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A review by samanthampg
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
3.0
This book was sweet, a nice romance coupled with the important reality of on a Japanese woman questioning her place in her world.
As a girl growing up in America she never felt "American" enough (ie: white) and now that she has gotten the chance to live in Japan, she realizes that just because she is Asian doesn't mean that she feels like she's living up to the expectations of being Japanese. I can't say whether or not this experience resonates with other POC who might feel a connection to this part of Izumi's character but I can say that I think she made a lot of good points and had a lot of self growth and discovery
What I really would have loved is if this novel was longer, because I felt like some aspects were either rushed or overlooked. The romance quickly went from enemies to lovers where as there wasn't a lot of expansion in other areas: her getting to know her father or her maybe trying to patch things up with the twins.
That being said I did enjoy this book, it followed a predictable storyline but that meant I knew I would be getting an ending that I wanted. Any "twists" near the end I saw coming, and tbh I feel like she handled the cousin situation better than me cause I would've popped off
There were aspects to Izumi's character that sometimes gave me the ick. Her and her friend group often did things or said things that made me think they were 13 years old and not the age of 17/18, so take that as you will
All in all, if you like the princess diaries, cute romance and a fun main character then you might like this book
As a girl growing up in America she never felt "American" enough (ie: white) and now that she has gotten the chance to live in Japan, she realizes that just because she is Asian doesn't mean that she feels like she's living up to the expectations of being Japanese. I can't say whether or not this experience resonates with other POC who might feel a connection to this part of Izumi's character but I can say that I think she made a lot of good points and had a lot of self growth and discovery
What I really would have loved is if this novel was longer, because I felt like some aspects were either rushed or overlooked. The romance quickly went from enemies to lovers where as there wasn't a lot of expansion in other areas: her getting to know her father or her maybe trying to patch things up with the twins.
That being said I did enjoy this book, it followed a predictable storyline but that meant I knew I would be getting an ending that I wanted. Any "twists" near the end I saw coming, and tbh I feel like she handled the cousin situation better than me cause I would've popped off
There were aspects to Izumi's character that sometimes gave me the ick. Her and her friend group often did things or said things that made me think they were 13 years old and not the age of 17/18, so take that as you will
All in all, if you like the princess diaries, cute romance and a fun main character then you might like this book