This was... a little disappointing.
I was expecting this to be a light, fun contemporary set in Japan. I love watching Asian Dramas and was very excited hoping this would have a similar feel. What I got instead was a lot of angsty teens with parental issues and a newbies guidebook to life in Japan. Our main character Elle is a pretty colorful individual however she lacked any real depth, I felt like her and the entire cast was pretty forgettable. The plot was not very intriguing and could have easily been placed anywhere in the world. The biggest bummer for me was the fact that the book is set at an International High School so most of the characters are not even Japanese. And the ones that were Japanese came off very stereotyped which I did not appreciate. It often felt like I was reading a book by someone who has only read about Japan or experienced it briefly as a tourist, I didn't feel like the culture was very well understood. The plot moves very slow and nothing really interesting occurs until about 60% of the way in. I came hoping for a little romance or character building... but we don't even have a love-interest until the last couple chapters. Overall I was pretty disappointed. It's not a bad book but not a great one either. I have really enjoyed past works by this author and would recommend many of her other books over this one. :)

Content Notes/Trigger Warnings:
- Strong Language (a LOT of F-Bombs)
- Sexual Assault Triggers (attempted assault and date rape mentioned)

Recommend for:
- Fans of Love a la Mode
- Readers unfamiliar with Japan

I did what any book reader should never do - I requested this book based solely on this book cover, because it was too cute!

Unfortunately, it ended there. The book was, as it turns out, not so much a book but more a travel guide to Japan. Which, turns out, it's good if you're actually going to travel to Japan.

Let's talk about the nice things in this book:
- Asian rep: MC is half Asian, half white/ambiguous/whatever/not decided? (unclear to me what she was but it wasn't important), and I liked it.
- Learning about Japanese culture through the eyes of a non Japanese, but in Japan.
- Japan in itself is amazing.

The rest... I didn't really connect to Elle, as she wasn't really the type of MC I relate to, and the book itself was set too much into the middle school/high school zone for me to truly enjoy.

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life was a super cute and funny read. I really enjoyed the interaction and growth between the characters. Seeing Elle navigate this new life surrounded by the wealthy and her father's return to her life was a times comical and others made me a little teary eyed. Great summer read.

A seemingly simple story that I really could not put down and finished in a day.
Elle is in a horrible Foster situation because her mother is in jail for drugs. The day she turns 16, a man she once thought of as an uncle but has not seen in years comes to tell her the biological father she has never known wants her to come live with her in Tokyo.
Also, he's SUPER rich and powerful and she gets to go to a fancy school, buy fancy clothes and live in a killer penthouse.
But all Elle really wants is a FAMILY, a relationship with her dad Kenji, and to do well in school so she can go to college and void being like her mom - and it turns out the life she thought would be easy peasy is actually REALLY hard because she has no idea how to fit in to a culture she has never known with extremely strict rules of etiquette - and her family expects her to do all the right things all the time.
Despite an ending that feels a bit rushed, the story was super cute and a great look into living in Japan as an expat.

Description:
"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!" In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS—the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity. Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahari, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington D.C. to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troupe of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.

My Thoughts:
YA authors are doing a great job of highlighting often marginalized protagonists and making them the moral center of the very diverse and booming multicultural YA literature scene. I am enjoying how books like To All the Boys I've Loved Before and this book, My Flawless. . . highlight multicultural characters who seek to embrace and normalize their different cultural backgrounds and values as part of their coming of age stories. They are not trying to abandon one culture for another, but seek to understand as well as respect each side of themselves. This is not about melting into a generic American pot, but embracing and owning what makes each character special. Hooray!

This book could have been a Mean Girls in Tokyo, or ExPats (Ex Brats) behaving badly in a foreign country, or even Gossip Girl goes toJapan. I am glad it did not go in that direction. In fact it is almost flawless. My big hole in this story is that I really wanted to hear from the mother. Again, almost flawless.

A digital advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.

A book with a fairy tale premise and a semi-realistic ending: Elle is whisked away from the dire foster home where she is living while her mom is in prison, to a life of glamour with the rich Japanese father she has never met. The book tackles a lot: addiction, foster care, imprisoned parents, Japanese culture, expat snobbishness, the less-than-perfect lives of the rich and famous, sexual assault and racism. Cohn keeps all this afloat because of the typically 16-year-old reactions of main character Elle. Her real life may not have a fairy tale ending, but she comes to appreciate the good mixed with the bad. For high school readers.

