I made it 40% of the way through but wasn’t captivated by the story and didn’t feel connected to the main characters or their struggles. Yes, our lead female needs her class, and she has drive and ambition, but the plot fell flat.

3-4 stars for the target audience.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper for the ARC.

High stakes, o much drama, and some of the best character growth I've read. I listened to this book and the audiobook was amazing!
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review! I was pretty iffy about Loveboat, Taipei but I was intrigued enough to pick up Loveboat Reunion. I got through both titles pretty fast and I found Loveboat Reunion, like Loveboat, Taipei to be a cute story. I didn't know how I felt about Xavier and Sophie in Loveboat, Taipei, but their story here did make them more loveable. The narrator definitely captured this well. The plot was just decent, but overall, would recommend this series to a young adult who is looking for a story like this to dive into!

If you enjoyed the first book, Loveboat, Taipei, this is the sequel. It has a different feel than the first book, but I enjoyed it. The relationship between Xander and Sophie was sweet and progressed at a perfect pace.

Sophie and Xavier are back for their redemptions arcs in the companion novel to Loveboat, Taipei, LOVEBOAT REUNION.

In the previous, novel, both Sophie and Xavier come across and mildly villainous, so it was interesting to see how Hing Wen planned to make these characters lovable in their own right.

I feel like the mission was accomplished because the novel focuses less on plot and more on character growth and development.

Overall, a lovely companion piece !

This title wasn't as captivating as the first in the series. However, fans of Loveboat, Tai Pai will pick this up hoping for more in the story to be revealed. I wanted to like the title, but I couldn't get past the unpredictability of the characters and their trajectories in the story.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love Loveboat! I think it would be so awesome to go to Taipei and participate in the program. And guess what? Everyone is back! Sophie and Xavier are going back to their everyday life at school when they are given an option to go back to Taipei. Like sign me up! But anyways, we love Sophie and her fashion. We understand Xavier and his relationship with his family, specifically his father.

Loveboat Reunion is a fun read of kids who are growing up and discovering themselves in this crazy world.

This is a great example of an authors growth from her first novel to her second. Loveboat Taipei was a pretty good YA novel, but the characters didn’t feel the full weight of their problematic behavior.

This novel follows Sophie and Xavier who were supporting characters in the first novel. Ever and Rick are now supporting characters this go around. Sophie is at Dartmouth trying to get into a class on AI and Xavier is repeating his senior year of high school and finally getting his dyslexia addressed.

Sophie and Xavier have a ton of growth. Xavier’s family dynamic is explored in detail and helps explain his defense mechanisms. Sophie grows into herself and learns that her worth does not come from who she is or isn’t dating.

Both characters have some missteps along the way and there is a love story but the focus is on the individual character growth, which is nice to see in a YA novel.

I was not crazy about this sequel and I'm sure I can pinpoint what didn't work for me. I enjoyed the first book, Loveboat, Taipei, quite a bit. It sort of felt like the publisher asked for a sequel and the author wasn't enthusiastic. The characters and their relationships seemed to fall apart a little bit - it felt like different characters with the same names as the previous book. I also didn't find myself drawn in by the plot at all. Honestly, with some distance from my reading of it I couldn't give you a lot of detail about the plot, it was that forgettable. I do still really like Abigail Hing Wen and will look forward to her next novel, this one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ALC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I made it about 50% into this book but I just wasn't feeling it. I did appreciate the AAPI rep but this YA second chance love story was REALLY slow moving and I couldn't keep interested. Heads up for toxic parental relationships and parental pressures to perform well. Lots of the same characters from Loveboat, Taipei. Recommended for fans of Parachutes by Kelly Yang. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC. This one just wasn't for me.

Fantastic character development! Sophie and Xavier were, for me, self-centered individuals at the beginning; but my view of them began to change as I saw these characters in a different light. After their disastrous summer together, the two are barely acquaintances but can’t seem to stop thinking about each other. Their budding long-distance friendship is put to the test when they both find themselves back in Taipei for school projects. That weekend, the pair learns to work together and discovers who they want to be for themselves and not the people that their families and friends expect them to be.

Although this was an audiobook, it was a voicegalley so I cannot comment on the finished narration and how good it may or may not be.

What I can comment on is the book itself. I did not read Loveboat, Taipei prior to reading the second book. Someday, I will have to read book number one to find out what happened on the Loveboat in more detail.

