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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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:
Complicated
I'm struggling to rate this book because, on the one hand, the concept, the cultural representation is everything I love, but this book also was bogged down with so many stereotypes and poor pacing that it was almost too hard to get through.
What did I like?
- I liked Gemma overall. She was a relatable, fun character and I really enjoyed reading from her perspective.
- I liked learning some of the histories of Bejing that was woven into this story and I really liked the overall representation of the Eastern culture.
- I think the way Diana went about exploring the other issues in this book was well done.
I think the overall issue for me here was the pacing. I don't think I have read a contemporary book quite so slow in my entire life. I found a lot of the book bogged down with unnecessary filler chapters and I was skipping a lot of it and still found I didn't miss anything from the story.
I also didn't care for the romance aspect at all, equally as much as I hated the Alyssa/Gemma thing. I just thought Alyssa would have spent more time explaining what happened between the families if she wanted to keep Gemma away more than she did. This part felt unrealistic to me.
Overall, I enjoyed Diana's writing and I would read something from her again. However, this book disappointed me.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
What did I like?
- I liked Gemma overall. She was a relatable, fun character and I really enjoyed reading from her perspective.
- I liked learning some of the histories of Bejing that was woven into this story and I really liked the overall representation of the Eastern culture.
- I think the way Diana went about exploring the other issues in this book was well done.
I think the overall issue for me here was the pacing. I don't think I have read a contemporary book quite so slow in my entire life. I found a lot of the book bogged down with unnecessary filler chapters and I was skipping a lot of it and still found I didn't miss anything from the story.
I also didn't care for the romance aspect at all, equally as much as I hated the Alyssa/Gemma thing. I just thought Alyssa would have spent more time explaining what happened between the families if she wanted to keep Gemma away more than she did. This part felt unrealistic to me.
Overall, I enjoyed Diana's writing and I would read something from her again. However, this book disappointed me.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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:
No
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ok, I'll admit I don't know that much about Chinese history and dynasties, so some of the reason for the Big Mystery around the family passed by me. This falls into the pseudo-Cinderella story genre: let's face it, Gemma's luck is a bit too good to be true, and then in China it's simply fantastical. What surprised me was that the smog my Chinese students complain about didn't seem to be a problem, and the ease with which Gemma travelled around and talked about things like Tienanmen Square without someone either assigned to watch over/guard her/keep her from making stupid American mistakes felt wrong.
As far as silly YA romance with a side of family mystery goes, it's passable.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
As far as silly YA romance with a side of family mystery goes, it's passable.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.
I love the style of this book and the representation. I thought the voice and tone were just fantastic from the beginning. It did take me a while to read this one, as I kept losing interest in it. I don't know exactly why, but maybe the setting was something I was into. The whole "Hollywood" setting in YA stories can be a bit of a yawn since that is all we see on television nowadays. However, the representation was fantastic. I missed the romance, I didn't have that aspect which is why I wanted to read it, but it was a good read. I have to say, this is one of the few that I regret not finishing in one sitting. It did have a lot of what I expected and wanted, aside from the lack of romance.
This book was a quite a disappointment. While reading, I kept wondering who the intended audience for this book is. As an Asian person, albeit half, this book seems to be written for an audience that is not Chinese and not even Asian. This book seems like it was written for white people who need to be introduced to basic aspects of Asian(-American) culture. There are so many things that common in the Asian-American experience that were unnecessary explained that people who lived that experience do not need the reasoning for. In addition, the usage of the Chinese language reflected this as well. Who doesn't know that "xie xie" is "thank you" in Chinese? It only needed to explained once, putting "I thanked in Chinese" after using it was redundant. A glossary of all the romanized Chinese that was used would have made it seem like it was actually for an Chinese-American/Asian-American audience.
The unnecessary praise for Awkwafina, someone who put on a Black caricature to boost herself to stardom and proceed to drop the act once she got more "respectable" roles, was incredibly disappointing to see. Awkwafina is not someone to look up to, even if there are very few Asian actors in Hollywood. She is someone didn't admonish her behavior until the public held her accountable, and she made a dumb excuse about using AAVE. Saying that she did so because she was a first-generation Asian American. I, myself, am a first-generation Asian American and thought that excuse was utter bullshit, because myself and plenty of Asian Americans do not perpetuate negative Black stereotypes to better navigate life in America. Also, Awkwafina is a hypocrite. Someone who claims to be against making a minstrel out of her own culture and community had no problem doing so for a community she doesn't belong to, and one that experiences much more discrimination than we do as Asian people. À la Isabel Wilkerson, Asian people find themselves in the middle caste as Black people are in the lowest class, so all Awkwafina did to boost her career is punch down on the Black community that faces much more hardships than us. This praise of Awkwafina, albeit in a single paragraph, was just a big turn off.
