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doublearegee's review against another edition
3.0
Normally I love Rachel Cohn's books, but this one felt underdeveloped and fell flat at the ending, which seemed rushed.
readabookbraun's review against another edition
4.0
Elle is an American teen who is down on her luck. This isn’t the bad grade, missed curfew, wrecked my car kind of luck. It is the non-present dad, mom in jail, living in foster care, tough break. But like a fairy tale, on her sixteenth birthday, Elle is given the opportunity to move to Tokyo to live with her wealthy hotel tycoon father.
Elle navigates culture shock and tries to discover what her place is in an unfamiliar country, as a student in her elite international school, and as a member of a new family. While encountering new expectations, cultural practices, and traditions, Elle struggles to reconcile her past with her present. Given the opportunity to reinvent herself, Elle finds a place among the popular group where she has to choose whether she will stay true to herself.
I found the characters entertaining and at the end of the book I wanted to know more about their story. Currently, though this is a standalone novel. This book is relevant not only to the members of an international student body but to anyone who has moved to a new place and had to figure out how to fit in.
Elle navigates culture shock and tries to discover what her place is in an unfamiliar country, as a student in her elite international school, and as a member of a new family. While encountering new expectations, cultural practices, and traditions, Elle struggles to reconcile her past with her present. Given the opportunity to reinvent herself, Elle finds a place among the popular group where she has to choose whether she will stay true to herself.
I found the characters entertaining and at the end of the book I wanted to know more about their story. Currently, though this is a standalone novel. This book is relevant not only to the members of an international student body but to anyone who has moved to a new place and had to figure out how to fit in.
lestka12's review against another edition
5.0
I was pleasantly surprised with how much I truly enjoyed this book! It was a fun contemporary story that showed the perspective of a teen girl who had spent the past few years living in foster care. I thought this was a very unique perspective that we don’t get a lot of exposure to in the YA world and the author did a nice job developing the each of the characters.
awebster92's review against another edition
3.0
It wasn't the best book I've read this year but it was a good distraction from 2020. The main character is pretty bratty. I had a trip to Japan planned before the virus canceled it and all the 'secret' places they talk about are huge tourist attractions. It just was a little meh and poorly researched I think.
lostintomes's review against another edition
3.0
This was... a little disappointing.
I was expecting this to be a light, fun contemporary set in Japan. I love watching Asian Dramas and was very excited hoping this would have a similar feel. What I got instead was a lot of angsty teens with parental issues and a newbies guidebook to life in Japan. Our main character Elle is a pretty colorful individual however she lacked any real depth, I felt like her and the entire cast was pretty forgettable. The plot was not very intriguing and could have easily been placed anywhere in the world. The biggest bummer for me was the fact that the book is set at an International High School so most of the characters are not even Japanese. And the ones that were Japanese came off very stereotyped which I did not appreciate. It often felt like I was reading a book by someone who has only read about Japan or experienced it briefly as a tourist, I didn't feel like the culture was very well understood. The plot moves very slow and nothing really interesting occurs until about 60% of the way in. I came hoping for a little romance or character building... but we don't even have a love-interest until the last couple chapters. Overall I was pretty disappointed. It's not a bad book but not a great one either. I have really enjoyed past works by this author and would recommend many of her other books over this one. :)
Content Notes/Trigger Warnings:
- Strong Language (a LOT of F-Bombs)
- Sexual Assault Triggers (attempted assault and date rape mentioned)
Recommend for:
- Fans of Love a la Mode
- Readers unfamiliar with Japan
I was expecting this to be a light, fun contemporary set in Japan. I love watching Asian Dramas and was very excited hoping this would have a similar feel. What I got instead was a lot of angsty teens with parental issues and a newbies guidebook to life in Japan. Our main character Elle is a pretty colorful individual however she lacked any real depth, I felt like her and the entire cast was pretty forgettable. The plot was not very intriguing and could have easily been placed anywhere in the world. The biggest bummer for me was the fact that the book is set at an International High School so most of the characters are not even Japanese. And the ones that were Japanese came off very stereotyped which I did not appreciate. It often felt like I was reading a book by someone who has only read about Japan or experienced it briefly as a tourist, I didn't feel like the culture was very well understood. The plot moves very slow and nothing really interesting occurs until about 60% of the way in. I came hoping for a little romance or character building... but we don't even have a love-interest until the last couple chapters. Overall I was pretty disappointed. It's not a bad book but not a great one either. I have really enjoyed past works by this author and would recommend many of her other books over this one. :)
Content Notes/Trigger Warnings:
- Strong Language (a LOT of F-Bombs)
- Sexual Assault Triggers (attempted assault and date rape mentioned)
Recommend for:
- Fans of Love a la Mode
- Readers unfamiliar with Japan
tobyyy's review against another edition
4.0
This is not a plot driven book. This is a love letter to Tokyo. And as such, I loved it SO MUCH.
read_withtay's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars.
QUICK THOUGHTS:
• I loved this book! I’ve never read anything by the author before but this was refreshing. I’ve been reading fantasies so a contemporary was needed~
• Elle was an adorable main character. Her struggles were real, assimilating to a new country and culture that was completely out of the norm for her.
• I liked learning a little about Japan and Japanese. I would like to travel here someday so it was neat to learn about cool places and some phrases
• I appreciated the inclusion of mental health/addiction and LGBT themes in this story. They weren’t forced and done well
• This was very Crazy Rich Asians but in YA. I loved that series so this worked for me too!
QUICK THOUGHTS:
• I loved this book! I’ve never read anything by the author before but this was refreshing. I’ve been reading fantasies so a contemporary was needed~
• Elle was an adorable main character. Her struggles were real, assimilating to a new country and culture that was completely out of the norm for her.
• I liked learning a little about Japan and Japanese. I would like to travel here someday so it was neat to learn about cool places and some phrases
• I appreciated the inclusion of mental health/addiction and LGBT themes in this story. They weren’t forced and done well
• This was very Crazy Rich Asians but in YA. I loved that series so this worked for me too!
kelseysej's review against another edition
4.0
A fun YA book that would have been improved by more substantial character development.