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the story; I feel like we can all remember the do they/don't they like me or being a teen/adult. I loved the reference to the moon festival when they were kids, the picture and the story that went with it were great.

I will have to be careful who I recommend the book to because of the swears (don't get me wrong, I love a well placed swear word), as some people are offended by swears.

Sophie who was boy crazy in the first book decided to focus on college in the 2nd book so she could succeed on her own. She had a lot of growth and development. The adventure to wow her professor with an amazing project accidentally turns into a reunion as she sends it in the group chat not a private chat. It could happen to anyone.

Totally recommend these books but there are tw look out for those!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an early audiobook of Loveboat Reunion in exchange for an honest review!

I am so thankful that this was a companion novel because I didn't realize how much I actually forgot of the Loveboat, Taipei. Which, also I'm thankful because looking through some of these pre-reviews, alot of people did not want Xavier to be with Sophia. & I personally had no problems with it, because I can't remember their past.

With that being said, since Loveboat Reunion is a companion novel this book works perfectly fine on its own. There are enough clues to teach you about their past.

I absolutely loved both Xavier and Sophia on their own. They both have their own story & conflict -- & I never really cared that much about the romance but also didn't mind them being together? I was much more invested in what they were going through in their own personal lives.

I definitely recommend Loveboat Reunion for those who enjoy YA Contemporaries & especially those with strong goal-oriented female leads.

I had a hard time listening to this as it was a voice galley and not the narrator. I listened/read the book at the same time and think its the perfect follow up from the first book.

Loveboat, Taipei was one of my favorite books a few years ago and I was excited to jump back in, and to see what happens with Sophie and Xavier.

There were so many layers to Loveboat Reunion and I appreciated each one.

Sophie and Xavier had a bit of a thing before, but broke up. I thought the way the came back together was very fitting for them - they had a lot of things to work through before they could be together. Sophie was working to get into a specific class that had a lot of hoops (male professor issues to name one). Xavier had even more things going on. He was returning to high school, dealing with his learning disability and his father is holding his trust fund hostage.

Sophie and Xavier worked well together to help each other out, even when they weren't on the best of terms. I loved this so much, they weren't willing to let each other down. Sophie's determination to help Xavier's aunt is the kind of thing I wish everyone had.

I was so happy when loveboat, Taipei came out to learn that we would get a sequel following Sophie and Xavier. The sequel did not disappoint! I loved seeing both of these characters grow and truly reflect on themselves in the process. The characters are all deep and none of them felt flat or unoriginal. It was truly refreshing and the author does a fantastic job of changing perspective throughout the book. And the overall story has a fast pace which also makes the book so much harder to put down

Love this cover!
I know I am not the target audience for this story but I am a high school Guidance Counselor and love a good YA. It is always fun to share a good YA novel with my students.

Story alternates chapters between Sophie Han and Xavier Yeh. I didn’t read “Loveboat, Taipei” which was the first book in this series~ but since this is entitled reunion; it is clear these two were an item in that story.

Have to admit I found Sophie annoying ~ in case you didn’t notice Dartmouth a hundred or more times, it is the college Sophie is attending.
I liked Xavier. In this story we get a better understanding of his background.
I had a hard time reading the abuse he got from his father as well as from his relatives. It appears his dyslexia has brought shame to his family ~ isn’t considered a normal cultural expectation.

Sure is not the summer in Taipei as was the first story but Sophie and Xavier discover that they do have a special friendship

I always love reading the author’s “Acknowledgements’ at the end of the story. Enjoyed hearing about the research and all the family and friends who helped author, Abigail Hing Wen with this story!

Want to thank NetGalley and Harper Audio for this Voice Galley ~ a voice galley is one in which the voice has been synthesized and therefore not the final voice in the audiobook which will be read by professional narrators.
This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 25, 2022

Although this was just an automated reading of the book, not with actual voice actors, it still managed to be a compelling story. I loved getting to see characters we met in book 1 become main characters and deal with their issues in book 2. I will probably get a copy of this when it comes out because I enjoyed the story so much and I'm interested to see who they pick as narrators. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to review this book.

I love this series. Didn’t love the audiobook so much. I guess it’s because great narrators are ones who you can actually visualize what’s happening with the change of tone or accent…the emotion behind the words…I didn’t get that from the automated of course…but it might be better for someone else, but back to the story itself…absolutely loved it