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cboddie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Cancer and Sexual harassment
wangela's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
maple_dove's review
- 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
For me, I loved how relatable this was in terms of being Chinese-American. A lot of this resonated with me. WeChat is a real app btw!
Favorite Quotes:
I look up at my mother, appreciating her empathy, but nauseated by my stupidity. She didn't get to where she is by making mistakes. She got to where she is by being in control. Never letting a weak moment get the best of her.
Mom gets up and goes to her room. "I want to show you something."
She returns with the framed sketch from her desk. It's a picture she drew of women in the Victorian era wearing various lavish, colorful dresses and evening gowns. I always thought she was paying tribute to Little Women, one of our favorite movies. But Mom tells me, "See those colorful dresses? Before the Victorian era, it was extremely expensive to dye fabrics. But then one day Walter Henry Perkin Jr. accidentally mixed oxidized aniline with wine. That's how synthetic dye was created."
Mom puts a hand to the picture.
"I keep this on my desk to remind myself, it's OK to make mistakes. Some of the best innovations in fashion came as a result of desginers daring to experiment."
I hate that even when a guy threatens to do something totally demeaning, a girl still feels like she has to be nice in order to get the guy to not do something illegal.
"Because she doesn't make me choose between two things I love, she accepts all of me! That's what love is, it's not expecting perfection and punishing flaws. It means being for them always."
Graphic: Racism, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Bullying
Minor: Classism, Vomit, and Infidelity
theonewheresamreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Medical content
klutzykara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
I did not like: Cameron's horrible, douchey existence. Men like that do exist in high school (everywhere :/), but his character took away from the the important themes and arc of the story and should have been removed. The sexual comments, nudes, revenge p*rn, and general toxicity from him was randomly inserted in a way that dragged down the story and my rating. I wanted more from other characters. & tbh the dialogue from the teenagers was pretty cringey to me at times. I'm not a teenager anymore, but the teenagers here seemed to interact with each other like caricatures/clichés of current teenagers rather than realistic ones. So while I like Kelly Yang's writing overall, the writing needed to be better in these instances. I would probably recommend Parachutes and/or her Front Desk series (a middle grade all ages can enjoy) over this one because of this reason, although the story here is a good one overall.
Graphic: Cancer and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism and Toxic relationship
clarvicle's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Cancer, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
maggies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Medical content, Abandonment, and Racism
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Bullying
Minor: Infidelity
sambortle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Bestselling author Kelly Yang makes her first foray into contemporary YA romance with PRIVATE LABEL, again proving why her voice is one to be reckoned with on both the MG and YA scenes. On the surface, PRIVATE LABEL is an earnest story of first love, but Yang’s skills shine through in the novel’s thoughtful, nuanced explorations of belonging, familial expectations, immigration, assimilation, and the weight of care-taking.
Despite being the only Chinese-American students in their mostly white Southern California beach town, Serene Lee (née, Serene Li) and Lian Chen could not be further apart in the hierarchy of their high school. Serene is popular — the daughter of a self-made, successful fashion designer, with the right friends and the “golden boy” boyfriend. Lian is a nerd — his entire class calls him “Liam,” refusing to learn his name when he moved from China a year ago, and his closest friend is the kid who copies his homework every morning.
Serene dreams of making a name for herself outside of her mom’s fashion empire, but for now she’ll settle for being the intern. But when her mom collapses on a business trip and receives a stunning diagnosis of stage 3 pancreatic cancer, Serene finds herself taking over the business and struggling to prove herself to ruthless investors. Meanwhile, Lian’s parents have their eyes set on his early admission to MIT. This means hours of studying, tutoring, and reaching for perfection on tests that Liam doesn’t care about. His dream of becoming a stand up comic is feeling more and more out of reach, until in a last-ditch effort he starts a “fake” Chinese Club after school… and Serene walks in.
Told in alternating first-person narration, PRIVATE LABEL follows Serene and Lian as their lives spiral out of control and propel them toward each other on a crash-course neither could have predicted.
PRIVATE LABEL is out TODAY, 5/31/22! Thank you to @katherinetegenbooks @harpercollins and @netgalley for the eARC.
Graphic: Medical content and Cancer
Moderate: Racism, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
bookwormbullet's review
- 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
Graphic: Medical content and Cancer
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Racism, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship