Donuts in the title and on the cover and comparisons to Kim's Convenience had me jumping at the chance to listening to this audiobook. I anticipated a breezy, funny romance best enjoyed while doing chores around the house. Truthfully, it didn't end up feeling all that breezy, funny, or romantic. I'm not sure it's entirely fair to judge this one based on it's synopsis though. If I'd had slightly different expectations going in, I might have enjoyed more for what it was. There was certainly romance, but that felt like it took a backseat to Jasmine's coming of age and working with her immigrant parents - which was a very interesting and significant part of the book, just not what I expected from a book billed as a rom-com. I enjoyed listening to the audio, the narration was good and I wouldn't hesitate to listen to the narrator again.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ALC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I liked that the characters were southeast Asian. This was a refreshing take to the books I read. The story is quite cute but I found the main character to be very immature. Overall, it was just ok.

The Donut Trap was an enjoyable (yet thought-provoking) romantic comedy about one young woman's journey to adulthood in the midst of culture and generational clashes.

As a millennial myself, I could painfully identify with Jasmine's struggles to adjust to post-college life and transition into a career. I recognized my generation in so many of her quirks and endeavors, yet this novel portrays all of that in the midst of a family struggling with language barriers and completely different coming-of-age experiences.

The author balanced Jasmine's respect for her parents' sacrifices and hard work as immigrants with her frustration at certain parts of her own upbringing. Books such as this and Dial A For Aunties have begun to carve a place for the stories of second generation young adults in the romance genre.

I wasn't always positive where this book was going in terms of the romance and Jasmine's options for suitors. However, I found that fitting as Jasmine herself was often confused. The romance itself was fairly clean, with only brief descriptions of sexual scenes. I would feel comfortable handing this book to a reader looking for "clean" romance.

All in all, this book was a solid 3.5 stars for me. It was an enjoyable read and engaged me from start to finish! I will be recommending this book to readers who enjoy realistic fiction, modern romances, and multicultural interests.

Jasmine Tran is trapped in her parent's Sunshine Donut shop making donuts day in and day out. Her parents are constantly nagging at her to date and yet when she brings a guy near, they are lukewarm to them until they meet the parents. In college, she saw Alex, a customer who came to purchase tickets to a game. He called her ticket girl as she secretly called him Hot Guy.

Years later, Alex moves in with Jasmine's best friend's boyfriend. When they reconnect, everything is as sweet as donuts. However, when it comes time to have the parents meet and Jasmine is still reluctant to refer to Alex as her boyfriend, things get a little estranged. His mom is a snob and her parent's are insulted and suddenly do not care for Jasmine to even consider Alex. Add her kid brother, Pat into the mix and chaos ensues. Seems he's been harboring a little secret of his own. Psst, he's not perfect. In fact, he's floundering in life.

I love how this rom-com addresses all the Chinese cultural issues and sees how each of the characters grows. Not just "I love you, I love you, everything will work out" but the metamorphosis of them growing as individuals before they can deal with others.

The narrator captures all the moods and characters perfectly. I can almost imagine them coming to life and that is what you want when you hear a narration.

I really enjoyed this book! I thought it was a little frustrating at times, specifically how she was not only getting in her own way by cutting off her friends, but also by letting others get in her way too. There were times that she was placing the blame on others when it was her own fault, which was the same with Alex. But I ultimately enjoyed their push and pull and was happy that they ended up together in the end and that she started to make decisions for herself!

I enjoyed this look into the different lives of people from different cultures (Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and American).
The author did a great job with the struggles of a new adult trying to find their path and what they want from life. The romance was sweet and real. The characters had depth and each had their own things to overcome. I really found myself rooting for them as individuals and as a couple.
I would have enjoyed a little more steam and spice out of the romance but I understand that's not everyone's cup of tea. It was cute for what it was written to be.

Thanks to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for the ARC audiobook.

It’s definitely a winner in my opinion when it incorporates my favorite romance genre and donuts. I love to the family dynamic in this book and the chemistry of the main characters. Thank you for an advance reader/listener copy of his book.

