I haven’t seen Succession, but from what I’ve heard about it, what if it were a dark C-drama or danmei?
Title: Little Favors
Author: Adik Graves
Genres: Romance, LGBTQ+
Pub Date: December 3, 2022
Publisher: Self-Published
Content Warnings: Dubcon, Rape, Kidnapping, Torture, Mentioned Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Ideation, Murder, Graphic Violence, (Past) Underage Sex Work, (Past) Child Abuse
Thank you to the author for the review copy.
★★★★½
He would have no embarrassing secrets. He would be perfect.
Liu Xiaokai does everything he is told. He listens to his parents. He’s a clever businessman. He’s the city’s most eligible bachelor. All he has left to do is prove that he’s the perfect son–that he’s worth becoming his father’s heir. That he’s nothing like his older brother, who abandoned the family. And then that older brother comes home.
He will make his father pay for what he did to him.
Liu Xingyu knows two things: firstly, that he loves his little brother. Secondly, that he hates his father. That’s all that matters. When he first left all those years ago, he was determined to never come back, but after he met a man named Zhang Weiran, he knew there was only one thing he could do: go back home, and tear down everything his father loved.
He won’t let them get away with it.
Zhang Weiran has had only one thing on his mind since he was a child: fulfill his parents’ dying wish and get revenge on the organization that killed them. And it just so happens that his friend and unrequited love Liu Xingyu is not only deeply connected to this shadow organization–he also wants them gone just as badly as Weiran does. Now the only thing they disagree on is Liu Xingyu’s suspicious little brother.
This is a dark, slow burn romance featuring family drama, generational trauma, corporate intrigue, messy queer characters, tragic backstories, and vengeance. What I loved most about this was how much it was felt like a condensed C-drama or light novel. The light novel/danmei aspects may have been the use of footnotes for references and terms as well as the glossary at the back for the character names and Chinese terms, but it also had a similar flow and plot structure.
I enjoyed the characters, they were complex and had depth. Their relationship dynamics were also interesting to follow along. The dynamic between Xiaokai and Xingyu was really well done throughout as the reader learns more about the both of them and their past. The plot itself also kept my interest with the mystery and suspense and twists. There is some head hopping, POVs between the three main characters and some minor characters. I also enjoyed the romance, although it did feel a bit rushed once it started to take shape and felt secondary to the main plot when I read this as a dark romance, and I that’s how it was marketed it as.
While this was also really well written, parts of this were very exposition heavy. There was quite a bit of info dumping that could have used a more thorough edit, especially towards the latter half and towards the climax of the novel. It staggered the momentum of the plot. It also took up a lot of room that could have served to develop relationships more, particularly the main romance, and rushed the ending.
Overall, a great debut I would recommend to people who like dark plot-heavy romances (though please mind the warnings) and I’m interested to see what else Graves may publish. I am curious if there’ll be a spin-off about a minor couple who appear briefly. My spin-off/sequel senses were definitely tingling.
escapistlit 