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bo0ks_are_cool91's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
Solid. I don’t really have anything else to say but I enjoyed it.
emgrossmann's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
makennakjacobs's review against another edition
3.75
I devoured this book in one sitting. I enjoyed the combination of Princess Diaries and Crazy Rich Asians, plus a bodyguard romance, but in many ways, the concepts/tropes sounded better than how the actual execution went, for me. For example, the parent characters had so much potential but their Parent Trap-style reunion felt both inevitable and flat. Everyone's role defined their personality, which was tiresome. I didn't love how quickly the main character learned Japanese after one trite mistake.
sophie22's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
alifeofherown's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
diacle's review against another edition
I just didn't like the main character and the writing style was too silly.
crosswarrior7's review against another edition
3.0
Short review: Three stars. Charming, enjoyable tale of self-discovery. Izumi finding herself appealed to me more than the romance, personally.
Full review:
Tokyo Ever After focuses on Izumi Tanaka, a Japanese-American whose grandparents moved to America. Growing up in a very white town where there are so few Asians they can form a gang of four in school, she’s never felt like she fit in. When she discovers that her father is the crown prince of Japan, she takes her chance to discover her roots and meet her father by traveling to across the world. Facing issues with the new culture, royal duties, and feelings she is told she shouldn’t have, Izumi will discover more than she ever expected. Including where she belongs, even if it’s never where she expected.
I want to preface this by saying, for those who don’t know this, I am a very white, very ‘American’ American who lives in a town filled with others like that. America was supposed to be home to all cultures and all races, but that isn’t how it feels for a lot of people. And Izumi is one of those people, as are her Asian friends who all feel othered, sometimes explicitly by bullies, sometimes just by looking around and not seeing many others like them.
Her relationship with her mom and her friends was really sweet and adorable, though part of me did feel like she was in part othering herself since her only group of friends was from her Asian gang. Not saying fellow Asian Americans wouldn’t understand her better, but the fact that her friend group was only made up of Asian Americans made it seem like her classmates weren’t the only ones seeing race before people? I know that's not how it was, but it’s why it bothered me because, like, she can still be friends with white Americans?
But yeah, given this issue of identity she’s struggling with and just the fact that yeah, people want to know both their parents if they can, it fully made sense that she would jump on the chance to run to Japan and meet her father. Sometimes, the weight of meeting her father and discovering she was a princess was handled very well, especially in moments such as her one-on-ones with her father. However, there are other times when I admittedly felt it was handled with a bit too much humor and brushed off in a way that didn’t really match up with how determined Izumi was to discover herself? Quirky voice and quirky characters are fun, and I laughed and enjoyed a good bit, but sometimes the weight and tone of the story was sacrificed for the sake of that quirky character/quirky voice.
The self-discovery part though was something I really enjoyed though. Izumi was an awkward, lost Japanese American teenager. You could really sense her off feeling, yet you the reader always had a sense she may be going about it the wrong way because of how fish-out-of-water she was in the environment she believed would be her sea. But in those moments when she was actually able to breathe, when she truly got to experience Japanese culture and time with her father, it just filled me with feel-goods and chills. The discovery that happened here had a pretty cheesy ending, but the journey there presented the beauty of Japanese culture (though I cannot speak of the accuracy, as I’m sure creative liberties had to be taken because, ya know, it’s fiction) while also gradually developing a very sweet, cute father-daughter relationship.
There were some issues, though. The first of which is I just didn’t really feel the romance. It was like it went from enemies-to-lovers to forbidden love. Only one of those aspects semi-worked for me, mostly because the transfer between them just felt... Sudden. I never really understood when Izumi became infatuated with her love interest, or vice versa. We were just kinda told that it happened. I didn’t really feel the connection there between them, like, at all. It was cute, sure, but it didn’t feel real, ya know?