I'll round up on this one from a solid 3.5 stars, since the overall rating is NOT great and I would recommend it for certain people. Nothing earth shattering, but fun little book with some serious issues addressed. Rachel Cohn has done it better before, with her Cyd Charisse books, but she left the door open for a sequel and I'd read it if she writes one. Overall, a fun and quick read to pass some time.

In My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life Elle Zoellner, who has been bouncing around in foster care since her mother's incarceration, finds her life changed overnight, when she is whisked away to Japan to live with the father she's never met. Elle finds herself living in a 49th floor penthouse apartment and attending a prestigious international school with uber rich kids. Her father, who is a hotel mogul, is distant and her aunt and grandmother downright rude. But Elle embraces her new life, joining the track team and ingratiating herself with the popular "Ex-brats," of whom her dad approves. When Elle begins crushing on a fellow teammate, who is on the outs with the Ex-brats, things begin to change and she struggles to navigate her newfound privileged life. I really enjoyed this unconventional rags to riches story.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I truly enjoyed this book! It was a fun contemporary story that showed the perspective of a teen girl who had spent the past few years living in foster care. I thought this was a very unique perspective that we don’t get a lot of exposure to in the YA world and the author did a nice job developing the each of the characters.

This was a great story. When I first started reading it and I saw that Elle was in foster care, I thought it was going to be a stereotypical story of a girl who has to survive foster care. However, she had a “Princess Diaries” style discovery when her biological father sent for her to come to Tokyo.

The rest of the story was reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians. Elle went to an elite international school in Tokyo, and she lived in a hotel with a gorgeous view of the city and 24/7 room service. I had never had a desire to go to Tokyo, but after reading this book, it looks like so much fun!

I was a little disappointed at the ending. It felt rushed and sudden. There were some important issues that were mentioned, such as teen pregnancy and alcoholism, but they weren’t explored very much. I would love to see what happens to Elle after the ending of the story.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!"
In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS-the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity.
Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troop of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode.
My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.
This was my first book by this author. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
4.5 star rating!

On Elle's 16th birthday, the father she never knew sends for her to be retrieved from foster care where she has been since her mother's incarceration. She is whisked away to a life in Tokyo, Japan where she gets the cinderella life she never imagined. But all the glamour falls short as she struggle to adjusts to the customs of Japan and the distance she still has from her new found father.


The Story
Despite my 3 star placing this book right in the middle, I was beyond disappointed by this book. I expected a fun ya contemporary in Japan. Yes we got a YA contemporary in Japan, but half the book felt like a long Japanese culture and etiquette handbook in disguise. At the halfway point, the only thing that had really happened was that Elle had gotten to Japan. The real story really didn't take off till 70%. So a majority of the book was establishing just the slight bit of culture shock, no real movement in the plot. On top of all that, when the ending came through I felt like it wrapped up way too quickly, and still left a few loose ends. Also, somehow the story left off with only adults making any real mistakes, no real correction for the actions of the main character.


The Characters
I really didn't like Elle. Despite knowing all that she had gone through, I somehow didn't find myself sympathizing with her as she was pulled out of her awful situation that she managed to adjust to, and yet still had a negative outlook to new circumstances. She made all the adults out to be the bad guys, and while her actions came out that she was coming to terms with her new lifestyle, she didn't really make much effort to understand the people she was now family with. She just expected them to understand her because she was the child, and that since they were the adults they had to be the bigger people. While often times there was a awed fascination of the Japanese culture, I felt an underlying negative vibe as Elle learned about it.

This book was surprisingly really good. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn was a lighthearted and delightfully fun read that kept me entertained until the very end.

I really enjoyed reading this book and getting to see Japan through Elle’s story. I think that was my favorite part of this book. I liked the gorgeous sceneries, learning a bit about the culture and traditions, and just reading everything about Tokyo. Without a doubt, this novel definitely made me want to visit Japan now more than ever and the food… don’t even get me started on that. I was literally so hungry the entire time I was reading.

I liked the author’s writing style a lot. It was illustrative and engaging. I liked that I could picture myself being at certain places and almost tasting the delicious food. I also really liked the plot. I thought it was fast-paced, entertaining, humorous, and emotionally affecting. The story moved pretty quickly and if I didn’t have to sleep, go to work, and take care of my newly spayed pup, I absolutely could have finished this in one sitting. It’s totally one of those books that easily get you hooked and you’re so into the story that you don’t even realize when you’re almost finished. At least it was for me and I love when books can do that.

