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popthebutterfly 's review for:
My Summer of Love and Misfortune
by Lindsay Wong
Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: My Summer of Love and Misfortune
Author: Lindsay Wong
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 1/5
Diversity: Chinese American main character!
Recommended For...: Chinese American main and finding yourself
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 384
Synopsis: Iris Wang is having a bit of a rough start to her summer. In an attempt to snap her out of her funk, Iris’s parents send her away to visit family in Beijing, with the hopes that Iris will “reconnect with her culture” and “find herself.” Iris resents her parents’ high-handedness, but even she admits that this might be a good opportunity to hit the reset button.
Iris expects to eat a few dumplings, meet some of her family, and visit a tourist hotspot or two. What she doesn’t expect is to meet a handsome Mandarin-language tutor named Frank and to be swept up in the ridiculous, opulent world of Beijing’s wealthy elite, leading her to unexpected and extraordinary discoveries about her family, her future, and herself.
Review: I had to DNF this read. I loved seeing a Chinese American main character, but I didn’t like a lot of things about her. In short, she’s a brat and while the author tries to redeem her, this character wasn’t redeemed at all. She blew through credit cards like nothing, she lives off of excuses, she ran away from home, and she has no character growth. It’s very unflattering and by 62% (the part I got to before putting the book down) I would have expected the author to have made the character redeemable. I think the book is salvageable, I think the character could be rewritten and saved (and truthfully I want it to be saved! I hardly see Chinese American YA Contemporaries and I would love to enjoy this one too), but until then it’s hard to read about her when I’m swimming in debt and would love the opportunities she has.
Verdict: Not for me.
Book: My Summer of Love and Misfortune
Author: Lindsay Wong
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 1/5
Diversity: Chinese American main character!
Recommended For...: Chinese American main and finding yourself
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Genre: YA Contemporary
Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 384
Synopsis: Iris Wang is having a bit of a rough start to her summer. In an attempt to snap her out of her funk, Iris’s parents send her away to visit family in Beijing, with the hopes that Iris will “reconnect with her culture” and “find herself.” Iris resents her parents’ high-handedness, but even she admits that this might be a good opportunity to hit the reset button.
Iris expects to eat a few dumplings, meet some of her family, and visit a tourist hotspot or two. What she doesn’t expect is to meet a handsome Mandarin-language tutor named Frank and to be swept up in the ridiculous, opulent world of Beijing’s wealthy elite, leading her to unexpected and extraordinary discoveries about her family, her future, and herself.
Review: I had to DNF this read. I loved seeing a Chinese American main character, but I didn’t like a lot of things about her. In short, she’s a brat and while the author tries to redeem her, this character wasn’t redeemed at all. She blew through credit cards like nothing, she lives off of excuses, she ran away from home, and she has no character growth. It’s very unflattering and by 62% (the part I got to before putting the book down) I would have expected the author to have made the character redeemable. I think the book is salvageable, I think the character could be rewritten and saved (and truthfully I want it to be saved! I hardly see Chinese American YA Contemporaries and I would love to enjoy this one too), but until then it’s hard to read about her when I’m swimming in debt and would love the opportunities she has.
Verdict: Not for me.