Like all good romance stories—particularly romcoms—this was adorable and emotional in nearly equal measure. Honestly, I found myself sad to be finishing this! It is by all means a tropey romance, but the author’s evident passion, and the wholesomeness of Lan and Vivi’s relationship kept me recommending this to my friends literally as I was reading it. (Can we appreciate the Mid-Autumn Festival kiss trope? I’m slowly starting to realize that’s one of my favorites!) The food descriptions were absolutely mouthwatering! I also loved the bits of historical context included on the different dishes throughout(even touching on some of their ties to imperialism and colonialism), and that Trinity Nguyen included multiple Vietnamese ethnic groups in the plot. 

Vivi’s plot around reconnecting with her culture was handled interestingly. We got to see her grow to love Saigon because of Lan, have a lot of fun gathering material for Lan’s journalism (unironically love the excuse to travel around the city and have great food… yum), and originally focus on bonding with Lan over the places and parts she found joy in. But we also got to see Vivi grow to reconcile with her family’s history and trauma, while still finding pride and resilience from that. Although, the wording of these different emotions and themes is kind of simplistic, as to be expected from a younger YA novel that’s still fairly light. (And some of the explanations around Vietnamese language and culture(s) make the overall book feel educational, but in a way intended for those not as familiar with it. So either non-Vietnamese readers or those still reconnecting, like Vivi..? I’m in that former group, so I’m not sure how much I can complain, but I’m kinda used to YA stories that expect the readers to be within the cultures they’re writing about and therefore don’t explain as much. That was jarring for me.)

I won’t lie though, Vivi’s lies to her mom got increasingly unbelievable and embarrassing, I had to skim over those parts☠️

Admittedly, the romance itself was a little rushed—to be expected, when the story takes place only around the course of a week or two—but I could still understand how Lan and Vivi were able to connect. I enjoyed the way they were able to still be compassionate towards each other, even if their experiences were vastly different (particularly around family issues and grief). They were also an adorable pairing!! I don’t have any put-together reviewer words for that.

Holy shit though, the last thing I expected from this novel was a poignant depiction of grief, and being a teen dealing with the responsibility you force upon yourself because of that. Not only did I appreciate Lan’s grief still being an ebbing and flowing thing years after her father’s death happened, but ugh. The conversation she had with her mom at the end, and Lan finally going through her father’s books, made me actually cry. Like damn. 

Banger of a debut, I’m very excited to see what Trinity Nguyen writes next :)