The characters were all pretty great. I thought they were realistic, genuine and relatable. Elle was a fantastic lead and I really enjoyed her character development. From the beginning, I just had this feeling that I would like her, and I honestly really did. Even though I didn’t always agree with Elle, I liked that she was determined, strong, and had a great sense of humor. For a teenager who went through so much, I admired her strength and perseverance, choosing to better her life, and fighting for what she wants.

So, this book was mainly focused on family, but there was a bit of romance. As a romance addict, it surprised me that I was not a fan and I honestly could care less. There were some good moments, but it didn’t work for me and I wouldn’t have minded if there was none of it in the book. But, if you do like stories with romance, then you’re in luck. It just wasn’t my cup of tea in this book.

There were some minor flaws and the ending was a bit rushed, but overall, I really liked this book. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life was a beautifully written, satisfyingly entertaining, and wonderfully heartwarming tale of family, forgiveness, friendship and love. It’s sweet, short, charming, and a fun novel that will engross readers from beginning to end. Definitely recommend you check this book out.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher and Rockstar Book Tours via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Cohn, and Disney-Hyperion for the opportunity to read My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life in exchange for an honest review.

This is a spunky, fast-paced novel geared toward teenage girls. It is told in the perspective of Elle, a girl who just wants to graduate high school so she can get out of foster care. She loves her mom, but ever since her mom started doing drugs, life has been a challenge, and she knows nothing of her dad.

That is, until one day her uncle, who Elle greatly cares about, arrives to take her to live with her father in Japan! She's never met the man before, and her uncle is far more of  a father than her real father, who she is more comfortable with calling Kenji rather than dad. It turns out that Elle's father is a major businessman in Japan, and his own father was not okay with his lover and having a hafu in the family--half Japanese half...whatever.

As Elle falls in with the pristine crowd at her new, prestigious school that teaches in the American way, she learns that being popular is great and all, but not necessarily all it's cooked up to be. Elle also finds romance with the son of a yakuza, something that her own father frowns upon as well. There is definitely a message to be said that a child should not be brought down by the crimes of their parents, but Japan has its own way of viewing people in its social structure.

One of the things I liked about this novel was the quick pace. It was easy and fun to read. It also introduces a number of Japanese phrases, colloquialisms, and cultural inferences that are a nice introduction for someone who might not know a whole lot about Japan, but it's a bit bland and basic for those of us who are very familiar with anime and manga. The book itself felt like reading an anime, which was a nice touch. I also enjoyed some of the references to iconic landmarks or known areas, suck as Shinjuku, or Cat Island, which I was just talking to one of my Japanese friends about.

One thing that really made the score on this novel drop for me was the character development. Most of the characters felt very flat, and the most interesting character, Ryuu, didn't have enough page or development time. The noel could easily have gone on for another 50-100 pages to develop these characters in a "show, don't tell" way. Many of the interactions between Elle and Ryuu, as well as between Elle and a number of other characters, were brushed off in a quick paragraph to highlight the expanse of a day or a week. It would have been better to really show some of those scenes to help the development, considering there's still some room to expand the novel without overdoing word/page count.

Overall, this was a book that was still hard for me to put down. There's a lot to say about family. What does the word "family" truly mean to us as individuals? How does family define who we are? While this is the main premise of the novel, the driving point for me was Ryuu, a character that definitely did not get a lot of action, but I would like to see his story sometime, perhaps!

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Book Group for granting my wish!

I requested this hoping it would be good and it ended up being amazing!!!
The scenery, food, culture and of course cats made this a delight to read.
It was so much fun and had a lot more to it than I expected.
Now I really must get back to Japan and actually see more than just the airport.
I really enjoyed this and hope all of you get a chance to check it out too!!!

I read this book quite some time ago, and it was fine. I know some of my Japanophile students will really enjoy it, but ultimately it offered nothing refreshing or new. As someone who knows quite a bit about Japanese culture, it definitely was written by a gaijin, which made perspectives awkward to me. But for a teen who wants this type of fantasy, it's a perfectly good read.

