Mary H.K. Choi is so good at writing damaged characters. This book features a set of sisters who are each damaged in their own ways. The sister relationship in this book is so good. Jayne and June both love and need each other and also drive each other mad. I don't want to give too much away, but both Jayne and June have health issues that they are not dealing with in the healthiest of ways. They are also struggling to negotiate the relationship they have with their immigrant parents and some lingering childhood trauma.

I've read and love all of Mary H.K. Choi's YA books, and Yolk is just as gritty and raw and fantastic as her two previous novels, and I am so glad I read it.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Two sisters, both living in New York City, reunite out of necessity and discover their antagonism for each other is overcomeable.

I love this novel.

Mary HK Choi is a wonderful YA/NA writer. This book was well-written and heartbreaking at times. It follows the story of two sisters who reconnect after one is diagnosed with an illness. The book covers content that other books aimed for teenagers/younger adults usually avoid, and does so with care and warmth. I highly recommend this to others.

Yolk upon first impression has a cover that is simply stunning and the story sounded so interesting. The characters in this book were so wonderfully written, with full backgrounds and personalities. Neither Jayne nor June were what I’d call “likeable” characters. They often screw up, hurt one another, and make bad decisions. But I loved them both, and Choi did a beautiful job of showing how much they loved one another and their parents

I love how complex the characters are. Jayne and June’s sisterly bond is something that I think every siblings have. I’m an only child so I can’t speak on that much but it was truly heartwarming to see how realistic their relationship are as sisters. The sharing, the fights, the playfulness of their characters was just very fun to read. I personally relate to Jayne a lot, especially with the fact that we both dealt with ED. The anxiety that she had too, constantly thinking and endlessly worrying of her sister’s life with cancer felt realistic to me.

The family theme is just wholesome and heartbreaking and I love Mary H.K. Choi’s writing.

I loved this book. Beautifully written and modern, it tells the story of a strained sibling relationship, a girl struggling to fit herself into the scene she thinks she belongs in, and an eating disorder so hidden we don't fully know it exists until we're 90% through the book. I wish the ending was much further along in Jayne's story so we could learn much more about her and June.

I absolutely loved this book! One of my favorite things is to read about the relationships of sisters. Nothing is all good or all bad. Mary Choi did a great job with all the characters and the relationships. This is a sweet story and has elements of humor. I highly recommend! I have never read her before, but I am now going to go back and find her other books.

Going into this book, I expected it to be all about two sisters dealing with one's cancer diagnosis and the journey afterward. What this book actually is it's a book from the younger sisters POV and all about her life and her eating disorder along with trying to come to terms with her older sister having cancer. Jayne is in fashion school and has to much care on what people think of her and if they actually see her. She and her sister were always competitive and she hates that June pulls the older sibling card all the time. Jayne has relationship issues all around and she places the blame on her mother, for leaving them for two months. She blames her sister June for being stuck up and embarassing herself. She blames her parents for leaving Korea for Texas. She cries at the drop of a hat.

There was a part in the book where she is stuffing her face with all of the food that she had purchased and then immediately vomiting it back up. It was uncomfortable to read and I just wanted to give her a big hug and tell her to stop hurting herself because the people that she is blaming for this is not feeling the pain. The ending was just not great. June is going into surgery to get her hysterectomy to remove her uterus, and that's it. This book doesn't focus on the cancer at all. It is more focused on an eating disorder which I think will trigger a lot of people who were not expecting the amount of focus and graphic detail of the scene.

I have never felt more seen in a sister relationship than in Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi. Choi handles difficult subject matters with sensitivity and honesty that is uncommon these days. Her portrayal of family relationships will make you wonder if she was spying on the dining room table of your childhood.

Mary H. K. Choi wrote one of the most convincing sibling rivalries / sister relationships I've read in a while. The relationship-building really steals the show for me, and that's saying something because this book also boasts a strong plot and remarkable representation.

Korean-American sisters Jayne and June Baek both fled their parents' home in Texas for college in New York City. They actively avoid each other, but when June is diagnosed with cancer, the sisters trade identities to ensure she has the health coverage she needs. Jayne herself is a bit of a mess. She is one of those self-destructive 20-something narrators that drive me bananas, but I actually found her sympathetic and likable. The secondary plot line covers (in graphic detail - reader beware) her struggle with an eating disorder. Having labored their individuality their whole lives, the sisters with matching names find themselves choosing to share an identity. 

Again, relationship-building. So good! The path to the sisters' reunion is complex, emotional, and full of (often hilariously) poignant depictions of sibling rivalry. Example: saving the most unflattering picture of one's sister as her contact photo. This book ran the whole emotional gamut - I was moved to tears and laughed to tears. Spoiler alert: I will say the focus of the plot shifted dramatically in the last third of the book, and I found it jarring and disjointed. But I loved everything else so much I still consider this a five-star read.

I’ve found that there’s something so incredibly raw and real about Mary H.K.Choi’s writing, and her novel Yolk is no exception. A tale of two sisters both trying to make their way in NYC, Yolk confronts the messy, indulgent, and self-destructive tendencies of the younger generation today in a world where a carefully crafted persona is oftentimes prioritized over well being and relationships, and the extreme loneliness and sadness that lives beneath that lifestyle.

Protagonist Jayne was honestly hard to read at times. She’s messy, selfish and materialistic, but also so desperately eager for attention and affection that its honestly heartbreaking. Reading her narrative almost felt violating in a way because it was all so raw- no one has seen her without eyeliner in years, her roach filled apartment is endured so she can have the clout of living in NYC, her eating disorder is hidden behind rituals and perfect instagram filters to create the illusion of a perfect life. Juxtaposed against Jayne is June, her sister who is so incredibly out of touch with Jayne’s type of lifestyle but is hiding in her own way, behind money and sarcasm and career success. Both sisters are so painfully different and alike at the same time, yet often were unlikable- and yet they were all the more real for it.

