Reviews with content warning for Racism - Private Label

Private Label by Kelly Yang @kellyyanghk is a YA realistic-contemporary about two Chinese-American teens trying to find their place in the world. One of them is Serene (She/Her/Hers), whose passion is fashion like her mom. One night, she finds out her mother has pancreatic cancer, and everything changes. The other is Lian (He/Him/His), who enjoys doing stand-up comedy. He moved to from China to a mostly white southern California area. He doesn't fit in at school, and kids mispronounce his name. His parents are traditional Chinese parents and don't care about what he wants to do, pushing him to do MIT.

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."

Content Warnings

klutzykara's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I love how Kelly Yang weaves her own life experiences into her work, while still creating a unique story and characters. There is so much heart and joy in her writing. I loved the core of this story: a strong bond between a mother and daughter (through hard times), the pressure of growing up and figuring out what you want to do/want to be, young love between two people helping each other to dream big and to never give up. I also liked the ending of the book.

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.

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clarvicle's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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anna_23's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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maggies's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

There was so much going on in this book—cancer, abandonment, revenge porn, parental pressure, racism and microaggressions, and of course romance. At times, it felt like too much, but most of the time it was handled with remarkable care. Serene and Lian were such sweet protagonists, and the voice actors reading their perspectives were amazing.

Content Warnings

sambortle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

“It makes me feel guilty that I’m falling in love while my mom’s chugging liquid dinner. But maybe Lian’s right. Cancer doesn’t hold all the cards.”

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.

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring slow-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

Thanks to HarperCollins for an advanced copy of Private Label by Kelly Yang to review! I feel like most people know Yang from her middle grade work, but this is her second YA novel and she's not afraid to delve into difficult topics. We saw that in Parachutes and it's just as true in this book.

Yang excels at writing emotions. We see Serene's struggles with her mom's cancer, all the while trying to figure out how to save her business. We see Lian struggling with his parents expectations and what he really wants to do with his life. Both characters need each other as they try to figure out how to move forward, and the way their relationship evolved felt very realistic.

Not only do we get to see the emotions playing out between Serene and Lian, but we also get to see both of their different family dynamics. They are complicated and ever evolving and conflicts that a lot of teens deal with. There are so many emotions in play in this book, and Yang nails every one of them.

My only complaint is that the book feels a bit long at times. In the middle, it felt like the pacing lost itself a bit. But other than that, this is absolutely a strong, emotional read that you'll want to have on your radar for summer!

Content Warnings

bookwormbullet's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-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

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