Thoughtfully sweet

This is a sweet, captivating story about young love and coming of age within the Asian diaspora that is well written and excellently performed. The novel does border a bit on western feminist thinking at times - despite being written by an Asian woman - but I think that's because books like this are forced to do too much, re to represent underrepresented Japanese culture to westerners while also appealing to white audiences and yet still relating to the Asia diaspora in America. I get the distinct impression that editors wanted the elements around dual belonging polished and the elements around gender divisions simplified. With that said, I think Jean does a lot with the pressure placed on her as an Asian femme author (although it be nice if Asians didn't only appear in popular culture as rich and or royals) and I have respect for what she's done. It's also a sweet and light story that leaves you feeling happy.

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Modern Fairytale, Identity, Belonging and Family

I’ve never gotten through an audiobook this fast! I absolutely love this story and this is my favourite book so far for 2021. I love the Japanese American perspective, as Asian American perspectives are often underrepresented in publishing.

The main character Izumi Tanaka is from Mount Shasta, California and does not exactly feel like she fits in. Izumi often feels as if she isn’t “American enough.” Similarity, she often feels like an outsider and is even called a “foreigner” when visiting her father for the first time in Japan. Just when you think that is enough pressure, Izumi discovered her father is the Crown Prince of Japan. She finds herself not only having cultural pressures, but also having to fit the role of being a princess that is always in the spotlight and constantly being scrutinized by the tabloid Tokyo Tattler. Thankfully, Izumi has the support of her besties from the AGG (Asian Girl Gang).

I was very fond of the budding romance between Izumi and her bodyguard, Akio. I also love that his nickname for her is “radish.” Sounds odd I know, but the reasoning behind it is so sweet. I’m not one that normally gushes over love poems, but I did find the ones in this book to be quite endearing.

Some of my favourites are:

Noora- Izumi’s die hard bestie that is super smart, but drives like a maniac.

Yoshi- Izumi’s cousin who definitely reminded me of a Crazy Rich Asian.

Tokyo Tattler- tabloid that adds a Gossip Girl flare.

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Ouf

I wanted to love this book based on the reviews and recommandations. The subject matter (identity as a X gen immigrant) is very interesting. The narrator is so so good. Unfortunately, I found the story quite flat. Things are told not shown. Dialogue is poor and sometimes it was hard to tell if she was talking to herself or saying it out loud. The hurdles the main character goes through are poorly fleshed out and growth seems to happen in a random ah ha moment.

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