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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
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
Dee's mom has raised her to always be positive. And she tries to maintain that even after losing her job and having her parents and her racist grandmother move back in with her. Each chapter starts with her daily affirmations.
This book focuses so much on Dee's journey and growth. I especially appreciated seeing how the chapter starting affirmations changed over the course of the book. And the author's note was quite thoughtful in discussing affirmations and toxic positivity.
The other main storyline was about Dee's work in DEI and the microaggressions and racism in the workplace. That's part of how she comes to know the MMC. Their romance was a lesser storyline for me than the hard hitting storylines about Dee's life and work.
This book focuses so much on Dee's journey and growth. I especially appreciated seeing how the chapter starting affirmations changed over the course of the book. And the author's note was quite thoughtful in discussing affirmations and toxic positivity.
The other main storyline was about Dee's work in DEI and the microaggressions and racism in the workplace. That's part of how she comes to know the MMC. Their romance was a lesser storyline for me than the hard hitting storylines about Dee's life and work.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
I absolutely adore these Lily Chu books, I love how they are sweet/tropey/and not spicy. Phillipa Soo is a wonderful Audiobook narrator which takes these books up a notch. I like how Lily Chu gives all of her protagonists a hobby and we see them invest in that. Dee Kwan is into Questly-a trivia game that takes her on different quests around town.
Dee Kwan is an optimist and seeing her struggle to move on from "manifesting" and acknowledging how her mom's toxic positivity has negatively impacted her- is believable plot line if a little annoying for people who aren't optimists.
Teddy is a consent KING which is incredibly relieving after reading so many books where male protagonists are walking red flags.
follow me @allmyfriendsarereading for more book recommendations.
Dee Kwan is an optimist and seeing her struggle to move on from "manifesting" and acknowledging how her mom's toxic positivity has negatively impacted her- is believable plot line if a little annoying for people who aren't optimists.
Teddy is a consent KING which is incredibly relieving after reading so many books where male protagonists are walking red flags.
follow me @allmyfriendsarereading for more book recommendations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall the book was good but I don’t feel like it was the authors best work. Many of the characters really got on my nerves. It seemed like they were written in an over exaggerated form because the author wasn’t sure if the reader would be able to pick up on the point she was trying to make with each character. I also was just not super invested in the main storyline. I don’t know if there just wasn’t enough time to build up to it or there were too many other storylines that distracted from the main one but I just didn’t feel as if I could really get into the book fully. Ex. The París trip seemed to be just a random thing that really didn’t amount to anything. The designer they went to see ended up being frankly rude and not likable “I didn’t do it for you, but you’re welcome.” Just the way his whole character was handled was not the best imo.
The main character. I wanted to like her so much. But she really really bothered me. I want to start by saying we’re all allowed to be selfish. But we were presented with a character that was so “unselfish” that she could never stand up for herself. It was people pleasing to an incredibly unhealthy level. I do appreciate that there was some character development on that front. However, it just seems like she spent a huge amount of time worried about herself and how’s she is perceived. It felt a bit like she (the MFC) thought everyone should just accept her at her word that she knew best / had the best intentions or just listen to her even if she didn’t have the complete story. In short, she appeared to think the world revolved around her. I know we all tend to think of ourselves first, but it was incredibly frustrating to read over and over how she was frustrated that people she hadn’t known long didn’t just accept her based off of her word and know her intentions were the best.
I also really just did not like the MMC. I found him to be very one-dimensional. It didn’t make sense to me why Dee would be into him at all expect for the fact that they had the same hobby and she found him attractive. It seemed he very rarely came up with solutions to even the smallest issues.
I really didn’t like the way the author almost threw in a 3rd act miscommunication/breakup trope just for the sake of doing it. It didn’t feel natural to the characters and was created just to add some extra tension. I also really really did not like that after this happens, Teddy asks for space to sort through his emotions and she just plan does not respect that. I understand that the author probably wanted to have the cute hobby thing come back into play but I feel like it could have been done in a way that wasn’t her being disrespectful towards his boundaries. If it had been reversed no one would want Teddy and Dee to end up together because he would have ignored Dee’s boundaries. Just because Dee wanted to hear from him and it was hard *for her* she texted him then made up the questy clues. Which made it feel like it went against what I feel like Teddy would have done for him to actually do them.
