A review by athenatran
A Banh Mi for Two by Trinity Nguyen

4.5

After learning about this book sometime last year, this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024. As a Vietnamese-Malaysian-American, I felt extremely seen by Vivi's internal struggle with her identity. I also appreciated Lan's development and her connection to her family. As a debut novel, I was very impressed by Trinity Nguyen's writing style and her ability to immerse the reader in the setting of Sai Gon. Of course, as a Viet-American, I found myself salivating at all the food descriptions and made me miss my own ba noi's cooking. Lan and Vivi also had an incredibly sweet relationship and I felt like the development/pacing was very natural. I do think the ending was a little more rushed than I would have liked. All in all, I have already placed a pre-order for a physical copy of this book so I can share amongst my own friends and community. 

Thank you to the author, Trinity Nguyen, and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC!