Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Loveboat, Taipei

This is a coming of age story. Ever has been the good child her whole life, deferring her own wants for her parents. And then they send her off to Taipei after forcing her to give up her dreams of dancing. Except she's able to learn and grow in her own way. It was a really good story that explored so many things. Being a good child and then trying to become yourself, race, gender, class, love and romance. Just a great book and I'm excited for the second book!

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sielantgem's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.25

I really enjoyed this one. It explored a lot of themes of how East Asian Americans are faced with microagressions within American and in their native country. It also had an inspiring premise of one following their dreams despite their perceived family obligations. All Ever wants to do is dance but her parents who sacrificed so much to get to America has her whole future planned out for her. A career in Medicine is what they think is best for her. I like how this is set at that transitional age of 18, when you're on the cusp of becoming an adult in route to college. I couldn't quite give it a five star because one of the characters did something that I though was totally egregious but did not suffer the consequences of their action. All in all it was a good experience reading this novel. Look forward to the next installment.

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rebecca_t's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ara's review

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adventurous emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Confession time: I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. I thought I was signing up for a fluffy feel-good fun romance, instead I got a coming-of-age story for the ages. Like woah🤯

I was told that this book was the YA Crazy Rich Asians. Now if you know me, you how much I love everything Kevin Kwan has written. However, after reading this book I must confer, this book is nothing like the CRA trilogy. It is quite entirely in a class of its own. If there is a need to simile this book to something, I would say it moreso Mulan (minus the war and Mushu) meets Mean Girls and When Dimple Met Rishi.

This story is very much character driven. The main conflict/resolution is very predictable. I saw it coming a mile away. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still enjoyed seeing everything unfold. Seeing Ever clumsily navigate through a tornado of obstacles was so refreshingly. Too often in YA contemporary (esp. romances), I feel like solutions are come across too easily. There’s a conflict and then pow there’s a solution, all problems get solved and they all live happily ever after. In Loveboat, the consequences of the main conflict were obstacles that handicapped the main character until the end of the book. It was very messy and real and I loved every minute of it.

Ever

I really like Ever. I understand her on a personal level. I can’t say I relate to her story exactly, I’m not Chinese-American, nor am I a first-generation immigrant, and I am blessed to have parents who are very supportive and accommodating to my dreams. Yet, I really connected to her internal struggle. I know what it’s like to be bound by family responsibility. I too have parents that sacrificed everything for me to be afforded the best opportunities. And it is expected that I, in turn, make all their sacrifices worth it.
When Ever’s mother revealed she had sold her necklace for her ticket, I gasped. Because I could very well see my own mother doing something along those lines. When you have a parent that loves you that selflessly and fiercely, what can you do? You’re not going to bite the hand that gave you everything. No, you’re going to get on the plane and spend a summer in a foreign land even if you don’t want to.
And yeah some people are going to shake their heads and tsk,tsk. You have to stand up for yourself they’ll say. But those people do not understand. And there are times when you lose yourself. When every action is based on “what will my parents think?”. Even though it all came crashing down in the end, seeing Ever break free and do all the crazy things imaginable was a blast and a half. And the heart-to-heart she has with her father near the end had me on the brink of tears. Dare I say it was better than when Mulan came home.

Rick

What a sweetheart. His backstory really moved me, it’s another one of those cases where you never really know whose suffering or what people are sacrificing.

The fact that he had to travel across the world for space to breathe is so heart-wrenching, and yet this is the reality that too many people live.

He was a bit mood swingy in the beginning, and I had my eyebrow raised. But he always came back and explained and apologized. Like mature people do. I couldn’t really find much fault with him, much to Ever and my annoyance. Hey I guess some men really are evolved.
The only thing I will say, because I refuse to let him get off scot-free, is I wish he had communicated better. I think he was a bit too vague and “mysterious” at times. He could have just told Ever Xavier had it out for her. I feel like a lot of problems got blown out of proportion because of lack of communication.

Sophie

Don’t like her, sorry not sorry. I’m all for brash mistakes, I’ve made a couple myself. But what Sophie did was not a mistake, she intentionally set out to hurt Ever. And I’m not saying what Ever did wasn’t wrong, it very much was, but she didn’t deserve that.
Not to mention, Sophie repeatedly took advantage of Ever’s trust.

Sophie knew from the beginning Xavier liked Ever. Every time the two were alone together she found a way to interfere. And, to add insult to injury, she had Ever help her plan out Xavier’s meeting of her parents.

Not only that, she took every opportunity to take a shot at Ever. She was very condescending. Textbook mean girl.
I understand why Ever chose to forgive her and move on, and I do believe Sophie regretted her actions. But I didn’t feel like her redemption was earned. The extent of her crime did not match the time. What she did was so awful and extreme, and she could have been a lot more remorseful.

For now, I hold a grudging respect for her, she has a lot stacked against her, and yet she does fairly well considering. I’m going to give her room to grow because I too am evolved. But I’m keeping one eye open🧐

Xavier

The verdict’s not out on this one. I don’t dislike him, but I don’t like him either. The fact is he led Sophie on, knowing full well he liked Ever. Which is wrong on so many levels. So much would have been avoided if he was upfront about how he felt.

Instead he chose to use Sophie to get closer to Ever (I find it hard to believe he ever had true feelings for Sophie).

Also, it’s never made clear why he liked Ever soooo much. His motivations were all kinda random. Personally, I’m not a fan of wishy-washy personalities, in real life or fiction. Like Sophie, there’s room for him to grow, so I’m not writing him off just yet.

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