A review by sarah_kurtz
Love & Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura

3.0

Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 

This was an audiobook that I downloaded before my drive home from Myrtle Beach as it sounded interesting, but was also the right length that I should have been able to listen to the entire thing on my ride home. 🎧….I did NOT get to listen to it on the ride home and therefore I let it play during the week while I worked. 😊 

Meet Nozomi, the main character of this story who along with her brother goes to California to visit her uncle and work at a museum over the summer. ☀️ She meets Willow, who she thinks is positively adorable - but Willow is caught up on her ex, but then; decides they should fake date in order to make her ex-girlfriend jealous! Enter a fake dating catastrophe/teenage rom-com. 💕 Can Nozomi fix everything before she leaves to go home - or will she have taken it too far? 😳 

One of the things I loved about this book was it’s representation of an Asian family AND representation of the LGBTQ world, in a lot of depth. From little things like Asian treats they eat, to how they lived/married years ago! What really hit home for me was the struggles that Nozomi faced when dealing with her sexuality and her relationship with her Grandmother. As an elder, she wasn’t accepting of the LGTBQ community, though she claimed to still love her son (Nozomi’s uncle is also gay). Therefore; it really created a troublesome dialogue for Nozomi as she felt she couldn’t be truthful about herself in front of her Grandma. As someone who has come out, and had a grandparent struggle with it, I really felt this on a deep level and was really moved by some of Nozomi’s inner-dialogues - that struggle of wanting to love yourself and be truthful to yourself but also not wanting to hurt someone that means so much to you. I also loved that the author was really able to dial in on that “young love” that we feel as teenagers - where as we can’t imagine EVER loving someone else. 😍 

Finally, my reasons for not liking this book - and giving it three stars - are all personal. Overall, I am just not a romance/rom-com kinda girl. 👎🏻 I try them, I have high hopes for them, and I usually end up disappointed. It was cute and sweet, but just wasn’t for me! I’m starting to learn - as I’ve broaden my horizons over the last year or so - that YA books are really hit or miss for me anymore. I either personally love them, or I hate them (but love the story).

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