There’s so much going on in this story, from identity struggles from living within two cultures, mental health, toxic relationships, familial expectations, and even the woes of the American health care system. It’s incredibly messy and overwhelming at times but so is life and the portrayal of having to carry anxiety about the mundane right along with the catastrophic is eerily realistic. In addition to the sisters’ navigating their own troubled yet deep relationship the novel also explores how they become almost a united front when visiting their parents back in Texas, exploring the ways in which each struggle with their traditional immigrant parents and internalized the difficulties of their childhood in different ways that manifest as adults. I thought this was an excellent portrayal of the complexity of the sibling bond- how you can be as different as night and day but are inextricably bound by the unique experience of being raised by the same two flawed individuals, causing you to view life through a lens that only your sibling can ever really truly understand.

Though there’s honestly a lot of trauma in this book (both revisited through past events and happening in the current plot), there’s also a thread of resiliency that unexpectedly and emotionally peaks at the end of the story. It’s a little surprising but at the same time feels so right, and I applaud the author for being able to craft a novel with such an uncomfortable tone that still manages to make readers feel a sense of trust and relief, however complex, by the end.

It’s also worth noting that there are extensive descriptions of sensitive topics such as cancer, eating disorders, and body dysmorphia. If those topics are troubling to you I would recommend passing on this particular story.

Overall: Yolk is the perfect example of what the New Adult genre should be. A complex, emotionally charged yet compulsively readable story about the messiness of bridging the gap between teen and true adult.

Two sisters, Jayne and June, are arch-rivals most of the time, and co-conspirators on occasion. This novel is their story from Seoul to San Antonio to NYC. They are living separate lives at the start of the book, until one sister is diagnosed with cancer.

Thank you so much to Mary H. K. Choi and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this book ahead of its publication! All my opinions are my own 🖤

First off, I just have to say that this book is extremely well written and pulls you in from page one. I’m not even that into contemporary books right now, but this one sucks you in and makes you need to keep reading from the get go. Jayne and June are so different but both compelling in their own way and I found myself fascinated by their opposing lifestyles, even though they’re sisters. The gritty, glittering NYC setting is also compelling to me as I’ve been enamored with all things Manhattan since I was a kid.

That being said though, I didn’t read the full synopsis before asking for an ARC and I really wish I had, because this book was triggering for me after only a few chapters and because of that I wasn’t able to finish it. Normally I HATE not finishing a book, and I’ll probably come back to it eventually especially since it was so well written, but I’m in the wrong headspace to deal with terminal illness and family members right now. Either way, I have a feeling I would’ve been impressed with this book to the end if I had read it!

Yolk, at its heart, is a story about family, specifically sisters. Jayne and June do not get along. Throughout the book they pick on each other, saying harsh things about the other. Yet, there is a undercurrent and undeniable love between the two of them. When June tells Jayne she has cancer, Jayne re-enters her sister's life. The two begin living together and bonding again. Jayne herself is hiding (or so she thinks) destructive behavior and the two must depend on each other to get themselves through these debilitating issues.

Choi is a talented and poignant writers. Her prose hits you like a gut punch and Yolk may be her most gutpunching novel yet.

Content warnings: eating disorders, cancer

I have read Mary H. K. Choi's other work, but this one was decent. I enjoy Choi's prose style, and I think it works incredibly well for all of the works that are put out. This one was decent for me; it took me a while to get through for some reason, although I enjoyed the premise. I think the subjects are always realistic, and the themes are always expressed in a way that is displayed with care. So I enjoy that always!

June leaves her stifling life in Texas for fashion school in New York City where she’s miserable in an illegal sublet with sometimes lover/always horrible roommate Jeremy. Dodging contact with older sister Jayne, who’s finding success in the NYC corporate world, June tries to find herself through a series of unsatisfying friendships and short-term romances with white guys, all the while struggling with bulimia.

First generation Korean immigrant ties from her hometown are strong, and when Patrick, a boy she knew from church in Texas turns up in New York, June pursues a relationship with him. It’s rocky, they both have some baggage and June’s complicated history with food negatively impacts her sense of self and her ability to care for others. When Jayne is diagnosed with cancer, the sisters begin to work through their many family of origin conflicts and June is finally able to get help for her eating disorder.

Cultural and family conflicts are well drawn, and mom is a strong, contradictory, loving force, Older characters and explicit descriptions place this in the late high school/New Adult category.

Will read anything that Mary H.K Choi writes!!! I loved the deep dive into the relationships between sisters in this book, I also liked that it dealt with tougher subjects that's aren't always portrayed accurately in books.

I loved this book. I've never ready anything by Mary H.K. Choi before, but I will definitely pick up more books by her. Her style of writing is honest and realistic, the story was amazing, and really relatable if you have a sister.

Wow I loved this book.

I hated both Jayne and June in so many ways but that was probably because they were so real and relatable.

This book is dark and heavy and hopeful.

NOT recommended for YA readers. This is definitely a book for New Adult readers.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our library collection on preorder and will recommend it to students.

First, it is very important to read the thorough content warning the author provides at the start of the book. There is a theme of eating disorders throughout the story, and she cautions those who may find that difficult. Relationship journey between MC and her sister were well done . I did note that there were a couple of instances of what could be considered dubious or no consent for physical touch/sex. I would have liked to see this addressed more thoroughly and not glossed over.. Overall compelling story and kept me very interested and invested in the MC and her sister.