I finished my 100th book for 2020 in October!! Of the 10 books I read this month, there’s a disproportionate number of Asian/Asian-American authors - not intentional, but more a reflection of how my library holds have come in.
I’ve included all Amazon links in the post this month, although you can find my entire list of books on Bookshop.org right here. Bookshop.org supports independent booksellers but tends to be a little more expensive than Amazon, so I’m giving you options!
Perfectly Famous by Emily Liebert
Bree is a recently divorced former journalist who starts writing for her town’s newspaper. Ward is a famous author with a picture-perfect life. When Ward’s daughter is brutally murdered she becomes a recluse. Bree becomes obsessed with telling Ward’s story, but Ward doesn’t want to be found.
If you like a good mystery, you will enjoy this book. And I did, until the last sentence when I screamed and almost threw my kindle at the wall.
This was a solid A until that last sentence, which I hated SO much that I dropped it down to a C. Honestly, I don’t recommend this. I was so mad I spent hours on my life on this.
Frankly in Love: David Yoon
Frank Li is a smart, nerdy high school student. He’s Korean-American, and the expectation is that he will date Korean-American. But he falls for Brit Means, his smart, talented, white classmate. Meanwhile, fellow Korean-American Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and Frank and Joy make a pact to pretend-date to appease both their parents.
This book comes across as a YA romance, but it really isn’t. This is more a story of a Korean-American experience and the intersection of race, culture, identity, belonging, and tradition.
If you go into this expecting a light romance, you’re reading the wrong book. If you’re looking for an angsty teen finding himself with a side of romance, then you’re in the right place.
Overall grade: A
The Roommate by Rosie Danan
Clara Wheaton is an east coast socialite who escapes her mother’s intense expectations by escaping to L.A. to room with her lifelong crush. When she gets there, she finds that he’s going on tour with his band, and she will now be living with Josh, a very handsome guy who happens to be a porn actor.
Read this is you’re ready for a modern take on Pretty Woman with gender roles reversed. It’s fun, light, feminist - what more can you want?
Overall grade: B+/A-
The Marriage Game by Sara Desai
After a disastrous breakup with her influencer boyfriend, Layla Patel returns home to San Francisco. Her family runs a Michelin starred Indian restaurant and her dad offers her the office above the restaurant to start her own business. He also creates an online dating profile for her (without her knowledge). As Layla starts her new life, her dad has a heart attack and ends up in the hospital, having forgotten to cancel the sublease of the office space with Sam Mehta, CEO of a corporate downsizing firm.
What I appreciate most about this book is for once, there are no South Asian cliches in it!
This is a class hate to love, with some terrible blind dates thrown in. Read this if you liked 10 Things I Hate About You and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Overall grade: A-
The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams
Penny Bridge has been largely unlucky in love, when she meets the guy of her dreams. They’re only dating a few short weeks when she has to move to the countryside unexpectedly to take care of her family business. Then she meets another guy. And another. But are any of them “the one”?
I read this book because I read Our Stop by the same author earlier this year and LOVED it. This book promised to be funny - it really wasn’t. I didn’t laugh once. Which isn’t to say this book is bad, it’s not — it’s just that I had higher expectations having read Our Stop and loved it.
Overall grade: B (but please know it is tainted by having read the author’s other book).
Rules for Being a Girl: Candance Bushnell & Katie Cotugno
Do not be fooled by Candance Bushnell on the cover - this is not Sex & the City.
Marin is a star high school student and editor of her high school paper, who dreams of getting into Brown. Her charismatic, young English teacher, Mr. Beckett (Bex), takes a special interest in her, and when it goes too far, she wonders if she did something to provoke it. Marin reports the incident to her school and her friends, but no one believes her. And now she still has to attend Bex’s class!
There isn’t any violence in this book, but if you’re triggered by inappropriate student-teacher relationships, please avoid this book. That said, it effectively talks about how society views men in power, and how quickly we dismiss women and their experiences.
This book is really well done - Marin is easy to root for!
Parachutes: Kelly Yang
A parachute is a wealthy teenager dropped off to live in private homes in the U.S. to attend high school while their families remain in Asia. Clair Wong is a parachute, living in the home of Dani De La Cruz, the star of the debate team at her high school. While both women are east Asian, they run in different socio-economic circles in high school. While they may have nothing in common, both women are on similar paths.
CW: physical violence, sexual assault, emotional abuse, gaslighting
I’m not sure how I ended up reading two books around the same topic back to back, but this is a heavy one.
Overall grade: B+/A- (probably impacted by the fact that I was reading a very heavy book in late October, before a major election)
Mr. Malcolm’s List: Suzanne Allain
If you love period pieces like Downtown Abbey or generally enjoy Jane Austen, you will like this book.
Honorable Jeremy Malcolm is seeking a wife, but she must live up to certain expectations he’s outlined in a list. Selina Dalton is a vicar’s daughter of limited means who is thrilled when her friend Julia invites her to London for the season. Julia is scheming against Mr. Malcolm, and while Selina wants no part in it, she finds herself drawn to Mr. Malcolm. Will Selina stack up against his list?
Overall grade: B (again, fully acknowledging that this ranking may be a victim of unfortunate timing + election anxiety)
Loathe at First Sight: Suzanne Park
First things first: this book is billed as a romcom - it is NOT. It’s a book about a woman carving her career in an extremely sexist workplace, where she just happens to meet a cute guy. The guy is secondary to the work. This is a book about work.
Melody Joo is a video game producers - one of just a handful of women in an extremely sexist workplace. A chance conversation leads to her getting the biggest break of her career, but now she’s being roadblocked at every turn as she tries to create a female-focused mobile game. Nolan McKenzie, intern and her boss’s nephew, is staffed on her project, but Melody has neither the time nor energy to babysit. Will sparks fly?
Obviously, they will.
Overall grade: B. I’m dinging this book for being inconsistent with the marketing of it.
Girl, Serpent, Thorn: Melissa Bashardoust
In an unknown time, young princess Soraya is hidden away in a castle because her touch is poisonous. On the day of her brother’s wedding, she meets a demon in the dungeon who holds the answer to her freedom.
As Soraya charts her path to freedom, she begins to question what she prefers: to be the princess, or to embrace the Monster within her.
Overall grade: A
I love fairytales, and I particularly love when they are original stories with slightly dystopian vibes.
And with that, I hit 100 books for 2020!!!!!