NYC and nostalgia

Some feelings, some recent reads, and more

Dear reader,

I’m writing to you from another coast for once — I’m in NYC for the month, doing an away rotation in the NYU Emergency Department and, between shifts, catching up with friends both in and out of publishing. I lived in NYC for a couple years before med school, and it’s strange to come back and see all the places I used to frequent, layered over by time and all the ways I’ve changed since then. It’s kind of the same feeling I get when I go back to Texas and realize that we now have boba in my hometown, or that I no longer exactly remember the back roads I used to know so well. Time is a strange thing, and growing up even more so.

I’m in the depths of working on book two right now, thinking about the sort of themes and character arcs I want to bring out, and so the passage of time seems to be an ongoing theme — Anatomy is about many things, but most of all it’s about two characters who have known each other for years, and suddenly realize maybe they don’t know each other at all. There’s a lot of heartache, as well as all my feelings about science and competition and ambition (and also, falling in love!).

Some housekeeping: I’m doing a special event in Brooklyn on the evening of Wed, Sept 20th, featuring my younger sister Sharon (of TikTok fame!). We’re planning some fun sister games, so come say hi and grab some exclusive Portrait stickers! Other than that, you can always check my events page for updates (a few more coming up on the West Coast this year!). The rest of my time is going to be spent writing, applying for residency (!!), etc etc.

What I’ve been reading:

• A FRAGILE ENCHANTMENT by Allison Saft, which is the Bridgerton-meets-magic book of my dreams, full of dreamy prose and scenes that had me grinning from ear to ear. An engaged prince, a magical dressmaker, the gossip columnist who begins to notice that there’s a lot of chemistry between them…

• THE BOY YOU ALWAYS WANTED by Michelle Quach, which is such an exquisitely done contemporary YA novel about a girl who recruits a reluctant family friend into a scheme to help her dying grandpa. There’s so much here about grief and family and what it feels like for your whole life to be on the cusp of change (I cried!).

• A SONG TO DROWN RIVERS by Ann Liang, an epic Chinese retelling of the beauty Xishi, about a young woman recruited to serve as a concubine for a rival king (and, in truth, dismantle his kingdom from within). This one comes out next year (and I’m blurbing it!), so keep an eye out!

See you next time,

Grace