When Elle’s mother is sent to prison for drugs, she is put in the foster care system. Elle learns quickly how to live with few material possessions and how to count on only herself. On her sixteenth birthday, Elle is contacted by a long-lost family friend, who intends to take her to Japan to live with her father. Thinking that anything could be better than where she currently lives, Elle goes to learn about her new father. She quickly finds that he is a well-connected and affluent business man in Japan. While she sees very little of him and her other newly found family members, she is desperate to learn more about this side of her history. Elle attends a prestigious boarding school with other high-power students, she will need to adapt quickly if she hopes to be successful and please her father. This novel updates the classic Cinderella story and takes it to Tokyo.

I enjoyed this novel and wish that it would have lasted longer. The ending came together too quickly. I did enjoy exploring the characters and their connections with each other.

I am so excited to be writing this review, I got this book as an ebook ARC a little while back (which thank you so so so much) and I started reading it on one of the last days of Thanksgiving break and I got hooked. I wanted to do nothing but read this book, unfortunately, that is not how life works for me at the end of a break and I had to put the book down and go back to work but every spare moment I had, I went right back to it.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This book centers around a girl named Elle who has had it really rough the last few years. She was living with her mother in America until one day they were in a car accident and her mother was injured. After the accident, her mother became addicted to pain pills and eventually, Elle got put into foster care. She has been to three foster homes and things have not been great in any of them. She can no longer do the stuff she loves (like being on the swim team or seeing her old friend Reg), she also gets picked on a lot at school because her foster family only lets her shower once a week. Needless to say, things could be a lot better for Elle.

On her 16th birthday, Elle arrives home from school to find a car she has never seen before in her foster parent’s driveway and her social worker as well as her kind of uncle (he was a close family friend when she was growing up). Her social worker tells her, that he is here because he would like to take her to Toyko to live with her father who she has never even seen before. After going to see her mother one last time, Elle agrees to go live in Toyko and meet her father. From here her life changes forever! She learns her father is very wealthy, so she now lives in a totally new lifestyle she could have never dreamed of. She attends a prestigious school and works very hard to bring her grades back up and to help her have a decent shot at college, meets new family, makes new friends, learns a new culture and so much more.

I absolutely adore this book and I could have kept reading it forever if there is a sequel (or 8) I would read it all. This book is not just Elle’s story but it is also a love letter to Toyko. It comes out on December 18th, which is super soon (so go get it ASAP or check it out of the library). I am giving this book five stars on Goodreads.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

I was sooooo excited to read this book! As soon as I heard about it, I knew it would go straight to the top of my "to-read" list! It did not disappoint!

Personally I would describe this book almost like a mash-up of "Princess Diaries" meets "Crazy Rich Asians". There was cuteness and fluff, but also drama and some pretty serious issues....and cats....lots of cats! While I haven't been lucky enough to personally go and visit Tokyo yet, the descriptions alone were enough to make me seriously consider if I was able to afford it for an upcoming vacation.

My one issue with this book is that it really wasn't long enough for me. There were quite a few ambitious issues/story lines going on, but given the length of the book things seemed to get wrapped up to neatly and didn't really have enough time to get fleshed out properly. Maybe if this had been book one in a duology or series, we would have been able to see the author really dive into some of the issues and not rush through them. I also really would have loved to see more of how the characters lives played out and what happened to them next!

I just wanted more..... more of the characters, more of the setting, more of everything!

Any book about Japan or private school is a win for me, so My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn was an instant must-read. The book is both entertaining and emotional, and the main character is likeable. I especially loved reading the descriptions of Tokyo. This is a fun read that is also informative.

This book tells the story of a girl who is sent off to Tokyo after her father suddenly appears in her life. I was surprised at the number of social issues tackled in the book such as addiction and the foster care system. As well, there is a big theme of family throughout the story which is so heartwarming to read. Honestly, the plot is pretty clichéd, but I still found the book to be enjoyable.

I really enjoyed the main character in the book, Elle. She is strong and resilient, and she really transforms as the story progresses. Her actions are realistic for her age, and she is relatable as she tries to fit in at her new school. What I especially enjoyed about her is the fact that she faces so much hardship but doesn’t ever complain. One thing that can ruin a book for me is a whiny main character, so I was glad to see that trait absent in Elle.

Of course, one of the main things that drew me to this story was the Tokyo setting, and I loved the way the setting is described. It is so interesting to learn about the culture and social norms in Japan along with Elle. The city really comes to life in the book, and I personally think that Cohn’s depiction does it justice. Just reading about the bustling metropolis had me dying to visit Tokyo!

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is a sweet story about family and adapting to a new lifestyle. I enjoyed the main character and the descriptions of Japan. I would recommend this one to those looking for something short and sweet.