Some other characters could be a bit two-dimensional, like the twin princesses. There were attempts to add depth to them near the end, but it was never explored enough to give their characters much added depth. Other characters just toed the line, but overall, most just weren’t any characters I really loved because there wasn’t enough to them to love, even the ones who befriended Izumi. Maybe one character, but the development done with him needed a bit more oomph, if you ask me.
Overall, a very fun read. I enjoyed it, I would recommend it, but more as a slice-of-life, self-discovery story, not really as a YA romance novel. It hit very well for one of those areas, not so much the other.
Full review:
Tokyo Ever After focuses on Izumi Tanaka, a Japanese-American whose grandparents moved to America. Growing up in a very white town where there are so few Asians they can form a gang of four in school, she’s never felt like she fit in. When she discovers that her father is the crown prince of Japan, she takes her chance to discover her roots and meet her father by traveling to across the world. Facing issues with the new culture, royal duties, and feelings she is told she shouldn’t have, Izumi will discover more than she ever expected. Including where she belongs, even if it’s never where she expected.
I want to preface this by saying, for those who don’t know this, I am a very white, very ‘American’ American who lives in a town filled with others like that. America was supposed to be home to all cultures and all races, but that isn’t how it feels for a lot of people. And Izumi is one of those people, as are her Asian friends who all feel othered, sometimes explicitly by bullies, sometimes just by looking around and not seeing many others like them.
Her relationship with her mom and her friends was really sweet and adorable, though part of me did feel like she was in part othering herself since her only group of friends was from her Asian gang. Not saying fellow Asian Americans wouldn’t understand her better, but the fact that her friend group was only made up of Asian Americans made it seem like her classmates weren’t the only ones seeing race before people? I know that's not how it was, but it’s why it bothered me because, like, she can still be friends with white Americans?
But yeah, given this issue of identity she’s struggling with and just the fact that yeah, people want to know both their parents if they can, it fully made sense that she would jump on the chance to run to Japan and meet her father. Sometimes, the weight of meeting her father and discovering she was a princess was handled very well, especially in moments such as her one-on-ones with her father. However, there are other times when I admittedly felt it was handled with a bit too much humor and brushed off in a way that didn’t really match up with how determined Izumi was to discover herself? Quirky voice and quirky characters are fun, and I laughed and enjoyed a good bit, but sometimes the weight and tone of the story was sacrificed for the sake of that quirky character/quirky voice.
The self-discovery part though was something I really enjoyed though. Izumi was an awkward, lost Japanese American teenager. You could really sense her off feeling, yet you the reader always had a sense she may be going about it the wrong way because of how fish-out-of-water she was in the environment she believed would be her sea. But in those moments when she was actually able to breathe, when she truly got to experience Japanese culture and time with her father, it just filled me with feel-goods and chills. The discovery that happened here had a pretty cheesy ending, but the journey there presented the beauty of Japanese culture (though I cannot speak of the accuracy, as I’m sure creative liberties had to be taken because, ya know, it’s fiction) while also gradually developing a very sweet, cute father-daughter relationship.
There were some issues, though. The first of which is I just didn’t really feel the romance. It was like it went from enemies-to-lovers to forbidden love. Only one of those aspects semi-worked for me, mostly because the transfer between them just felt... Sudden. I never really understood when Izumi became infatuated with her love interest, or vice versa. We were just kinda told that it happened. I didn’t really feel the connection there between them, like, at all. It was cute, sure, but it didn’t feel real, ya know?
Some other characters could be a bit two-dimensional, like the twin princesses. There were attempts to add depth to them near the end, but it was never explored enough to give their characters much added depth. Other characters just toed the line, but overall, most just weren’t any characters I really loved because there wasn’t enough to them to love, even the ones who befriended Izumi. Maybe one character, but the development done with him needed a bit more oomph, if you ask me.
Overall, a very fun read. I enjoyed it, I would recommend it, but more as a slice-of-life, self-discovery story, not really as a YA romance novel. It hit very well for one of those areas, not so much the other.
allielh23's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-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
4.5
knuckledown's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5