Sadly, this book just didn't really work for me. While at times, it was quite funny, sometimes it felt like the humor was forced. I did like that the main character finally shows some growth toward the end of the novel, but it just felt like it came way too late and there was little build up to it. The extreme cluelessness she displayed early on was where I really struggled to keep reading. Her thoughts and behaviors were just so over the top that it made her seem unrealistic. Toned down a bit, I think I would have found her struggles a lot more relatable. While I didn't exactly enjoy reading this, it did somewhat remind me of a mashup of Crazy Rich Asians and the movie Clueless so I kept thinking I would probably love it and appreciate the humor more if it were made into a film.

Well, I don't even know what to say. The blurb and the cover drew me in and I was hoping for a fun Crazy Rich Asians-esque story, but that's so not what this is.
The main character is so whiny and naive and egotistical, I've never been so annoyed over the decisions of someone. And the character development is nearly non-existent. Just when you think they've finally understood that what they're doing is bad, they just end up not thinking about other people's feelings.
The two stars are basically for the fact it brought attention to the poverty in China and made me more familiar with Chinese culture.
I guess if you're Chinese or have more of an interest in these things, it could be the book for you. It just wasn't for me.

Before anything else: I truly believe that I deserve to be awarded for finishing this book, despite the damages inflicted on my mental well-being. Someday, I will press charges. But, for now, here's my preliminary review of My Summer of Lost Brain Cells and Misfortune:

Iris Wang is a walking, breathing, and (unfortunately) talking oxymoron (emphasis necessary). I have never encountered a character so self-absorbed but also so irritatingly oblivious to her own faults, personality, and (lack of) intelligence.

I can cite so many examples, but one of my favorite ones is the scene where, after getting rejected by every single university she applied to, Iris receives an email from the high school guidance counselor and her first thought is "Omg, are they contacting me to announce that I'm graduating as the valedictorian?" This is coming from the girl who took her SATs hungover and used 2 brain cells for her college admission essays. I'd also like to add that at 17 years old, she admits to not knowing what global warming is or how family trees work (while repeatedly patting herself on the back for being a "genius" and gift to mankind). Indeed, Iris Wang has the audacity of a middle-class white woman and the mental capacity of a 7-year-old child.

Aside from Iris being the most insufferable protagonist I've ever read, none of the other characters were remotely likable. Listen. I just wanted ONE decent character to root for. Just ONE! 'Tis all I ask.

An issue that I have with this book is that it is painfully obvious that all these shitty characters exist to make Iris look less shitty and more like the victim in this situation. Their main purpose is to help Iris escape accountability for her wrong actions and detestable behavior. And honestly? If an author has to go through hoops and make everyone else spectacularly awful just to make the main character seem redeemable in comparison, it's shitty characterization. And since this book is extremely character-driven, it is likewise shitty and terrible and a huge steaming pile of yikes.

The inside of Iris' mind is.... deeply unsettling and uncomfortable. I found it really perplexing that she continuously likened people in her life to... animals. At first, she was fixated on her parents' Chinese zodiac signs, but as the story progressed, she would refer to her dad's speaking as "bleating" (because he was born on the Year of the Goat) and her mom's lecturing as "barking" (because she was born on the Year of the Dog) and suddenly, everyone became an animal in her thoughts.

Unsettling animal metaphors aside, Iris is also wildly obsessed with fantasizing that she's adopted (and secretly part of a royal family or something) and she exhibits so much internalized racism that, for the most part, was not sufficiently challenged. On more than one occasion, she asks herself if she's really Chinese or if she's secretly Korean or Japanese -- which perpetuates the notion that Asian ethnicities are interchangeable. She also describes Mandarin as "complicated science-fiction sounds."

Towards the end, Iris "grows" and is now a compassionate, mature, and empowered woman who likes to teach the English language to poor Chinese kids. And her growth comes across as inorganic and leaves so much to be desired. There's a specific scene that's so obviously intended to be a Female Empowerment Moment, but it falls flat on its face because Iris' sudden 180 is just unbelievable and inauthentic. Especially because the lack of accountability in this book is astonishing.

All in all, the success of My Summer of Love and Misfortune lies in Iris Wang's character, and unfortunately, Iris cannot be redeemed. She is the Britta of YA literature. This is the closest I've felt to wanting to cyber-bully a fictional character. And the forced hilarity in the author's writing style is so off-putting that I'll most likely never pick up any of her future books.

