Former beauty queen turned refugee Xuan Trung is obsessed with Vietnamese zodiac signs. She frequently gives unsolicited advice to her three daughters on their careers, housing, and love lives based on their birth dates. Yet, all of Xuan's daughters diverge from her expectations, and none are concerned about their zodiac signs or their Vietnamese lineage.

NEW YEAR is a debut with a captivating premise but one that reads like two books, sadly. The first half of the book is written from Xuan and her three daughters' perspectives through different points in their lives. Tran beautifully depicts various historical events like the Vietnam War, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina, and the impact on the Trung household. The second half of the book is told in reverse chronology, where the readers get glimpses of Xuan's maternal ancestors all the way back to the Trung Sisters' Rebellion in 40 AD.

Considering NEW YEAR to be a strongly character-driven book, I wish there were more on Xuan and her daughters in present-day New Orleans. The first 50% emphasize their struggles as immigrants and first-generation Vietnamese-Americans, and I would've loved to see more development in their stories. Similarly, the second half reads more like a character parade as the readers only spend a few paragraphs with the Trung Sisters and their descendants.

Thank you to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!