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A review by readingwithhippos
Ice Cream Lover by Jackie Lau
4.0
I adore Jackie Lau and find myself saving her books for when I’m feeling down and need a lift. Her characters have realistic, sometimes heavy, problems, but they’re balanced by her signature charming wit and, in this case, delicious food. Drew has not only been left at the altar, but his former fiancée wrote a bestselling self-help book blaming him for all their relationship problems and comparing him to Oscar the Grouch. The central (corny and much belabored) metaphor of her book was ice cream sandwiches, and ever since publication Drew has been viscerally turned off by ice cream. Unfortunately, his niece, a precocious foodie, loves an upscale ice cream shop in town, and Drew ends up spending a lot of time there, black coffee in hand. The only good thing about frequenting Ginger Scoops is the owner, Chloe, who is super cute and always tries to talk him into trying her creations inspired by her mother’s Chinese heritage. But there’s no way a curmudgeonly guy like him would go for a woman who’s painted her ice cream parlor bright pink, right?
As much as I enjoyed Drew’s journey from closed off grump to happily in love grump, I loved Chloe as a character even more. She has complicated feelings about her half Chinese, half white identity, made more difficult because her mother has passed away and the only family she sees regularly are white people. She feels out of place among them but at the same time feels disconnected from Chinese culture. I also appreciated how Chloe’s bisexuality is an organic part of the story, not the focus but also not ignored just because she’s interested in a man. And of course I loved all the foodie references—I definitely had to pause my reading for ice cream breaks.
As much as I enjoyed Drew’s journey from closed off grump to happily in love grump, I loved Chloe as a character even more. She has complicated feelings about her half Chinese, half white identity, made more difficult because her mother has passed away and the only family she sees regularly are white people. She feels out of place among them but at the same time feels disconnected from Chinese culture. I also appreciated how Chloe’s bisexuality is an organic part of the story, not the focus but also not ignored just because she’s interested in a man. And of course I loved all the foodie references—I definitely had to pause my reading for ice cream breaks.