I wanted to read this YA book because of all of the successful MG novels she wrote. I thought that, as always, she does a great balance of romance and relatability of characters. I did think this book felt a bit long as I was reading it.

I really like the way that Kelly Yang writes, and I love how she is able to shape her own experiences into the lives of her different characters -- that is where she really excels. Again, she creates a cast of characters (mostly Chinese American) with rich inner lives that explore themes of racism, xenophobia, class and gender. At times this book felt a little over-long for me, and the text was not as smooth as I might have wished.

I'm usually not about romance in my YA, but I really liked this. Smooth writing, romance that felt believable for the age group (which is less and less common as YA publishers have become obsessed with satisfying millennials instead of actual teenagers), interesting hobby, diversity, etc. I like!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I liked this YA book, it's a little melancholy but that is life these days and these two have melancholy stories.

Complex novel that really did a good job with the relationship between Serene and Lian. The cover led me to believe this was going to be a lighter read than it was. I thought it was going to be a romance and while there was some, for me what stood out was the relationships the main characters had with their parents and with being first generation.

For me, Serene had a way more interesting storyline than Lian, to the point where I really lost reading momentum during the Lian chapters, especially when he was doing comedy bits. Serene's relationship with her mother and fashion should have been a book on it's own, a la Crying in H Mart, and should have gotten rid of the romance entirely.

Kelly Yang has written some of the most compulsively readable books I have ever read. I became interested in her YA work after reading her incredible middle grade novel, Front Desk. Her YA work is just as good, full of hard-hitting issues and important messages, with likable characters and a little humor.

This one follows Serene, the daughter of a Chinese fashion designer, and Lian, an immigrant who is trying to balance his own dreams with those of his mother. Their stories offer two fresh perspectives on Chinese parents, which I was grateful for. We often get the overbearing parent trope when it comes to stories of Chinese-Americans, so it was refreshing to read about Serene's deeply kind and supportive mom. Lian's parents are more layered but still interesting. Serene's mother is diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of this story, and it is heavy and heartbreaking and hopeful. Their bond is amazing, and the journey Serene goes on in this is great. I wish I was just as compelled by Lian's story, but I wasn't. I liked him, and rooted for his career in comedy, but I didn't find his chapters as exciting. In contrast, it seemed like Serene experienced every bad thing that could happen to a teenager. I was begging Kelly to give her a break. Still, their romance was so sweet and I think they are both realistic and well-written teens.

Overall, this was great. Yang's writing pulls no punches. Her stories are honest and need to be read. My one problem is the lack of a change of writing style from her middle grade to YA. The character voices felt a little young, but I think that will work for a lot of readers. Still, I am a fan and I will always recommend her work to students.

Having read Kelly Yang’s middle grade books, I was excited to give this YA offering a read.

Serene and Lian are both dealing with family situations of which readers may relate. Both are looking to find their place while living parent expectations. The relationship between the two teens is touching. I usually enjoy books told from two perspectives — that device works here, but I found myself wanting more from Lian’s story.

I could write an entire essay about how relatable Private Label is. The way that a diagnosis can entirely change our sense of time. Our sense of the future. How it can feel to hear a loved one talk about their struggles and them wanting to enjoy their quality of life. While also knowing that you can't imagine a life without theirs. To say Private Label is moving, especially to those who have experienced cancer in their family, is an understatement. For that reason alone, it stole my heart.

But at the same time, Private Label explores the insidious comments and racist remarks of mostly white communities. Of feeling so out of place and having these remarks that add up. The conversations about retaining a 'brand image' and having 'marketability'. How these discussions end up occluding racist ideas. And all these pieces of ourselves we chip off to slide under the radar, for success.

This was really disappointing. Lian was "But I LOVE her," after they'd hung out only a few times. That's the kind of guy that starts to feel like a creeper real fast. And Serene just wouldn't break up with Cameron. Serene's mom putting her second in charge of the business was eye-rolling. The sex (which I no way object to that in YA books) was weird-they were kissing then all of a sudden having sex. Again, don't object to characters in YA books having sex, it was just so awkward. Serene is 17 but wears a see-through dress that's on the cover of Teen Vogue? Really? And Serene's dad just walking in with the happy ending? I loved Front Desk and was excited to read a YA by Yang with POC, but this seriously missed the mark.

This was a really touching story about two young people who struggle to make their families understand and believe in them. The focus on grief and the struggle to both love and care for one's parents, while at the same time feeling at odds with them, feel anger towards them is something I think many teens will relate to and it made this story more real.

The plot is pretty straightforward, but I really enjoyed the road it took me on and I liked getting to know the characters. Both the two leads felt very real and fleshed-out and they seemed like real teenagers to me, including their flaws and the rough patches they encountered.

I really love Yang's writing. I feel like everything she puts on the page comes from the heart and that makes her stories much more believable. I fee like this book is accessible and story really pulls you in. The pacing is steady, I never felt like it stagnated, it just keeps moving you forward, which is really important for YA, I feel.

Overall, I think this is a really sweet book, a relatable story, and I would definitely recommend it to teens looking for some contemporary fiction, especially if they have an interest in fashion.

