Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Mika in Real Life

I'm sorry, the narrator sounds too much like the TikTok text to speech woman. It was so irritating to listen to. The premise of the story seemed interesting. Maybe I will try this book in print.

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piratenami's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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annreadsabook's review

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medium-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

3.75

35-year-old Mika is stumbling through life, just barely making ends meet, and abashedly asking for money from her disappointed parents when she receives an unexpected call—from the daughter, Penny, she gave up for adoption 16 years ago. Eager to impress Penny, Mika makes up a little white lie…then another…then another…until she finds herself scrambling to fabricate the life she wishes she had when Penny reveals she plans to visit Mika.

While MIKA IN REAL LIFE addresses very real issues about parenthood, adoption, and life/career in your mid-thirties, Emiko Jean injects moments of levity throughout. Jean’s book considers the sacrifices we make to achieve certain versions of ourselves—Mika has gone so long sacrificing everything she loved to pursue a version of herself that was palatable to her parents, but is the cost more than she can bear? Lots of interesting discussions of parent-child dynamics: on the one hand, Mika tries to build up a “fake” life to impress her daughter, and on the other, Mika tries to deal with the fact that her parents are almost always disappointed in her. I liked the ways that Jean grappled with the feeling of being a thirty-something who is still grasping for a sense of meaning in life when everything around you says you should’ve figured it out by now—in other words, it feels like life is passing you by.

I did have questions about the representation of transracial adoption in this book. I am not an adoptee, so I defer to transracial adoptees who have read this book. But there were moments in which I felt troubled by the fairly forgiving portrayal of Penny’s white adoptive parents, even in one instance where Penny’s adoptive mother threw essentially an adult temper tantrum when confronted with the idea of connecting Penny with her Japanese heritage.

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abbiechron's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

What started off as a surface-level read bloomed into a beautiful story of finding one's way. At times it was painfully predictable, for example,

Mika and Thomas

, but the beautiful youth and growth shown through and allowed for room for my predictions to be flawed in the best ways. Don't skip this read.

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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? No

4.0

Thank you to Michael Joseph Penguin Publishing for sending this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Mika Suzuki, she is 35 and she is struggling. She’s been fired (again). Her last relationship went up in flames. Her fervently traditional mother is perpetually disappointed in her. And now, she’s had a phone call from sixteen-year-old Penny Calvin. Her baby she reluctantly gave up for adoption when she was a teenager herself. Mika is desperate to meet her baby. But she barely feels like she can take care of herself. Is she ready to show Penny who her mother really is. This book is a contemporary fiction book set in America.

I wanted to give my heart to Mika and wanted to give her the biggest hug I could possibly give someone. Her story is so powerful, so heart breaking and how she managed I would have no clue. I would have loved to see Peter finding out he has a daughter and what the cause of his actions were. Penny was so smart and bright, and you can tell how much she wanted to learn but also respecting Mika’s boundaries. I loved to see the relationship grow between Mika and Penny and Thomas and how they became a blended family. I’m have a best friend like Hana in my life, so I was totally in love with Hana, I thought she was amazing and brilliant, and I wanted to see more of her and her girlfriend.

I wouldn’t say it was a weakness but considering this book is about Mika’s self-worth and that she doesn’t feel worthy another person or her worth, so I would have loved to see her friends point of views and showing what she looks like to other people and they can see that she’s holding back and the change in her that happens.

All and all, I enjoyed reading this book and I would read another one of Emiko Jean’s books.

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d0505's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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