Not recommended.

I really did not like this book at all. The main character was annoying and hard to connect to. I liked the premise but it fell flat.

I was really excited for this book so it's definitely sad that I did not like it. The main character was just so obnoxious and annoying. She was so ignorant about everything and was borderline insulting. How a 17/18 year old can say things like "I don't understand global warming" and "I am the most selfless person since Gandhi and my parents", I do not know. I wanted to push through but by 43% it was becoming too much so had to DNF! There were a lot of parts of the book where it got annoying with the way the MC behaves and it definitely impacted the whole reading experience. The writing style wasn't a bad at all but the way the MC behaved really spoiled it for me.

This book was not my particular cup of tea, but it may be for others who are looking for a lighter book focused on material worth vs. depth of character. Perhaps another book from this author would be a better fit.

Barely got through this one. The protagonist was just unlikeable.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune was a huge letdown. I didn’t like the main character and the story at all. Iris Wang was a spoiled, narcissistic, annoying, self-absorbed, and dense brat. Some of her actions throughout the book were so childish.

Her parents exiled her to China because of her spoiled behavior. Her parents were also hoping that she will learn about her heritage and the language Mandarin. Instead, She spent most of the time wishing that she knew Mandarin so that she could understand what the people are saying, but she wouldn’t put the effort to learn it. Her uncle even hired a tutor to teach her basic Mandarin.

She is so self-centered that she doesn't care for the people around her but only herself. She had broken promises and did reckless things. She kept saying sorry but she wouldn't correct her behavior She had multiple opportunities to change, but she didn’t. She even kept telling herself that she will. She doesn’t listen to other people.

Towards the end of the book, the character miraculously had an instant character development just because she went to a poor place. She was now a better person because she will do a fundraiser for them to help them. One thing that I can commend her for is not continuing to have a romantic relationship with Frank/Paul and friendship with Samira. I wanted to like this book but I couldn't.

Ugh, this book was a mess!

You know when you see a cover that gives you hope that it will be the cutest book ever? Not only was this book bland and boring but the romance was barely existent. There just wasn't enough chemistry or interaction for her to act like it was the end of the world at the end.

Iris Wang is the most obnoxious lead I've read in a YA book in some time. She acted like a self centered 13 yr old versus a girl on the cusp of college. She really cared about no one but herself and I'm not surprised her friends only seemed to hang around her to mooch off her parent's money that she freely spent without haste. She spends most of the book whining about her life while spending thousands of dollars freely. And spends at least 80% of the book being her self-centered self who could care less about her commitments to her family or friends.

https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot.com/2020/05/my-summer-of-love-and-misfortune-by.html

1.5/5 Stars

It's really hard for me to try and say something nice about Iris, the main character of this story. I think she's one of the most annoying characters I've ever read about. Not only that, but she's also very self-absorbed, shallow and careless. Since the book is totally narrated from her point of view, you can easily understand why I didn't enjoy this novel. I think this book had the opportunity to do a lot of good by showing China and its beautiful culture, instead we got a spoiled teenager who doesn't care about a single thing of the country she's been sent to.
The only thing I appreciated about this story was how fast-paced it was and also how there was never a dull moment, something was always happening. Other than that this book definitely didn't work for me.

I think this book will appeal to YA readers looking for romantic comedy, and I will definitely order it for my collection, particularly to increase the diversity of our realistic fiction section.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this early copy!

Did not finish - I did not connect with the plot and writing and decided to put it down.

Iris Wang is a Chinese American 17-year-old girl who fails at relationships and school. She has no goal in life other than shopping and when she fails her final year at school her parents decide to send her to Beijing to her uncle. In China Iris encounters many problems connected with the fact that even though she looks Chinese she can't speak a word in this language. Another problem is the fact that Chinese people are very hard working and they are also very attached to their traditions and history, All these things being new to Iris lead to a lot of misadventures and misunderstandings. Will Iris find herself in Beijing or will she go back to USA as fast as possible is for you to find out!

My Summer of Love and Misfortune is an interesting cross-cultural examination of a Chinese-American teen thrown into Chinese society. The narrator, Iris, is incredibly difficult to like as she is extremely entitled. At times, this makes the novel difficult to read. The storyline is downright unbelievable at times. However, Wong's writing is strong and clear - an indelible voice - and makes me want to dive deep into more of her work.

Unfortunately, this title was archived before I could download it and therefore I cannot leave a review. My apologies.

