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thepetitepunk's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars? 4? I’m not sure.
So this DEFINITELY will not be for everyone. I will just put this warning out there right now: this book deals with prominent themes of cheating and racism, with a generous dash of homophobia and general stereotyping. If you don’t like books that rely on cheating and ignorant characters (there’s character growth! fear not! but their racist and homophobic comments are still noticeably abundant), this won’t be for you. Also...be prepared for some unlikeable, messy characters.
Now that that’s over with, I surprisingly enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. Based on the reviews I read before reading the book myself, I assumed that I wasn’t going to like quite a few elements of this book, just based on the fact that I haven’t liked those same elements in other books. But somehow it worked for me? I’m confused.
Our main character Sana is a hot mess. She whines all the time. She makes terrible decisions. She makes terrible decisions while whining about said terrible decisions because she knows she’s making terrible decisions that will have consequences that she will whine about later. Seriously. Sana is ALL over the place.
I think it’s safe to say that her character will annoy most people at the very least, but most likely anger readers due to her unfathomably atrocious decision-making skills. Now, I don’t know what this says about me, but I think Sana and her epic tale of just repeatedly being horrible made me like the book. It was (shhhhh don’t judge me) oddly relatable...? See, whenever I relate to a character and then read reviews that the character was so god-awful and ruined the book, I get a little self-conscious because that’s probably what people are saying about me in real life. Lol. But yeah. Sana struggles to speak up, deals with constant cognitive dissonance, wants to be a goody-two-shoes while also wanting to do “rebellious” things, gets angry, gets jealous, gets vengeful, gets confused, gets hurt, gets whiny, gets messy, etc. etc. etc.
I just related to this, okay? People aren’t perfect. Aaaand some people deal with that in better ways than other. (And that wouldn’t not be Sana. Or me.)
So this DEFINITELY will not be for everyone. I will just put this warning out there right now: this book deals with prominent themes of cheating and racism, with a generous dash of homophobia and general stereotyping. If you don’t like books that rely on cheating and ignorant characters (there’s character growth! fear not! but their racist and homophobic comments are still noticeably abundant), this won’t be for you. Also...be prepared for some unlikeable, messy characters.
Now that that’s over with, I surprisingly enjoyed this much more than I was expecting. Based on the reviews I read before reading the book myself, I assumed that I wasn’t going to like quite a few elements of this book, just based on the fact that I haven’t liked those same elements in other books. But somehow it worked for me? I’m confused.
Our main character Sana is a hot mess. She whines all the time. She makes terrible decisions. She makes terrible decisions while whining about said terrible decisions because she knows she’s making terrible decisions that will have consequences that she will whine about later. Seriously. Sana is ALL over the place.
I think it’s safe to say that her character will annoy most people at the very least, but most likely anger readers due to her unfathomably atrocious decision-making skills. Now, I don’t know what this says about me, but I think Sana and her epic tale of just repeatedly being horrible made me like the book. It was (shhhhh don’t judge me) oddly relatable...? See, whenever I relate to a character and then read reviews that the character was so god-awful and ruined the book, I get a little self-conscious because that’s probably what people are saying about me in real life. Lol. But yeah. Sana struggles to speak up, deals with constant cognitive dissonance, wants to be a goody-two-shoes while also wanting to do “rebellious” things, gets angry, gets jealous, gets vengeful, gets confused, gets hurt, gets whiny, gets messy, etc. etc. etc.
I just related to this, okay? People aren’t perfect. Aaaand some people deal with that in better ways than other. (And that wouldn’t not be Sana. Or me.)
poachingeggs's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, but i’ll round up because it was pretty cute. initially, i was losing it because this book was marketed as “perfect for fans of becky albertalli and to all the boys i’ve loved before,” and the fact that tatbilb is the only prominent ya book with an east asian lead so it’s tacked onto the blurb any other ya book with an east asian is ridiculous. hOweVer, the writing style did have similar ~vibes~ to tatbilb in that it was descriptive and relatable and just the right amount of quirky. sana, the main character, is incredibly flawed in so many ways and so are all of the characters, which is nice to read about because it’s so realistic, but i wish there was more on how sana is working to better herself, especially since so much of the book deals with racism within different POC groups, and just ,,,,, Sana Do Better.
