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A review by asreadbykat
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
3.0
My eternal dislike for love triangles aside (I hated them even when I was a teenager), I did enjoy reading this book! The author's writing style is very enjoyable to read, and I could tell she put a lot of effort into portraying the culture and setting of Taiwan in this book.
I could really feel the struggles that Ever went through during the course of the story. While not Asian-American, I had my own experiences growing up that helped me relate to her situation enough that it legitimately made my heart ache to read about her struggles.
There are two things about the story that keep it from getting a 4 star rating for me:
1. The secondary romantic male lead feels more end-game than the primary romantic male lead.
Now, as this story is a stand-alone in terms of the main character (I know book 2 comes out next year, focusing on different characters), I expected the romance to bloom fast. If I ignore how much I dislike love triangles in general, my biggest complaint with the romance is that Ever has way more interaction and real bonding time with the second male lead. As cute as Ever and her primary love interest are together, by the end of the book, I was honestly wishing she had chosen the second lead because I had seen so many more meaningful interactions between them than between her and the other. The love triangle was heavily weighted in one direction, and in terms of the end game of the romance, it was in the wrong one.
2. The story is burdened with too many heavy topics.
the story is already doing a lot of heavy-lifting by trying to tell the story and hardships of a first generation Asian American. Now add to that a pretty important side plot involving mental health, as well as portrayals of abusive romantic partners, child abuse, sexual freedoms.... Yeah, that's a lot to unpack, and a lot of weight for a single novel to hold. As a result, the only topic that really gets the discussion it deserves is Ever's struggle with her cultural identity. The other's come in, get mentioned, and then disappear again, or are glossed over without really being discussed. And honestly, those topics deserve more than that, particularly for the age group this book is aimed at.
Overall, I did really enjoy reading the book and I don't regret buying it at all, despite the flaws mentioned. I will definitely be buying the next book as well!
TL;DR: I enjoyed and recommend it, but the story is damaged by including topics it has no time to full discuss, and a romance that is more fast-paced than it needs to be.
I could really feel the struggles that Ever went through during the course of the story. While not Asian-American, I had my own experiences growing up that helped me relate to her situation enough that it legitimately made my heart ache to read about her struggles.
There are two things about the story that keep it from getting a 4 star rating for me:
1. The secondary romantic male lead feels more end-game than the primary romantic male lead.
Now, as this story is a stand-alone in terms of the main character (I know book 2 comes out next year, focusing on different characters), I expected the romance to bloom fast. If I ignore how much I dislike love triangles in general, my biggest complaint with the romance is that Ever has way more interaction and real bonding time with the second male lead. As cute as Ever and her primary love interest are together, by the end of the book, I was honestly wishing she had chosen the second lead because I had seen so many more meaningful interactions between them than between her and the other. The love triangle was heavily weighted in one direction, and in terms of the end game of the romance, it was in the wrong one.
2. The story is burdened with too many heavy topics.
the story is already doing a lot of heavy-lifting by trying to tell the story and hardships of a first generation Asian American. Now add to that a pretty important side plot involving mental health, as well as portrayals of abusive romantic partners, child abuse, sexual freedoms.... Yeah, that's a lot to unpack, and a lot of weight for a single novel to hold. As a result, the only topic that really gets the discussion it deserves is Ever's struggle with her cultural identity. The other's come in, get mentioned, and then disappear again, or are glossed over without really being discussed. And honestly, those topics deserve more than that, particularly for the age group this book is aimed at.
Overall, I did really enjoy reading the book and I don't regret buying it at all, despite the flaws mentioned. I will definitely be buying the next book as well!
TL;DR: I enjoyed and recommend it, but the story is damaged by including topics it has no time to full discuss, and a romance that is more fast-paced than it needs to be.