A story about a teen in a New Jersey suburb who is obsessed with securing admission into an ivy league school? Sounds about right to me. This book made me laugh out loud repeatedly with its tale of a young student whose life is dictated by his desire to get into a top school: I identified so much with this aspect of David, and I very much enjoyed this book for that reason.

I really enjoyed this book. I think it's very relatable for teens in high school who are getting ready for the next step to college. I learned a lot about Chinese culture from this book and David was a really fun character. I will definitely recommend.
Thank you Net Galley.

Disclaimer: I got this book in exchange for an honest review from Net Galley and Kaya Press.

This is perfect for fans of the book "Dating Makes Perfect." David is an American Chinese kid who has been told he's not allowed to have a girlfriend until he's in an ivy league college. When a popular girl asks him out to a school dance, he's torn between wanting to abide by his mother's rules and wanting to follow his heart. The characters aren't stereotypical and it's a fun book!

<i>David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets into an Ivy League College</i> is a delightful read. David Tung is an American-born Chinese living in bougie Shark Beach. His parents own the only Chinese restaurant in town, and while they are solidly middle-class, the Tungs operate in an economic class below the majority of Shark Beach's residents:

<i>"Does Shark Beach High have the best coding classes because of the actual aptitude of the majority Asian population, or did the state allocate those resources to us because of the perceived aptitude of the majority Asian population? Hard to say. One thins is for sure, though. A lot of rich people live in Shark Beach. And rich people are always getting the best stuff out of the government."</I>

Shark Beach High is David's battleground. He doesn't care as much about socioeconomic status or popularity as he cares about class ranking. David is determined to study his way to the top of his class so that he can get into medical school. He's been studying for the MCATs all year, literally carrying practice tests on his person at all times, and scored a 1550 on his SATs--and oh yeah, he's only a sophomore in high school.

Despite being on the fringes of dork and poor, David doesn't mind. Generally speaking, author Ed Lin makes David a <i>nice kid</i> who easily tunes out social drama:

<i>"As I got closer to the bus stop, I slipped on my primary defensive weapon, my headphones. Avoiding human interaction is my primary goal each morning."</i>

David has a loose group of friends, but no one he's incredibly close with since he spends all of his spare time studying, working at the restaurant, or attending Chinese weekend school. Until, yes, he gets distracted from that regimen by a female classmate. It's a cute romance--super innocent--and fun to watch develop. The love interest is a spitfire in her own right, which I appreciated.

There are a lot of references to Chinese-American culture, including a smaller focus on the immigrant experience and associated injustices. As a frequent reader of POC-centered novels, none of the content felt new to me, but it could provide cultural context for some readers.

My only complaint is that some the book, especially at the end, felt too nice, too simple, and too neatly wrapped up. So if you're in the mood for light reading, this is a great choice. Overall, recommended.

Ultimately, a charming book that wasn’t quite for me. The writing style was a bit more show-instead-of-tellish than I typically like.

This was such a relatable book! I am Asian myself, so I understood the pressures when it came to academic pressure and getting into a good university. David was such a relatable character. His insecurities and concerns regarding his status within the community felt so real. Topics such as race, poverty and class were also touched upon and handled really well!
Overall, this was an enjoyable read with likable characters and great discussion topics.

DNF at 53%. This premise of an Asian-American teen struggling to balance highly competitive academics and normal teenage things was very relatable to me. I thought I would really enjoy this, but I found it really hard to stay engaged. I really enjoyed some of the conversations on being Asian-American and dealing with pressure from parents with high standards. But the main character David was a bit unrealistic in that he has literally no hobbies or interests outside of what he believed would help with his college admissions. His relationships with both love interests also seemed unrealistic because of how two-dimensional the girls was. This may have changed in the later half, of course, but I did not have the motivation to continue. I also did not appreciate some of the comments in this book about how women could only be attractive if they had on tight clothes and a face full of makeup.