I thoroughly enjoyed Serene's story of coming to terms with her mom's diagnosis, her own poor choices, and a new friendship that surprises everyone. In the end, Serene realizes what's important in school, fashion, and life. I appreciate how Kelly Yang has taken experience with her own mother's cancer diagnosis and turned it into a story that others may find comfort and power when reading. I am sure that readers will connect with Serene's agony over knowing or not knowing her own fate, as well as the dilemma of going against her mom in order to try to find her dad. A stellar book!

Thank you the publisher and author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review….

Absolutely all the feels in this book. It was well written and a tear jerker but I enjoyed the plot and ending. Really hope there is a second book!

I am a big fan of Kelly Yang's middle grade fiction and when I heard about this one, I had to try it. The novel alternates between Serene and Lian. I almost wanted this novel to be from Lian's point of view, because I believe that his voice was more real and I wanted more exploration with his family situation and his aspirations as a comic. I loved Lian and his struggles. Serene was harder to relate to, because I believe it was difficult not to see her in a bad light at times. Overall, the romance was sweet, but I wouldn't recommend to anyone but older high school kids because of sexual elements in the story.

Serene wants to be a fashion designer like her mom, and nothing will stop her. As an intern at her mother's prestigious label, she's on the right track. That is until her mom is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Now she must navigate this frightening illness as she watches her mom deteriorate before her. Meanwhile, Lian has big dreams of being a stand-up comedian, but that goes against everything his strict Chinese parents want for him. The two start a friendship when Serene joins Lian's Chinese Club after finding a postcard from her father, whom she's never met.

First of all this was a great story built around a very sad situation. I liked Lian a lot, but had a little trouble with Serene. Like I know she's only 17, but her story with Cameron only served to infuriate me each time he came on the page. The scenes with Serene and her mom toward the end seemed to only scratch the surface of the emotional impact it should have had. I would have liked to see more of those and much less Cameron. Also, this book had one almost sex scene and one glossed over sex scene. Personally, I prefer YA books with no sex. That's a personal preference, but because of that I cannot recommend this to my students sadly.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I liked this story.

This is my second book by Kelly Yang and it hit close to home. I just lost an aunt to pancreatic cancer and found comfort in this book and Serene’s mentality. The writing was wonderfully done.

Selene and Lian start out as the least likable main characters ever. Self-centered, unsure of themselves, and drowning in their own fears. Even though they each have a family member who genuinely cares about them (Selene's mom, Lian's sister), neither can see their own strengths.

And it's not like lightning strikes. These two characters don't miraculously change overnight. They don't meet and fall instantly in love. They don't suddenly wake up as the perfect teen couple.

Which is really the point. Teens or not, finding yourself and finding someone who genuinely cares about your self is difficult. It takes time.

And most of this book is painful. But so is life.

I came to like this book as I came to understand the characters. Just as they came to understand themselves. Be gentle with yourself, friends. Learn to care about you.j

"You should go after your dream too. Whatever it is."

"I choose courage. And I choose purpose. It's go time."

"I don't think there are any wrong roads.I think there are just roads."

“It makes me feel guilty that I’m falling in love while my mom’s chugging liquid dinner. But maybe Lian’s right. Cancer doesn’t hold all the cards.”

Bestselling author Kelly Yang makes her first foray into contemporary YA romance with PRIVATE LABEL, again proving why her voice is one to be reckoned with on both the MG and YA scenes. On the surface, PRIVATE LABEL is an earnest story of first love, but Yang’s skills shine through in the novel’s thoughtful, nuanced explorations of belonging, familial expectations, immigration, assimilation, and the weight of care-taking.

Despite being the only Chinese-American students in their mostly white Southern California beach town, Serene Lee (née, Serene Li) and Lian Chen could not be further apart in the hierarchy of their high school. Serene is popular — the daughter of a self-made, successful fashion designer, with the “right” friends and the “golden boy” boyfriend. Lian is a nerd — his entire class calls him “Liam,” having refused to learn his name when he moved from China a year ago, and his closest friend is the kid who copies his homework every morning.

Serene dreams of making a name for herself outside of her mom’s fashion empire, but for now she’ll settle for being the intern. But when her mom collapses on a business trip and receives a stage 3 pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Serene finds herself taking over the business and struggling to prove herself to ruthless investors. Meanwhile, Lian’s parents have their eyes set on his early admission to MIT. This means hours of studying, tutoring, and reaching for perfection on tests that Lian doesn’t care about. His dream of becoming a stand up comic is feeling more and more out of reach, until in a last-ditch effort he starts a “fake” Chinese Club after school… and Serene walks in.

Told in alternating first-person narration, PRIVATE LABEL follows Serene and Lian as their lives spiral out of control and propel them toward each other on a crash-course neither could have predicted.

cw: racism, classism, parental abandonment, cancer, BRCA gene

Private Label is a wonderfully written romance story between two of the only Asian teenagers in their town who have grown up in very different backgrounds. While I really loved Serene's character arc and depth, and found her story to be amazingly compelling and relatable, I didn't love reading about Lian in the same way, which drug the quality of the story down for me. I often found myself speed-reading through his chapters to get back to Serene's POV. I found definitely recommend this book to others, however for that reason my rating has gone down a star. There were also a few noticeable errors in the general ways that social media and gen-z references work, which I don't think was the end of the world but definitely made me feel as though the book needed another run through of edits and fact checking.