little sad because each individual character was great and the book was great so I know their storyline could have been better, or done away with entirely. The reason you read the book, in my opinion at least, was for the storyline between Verity and Gean Choo which was the bulk of the story anyway. I also feel it was a missed opportunity to have something between Po Lam and Verity there were points closer to the beginning that I feel were hinting to it, but the book never actually went there. There was a choose your own adventure style ending where you picked who to save and based on who you picked the book ends drastically different. I’ve never seen this done before in a book so I thought this was a really cool creative idea! It made the reading experience interactive, I loved it. I read both endings and I liked them both, but I think Po Lam could have been this huge opportunity to be the the light to Verity’s dark that just didn’t quite do that for me. Overall a really great read with a couple missed opportunities.

*a copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen, I was on-board the instant I heard "vampire lesbians" I will personally drag paranormal romance back into fashion, kicking and screaming, if I have to. And I will demand that this time we do it all with queer people!

However.

This should've just been a straight-up historical fiction novel. Keep the lesbians, obviously, but all of its genre trappings are actually the weakest parts: as a romance it falls flat because nobody interacts enough, as an erotica it's frankly icky because nobody enjoys the sex they're having, as a paranormal it feels watered-down because the vampire plot is just a tangent. None of that works.

What does work? The solid historical novel that's buried inside this one.

The strongest feelings this book provides are actually about it's sense of time and place:
It's 1927. It's Singapore. It's the British Occupation. It's local identity vs. colonization, it's class conflict, it's poverty and desperation and the criminal underworld that springs up when the world above it is toxic too. That part of this book is supurb.

There's a novel buried in this one about an orphan in colonial Singapore who takes a housemaid job nobody wants for the rich widow of a British lord who won't release her financial and social hold on the nearest town because she wants luxury, and opium, and maybe even the privilege to kill a few locals nobody will ever look for - thanks to the careful work of her simultaneously most loyal and most resentful local employee. Our naive housemaid gets sucked in to the privilege and the danger, and then has to choose between that rush and her own values in the midst of a historical crisis that makes keeping your ethical bearings really, really hard.

Which is to say: this is a book that would benefit from dropping the metaphor.

It's not a good romance novel. It's not a good erotica. It's not a good paranormal novel.

It is a good historical novel, and I really wish that had been given the room to shine.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

She wanted her like a knife in the belly, like bamboo slivers beneath her nails, all biting pain and wretched agony, begging for the sweet void of release.

4.5 stars. #TeamPoLam. Like, 1000%.

This was a book that scared me; I'm willing to try dark romance, but all my various forays into the genre haven't been the most successful. And this book in particular had a lot of content warnings attached to it, and it has a love triangle, and all of that made me think, 'Nah, not for me.' But after hearing so many great things about the author's writing and being intrigued by the premise, I decided to give it a go, and this was one of those scenarios where pushing my own boundaries worked out for the best.

Our main character is Gean Choo, a 19 year old orphan in 1920s Singapore who takes a job as a maid for a wealthy white woman. Mrs. Edevane is mysterious and alluring, as is Po Lam, the stoic major-domo of the estate. We get all three POVs, and it soon comes to light that Mrs. Edevane is a vampire, Po Lam procures and then gets rid of one body for her per month, and Gean Choo is meant to be fattened up as an eventual sacrifice. What I love most about this story is how complex all of the character work is. No one is without nuance, no one is completely good, and no one is completely evil. (Although, as will become clear throughout my review, there's definitely one person who I like less than the others.) There's an eerie gothic feel in those early chapters that I absolutely adored, and Gean Choo is the young, unknowing character bumbling through it all. She has so much compassion, and so much goodwill, and it's taken advantage of constantly, which is a little wretched to read. But she isn't completely innocent, and the moments where she grasps for and is able to hold on to her autonomy and her pleasure are definite bright spots and I was so happy for her. And it's nice to be able to say that I was happy for Gean Choo, because this girl goes through so much.  

Many of my thoughts are spoilery, so, spoiler cut!