I am not nor have I ever been a teenage Chinese boy, but David Tung Can't Have A Girlfriend Until He Gets Into An Ivy League College is so relatable it gave me flashbacks to being a highschool student. There are certainly distinct issues and pressures David has to deal with, but at the center of it all is a teenager facing the immense pressures and intense competition society puts on young people to be perfect and strive to be better. The lessons David are valuable to for anyone to learn at any age. This is definitely a recommended read.

I almost called my post “The One with the Longest Title Ever”, but I felt that I was setting a dangerous precedent, and that someone would go and name his/her book something even longer. This book is about competitive kids in high school, and boy is it exhausting at first when I started the book!

I was competitive in high school too, but never at the level of David Tung, who is grilling himself med school tests 24/7 because his SAT scores are already almost perfect. My mother wanted me to get into the best French colleges too, but never at the level of David Tung’s mother, who owns a family-style Chinese restaurant in a New Jersey suburb and won’t be happy until she sees her son in an Ivy League college. I will not disclose here if I had a boyfriend or not in high-school, but let’s say I could relate to some of David Tung’s predicament. (Also, French high-schools are very different from the American system).

The book made me smile a little bit, because I know how Chinese parents are in China, and I know how uber-competitive the Chinese high-school system is, as well as the college admission system in China, and let’s just say that David Tung has it easy, although he might not agree.

David is a straight-A student, nerdish and awkward at the beginning of the book, and it’s easy at first to dismiss him as a jerk when he strategizes his class scores all day long and can’t bear to have a female classmate with better grades. But there’s a lot more to him, rooted in social insecurity and shame: in a wealthy Chinese suburb, he has to work nights and weekends at his parents’ restaurant, and his classmates with lavish lifestyles never let him forget his lowly status.

I really enjoyed the book and grew to like David more and more along the way. This is a middle-grade / YA novel, but author Ed Lin is not afraid to confront some deeper issues (poverty, ambition, racism…) and does not resort to black-and-white clichés. The title of the book is indeed a cliché, but Asian American kids in the book (whether ABC, FOBs or bi-racial) have each their own personality and their own set of challenges. Even David’s parents have backstories. You enter the book expecting the clichéd cat-and-mouse game with the mean parents to go to the ball, but halfway through David sees that it never was really about that ball and that girlfriend, and that he needs to become his own self.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review

There are not many books that I will read again but this is one of them. It's exactly the sort of teen fiction that appeals to me and it has been written so well that I see it as one of the best reads of its kind. The characters and their behaviour were at no point predictable and not once did my interest wane. While the author had some life lessons in store for the characters, this formed a natural part of the story and it didn't feel like the story had been built around them.

My favourite scene was when they were sitting on the sofa and I am still picturing that in my head now.

I recommend it for 15 years and over simply due to a couple of sexual references, nothing graphic. This is a must buy for our school library.

I received this arc from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

DNF, though I would come back to it ( it was a busy semester)

Love the title, and premise pulled me in right away. David Tung is a relatable character, and I love how complex the class struggle is in this book. That said, for YA, the pacing just isn't fast enough. The story is all in his head. It’s all narration 12 pgs in…it’s relatable but there’s no action. Also his entire world is grades. I get this being a major stressor, especially at such a competitive school, but it's literally ALL he cares about. This just didn't ring true to me. It felt a little too one note and not fully believable. What are his interests as a person? Maybe this is explored later in the book, but as I said, I didn't get to finish, and it wasn't addressed early enough to fully pull me in. I think literary fiction readers will enjoy this, as well as adult readers looking to relive their high school memories, but maybe not the best fit for YA readers.

This was a cute little read, and I definitely think I would have loved reading something like this when I was a junior or senior in high school. Thank you to NetGalley and Kaya Press, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Perfect book for any current high schooler that takes themselves too seriously. Would also be a good book for white teenagers to learn about a perspective they're probably not aware of. Fun, engaging writing.

