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A review by johannajournaled
Love and Other Moods by Crystal Z. Lee
3.5
IG: @JohsJournal
Contemporary romance set in Shanghai, the novel follows main character Naomi, a former clothing designer, who has uprooted her life in New York for her now ex-fiancé’s job in Shanghai. Saving grace is that she has her newlywed best friend, Joss, a Shanghaining, also lives in the city with her wealthy fuerdai husband.
In a nutshell, this novel is a full-on love letter to the city of Shanghai. Coupled with vivid descriptions of the city and its people, Lee packs in social, historical, and cultural anecdotes that make you feel like you’re right in the thick of it. There is a fair amount of showing and telling that I appreciated to get a better understanding of the lay of the land and who these characters are without feeling like you’re getting info-dumped all the time.
Okay, so I’m not a big romance reader, but I got caught up in Naomi’s life as she navigates being newly single and needing a new job, all while having limited fluency of the country’s language. Right away, I was rooting for her… cringed at some of her decisions, sympathized at the bias Dante’s father has for her (Naomi is half Japanese and I had family members who had similar feelings to Dante’s dad), empathized at some of the messed up things done to her, and cheered when she got some peace. Characteristic of the genre, there was build-up to the romance and spicy drama, but what I liked the most was Lee’s realistic showing of cultural differences and historical biases (Asian isn’t a monolith) while also showing that love can and does prevail.
Thank you to the author and @ColoredPagesBlogTours for the gifted review copy.
Contemporary romance set in Shanghai, the novel follows main character Naomi, a former clothing designer, who has uprooted her life in New York for her now ex-fiancé’s job in Shanghai. Saving grace is that she has her newlywed best friend, Joss, a Shanghaining, also lives in the city with her wealthy fuerdai husband.
In a nutshell, this novel is a full-on love letter to the city of Shanghai. Coupled with vivid descriptions of the city and its people, Lee packs in social, historical, and cultural anecdotes that make you feel like you’re right in the thick of it. There is a fair amount of showing and telling that I appreciated to get a better understanding of the lay of the land and who these characters are without feeling like you’re getting info-dumped all the time.
Okay, so I’m not a big romance reader, but I got caught up in Naomi’s life as she navigates being newly single and needing a new job, all while having limited fluency of the country’s language. Right away, I was rooting for her… cringed at some of her decisions, sympathized at the bias Dante’s father has for her (Naomi is half Japanese and I had family members who had similar feelings to Dante’s dad), empathized at some of the messed up things done to her, and cheered when she got some peace. Characteristic of the genre, there was build-up to the romance and spicy drama, but what I liked the most was Lee’s realistic showing of cultural differences and historical biases (Asian isn’t a monolith) while also showing that love can and does prevail.
Thank you to the author and @ColoredPagesBlogTours for the gifted review copy.