Verity Edevane is such an interesting character and in most other situations that she would be absolute catnip for me. She's sexy, alluring, dominant, and pretty mean. The cruelty is where she loses me. She spends most of the book clutching for this moral high ground, refusing to eat more than one person per month, but she's clearly a hypocrite. And I love how the book treats with that, both from her POV and the POV of others. That "only eat one person per month" thing barely lasts for the first quarter. When we find out why she's on this diet, it's definitely for admirable reasons, and it shows what a bind that she is in as a vampire, given the limited options for her. Part of her storyline involves a male vampire trying to take away her power and agency, when she's fought so hard to attain those things. Verity also Goes Through it. But her entire attitude towards Gean Choo, Po Lam and her entire staff is so staunchly colonial, so obviously imperialist, and while I think she's such a fascinating character, she evoked more horror in me than anything else. Intentionally so! I do think that she loves Gean Choo, but it's a love that's so clearly proprietary, and that becomes clear from the very first moment that she refuses to learn how to say Gean Choo's name, and instead defaults to calling her 'Pearl'. Along with... all her other behaviour. In the earlier half of the book, I thought this was scary enough, with all the casual ways that Verity just degrades and denigrates Gean Choo, and tramples over her will. (And again, Gean Choo is far from vanilla, and she's clearly into some of those things... up to a point.) But in the latter half of the book, things get real dark. Yikes! There's going into a jealous rage and then there's... that.  

Po Lam is another really fascinating character. She's entirely complicit in who knows how many murders of innocent people, and she's cultivated a coldness and stoicism that's clearly in place partly to protect her own heart and self-interest. She also has a family that she's supporting with her wages. But as the book went on, I just fell so deeply and completely in love with her. It definitely helps that her romance with Gean Choo is the more slow burn of the two, and as always, I find slow burn to be absolutely superior. She's a completely romantic figure, in the ways that she's trying to help save the Gean Choo from this greater evil, but she isn't romanticised at all. If that makes sense? Her character also becomes a lot easier to understand when we find out exactly what kind of noose Verity has around her neck: obligation for having saved her so many years ago. I don't know. I will always be more attracted to quote/unquote "good" characters, but even more so to characters who are not good, who are aware that they have done bad things, but in the end, they strive to be better. And that's Po Lam to me. I love her with my whole heart. Heroic butch excellence.  

There is so much that I love about this book, but one thing that's sticking in my mind is the fact that, again, Gean Choo is clearly into some dark sexual stuff. She enjoys some of the powerplay inherent in her relationship with Verity. And I'm really glad that the author did not set up a dichotomy between ~evil, kinky Verity~ and ~good, vanilla Po Lam~. Because in the Po Lam ending, Gean Choo specifically asks Po Lam to be rough and degrading with her. And that's the important part. She asks for it and Po Lam delivers. I love that Po Lam had this little moral crisis about it, because she enjoyed being rough with Gean Choo. And from that we get the whole conversation or the whole implication of kink not being an inherently bad thing if there are boundaries and if the people involved have discussions about it. I'm just happy for Gean Choo that she gets a loving partner, and she also gets her rough, CNC-flavoured sex, without being attached to a colonialist nightmare of a woman who occasionally slings around racist epithets. Yikes!  

The choose your own ending is, of course, the most unique part of this book, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. The narrative only diverges at the very end, and so it's necessary that the reader is able to believe that Gean Choo would go in one of these polar opposite directions. I think that aspect was really well done. I'm #TeamPoLam all the way, but I absolutely understand the allure of Verity for Gean Choo and other readers. The fact that the author got me to sympathise with her even a little bit says a lot. I feel like I could write essays about Verity Edevane. But I suppose it doesn't need to be said: I clearly prefer the Po Lam ending. It's the only reason why I'm putting the romance tag on this at all. 

Listened to the audiobook as read by Emily Woo Zeller, and I completely fell in love with it. She absolutely excelled at making this a terrifying, heartrending, but also sensual listen, and I ate every little bit of it up. Tan has a writing style that's very lyrical but also very easy to get into, and I was swept away by the setting. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book. I wouldn't call it a favourite because there are just some things about it that aren't for me, but I ended up liking it so much more than I expected to. Now I'm definitely going to read the author's debut at some point, because I was more scared of this one than I was of that.  

Content warnings: a comprehensive list is available at the author's website, but short version: rape, violence, torture, suicide, death, gore, recollection of child sexual abuse.

If Po Lam stayed, if she tried to hold this together, whatever this was, it would mean living with those scars, accepting them, and loving their bearer all the same.

[Alicia Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

•    The Wicked and the Willing

•    Author Lianyu Tan

•    Gothic horror

•    A love triangle

   



*Please review trigger warnings before reading book  https://lianyutan.com/content-warning...



Gean Choo, the main character in The Wicked and the Willing, is a maidservant in 1927. She seeks out employment as a lady’s companion with  Mrs. Verity Edevane from London. Upon arrival to the Edevane house she meets Po Lam who runs the household day to day. ( Majordoja)  Gean is unaware that Verity is a vampire straight away.  When she finds out, although apprehensive she is drawn to Verity’s aggressive nature. Verity comes off  indifferent and almost ice queen-ish at first, but something snaps and Verity seems obsessed with Gean.  We can’t forget about the majordoja Po, who also develops feelings for Gean.  It’s getting complicated!  





The book has many layers.  It’s Gothic Horror, it’s dark. It’s not for the faint of heart. There is no filter, you will say “oh wow” reading certain parts of this book.  It’s so beautifully written, that the darkness and “oh wow” parts just work.  And to make it even better, Lianyu Tan let’s you choose your own ending.  ( which took me back to the choose your own adventure books from my childhood)  You get to decide Gean’s future.   



I choose the ending with Po Lam, that to me was happily ever after.  Do yourself a favor and read this book, and let me know which ending you would chose!


This was my first book by the Lianyu Tan, but definitely not my last.  I highly recommend this book. I would like to thank the author for the advance ARC 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Anna Avian · Rating 4 out of 5]

#TeamVerity

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohhh baby, was this fun. Probably not most people’s first reactions to such dark horror vibes, but I had a blast.

When I heard this was gonna be vampire 1920s gothic horror romance I was very excited, and it absolutely lived up to that initial excitement. I’m not gonna lie, I knew going into it I was almost def gonna be on #TeamVerity, and I was right. Despite all of it, I found her to be a fascinating character and really enjoyed her pov chapters. I… was not as into Po Lam, she’s just not the type of character I usually go for, and she frustrated me at times. She just seemed so hypocritical about her own relationship with Verity and what she chose to do over for her the years, idk. And (this might have just been more of a personal thing) but I didn’t really get the connection between her and Gean Choo. I certainly didn’t hate it, but I was def Team Verity. Seeing 1920s Singapore was really cool, as it’s not a place or time in history that I knew too much about going in.

I really liked the chose your own ending aspect at the end, as someone who recently really got into reading and playing interactive fiction games, this was a fun little addition. I obviously read them all after picking Verity first and really liked seeing the differences in all three (including the one newsletter subscribes get for free, so sign up for the third ‘closest to the original idea the author had’ ending too!). I think the Verity choice is still my favorite, because I love me a dark horror vibe, but the newsletter one packs a punch too. All in all, if you like horror, dark romance, vampires, or just some fascinating and complex characters and dynamics, this one is for you!

(If you don’t like dark romance, this might not be for you, because things def aren’t meant to be aspirational here).

I think after this one and the fist Hades/Persephone retelling that I also really liked, this is def a ‘check out everything they put out’ author, for me. And happened to luck out and get this book for free in a giveaway, and that always makes it feel just that much more special.

[Marice · Rating 2 out of 5]

A f/f vampire romance set in 1920s Singapore? Count me in!
In the beginning I was in love with this book, I quickly got into it and the short chapters made me fly through it. The best thing for me is the atmosphere. I love the premise, the setting and all the women. I also liked seeing the vampire high society and the self-awareness of the story (our vampire lady wondering how long it will take the mc to find out that they're, in fact, vampires). The major problem for me is, that all the characters fall flat. We have a general idea of them, but their personalities are never fleshed out. It might work for the vampire lady, but the main character having no own agenda is quite disappointing. Same goes for the relationships, there is so much telling instead of showing. Oh, they talked the whole night? Good to know...would've loved to read that. They had dance lessons the whole past year? Wow, they must've had a great time..
I would also urge you to check out the trigger warnings. From the 60% mark this book just went batshit crazy with sexual and physical abuse. Maybe I'm just too unfamiliar with the dark romance genre, but I wouldn't call it a romance at all.
I wanted to love this story so bad, but sadly it was not for me. There is an overwhelming amount of positive reviews though, maybe check those out.

[Tatianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You think you love her. You think, if this is love, you don’t know anything.”

The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan is a historical gothic horror — or horror romance, if you choose — set in Singapore in the 1920's, with vampire colonists, truly monstrous villains and a sapphic love triangle that is messy and violent. It's also an own-voices story, as the author is Malyasian Chinese and queer. So naturally, this lit my brain up like a Christmas tree and I abandoned all other reading plans.

TWATW is truly a story unlike any other that I've read. It's unapologetic in its darkness, beautifully written, intricately plotted and interactive with a "choose your own adventure" for the conclusion. The alternate endings is something I've yet to come across in my reading journey and I thought it was super creative and so fun (in a disturbing, emotional kind of way). Of course, I had to read them both. I'm definitely #TeamPoLam at heart BUT I can't help but feel the #TeamVerity ending is the most true. It fit better and hit harder both emotionally and thematically. Ugh, it still hurts!

Lianyu Tan's prose is beautiful. I've been loving third person perspective lately and I found her writing to be lush and satisfying, and so effective to bring this historical time period and these very flawed characters to life: Gean Choo, the passive and naive woman who dares to hope for a solution to her problems; Verity Edevane, the vile monster veiled in beauty; and Po Lam, the hardened, stoic and nearly hopeless servant managing Mrs. Edevane's household. They are all so different from each other and getting to know them and understand the why behind their behaviour is part of this story's charm. All three are desperate in their own way, becoming entangled simply by trying to survive in an impossible world that is threatening to eat them alive.

I absolutely loved this book and would have given it a full five stars if the connection between Po Lam and Gean Choo had been explored more in depth, especially early on in the book. I needed more stolen glances, more angst, more sneaking around! Especially given that they were trapped in the perfect environment. I feel that would have tipped the scales for me to full blown obsession. But that is the romance reader in me.

Both ebook and audiobook are included in KoboPlus! The audio is really well done. The voice actor, Emily Woo Zeller did a fantastic job switching through various characters and accents. I also loved that I could hear the correct pronunciations by reading this way. Definitely recommend this one to readers who love sapphic romance, love triangles, dark fiction, gothic romance/gothic horror, tragic romance, vampire stories, historical fiction and own-voices stories.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should list a few things that you should know before you read The Wicked and the Willing:

1. Make sure to read the content warnings first https://lianyutan.com/content-warning...
2. You have three options for the ending. Two horror endings and one happy ending.  And believe me, prepare to struggle to decide which one.
3. This is a dark sapphic fantasy, do not expect fluffy or warm and fuzzy
4. Lianyu Tan will show you no mercy

I don't even know where to start? 
But first, I would love to give all my kudos to Lianyu Tan that she delivers us an amazing dark fantasy in all the horrible ways you could(or could not) imagine. The setting of this book is brilliant. 1927, in colonial Singapore, the mix of Western and Eastern cultures; blended with f five or six languages at the same time, migrants from around the world with different races or, in this case, other species. In Lianyu Tan's story, the Vampire is nothing glamorous; they're brutal and arrogant; their love is twisted, and they show no empathy. I don't know if it's because I'm too familiar with that part of Singapore's history? But under those circumstances, if I were Gean Choo, I'd choose to save Mr. Edevane‘s ending every single time; it's like a moth runs to the fire repeatedly. It's a particle, logical, survival ending(although horrible.) If you were willing to give this dark horror romance a chance, I don't think you'd be disappointed. It's a long book, but I did not get bored with a single chapter.

I received a copy from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Also, this is the first time I'm reading sapphic historical fiction, and I did not once need to google the background story🥺

[aphrodite]

dnfed @ 40%

this wasn’t bad per say, I just knew it would be a 3 star read.

the foundation for a great story were there but I found the characters, dialogue, plot, etc a bit rudimentary.

if house of hunger didn’t exist I may have continued on but alas

if anyone has read this and thinks I should carry on, let me know

[Aster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've recently started to get into horror, especially queer horror and I knew that vampire gothic horror would speak to me, someone who always reblog about the inherent homoeroticism of vampires.

This book is dark, not only because most of the plot takes place at night but also because there were no less than three pages asking me to check the trigger warnings. The book delved into an abusive and toxic but alluring relationship without sugar-coating the mindset of Gean Choo who is trapped inside this mansion and relationship.

I have never read anything like it, especially with lesbians and especially with a lesbian love triangle that let me choose my own ending. I have never read anything that caters so perfectly to my taste, fully delving into vampire themes. If you've ever said "I want a vampire novel where [insert erotic thing linked to vampirism] this is it. And yes it's toxic but it's hypnotising all the same.

Gean Choo is young but also less naive than your usual human trapped in a vampire manor. She reads Dracula and Carmilla and she keeps questioning her surroundings. She's a survivor and she wants so much. She wants to be loved, to be the only one for someone. The reader is lured into seeing a weak character where there's strength and resilience.

Po Lam is the butch majordomo devoted to Mrs Edevane or so it seems. She's willing to do her dirty work and overlook her monstrosity until it starts to threaten the people she cares about. She's Gean Choo (and the reader)'s reality check. She's your friend who tells you "girl get out that relationship is toxic) but is also in love with you. Her butchness is sucj an integral part of her character and we love to see it. Also butch who binds! and the binder stays on during sex!

Verity Edevane is the monster. The British vampire who went to colonial Singapore where her crimes would be easier to hide. She's presented as the most humane of her kind, restricting her appetite but she's never above killing to feed. She's the perfect depiction of the rich white lesbian who is afraid to be trapped in a marriage but feeds on local prostitutes. Oh yes she's hot and dotes on Gean Choo (her "Pearl", oh that book has something to say about colonialism)


Yes this is steamy and dark and unhealthy and everything vampire fiction should be. It's a long book and yet you can't put it down. The tension keeps building up, everything coming together, the climax building step by step until the book stops you and put the gun in your hand. Literally.

And yes I've read both endings but my first choice was the Po Lam ending

[Ariana Weldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm rounding up a bit on this admittedly. I had high hopes from this from the description and that amazing cover. First, the warnings are probably quite helpful as towards the later half of the book things get very intense, abusive and there is some heavy mutilation, suicide and torture scenes. I can absolutely see how this wouldn't be readable for those with certain triggers.

The character with the most detail to her was Verity Edevane and as a result she was by far the most interesting one. Even though she was a walking trigger for a lot of the book. Admittedly, could have done without her racist dirty talk but for book in 1920's colonial Singapore I probably should have expected it. That said, more interaction with early 1900s Singapore would have been so good. Other than complaining about mosquitos and the heat, it could really have been set anywhere.

Po Lam was a bit less put together than Verity and her entire romance with the main character was abrupt, or at the very least felt rushed. There was a lot more from her perspective that could have been fleshed out, more on the whole 'why her? why now?' questions she was having. We learn a little about her life in and before the house but not really enough to make her seem like a whole character.

The main character almost could have been replaced entirely and it not made a difference. She felt like half a character, where there were some thoughts about her personality and experiences but they entirely stopped at 'Let's make her innocent and naïve'. There wasn't room for character growth because there wasn't really a full character.

Also I have to say, I really did not enjoy the sudden 'Choose your own adventure' bit towards the end. I did read both because obviously I was going to read both but after a book where the plot was already laid out and presented suddenly having this 'Pick what to read and see what happens next' was entirely unexpected and not in a good way.

If you want a graphic adult erotica book about lesbian vampires, this might be your thing. Mind the content warnings, they aren't just for show. And also, don't go into this thinking it's a full on romance. It is a depiction of a lot of abuse and dysfunctional relationships.