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Asian

This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang

July 3, 2023      Leave a Comment

This Time It’s Real is a fun contemporary YA following Eliza Lin who writes an essay about her fake boyfriend—only for it to go viral. So she finds the perfect boy, C-Drama star Caz Song, to play the part.

I. Only. Want. To. Read. The. Fake. Dating. Trope. In. YA. I think it works best from this perspective because high school exists in its own little world where things like who you are dating can feel big and life-changing.

I love books that take place outside of the United States and it was fun exploring and learning more about Bejjing through Kaz and Eliza. I also liked that this book featured positive and supportive parents

Last year I read No Filters and Other Lies by Crystal Maldonado which also featured a teen girl lying to the internet. It’s interesting seeing how each author depicts teenagers and their relationship to our social media-saturated world. This book is much lighter with the repercussions, which is odd because the stakes are so much higher in this book; Eliza gets writing and job opportunities based on this no-so-truthful essay and Caz is lying to his very diehard fans.

Overall, this is an easy recommendation if you want a YA romance that is also about finding your place and building better relationships.

Joint Review : Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho

December 4, 2022      2 Comments

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The Charmed List by Julie Abe

November 30, 2022      2 Comments

I didn’t think cozy soft-magic romance was my thing…but this magical YA road trip romance/coming-of-age has me second-guessing that.

In Abe’s world the magic community exists in secret alongside the regular world. Ellie and Jack are former childhood best friends who grew up in their family’s magic-infused retail shops. Jack’s mother’s death pushed them apart and they’ve been making life hard for each other ever since. The last thing they want to do is embark on a road trip to a magical retailer convention together.

Did someone say enemies-to-lover second chance romance with the only one-bed trope ?

I enjoyed the simple mythology of magic in this world. Magic is a resource that the magic-aware can use to create small charms or enhance a food item. Magic does little things like boost confidence or fix a cracked phone case. Abe goes out of her way to make sure the magical system has rules and she even crafts a bit of magical history.

This book is called The Charmed List because Ellie also has this list of things she wants to do to make herself less of a wallflower. I’ll admit I’m getting a wee bit tired of the female main character who always feels ignored and has to learn to shine. 

Jack and Ellie’s adventures down the California coast was the best part of this book. I felt like the ‘charmed list’ plot point didn’t really gel with the story and could have been left out.

This was an ideal blend of contemporary and fantasy!

Kat’s Nonfiction Fall

November 27, 2022      1 Comment

I had an AMAZING summer reading season but the minute fall came around I hit a major slump! I couldn’t focus on any of the novels I started and entered into my nonfiction era. 

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Mini Reviews: Award Winning Fiction

December 31, 2021      2 Comments

I finished out the year by reading two award-winning books!

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Mini-Reviews : Traveling To Find Home

December 11, 2021      2 Comments

I was looking for a theme that tied all these mini-reviews together and I realized all these books feature characters who have to travel to unknown places, overcome obstacles and come through the other side changed forever.

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