Aside from this, the plot was really predictable. Of course she happens to be related to Chinese royalty on her mother's side, who happens to be more secretive than Gemma's father about her life before America. It also was really weird that a newbie actress was able to make so many changes in the production, which is really unrealistic. Other than that, this book is very forgettable and even though it's been a few days since I read this book, it left little impression on me because I don't remember much.
The unnecessary praise for Awkwafina, someone who put on a Black caricature to boost herself to stardom and proceed to drop the act once she got more "respectable" roles, was incredibly disappointing to see. Awkwafina is not someone to look up to, even if there are very few Asian actors in Hollywood. She is someone didn't admonish her behavior until the public held her accountable, and she made a dumb excuse about using AAVE. Saying that she did so because she was a first-generation Asian American. I, myself, am a first-generation Asian American and thought that excuse was utter bullshit, because myself and plenty of Asian Americans do not perpetuate negative Black stereotypes to better navigate life in America. Also, Awkwafina is a hypocrite. Someone who claims to be against making a minstrel out of her own culture and community had no problem doing so for a community she doesn't belong to, and one that experiences much more discrimination than we do as Asian people. À la Isabel Wilkerson, Asian people find themselves in the middle caste as Black people are in the lowest class, so all Awkwafina did to boost her career is punch down on the Black community that faces much more hardships than us. This praise of Awkwafina, albeit in a single paragraph, was just a big turn off.
Aside from this, the plot was really predictable. Of course she happens to be related to Chinese royalty on her mother's side, who happens to be more secretive than Gemma's father about her life before America. It also was really weird that a newbie actress was able to make so many changes in the production, which is really unrealistic. Other than that, this book is very forgettable and even though it's been a few days since I read this book, it left little impression on me because I don't remember much.
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Yesss. This is what [b:My Summer of Love and Misfortune|52258019|My Summer of Love and Misfortune|Lindsay Wong|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580651561l/52258019._SY75_.jpg|63175643] was aiming for, I think, at least in the loosest of terms (Chinese-American girl goes to China and discovers that her relatives are fabulously wealthy…). Gemma’s parents have warned her again and again to stay away from China, but they’ve never explained why. But when a role in an adaptation of [b:M. Butterfly|95833|M. Butterfly|David Henry Hwang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387665953l/95833._SY75_.jpg|1820443]—a role that could be her breakthrough in Hollywood—takes her to Beijing, Gemma learns the truth: she still has family in Beijing, and their family history, both recent and ancient, is more complicated than she could imagine.
There’s a great supporting cast here. No reliance on tropes or stereotypes: Gemma’s parents want her to succeed academically, yes, and they aren’t thrilled with her decision to take a gap year to pursue acting, but fundamentally there’s never a question that they love her and know she’ll carve her own path. Gemma’s relatives in China, too, are allowed to be far more than what you see at first glance. Her cousin is an It girl, a social media influencer, a queen bee…but that’s just the outermost layer. Even the irritating white movie director, who is more than ready to leap to stereotyping (often racist or homophobic stereotyping) in the movie, is given his redemptive moments—he doesn’t seek out moments to learn, but when presented with them, he’s usually willing to be proven wrong.
The one place I wanted more was the ‘guess what, we’re related’ part of things. It’s just…for most of the book, Gemma forges ahead with this new knowledge of family, but without any proof or confirmation. It keeps things moving, but come on now—if someone hunted you down and told you you were long-lost relations, wouldn’t you want proof more than similarities in appearance and the knowledge of a single name? You’d want a DNA test. Photos. Letters. Proof.
All things considered, though, that’s a minor quibble. I’m glad there are more books planned for the series.
There’s a great supporting cast here. No reliance on tropes or stereotypes: Gemma’s parents want her to succeed academically, yes, and they aren’t thrilled with her decision to take a gap year to pursue acting, but fundamentally there’s never a question that they love her and know she’ll carve her own path. Gemma’s relatives in China, too, are allowed to be far more than what you see at first glance. Her cousin is an It girl, a social media influencer, a queen bee…but that’s just the outermost layer. Even the irritating white movie director, who is more than ready to leap to stereotyping (often racist or homophobic stereotyping) in the movie, is given his redemptive moments—he doesn’t seek out moments to learn, but when presented with them, he’s usually willing to be proven wrong.
The one place I wanted more was the ‘guess what, we’re related’ part of things. It’s just…for most of the book, Gemma forges ahead with this new knowledge of family, but without any proof or confirmation. It keeps things moving, but come on now—if someone hunted you down and told you you were long-lost relations, wouldn’t you want proof more than similarities in appearance and the knowledge of a single name? You’d want a DNA test. Photos. Letters. Proof.
All things considered, though, that’s a minor quibble. I’m glad there are more books planned for the series.