I immediately requested this from NetGalley as soon as I read the incredible blurb: "Crazy Rich Asians meets Love & Gelato in this hilarious, quirky novel". Unfortunately, Iris' wildly self-absorbed and cringey antics never lived up to the blurb's promise. I read all of the book, hoping for some kind of redemption or growth for Iris, but nope, should have DNF'd it the first time Iris mentioned her extreme facial hair issues. This should have been titled, "My Undeserved Summer of Stupidity and Gross Bodily Functions".

Iris is the worst kind of YA heroine: ignorant, spoiled, selfish, silly, without any of the sweetness that made us love Cher Horowitz. Having flunked out of high school without getting accepted to any colleges and after running up an insane credit card debt, her parents send Iris to spend the summer with her uncle's family in Beijing. After discovering her uncle is one of the top billionaires in China, Iris proceeds to whine, mope, screech, lie, and spend money around Beijing for her own sake. I felt less sorry for Iris than I did her cousin Ruby who was saddled with Iris for the summer.

Unredeemable heroine aside, Iris' story was full of icky moments that seemed intended to play at comedic pratfalls but came across as gross or cringey. Iris tends to sprout enormously thick facial hair when under stress, something she blames on being born a Tiger (she blames almost everything on being born a Tiger). She blathers endlessly about being lactose intolerant so her consumption of dairy and the gassy aftermath are not fun to witness. Pages are dedicated to her dropping and retrieving her phone from an airplane toilet.

There are subplots involving Iris' hostile cousin Ruby, long lost grandparents, a famed fortuneteller named Madame Xing, and Frank, Iris' enigmatic tutor. But just like she did to her parents, Iris essentially hurts or disappoints all of them. There's no development or growth here, with the exception of Iris' often-mentioned mustache hairs.

From the blurb, I had high hopes for a YA Crazy Rich Asians but instead got a disappointingly crass look at an unbelievably self-absorbed teenager let loose in Beijing.

An e-ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

When Iris Wang failed her senior year in top of destroying the garage door after backing up her dad’s car in it, she’s sent to Beijing by her parents in the hope that she’ll mature.

No love just (my) misfortune

Honestly, I tried. I was so excited for this book because I’ve always loved books with teenagers sent to another countries to discover and reconnect with their culture. I loved Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay with a teenage boy going to the Philippines to learn more about his cousin’s death but also to learn more about the political context of this country. I loved I Love You so Mochi by Sarah Kuhn where a teenage girl goes to Japan to discover what she wants to do while discovering Japan. So when I read this synopsis, read that it was a girl who was sent to Beijing to « reconnect with her culture, » I was sold. I don’t know if I expected too much but I was disappointed because I got nothing of that. Well, nothing may be a bit harsh. She learnt something like ten sentences of Mandarin (in three months???) and visited one or two famous places. But then, Iris as a character deserves a whole section of this review for herself so I’ll talk about her later.

This book had so much potential. The author could have explored themes like privilege, the Chinese migrant workers situation (tho, to be fair she talked about it at the end, for two pages but only to « redeem » the mc), the feeling of being an outsider, etc. So many interesting themes. But I don’t know what happened, honestly. Everything was just mentioned and overshadowed by the fact that the mc was so unlikable.

Lindsay Wong did explore the theme of trying to reconnect the mc’s culture but for some reason I felt like it wasn’t done well. I’m no one to judge how one reconnect with their culture especially here since it’s about Chinese culture and I’m not Chinese. I did understand how Iris felt at some moment: when she felt she was an outsider because she doesn’t speak Chinese and also when she doesn’t know some Chinese’s customs. But then, she doesn’t try to understand it? It felt like she was just complaining the whole time, saying how she felt like an stranger while not even trying to understand her heritage. And I understand that some kid from the diaspora may act like this but then, what was the point in saying that she was going to Beijing to « reconnect with her culture? » I have a bunch of quote I underlined while reading but then my ARC copy says that I’m not allowed to share quotes so I’m sorry I don’t have something to show.

Iris Wang: spoiled, egoistical, privilege and really not smart

Believe me when I say I always try to understand and like a character. But I really couldn’t with Iris. I believe the author wrote Iris to be the worst character ever and when you have the worst character ever as a mc, you feel like it couldn’t be worse, right? Well, Iris didn’t have a proper character arc or a proper character development.

