A review by sarahkorn
Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

I love a "band of quirky neighbors save the local establishment from evil capitalists" trope so I had high expectations for this book. It was a cute read with a great premise yet some rough edges. The characters weren't equally developed and some plot points seemed a bit too convenient, while others were introduced and then never fully wrapped up. It is definitely meant to be an immigrant story and while I don't think every immigrant story absolutely must be sad and introspective, it vaguely touched on many elements of the immigrant experience without actually providing them any meaningful consideration -- ex as someone not intimiately familiar with the practice of marrying somebody for a green card, but knowing the stigma that carries, that part just seemed haphazard and a missed opportunity for empathy. It was a really lovely book with a sweet ending, it just needed some fine tuning in order to really be a winner. I would still read future books to see how Mai Nguyen develops as an author.