leafblade's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the slutshaming and racism never got resolved. And, you know, I'm latina so it hurt
knmel's review against another edition
1.0
i liked the representation, and the characters and friendships were cute, but this was frustrating. first, it’s kind of problematic. there is a lot of racist things that happen that are kind of talked about, but not really dissected at all. also, having a lesbian cheat with a guy is kind of a weird storyline. second, we don’t really get to know jamie very well but are supposed to be rooting for this relationship that seems very toxic, juvenile, and rushed. also, the writing seemed odd, you can always tell when a story is being written about teenagers by an adult who has no clue what it’s like to be a teenager now. that being said, i thought it was very cool to read a book where all of the characters besides one or two are poc, and the main relationship is gay. also, it talks about subjects which writers usually avoid, such as racism within racial groups, racial prejudice, and complicated family relationships. overall, a 2 or 3
rainbowbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
Poetry, lesbian romance, family traditions, and culture clashes are some of the things that make this YA romance a gem.
mysticmarisa's review against another edition
2.0
This book had the potential to be really good but I feel like it tried to tackle too many things. In result, it came off as unauthentic. Many of the issues with race are very real, but the way they were presented made it seem like a skit about how-not-to-be-racist. Overall, kind of disappointing.
lnlee78's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book but I'm not sure if "the cute teen lesbian romance we always wanted" is an accurate description for it (if that's the expectation that people had for this book, I can see why they were disappointed!). IMO, it seemed to be more about the story of a girl whose dad is unfaithful, and how that affects her as she tries to grapple with her identity (racial, sexual, etc.), relationships (with SOs, friends, parents, etc.), and sense of self.
As a bi individual, I appreciated the Asian queer rep in this book (which I thought was well-done even though it may not be "own voices"), and I esp appreciated the fact that Sana went from thinking she was straight-->considered the possibility of being lesbian and felt shame for it because of her highly traditional Asian background-->accepted herself as a lesbian+found love-->questioned whether she is lesbian or bi/tried to date a boy because of external pressures to be a "normal Asian girl"-->completely accepted herself as a lesbian/owned up to her mistakes before finally being accepted by family and friends. It was a bit messy, I know, but as someone who comes from a similar background as Sana, it felt more genuine and true to home than the "I'm confident in my queer identity" non-Asian queer stories that I've seen in YA before.
And although I acknowledge the fact that the Latinx rep might be problematic, I think the book accurately depicted the views of the Asian parents/teens I have known in my life (again, just my experience as the daughter of highly racist Asian parents who also have friends that are similarly racist). Sana's exploration of the different POC social groups in a diverse high school and how each has their own micro-aggressions against the other also rang very painfully true to me. And I appreciated the fact that Sugiura not only addressed those racist ideas as problematic but also showed how Sana learned that she herself was not "color blind" due to her own upbringing and learned to own up to her mistakes. I also SCREAMED in the scene with the white cop, since everything the white cop said to Sana to set up Asians as a "model minority" to put them apart/against other POC groups (down to the "oh (this asian country) is so clean! There are lots of good food there! People are so nice and there is no crime because there aren't any (THIS group of people)!") was something I experienced in my own life in the Bay Area (PSA to white people in case it wasn't obvious: this is also a form of racism, since it not only says Asians are 'exotic' but also pits a POC group against another.)
On a personal level, I definitely appreciated the beginning of the book, when Sana first realizes that she will NEVER fit in with her all-white friends no matter how much she thinks she does, as well as the culture shock she received when she moved to a more diverse area, in which she strangely/sadly felt like an Other, too, even among other Asians (that was me while growing up, too). The progression of her relationships with her parents as well as the conversations she has with her mother towards the end were also very emotional and important for me (I cried a LOT).
This book is messy. It confronts issues and boldly includes conversations that might make some readers uncomfortable. It contains complicated relationships and yes, there is cheating in this book. The cheating was especially painful to read, personally, but as someone who grew up with friends who had to deal with cheating fathers early on and witnessed how that messed up how THEY themselves dealt with their own personal relationships (i.e.: gave them fearful/unstable views about relationships, just like Sana's)...I felt like Sana's personal journey (and her mistakes) was sadly very accurate, in the psychological sense.
So TL;DR: this book isn't just a "sweet lesbian romance." YES, it has very cute girl-romance scenes that I adored, but this book is more of a coming-of-age story of a girl who comes from a "messy" background (b/c of her parents' backstories/views) who learns about herself, owns up to her mistakes, and pursues who/what she truly wants. And for that, this book felt incredibly important.