David Tung is a high school sophomore laser focused on getting into an Ivy League college. His life consists of schoolwork and working at his family's restaurant. He has a few friends, but no girls of interest until suddenly, he does. This story tackles life with overly strict parents and fitting into a world that feels skewed to those who are wealthy. Despite being surrounded by rich students and families, he doesn't cave into the pressure. The dichotomy of who David is with his family verses with his friends reflects the intricacies we all share and feels very relatable. He is a nice character to root for and read about. The story provided well developed characters and allowed those characters to grow and learn from one another. Ultimately, David must decide who he wants to be in his career and the person he wants to be in life. It's a sweet story that highlights the ups and downs of perseverance and finding your way in the world.

Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy!

As someone who grew up with very similar circumstances to David, I resonated a lot with his experiences. This will definitely be a book lots of young Asian Americans can relate with and I would definitely recommend it for people looking to see themselves represented in mainstream ya.

I actually enjoyed reading this book quite a lot. Being of Asian descent myself, the pressure of parental and societal expectations was very relatable! Things I loved in the book - the teenage friendships was the most fun aspect of the book; along with the regular doses of high-school competition, drama, and romance! Ticket the boxes for me for this genre. The book was also pretty good in representing the everyday struggles of immigrants trying to provide the best future for their children - you can see that some of these are authentically drawn from the author's own experience.

If you are looking for a light YA romance, this is a great choice.

Special thanks to NetGalley for sending me this ARC!
#NetGalley

Fantastic story. Sophisticated writing... but almost dry. I teach in a high achieving school so I think the students will relate to the competition among students as well as the parental expectations.

A thoroughly delightful and touching book about high school angst, with a twist: in this story, the protagonist is a brilliant Chinese-American teenage boy, a very smart but socially immature kid who studies MCAT questions for the heck of it since he’s already practically aced the SATs. When not in regular school or Saturday Chinese school, David works long hours at his family’s Chinese restaurant, which, while giving him no opportunities to date, provides plenty of opportunities to think about.

This is a lovely, feel good story, and the author captures the thoughts and behaviors of his protagonist beautifully. The characters are real, as is the story and situations in which they find themselves. And there’s an unexpected twist at the end.

Highly recommended!

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. I look forward to reading more books by Ed Lin.

This book is presented as an amusing contemporary about the contrasts between being raised in a strictly academic household and a romantic coming-of-age. It follows David as he prepares for college applications, as the boy who wants to date and mess around at his weekend classes, and the boy who is locked in a battle for the top spot in his class and apprenticeship during the week.

Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with this book at all. The story was interesting, but David’s alternating indifferent and critical voice did little to keep me hooked. As well as this, too much time was spent talking about unimportant things. We went through his entire daily schedule for multiple days, learning every detail of every class, even when nothing happened.

A big issue for me was that women are objectified and compared often, our first introductions to three female characters being: comments on their breasts, comments on how pretty they were and whether they wore makeup, and comments pitting them against each other. Even Christina, who is ranked higher in the class than David, comes across as dumb and two-dimensional.

Despite my personal lack of connection with this book, there were some strong points. The story was easy to read, fairly light-hearted and very typical of a (potentially slightly younger) YA contemporary. It has a lot of Asian representation, highlighting the differences between Asian-American cultures in particular, it explores strained family dynamics and, of course, has plenty of high-school relationship drama and romance. As well as this, we see David’s very strong work ethic and commitment to his future goals, and it was refreshing to see how hard he tried at school and how much he wanted the summer internship that would get him into an Ivy.

Overall, this is an easy, light-hearted book. It unfortunately wasn’t for me, but I’m sure a slightly younger reader might enjoy it a lot more.

This was definitely a cute book and I loved David and Betty’s relationship as it progresses throughout the book.

What really kept me interested was the typical normalcy of David as he goes through high school. It was very accurate and played on the way students act, teachers act, and parents control. I really enjoyed reading about David’s choices and meeting his friends. It was so cool to see the different aspects of David’s life as if he really led 2 different lives.