Though I appreciate the author wanting to have the reader fully invested into the book by describing the food and setting in a lot of detail, it felt way overdone. Don’t get me wrong, I love food as much as the next person. But. We didn’t need an exact “this character had this, the other character had this and the main character had this” each and every time. It almost felt like a good review.
If you’ve made it this far, you have more patience than I do so thank you haha there were plenty of good moments or scenes in this book. I don’t think I’ll reread this one but overall it covered important issues that I wish were more talked about in society & I really like the dynamics of her family and the growth that happened there.
Overall the book was good but I don’t feel like it was the authors best work. Many of the characters really got on my nerves. It seemed like they were written in an over exaggerated form because the author wasn’t sure if the reader would be able to pick up on the point she was trying to make with each character. I also was just not super invested in the main storyline. I don’t know if there just wasn’t enough time to build up to it or there were too many other storylines that distracted from the main one but I just didn’t feel as if I could really get into the book fully. Ex. The París trip seemed to be just a random thing that really didn’t amount to anything. The designer they went to see ended up being frankly rude and not likable “I didn’t do it for you, but you’re welcome.” Just the way his whole character was handled was not the best imo.
The main character. I wanted to like her so much. But she really really bothered me. I want to start by saying we’re all allowed to be selfish. But we were presented with a character that was so “unselfish” that she could never stand up for herself. It was people pleasing to an incredibly unhealthy level. I do appreciate that there was some character development on that front. However, it just seems like she spent a huge amount of time worried about herself and how’s she is perceived. It felt a bit like she (the MFC) thought everyone should just accept her at her word that she knew best / had the best intentions or just listen to her even if she didn’t have the complete story. In short, she appeared to think the world revolved around her. I know we all tend to think of ourselves first, but it was incredibly frustrating to read over and over how she was frustrated that people she hadn’t known long didn’t just accept her based off of her word and know her intentions were the best.
I also really just did not like the MMC. I found him to be very one-dimensional. It didn’t make sense to me why Dee would be into him at all expect for the fact that they had the same hobby and she found him attractive. It seemed he very rarely came up with solutions to even the smallest issues.
I really didn’t like the way the author almost threw in a 3rd act miscommunication/breakup trope just for the sake of doing it. It didn’t feel natural to the characters and was created just to add some extra tension. I also really really did not like that after this happens, Teddy asks for space to sort through his emotions and she just plan does not respect that. I understand that the author probably wanted to have the cute hobby thing come back into play but I feel like it could have been done in a way that wasn’t her being disrespectful towards his boundaries. If it had been reversed no one would want Teddy and Dee to end up together because he would have ignored Dee’s boundaries. Just because Dee wanted to hear from him and it was hard *for her* she texted him then made up the questy clues. Which made it feel like it went against what I feel like Teddy would have done for him to actually do them.
Though I appreciate the author wanting to have the reader fully invested into the book by describing the food and setting in a lot of detail, it felt way overdone. Don’t get me wrong, I love food as much as the next person. But. We didn’t need an exact “this character had this, the other character had this and the main character had this” each and every time. It almost felt like a good review.
If you’ve made it this far, you have more patience than I do so thank you haha there were plenty of good moments or scenes in this book. I don’t think I’ll reread this one but overall it covered important issues that I wish were more talked about in society & I really like the dynamics of her family and the growth that happened there.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
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
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Storyline: ⭐️⭐️
Characters: ⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️
Overall review:
I listened to this book on audible and the individual reading it was a perfect choice. I just personally was bored while listening to it because the plot wasn’t the best. It was kind of slow and I didn’t reach for it in my audible library a bunch while trying to finish it.
Characters: ⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️
Overall review:
I listened to this book on audible and the individual reading it was a perfect choice. I just personally was bored while listening to it because the plot wasn’t the best. It was kind of slow and I didn’t reach for it in my audible library a bunch while trying to finish it.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced