diverse teen rom-com fiction (17 y.o. Korean girl living in SF; author has Korean friends and in-laws)

I read to page 26; it was ok but just not something I felt like reading at the time. ( )

I received this book for free from the publisher (Inkyard Press) in exchange for an honest review.

This book doesn’t get the greatest reviews but I tend to rate books based on what they are. This was a YA romantic comedy and I thought it was a super cute one!

In the beginning it slightly reminded me of Melissa de la Cruz’s middle grade series, The Ashleys (which I read way back in middle school), because it had a slightly materialistic vibe and was set in San Francisco.

The romance itself was basic but still cute. I loved the little snippets from her 29 dates that were at the beginning of the chapters.

I really liked that the book touched upon the casual racism that Asians in America face daily such as people thinking Asians all look the same, people being surprised at how well an Asian person speaks English, and the notion that Asians are quiet.

Since I am Filipino, I also loved the inclusion of some Filipino representation. One of the love interests was Filipino and I loved seeing that. I enjoyed the chapter that explored his life because we got to see a little bit of Filipino culture such as Filipino food and karaoke.

I noticed at least one use of the word “hella” (pg. 353) which I was super happy to see because that is one of the most popular Bay Area slang words.

Lastly, I have to address the controversy that surrounds this book. Many people have issues with this book because a non-Korean (Melissa de la Cruz is Filipino) is writing about Korean culture. I think that is a fair and valid critique and I can’t really say much about the Korean aspects since I am not Korean. The one thing I will say however, and this may be controversial, but I do think some of the criticisms I’ve read are overly harsh. Going into this book, I knew this wasn’t going to be a deep book because Melissa de la Cruz’s books are never deep. Even the one book she wrote about a Filipino American immigrant experience still had that classic Melissa de la Cruz fluff. In my personal opinion (which you do not have to agree with), I think Melissa de la Cruz just wanted to write a fun cute story and she tried the best she could with the Korean aspects (which she addresses in her author’s note at the end). She wasn’t trying to make some grand statement about the Korean experience.

Overall, I really liked this book. Is it mind blowing? No. Is it fun? Yes. So if you’re looking for something fun and not super serious, then consider reading this book. ( )

Jisu Kim attends a highly competitive high school in Seoul, South Korea. Her best friends seem to know what track they are on, but Jisu likes to take pictures and struggles with the school work. Her parents send her off as a senior year exchange student to an International School in San Francisco. I felt bad for Jisu at first, but the adventure definitely gives her a chance to be herself and there's a lot to be said for time to do that. The rom-com part of the story is framed by a series of seons--dates that her parents have paid a matchmaker, Ms. Moon, dearly for in hopes of also finding Jisu a well off match. I learned quite a bit about Korean culture--the bad luck of 9's for instance, and got a kick out of how quickly Jisu fell into a routine at Wick. She made friends easily and the story was a lot of fun. ( )