actual rating 3.75

I received this E-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
American Panda is a book about finding yourself and standing up for your beliefs despite strict cultural beliefs. It wasn't a contemporary with a cheesy love story thrown in there just for the heck of it, and I definitely appreciated that. I don't know a lot about Taiwanese culture, but I feel like after reading this story I have learned more than I may have without it. The pronunciation guide included at the front of the book was helpful as there is a lot of use of the language and it made me feel less like I was butchering the language in my mind.
It was a fun and quirky story that follows Mei, as she makes the transition into college and finding her own path despite her parents strong objections to anything besides what they have planned for her. Mei finds herself in a situation where she realizes she cannot be a doctor like they have planned; her passion of dance calls for her to find a different career.
Where I struggled with this book was the way Mei's family treats her. In the beginning her mother is constantly criticizing her and making her feel like she is not pretty enough and her father is a whole other story. After finding out the reason for Xing's disowning I couldn't look at them the same way again.
Despite all of this, Mei does stand up for herself and is able to accept the consequences of it. With the help of her brother she comes to find her own path and it made me quite proud of how she far she comes by the end of the story. I don't want to get too much into the story, that might spoil it for those looking to read it when it comes out.
Unrelated to the actual story, the chapter headings were the cutest thing, I love how they're going to match the finished hardcover of this book. I will always love books with chapter titles, its so reminscent for me.
Overall, I did enjoy this story a lot. It was very informative, but at the same time enjoyable to read. Besides the issue with her parents, I found that it skipped around too much for my liking. It was very much many stories combined into one and it was a bit hard to keep track. Its definitely a book we need more of, the representation of strong Asian women was wonderful to read and I definitely will keep my eyes open for any Gloria Chao books that come out in the future. It has a strong message, that you should do what makes you happy, and not what makes other people happy.
Keep your eyes peeled for American Panda when it hits shelves on February 6th.
Happy Reading!


My Review(s):

I am not a huge fan of anthologies, most of the time I find the stories long and there is always going to be ones that I don't enjoy. So unless I know a lot of the contributors, I don't usually pick it up. This was the book of the month for TheBookBoundSociety and I thought I would give it a shot. Overall, it was a cute read. I enjoyed a number of the stories, but was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a m/m meet cute (as was shown on the cover). The stories weren't too long, though I felt some of them could have been longer in all honesty.

Since this is an anthology I am going to review the stories individually as I read them and let you know about my favourites and least favourites.  Beware of spoilers, I'm not sure I'll be able to review such short stories without giving somethings away.

Story One: Siege Etiquette by Katie Contugo (Hailey + Wolf)

Rating: 1/5 stars

I'm not a fan of the second person tense used in this one, it's hard to be the 'you' of the story when you're nothing like this main character. I just didn't like this relationship starting between them and the fact that there's cheating involved. It didn't feel like a cute meeting to me, Hailey wasn't exactly the nicest to Wolf, and the whole prospect of it being forgotten by the time she sees him again, well it's a bit odd.

Story Two: Print Shop by Nina Lacour (Evie + Lauren)

Rating: 2.75/5 stars

Okay this story was going really well until the end and WE DONT GET TO SEE THEM MEET. Why are these stories so short for? I want more and I want to see how this actually went. And I'm just confused by the end, what happened between them and why is Evie explaining to her how they met? I did like where this was going but I wanted more :'(

Story Three: Hourglass by Ibi Zoboi (Cherish + Mamadou)

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I guess I really misunderstood the point of this anthology. I thought there would be more /meeting/. This one, again, was really short. A lot shorter than Print Shop, and I'm not really sure it felt like there was any sort of connection between the two of them. Most of the story was Cherish trying to figure out what she's going to do after high school, mixed in with friend drama. The meet cute what just kinds thrown in at the end-maybe if he'd taken her to the prom there would've been more there.

Story Four: Click by Katherine McGee (Alexa + Raden)

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I really liked this one, I am a big Black Mirror fan and this short story gave me that vibes. It was like a combination of Hang the DJ and Be Right Back. This was more what I was expecting from these stories, it was a good length and it was a cute meet. Raden was a cutie and I definitely wouldn't mind messing up my click date to end up with him. It was a cute story, but the BM reminders are what I enjoyed most about it.

Story Five: The Intern by Sara Shepard (Clara + Phineas)

Rating: 3/5 stars

This was a sweet story, I like that we got some background into both of the characters in such a short time. I enjoyed how without realizing it they were helping each other. It was a bit cliche I felt but cute nonetheless

Story Six: Somewhere That's Green by Meredith Russo (Nia + Lexie)

Rating: 4/5 stars

Ahh I loved this story so much. It was a great, powerful story, not just about them meeting but about them staying true to who they are. Both of them are depicted as very brave, young women and it was a really excellently written story. I finished this one and I'd definitely be curious to see how the rest of the story plays out.

Story Seven: The Way We Love Here by Dhonielle Clayton (Viola + Sebastian)

Rating: 5/5 stars

The first story to get me so close to tears. I loved this story and the magic elements wrapped up inside of it. I love the soulmate plots and this one was no exception. I just want them to be happy together, is that too much to ask? I've never read anything by this author before, but this just increased my excitement for The Belles when it comes out this year.

Story Eight: Oomph by Emery Lord (Jo + Cassidy)

Rating: 4/5 stars

This story was very well cute and quirky. The airport is a cliche place to meet but this story makes it not feel that way. I loved their playfulness and the cute Marvel references. It wasn't what I expected from such an odd title to be honest. I was expecting two people to run into each other, but I like the idea of finding your 'oomph'. This was a meet cute in my eyes

Story Nine: The Dictionary of You and Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Moss + Tyler)

Rating: 3/5 stars

This was a cute story but I could tell that as soon as Quiet Hot Guy was introduced he was H. Smith. Moss was a kinda boring main character who likes Christmas a lot and addresses the fact that she is cliché? I thought Tyler was great though, he was a quirky and fun guy. It was a meet cute, more so than some of the others as they hadn't actually met face to face yet. I liked it for sure, not one of my favourites though.

Story Ten: The Unlikelyhood of Falling In Love by Jocelyn Davies (Sam + Dev)

Rating: 2/5 stars

This one was a bit strange for me? I thought it was weird she was kinda stalking him for her statistics project. And I thought it was weird the teacher would go along with that, even if she was his favourite. But anyways, I don't math so I can't judge too much on that part. I can say they were both very committed to seeing each other on the subway, though I'm not sure it was love at first sight... Sam liking bagels reminded me of a certain friend (*coughs* she knows who she is..)

Story Eleven: 259 Miles by Kass Morgan (Philip + Evie)

Rating: 3/5 stars

So this is the first short story from the male's POV and I was expecting a m/m short story-so I'm a bit disappointed by that. I love that these aren't all your standard contemporary short stories, the science fiction esque addition to this one was really nice! I enjoyed it a lot. I feel bad for Philip though, he didn't get his space dreams . I liked the dynamic between the pair and how she motivated him to make a video of his own. (Bonus points for having a character named Tessa).

Story Twelve: Something Real by Julie Murphy (June + Martha)Rating: 3/5 stars
This was not what I was expecting in the best way. Ack the dating show aspect was a bit weird for me, I think it's super corny and I'm so glad that wasn't the way this meet cute went. It felt like a bit of a poke at shows like those and I found that very amusing. The characters were definitely real and I was glad neither of them went crazy on the other to win this date. Dylan was definitely not worth fighting over.

Story Thirteen: Say Everything by Huntley Fitzpatrick (Emma + Sean)Rating: 2/5 stars
I am definitely not a fan of second person tense in novels that aren't 'choose your own adventure' esque. This story was weird, and kinda creepy. If I was Emma I would've ran when the son of the man who took my family's fortune brought me to my own house that they now live in? It just seems all to weird to me.. but that's just my opinion on the matter. He seemed to have good intentions, but yeah, I just couldn't get past that.

Story Fourteen: The Department of Dead Love by Nicola Yoon (Thomas + Gabby)
Rating: 5/5 Stars
This story was absolutely amazing, thank you Nicola Yoon for ending this anthology with this story. It reminded me of Adam Silvera's More Happy than Not in a way and the cuteness between was my favourite. It had a dystopian vibe to it that I enjoyed, and the what if's of If science could truly tell us the statistics behind love and relationships. I'm glad that Thomas decided not to give up ten months of his life and choose to live on with the new possibilities

I am not always a huge fan of contemporary novels. I feel like that's an important thing to point out before you get on into this review. I enjoy them as a bit of a palette cleanser amidst my mostly fantasy and science fiction reading schedule. I mean, who doesn't love a cheesy love story every once in a while? I certainly do. This one sounded promising to me, though with this kind of book I usually expect stereotypical fluffy stuff. (Insta love, good girl x bad boy, etc.) So that was where my head was at when I started this book.

I picked up Love & Gelato mostly because I love the idea of Italy, it's just so beautiful to see in pictures and the art is just wonderful. I can't really comment on the use of the language and culture in the book, as well I am not Italian, but it was a nice change of scenery from the usual contemporary setting. This book is a lot of things, part love story and part mystery as Lina deals with finding out about her mother's past with some new ~ friends ~.

I can say that the blurb about the book is a bit misleading and the going to live with her dad part of the story is not very credible. It isn't much of a spoiler (its revealed in chapter 1 I believe) to say/wonder what grandmother in their right mind would send their 16/17 year old granddaughter to live in ITALY with a man she didn't know was her father until you told her! A man who didn't even know she existed until he was told! I still have a hard time with that pretense, I mean even if it was Lina's mother's dying wish, is anyone thinking straight? Lina did not want to go, why force her to relocate while she is still grieving to a place she doesn't even know she's wanted.

OKAy sorry that became a rant, but anyways, the story started off on a rocky foot. After that she goes to Italy and then discovers the journal and goes on a hunt to figure out all that her mother was trying to say.

The development between Lina and Ren was super cute, and I really loved their friendship dynamic throughout the book. It's nice to have a boy & girl friendship that doesn't feel like it's going to end up as a relationship...

At times the story was very predictable, I guessed as i read along and it turned out to be right, that being said, I didn't find that deterred too much from me enjoying reading it. I did want to see how it would all play out.

Overall, this is definitely the book for you, if you enjoy cute, fluffy contemporaries. If you aren't their biggest fan I wouldn't recommend that you pick it up. It was a sweet read filled with nice characters who weren't all completely static. If you can look past the issues I couldn't I'm sure you will enjoy it all the more.

Some off the top of my head thoughts:
This book had lots of potential, I liked the SPN vibes it had but ahH there was some things that frustrate me. Cas and Anna’s relationship is just too weird for me, and ah yeah even if it was predictable I still thought it was weird. ALSO THEY KILLED THE CAT I CANT FORGIVE THAT