Iris Wang is a really privilege, spoiled, narcissistic & dumb character. She sees nothing but herself and I believe it has to do with how she was raised. She was spoiled from the start and even if her mother didn’t really like her friends because she thought they had a bad influence on her, it’s not like she did something about it. And if her parents didn’t say anything about her behavior, why would she stop? It is also the first time I encounter such an uneducated character and thanks to this book I discovered that it is actually one of my pet peeve lmao. Anyway. I actually have so many stuff to say about Iris, to make you understand that I didn’t like her at all but as I don’t want to tire myself, I’m just gonna do a bullet point list to show you how, as a character, she’s unlikable.

* For some reasons, she kept saying she was adopted just because her dad scold her and sent her to Beijing. She kept saying that for more than the half of the damn book.
* Once she arrives to her uncle’s home in Beijing, instead of waiting in the entry/living room for a family member, she starts to wonder around, entering room without permission. Manage to open someone’s dressing and try a dress which ISN’T HERS. (IN WHICH WORLD WOULD YOU DO THAT?????)
* She thinks the dress she tried is actually hers lmao I can’t
* Oh and each time someone would say something important, she manages to make it all about herself (I’m not joking you could say your mom is dying and she would say it’s about her)
* When her cousin is texting her friend, she tries to peek and see what she’s sending
* She has no self-awareness. She believed everybody should like her from the get-go. (You just destroyed your cousin’s dress but she has to like you?)
* Her dad sent her to Beijing to reconnect with her culture but also because she wants her to study since she failed senior year but she complains the whole time saying she’s on a vacation trip
* She complains because she’s staying in a « lowly four-star » hotel (poor girl) when she discovers her uncle owns a seven-star hotel
* She keeps sniffing her armpit in front of people??
* Each time she does or says something offensive and people doesn’t react like she wants them to, she blames it on people in Beijing not having a sense of humour
* Complains she doesn’t understand Chinese but manage to escape all her tutoring lessons where she could actually learn Chinese.
* DOESN’T FREAKING KNOW WHAT A MUSEUM IS
* How can she not know how to place China on a map? That’s beyond me

There are so many stuff I could add but I believe you can all understand why I couldn’t like Iris at all. To be fair, did she get better? Even a little bit? Yeah, just a little. Did I care? No, it was too late.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune is a Young Adult contemporary novel.

I really loved the idea of this book. Iris Wang is a Chinese American teen who cannot speak the language and gets thrust into high society Beijing.

The book is supposed to be funny. The only problem is that the heroine, Iris (17) is a spoiled brat. She is completely selfish and it's completely impossible to relate to her lack of awareness.

This is a hard book to rate. Because the last third was really strong. The book definitely wanted to be Crazy Rich Asians mixed with Sophie Kinsella's Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic series). But there is a very fine line between the heroine being quirky and misunderstood vs her not caring about anyone but herself. I really struggled with the first half of this book.

The narrator is Iris (1st person POV). She grows up fairly well off. But she spends money like she doesn't have any impulse-control. And honestly she was extremely irresponsible. And pretty unlikable for much of this book. I was really hoping that somehow she would redeem herself. I think that the author was off a bit by making her so self-absorbed. The mishaps would have been funnier if the narrator had been just a little bit relatable.

I did find some of the situations to be funny. But I just wish that Iris had not be so clueless about everything. If she had not been so delusional or entitled I think that what she went through could have been so much funnier.

I really liked the whole idea of Beijing. There were some really amazing things about that part of the story. I loved the whole competitive dog grooming thing. I really enjoyed all of the characters from there (especially her family members). That was a really good part of the story.

There is romance. But it is not really the focus of this book.

Overall, the idea of a teenager out of her element in a different country was a good one. This was a fairly quick read. The last third was actually very strong. And I enjoyed that part of the book a lot.

Mini review:

I received this e-arc via the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF

I was so happy that I was approved for this title! It sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately I didn't like it.

Iris really irked me! The more I read, the more annoyed I was. I did skim towards the end, and while Iris did improve it was too late for me.

The only positive I have was the ending. It was sweet! Though not enough to save the whole book.

I still recommend. I think others will enjoy it.

As excited as I was for this book, the main character Iris completely ruined it for me. She was self-absorbed and so terrible. All she cared about what drinking and parting and couldn't understand things such as global warming and exchange rates. Her way of thinking was vapid and I just couldn't this whole book surrounding her. Maybe this will be a hit for others, but I just couldn't trek it out.