This book is more of a women's issues/contemporary fiction than it is contemporary romance, and I did end up enjoying it! 

Most of the book is about Hara seeking her birth family and reconciling her identity as she has never felt completely American or completely Korean. While the story includes a slow burn romance, it really isn't the primary focus. I enjoyed reading a book set in South Korea and learning about some of its customs, words, food, and history - best part of the book for me!  😊

If you want a ROMANCE, this probably isn't the best book for you. But if you want a contemporary novel about interracial adoption and/or South Korea, you should give it a go! 

This book was a roller coaster.

Some ups: 

1) The first chapter was very well sourced and gave great information about how we get the Christmas story wrong. The quality of this chapter set my expectations for the rest of the book, but sadly that level of scholarship did not keep up.

2) The author quotes from theologians I'd never heard of, presumably because their works are not translated into English. I am DYING to someday read more from:

- D.T. Niles (from Sri Lanka)

- Matta al-Miskin (from Egypt)

- Ibn al-Tayyib (from Iraq)

I rather think this book worth the time just to learn from these men I don't think I'd have the chance to anywhere else.

Some downs:

1) This book is much more of a commentary by the author (a white American man who spent a good part of his life in the Middle East) than a well-sourced book on actual Middle Eastern Christian theology. The author does have some cool insights, and I was able to appreciate that once I realized that's all they were - his insights. 

2) While he is free to comment how he will on Biblical stories, it made me pretty angry to read his take on Bathsheba and on disabled people, specifically. I am not unused to their stories being interpreted in this way, but it's rather objectively wrong and awful. So. There's that. And I guess double upsetting because again, it's just his perspective, not even a credible take from Middle Eastern theologians. Why'd you have to say all that, dude.

Overall I'm glad I read this, but I'd recommend with reservation.

I kept waiting for the big event that threw Kim Jiyoung over the edge, but...it never came. "Death by a thousand cuts" rather seemed the appropriate phrase.

Everything she experienced was normal. Like, I am fairly sure all women could relate to some or all of her story (or worse). While the author occasionally footnoted actual statistics to prove her points, and while some of those stats were specific to Korean society, none of them were unrelatable to me, a white woman from the U.S. I guess you could say I was surprised and saddened by how relatable it all was.

The ending seemed very abrupt, which I've seen some reviewers dislike, but I...liked it? It felt like a slap in the face, which basically fit the whole book.

I know that all sounds negative, but I really did like this book and will read it again. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone interested in what "normal" misogyny feels like for a "normal" woman...especially if they don't think it really matters. 😬

I just finished reading Boy At The Window by Lauren Melissa Ellzey, which follows Daniel Kim, a sixteen-year-old just waking up in a mental health hospital, "far from Neverland, his reprieve from the real world."

I really liked the writing style. I felt very absorbed in the story, both by feeling like I was in the same places as Daniel and by being able to feel what he felt. I think this was done especially well because Daniel was in and out of the "real" world due to experiencing depersonalization-derealization disorder. I haven't experienced this disorder myself, yet it felt relatable and understandable to me. 

The romance itself was a slow burn, and physically romantic scenes were not graphically described (something I personally appreciate 😂). Because the romance is between two young men, it would once again have been easy for me to feel like an outsider, but instead I felt connected to their decisions about each other. 

Maybe "connection" is a good way for me to sum up the book. I felt connected to Daniel, who is so different from me, and I felt so much compassion and empathy for his struggles. I also wanted to shake his parents really hard, but that's a tangent for another time.

My only critique is that some of the descriptors (adjectives, metaphors) pulled me out of the story a little bit. I felt like almost every word had an added descriptor attached. Once I got the hang of the author's style, I was able to flow with it, but it was a little bit jarring at first. 

Overall, I enjoyed my read a lot, and I'm excited to see more work by Lauren Melissa in the future!