A review by chaptersofeve
Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach

5.0

Everyone loves a girlboss until she tries to tell you what to do.

★★★★★

give me a cute couple i can get attached to and i’ll slap five stars on it — i loved Eliza and Len together so much (him lending out his book to her?📘 boba dates?🧋 help? my standards are so low?)

but in all seriousness, i really loved this book. from the immensely diverse cast to the ongoing struggles of an Asian immigrant child to, of course, the conversation about feminism and internalized misogyny

if you’ve read Moxie, you’ll probably notice that the issue of feminism is tackled in a similar style, so i felt like there weren’t necessarily any amazingly new and innovative actions being taken, then yet again, being in high school does limit things for them. but i liked how it simply shows a very realistic view on how things are, and how people unconsciously react (usually negatively) to only one side of the story

Eliza’s home life felt especially familiar with the use of Cantonese, since i speak that with my parents too. there were so many other relatable situations — checking the grocery store receipt while still in store, helping parents with more ‘official’ documents etc — all this Asian-kid survival but also knowing the trouble our parents went through hit very close to home for me

i binged this in a day and i regret nothing because this was honestly such an enjoyable YA romcom contemporary 💙