I enjoyed listening to this book mostly because of the family relationship and them all working together to help the donut shop gain more customers. It did have a love story line but wasn't fully the main focus. The tension and insight from the parents being Asian immigrants and their children being first generation American gave great focus on what it's like for many families in America. The main character was what I think lots of young twenty year olds feel, no idea what they want in life, challenge navigating career help after college, social media giving FOMO and no idea where to start romantically. I would give this a four star as a fiction title with lots of Asian representation with lots of humor written in. As a romance I would give it two stars for how the love interest and relationship was written. Definitely a fun and humorous title.

I feel that this book had a lot of potential. I enjoyed that I could appreciate the cultural references and coming of age aspects of this book. I feel like I wanted more from the main character; that her character could have been further developed:

I enjoyed this book.  Jasmine is a twenty-something woman living and working with her parents.  She’s completed college but feels she is unmarketable and lacks the confidence to seek out opportunities.  As a result, she works every day in her parents’ donut shop and feels her life is in a rut.

That is until she begins dating Alex Lai - the man she had a huge crush on while in college.  There’s lots of banter and sparks between the two until a family dinner seems to ruin it all.  Without giving anything away, not having your parent’s approval of who you’re dating impacts a new relationship.

The story will be relatable to many.  The characters were interesting and a little quirky. The story flowed easily and was a quick read. The challenge of needing parents’ approval was a theme in this book.  It was easy to see the inner conflict that this first generation born in a new country experiences.

I listened to the audiobook version of The Donut Trap which was performed by Natalie Naudus.  Her voice is sweet, articulate and easy to listen to.  I would not hesitate to recommend this format to those that enjoy audiobooks.

Thank you to HarperAudio for the ARC in exchange for the honest review provided here.

This review is based on an eAudio ARC from NetGalley.

3.5 stars.

Jas recently graduated college, but struggles with what to do next. There are many possible reasons for why she ended up with no job prospects, no current love interest, and a lack of general direction, but the reader doesn't get the full story until well into the narrative. In the meantime, Jas is back at home, working at her parents' donut shop and filling her time with mindless at-home entertainments. Her best friend is getting ready to move away for law school and is trying to get Jas set up with a guy before leaving.

There's a lot that works in this story. My absolute favorite aspect was that Jas (despite lying about her boyfriends to her parents) is really pretty honest. She doesn't try to hide her ex-boyfriend from the guy she's currently dating. She tells on herself all the time. This was such a refreshing change from the persistent set-ups in which two characters struggle because there are secrets or half-truths or omissions between them. I did not ever have to yell "JUST TELL HIM" at the narrator. It was kind of unbelievable how many times I thought, "oh no, she's going to make a huge mistake by not saying anything" only to be pleasantly surprised. So even though Jas struggled through school, does not have a life plan, is frequently whiny, isn't very nice to her high school friends who reach out to her, and is generally full of flaws, I still was rooting for her.

The biggest piece of this story that I struggled with is that the marketing is kind of askew. This isn't really a romance. There are some romance-y bits, and a not-small part of the narrative is Jas trying to get together with Alex and being stymied several times over. There's a single, brief, fade-to-black sex scene, and while she drools over Alex's hotness, she doesn't change herself or compromise herself for him. But the core of the story is just Jas trying to find her footing again after failing spectacularly at college, and I was there for that failure narrative. Unfortunately, the back-and-forth between the different threads of the story -- the disapproving immigrant parent narrative, the coming-of-age, the finding romance, the finding a career -- did not gel very well, and the romance seemed to take a backseat to the rest of the chaos in Jas' life.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this. The narrator had some voice variations she used to distinguish between characters, and I really appreciated having the non-English words pronounced correctly, which would have absolutely not happened if I had just read this on my own. I was interested in Jasmine and her family, even if the other secondary characters or storylines were not seamlessly interwoven. It was a light, relatable story that incorporated some heavier topics, including survivor's guilt, child-of-refugee guilt, and drug abuse.

Would probably be a good suggestion for someone looking for non-explicit romance for an older teen.

This was a quick audiobook and enjoyed the narration very much. I think children of immigrant parents will appreciate this story.

3.5 Stars

Jasmine has been working at her family’s donut shop her whole life. Now, after college and with the donut shop struggling to stay afloat financially, she feels the pressure to keep helping her parents and put her wants aside.

While she’s trying to figure out her next path and a way to help her parents at the same time, love comes knocking. Or rather, the stranger she had a crush on during college happens to be the roommate of her friends’ boyfriend.

Talk about an adorable story. If you want something sweet, look no further. And not only because of the donut references and the fact that the heroine works at her family’s donut shop. The romance is sweet as is the plot of the heroine finding her place in the world. I really liked seeing her understand her family better and also try and go after the things she wants. And did I mention the sweet romance?⁠

I do want to mention that even though there is a solid romance, I would say this leans more towards women’s fiction than romance. The HEA is there but I think Jasmine’s journey is definitely the central focus of this story. I still classify this overall as romance though. If that helps! 😉

Trigger warnings: alcohol abuse, drug abuse

Jasmine Tran has graduated from college and returned home to work in her parents' doughnut shop. She has no prospects for a real job, and feels like all aspects of her life have stalled -- including her love life.

Then Jasmine meets Alex. He's a missed connection from college that magically comes back into her life when she's struggling. Their meeting and relationship seem perfect until their parents and Jasmine's ex-boyfriend enter the picture.

Jasmine's life is messy, and she doesn't help herself out by making decisions that the reader will realize are bad as she's making them. But of course, everything is ironed out in time to tie up the novel with a neat little bow.

Natalie Naudus is a good narrator who brilliantly navigates the different dialects and languages used in the novel.

Recommended for fans of diverse romance and HEAs (happily ever afters) with a bit of conflict.

This was a cute book. I liked that there was very little drama, for the most part few misunderstandings/miscommunications, which is always refreshing in a romance.
It feels like maybe I missed something, though? Like, there were a lot of references to what happened to the MC while at university, but then they don’t actually say what happened? There were just a lot of allusions, but no details given. It felt like there were a lot of gaps and it made it a bit tough to fully understand the MC.

Overall really enjoyed this! I thought it was cute and relatable, and pretty solid all around for a romance debut! So many donut books coming out lately!

The audiobook was an easy listen

The Donut Trap focuses on a Cambodian-American girl trying to find her place in the world. She feels like she doesn't have any real interests and doesn't know what path to follow. The one thing she knows is that she doesn't want to stay working at her parent's donut shop forever. When a rent hike threatens the shop and her parent's livelihood Jasmine must find a way to turn it around so she can someday be free of the shop.

Meanwhile Jasmine re-connects with some characters from her past. Her old high school friends encourage her to meet up with them before they part ways for their next steps in life and this includes her high school boyfriend whom she always had to hide from her parents. She also reconnects with a boy she once had an obsessive crush on after seeing him at her college campus job. Again the family expectations come in the way of this new love interest.

Can Jasmine find her path? Can she save the shop? Can she make a relationship work?



SPOILER AHEAD:

This book is a cute, predictable one. I had a few issues with the closure of the book and the fact that she ended up at a job that was basically anti anything that she seemed to stand for at the beginning of the book. Mainly the fact that she was trying to disconnect from social media in all forms and by the end she had to live her life on social media? I appreciate using connections to find a job but it seemed like she was "saved" moreso than she saved herself.

I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. This was an excellently narrated emerging adult story-it's slated as a rom-com but there's not a lot of either in this book. It does have a lot of interesting cultural aspects about immigrant parents and the pressure young adults face as they graduate and try to figure out their lives. I had a hard time relating to the protagonist of this story-perhaps because it is geared towards a younger audience. I almost felt like this was book one in a two book series because so much seemed unresolved.

The main character of this book is so unlikeable. She acted like a high school kid although she was a college graduate. And I didn’t really enjoy the romance aspect. I kept thinking the love interest was a bad guy because there were some 🚩 Loved the donut shop though. I enjoyed the narrator as well.

The donut trap is a cute romance. The characters are very simple and hallmark like. This is the kind of audiobook to put on as a background. This is a book for young women who still believe in Prince Charming