As a bi individual, I appreciated the Asian queer rep in this book (which I thought was well-done even though it may not be "own voices"), and I esp appreciated the fact that Sana went from thinking she was straight-->considered the possibility of being lesbian and felt shame for it because of her highly traditional Asian background-->accepted herself as a lesbian+found love-->questioned whether she is lesbian or bi/tried to date a boy because of external pressures to be a "normal Asian girl"-->completely accepted herself as a lesbian/owned up to her mistakes before finally being accepted by family and friends. It was a bit messy, I know, but as someone who comes from a similar background as Sana, it felt more genuine and true to home than the "I'm confident in my queer identity" non-Asian queer stories that I've seen in YA before.
And although I acknowledge the fact that the Latinx rep might be problematic, I think the book accurately depicted the views of the Asian parents/teens I have known in my life (again, just my experience as the daughter of highly racist Asian parents who also have friends that are similarly racist). Sana's exploration of the different POC social groups in a diverse high school and how each has their own micro-aggressions against the other also rang very painfully true to me. And I appreciated the fact that Sugiura not only addressed those racist ideas as problematic but also showed how Sana learned that she herself was not "color blind" due to her own upbringing and learned to own up to her mistakes. I also SCREAMED in the scene with the white cop, since everything the white cop said to Sana to set up Asians as a "model minority" to put them apart/against other POC groups (down to the "oh (this asian country) is so clean! There are lots of good food there! People are so nice and there is no crime because there aren't any (THIS group of people)!") was something I experienced in my own life in the Bay Area (PSA to white people in case it wasn't obvious: this is also a form of racism, since it not only says Asians are 'exotic' but also pits a POC group against another.)
On a personal level, I definitely appreciated the beginning of the book, when Sana first realizes that she will NEVER fit in with her all-white friends no matter how much she thinks she does, as well as the culture shock she received when she moved to a more diverse area, in which she strangely/sadly felt like an Other, too, even among other Asians (that was me while growing up, too). The progression of her relationships with her parents as well as the conversations she has with her mother towards the end were also very emotional and important for me (I cried a LOT).
This book is messy. It confronts issues and boldly includes conversations that might make some readers uncomfortable. It contains complicated relationships and yes, there is cheating in this book. The cheating was especially painful to read, personally, but as someone who grew up with friends who had to deal with cheating fathers early on and witnessed how that messed up how THEY themselves dealt with their own personal relationships (i.e.: gave them fearful/unstable views about relationships, just like Sana's)...I felt like Sana's personal journey (and her mistakes) was sadly very accurate, in the psychological sense.
So TL;DR: this book isn't just a "sweet lesbian romance." YES, it has very cute girl-romance scenes that I adored, but this book is more of a coming-of-age story of a girl who comes from a "messy" background (b/c of her parents' backstories/views) who learns about herself, owns up to her mistakes, and pursues who/what she truly wants. And for that, this book felt incredibly important.
whatcandicereads's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book. In fact, I wanted to love this book. It places focus on identities that simply weren’t mentioned in my YA books when I was going through middle and high school. The first half was great. I loved the characters Sana and Jamie, but the middle is when things got rocky for me.
I’d recommend it, but only with a reminder that this *is* a YA novel and is likely intended for younger readers- many of whom may not grapple with issues of race, prejudice, and stereotyping on a regular basis. Sana is only in high school and to her credit, wasn’t confronted with harsh issues of race until later in her life, but I still don’t like the way she was allowed to be so loud and wrong about a community she knew nothing about. In my opinion, her comments about Latinx individuals were left unsettled and simply tied up with a “She said sorry and now we all forgive and forget” message. I have a lot of feelings about this- will likely revisit this review later.
I’d recommend it, but only with a reminder that this *is* a YA novel and is likely intended for younger readers- many of whom may not grapple with issues of race, prejudice, and stereotyping on a regular basis. Sana is only in high school and to her credit, wasn’t confronted with harsh issues of race until later in her life, but I still don’t like the way she was allowed to be so loud and wrong about a community she knew nothing about. In my opinion, her comments about Latinx individuals were left unsettled and simply tied up with a “She said sorry and now we all forgive and forget” message. I have a lot of feelings about this- will likely revisit this review later.
melissaverasreads's review against another edition
3.0
This was REALLY entertaining but the protagonist was not good, and there was a plot point that bothered me A LOT. I'm giving it a 3 because I was really invested in the story but maybe in the future, looking back, I was going to be like what was I thinking, this was a 2.5.