Thank you to Netgally and Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC.
While I did not love this book I did not not enjoy it. I just felt it was not for me there was nothing really in the story that stood out to me and with other books, but it was a cute story nonetheless.

While A Warm Rainy Day in Tokyo has a cute premise, and an even cuter cover design, this fell completely flat for me. And when I say flat, I mean F L A T. The dialogue was rough. This is a completely clean, spice-free story about two young adults meeting on a plane to Tokyo and instantly disliking one another. Despite being in Japan for vastly different reasons, they keep running into one another again and again all over Tokyo, and proximity makes the heart grow fonder and all.

To be completely fair, I power scrolled through a large portion of the middle of this book. After weeks of trying to get through it, it was the best I could do. Both characters were written as though they were middle schoolers, and that’s being kind. Bella is 22, and though she still lives at home, she’s wildly successful at her job (enough to be sent around the world to assist with opening new company branches), but her mother “forbids” her from going to Tokyo. This is Bella’s reaction:

"The heat of tears stung my eyes. We'd had many arguments, but her tone made me sad this time. 'I don't care whether you allow me to or not.' I stomped my foot on the carpet. 'I'm going to Japan.' Curling my fingers, I rose to my feet abruptly and stormed upstairs to my room. Inside, I threw myself on the bed and pulled a pillow to muffle my scream. Instantly, the pillow sheet became moist. My nails dug into my palms as I clenched my fingers. It was unfair. I got this golden opportunity, and my mom ruined it. How could she!"

I mean - HOW COULD SHE!? *stomp stomp* That makes me SAD!!

No lie, my 8 year old has more emotional depth than this.

Unfortunately, there was just nothing redeeming for me in this book. I would have loved to have really felt like I was immersed in Tokyo and was experiencing the city along with our characters, but alas, not happening here. The third act breakup was painful. The reconciliation was cringe. Overall I cannot recommend this book.

I received a free copy of this e-book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

4/5 for A Warm Rainey Day in Tokyo by Kana Wu

Bella Bell lives a relatively peaceful life in suburban California. With an ordinary office job and an angel child for an older sister, Bella wants change. The large-life altering kind. So when her company needs someone to travel to Tokyo to assist in opening a new franchise, she jumps on it.

Things don't go as planned though, with a broody seatmate on the flight, a bad first impression with the apartment manager and neighbor drama. And she can't seem to avoid said seatmate...he's everywhere she goes (only good thing? he's handsome) and taking over her thoughts.

Ryo Yamada is doing absolutely fantastic in life. Money, luxury and women are in abundance around him. However, when his family requests his return to Tokyo to care for his sickly sister, he leaves all behind. Back home, he faces a childhood friend who he doesn't had feelings for (she does), and a new friend, who he can't get out of his head...and may for some reason actually love (even if she gets on him nerves ALOT).

With Bella's deadline to return home quick approaching and plethora of curveballs being thrown in, will the two get the HEA they so desperately want?

Review

WOW WOW WOW

I felt like I just watched an early 2000s rom-com movie. The vibes made me feel are warm and nostalgic. The plot is very much enemies to lovers, but not to an extreme. It's more of I-like-you-but-I-don't-know-why type of thing. LOVED IT. This definitely does has some discussion of serious topics, including medical issues and life in general, but it is not dark. I love that Bella educates herself in Japan about local culture. This is something I wish a lot of people did. There is a different between wanting everyone to have personal freedom in another culture and just being plan disrespectful. Props to the author for that.

I have to speak about the writing too. Dare I say that it was probably one of the best written pieces I read this year (read 70 books so far)!!! Everything flowed very, very well and super developed as well. I didn't feel like anything was rushed, as the timeline is meant to be short anyway. My only "negative" point is that I would have liked a little more of the side characters as well (think Crazy Rich Asians type of side character screen time...I wanted that).

As an Asian myself, i was super excited to read this book and I have not been disappointed one bit!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the advance copy. All opinions are honest and my own :)

#netgalley #bellwindbooks publication date 31 March 2022
This book is an easy read, a nice Little romcom. I will be keeping an eye out for more from this author 2/5 stars

Sadly this book just wasn’t for me, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it I just could not get into it. I found the characters unbelievable and the writing wordy and repetitive. I really wanted to love it but sadly I just couldn’t but would happily read more by the author to see what other ideas they come up with.

I make it a point to read any book set in Japan because I love Japan and his culture! So, A Warm Rainy Day in Tokyo gets a very high score from me for getting Japan right. Wu obviously knows Japan and her setting works.

You get what you'd expect from this book. It's a pretty silly romance that seems unrealistic in today's world, but if you like a sappy romance, and you would enjoy a Tokyo setting, then perhaps this is your book.

I was expecting something more ... but it was a light and fun reading, thanks also this time to Netgalley for providing me with this book. Luv U

My favorite thing about this book was the amazing setting. Tokyo is almost like its own character and is described in such detail and passion that you can't help falling in love with it. However, the story seemed to take a backseat. At the end, I remembered more details about the setting than the relationships and characters. I was a pleasant book and I am glad I read it but it will definitely only be a one time read for me.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded up
0 🌶

Off the bat, I loved the cover. It was cute and it made me crave to read a nice, sappy rom-com; which I don't usually like to read.

I was intrigued when finding out that the MMC had an identical twin sister who had a congenital heart defect that affected her way of living. I was interested to see more of her, and also read about some of the struggles that the twins would face in their relationship, because let's be real: it's not always sunshine and rainbows, and it's easy for each party to feel resentment towards the other in reality, and I wanted to see this explored in depth.

However, just a quick side note: I think it's clear that the possibility of them being identical twins is impossible given they are of the opposite sex (and there was no classification of transgender individuals. Also there was also a monologue of girl/boy strength/size that Ryo had towards the beginning of the book with the introduction of his twin and her situation- so I feel it's safe to assume, that this was an error overlooked by the author and editor, but it still does not take away from the plot of the book)

As a medical student, I liked to see that there were hints of underlying themes of the struggle of living with a disability not only for the patient but also for the family. It helped with building a perspective that I could apply when considering the feelings of my patients, and it also further built upon the foundation of empathy that I should have for them. However, I also wished this was explained and explored much more.

There were a few things with the book that at times made me want to stop reading, and that was the dynamic between the FMC and her mother. The relationship wasn't fully explained and it felt like the writer was trying to get us to take the side of the FMC during their small quarrel, without fully laying out the situation nor the opinions of both characters. It felt very much like a teenage mindset. The FMC is noted as in her early 20s.

Most of the time the dialogue felt rushed and it didn't flow. As mentioned before, the whole thing felt as if I was diving into the mind of a teenager. There was no articulation nor coherence of thoughts and it felt as if the FMC was immature and only thought of herself.

This was a duo-POV which I enjoyed. But I couldn't understand why Bella was written in first person, while Ryo was written in third.

The relationship between Ryo and Bella was something I couldn't really enjoy, because again, it felt very immature. It felt forced because they kept bumping into each other EVERYWHERE, which is ridiculous given the population of Tokyo; but also they fell in love fairly quickly, and the enemies-to-lovers aspect wasn't fully formed and neither was their emotional connection to actually fall in love.

All in all, it was a cute read. If the author were to revisit this book in a few years time and make a revised copy with more elaborate character and relationship development, and better monologues/dialogues, I wouldn't hesitate to read it.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Dnf

:(

The writing for me felt really first draft. Too much telling, not enough showing in terms of building characters. A lot of conflicts would be brought up only to have immediate resolution and no lasting impact on the plot, making those chapters completely redundant. Both characters were also really immature considering they were both in their 20's, and lastly I found the family dynamic for Bella very unrealistic for a white American family. I'll be holding off from posting a review on goodreads, thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

DNF’d at 20%. The writing n this book was just not great. It felt like a bad translation that needs A LOT more editing. The main character is semi-likeable, but her mother was not at all. There were several strangely worded sentences that should have been caught by an editor:
- the male main character can’t have a female identical twin
-Bella says she’s glad her layover on the way to Japan wasn’t at a large airport, but she was at SFO, which is actually quite a large airport
-when Bella talks about a co-worker she has a crush on, she says “He also broke my heart into pieces when he engaged with his long-term girlfriend two months ago.” This is wrong in multiple ways.
-when Bella gets to Japan it says “Instantly, a mixed feeling of joy, overwhelm, and a bit of intimidation rose from the pit of my stomach.” There’s another error that should have been easily caught.
These are just a couple of the mistakes I noticed, and I stopped a fifth of the way through the book. I assume there would have been more.
I feel bad saying negative things when I’m sure the author worked hard and is very proud of what was published, but her writing style is just not for me.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me access to this eARC for my honest opinion.

I’m torn with liking and not liking this book. I did like the plot and setting….and the characters to a certain extent. Bella and Ryo just seemed a bit childish, maybe I was expecting older characters, but they just seemed younger than what they are in the story. I do have some friends I’ll be recommending this book to, though. (As I looked at the book info, it does say “new adult”, so that’s a my bad for expecting something different, lol.)

Thank you NetGalley and Bellwind Books for providing this ARC to review. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise. ~

perfect, immaculate, amazing!!!! i have nothing to say except i loved this. everything was amazing, and the writing style was just god tier

Thank-you NetGalley and Bellwind Books for the chance to review this ARC.

I enjoyed A Warm Rainy Day in Tokyo.

I had some issues the with the female lead Bella Bell she seemed a bit childish to me but I was able to overlook that.
I really enjoyed when I could read in Ryo Yamada's POV.

This read like a love letter to Japan and I loved that aspect of the story.

Overall I enjoyed the story and hope to read more of the author's work in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers to allow me to read an early copy of this book. This is my honest opinion about the book.

The story is very sweet and it's like reading a Jdrama, reading it makes me want to visit Japan and have a love story lol

The story follows Bella a young adult, visiting Japan for the first time due to work. She meets the main male character Ryo, and they don't start their relationship on the right foot but even tho, they don't like each other at the beginning, destiny seems to keep the close.
What can I say about the characters? Well, Bella is really childish and you can totally see that at the end of the book. Ryo is too perfect and connected to his feelings, I feel the ending of the book was a little bit rushed and there are empty parts in the story. I really wished the development of their relationship was long and not rushed.

When it comes to writing, it is a fast-paced book, with short chapters which makes the book easy to digest, I found it very interesting that when the POV of Bella was being narrated it was in the first person but with Ryo, it was by an omniscient narrator, this was confusing at the beginning.

I would recommend this book if you are looking for a:

- Cute romance
- Haters to lovers... kind of
- Short chapters
- Story-based in Japan (the author mentions a lot about Japanese culture)

Let me preface this review by saying that this was an enjoyable story to read and in many instances, it felt like reading a classic romantic manga story, but written in western style.

To begin with, the story is narrated through two different perspectives, that of Bella Bell, the main female character and Ryo Yamada, the main male character. Double POVs always make the story more engaging and exciting, in my opinion, which was also the case with this book. However I would have preferred it if the double POVs were written in a first person narration because it would allow the reader to feel more connected with the characters’ thoughts, feelings and inner turmoil. Nonetheless, through the story of Bella and Ryo, Kana Wu touches upon some very interesting modern dilemmas. For example, Bella faces the dilemma of going after her career, that is slowly but surely evolving or pursuing a degree for the sake of having a Bachelors, like her parents expect of her. At the same time, Ryo has to face the expectations of his family and his culture, concerning his role as the male son, who has to be there for his family, even if he has to sacrifice his own ambitions and goals. What I really enjoyed throughout the book, is Ryo’s vulnerability and how he wasn’t afraid to show it in front of his sister or Bella. It’s only natural for a man to want to cry when he is faced with all these life changes as well as the imminent death of his sister.

As far as the writing is concerned, in some instances, it feels a little “immature” and some dialogues, especially in the beginning of the book, felt a little forced and they didn’t flow naturally. Furthermore, I found that the editing of the book was lacking because there were many instances, again mainly in the beginning of the book, of unnecessary information that could be removed and thus, enhance the flow of the story. Lastly, there were also some mistakes that were overlooked during proofreading.

All in all, this was a solid three star read for me, because it was a really cute and enjoyable story, I didn’t feel bored while reading it and I would read something from Kana Wu again.

3.5 stars
A sweet romance that doubles as a journey through Tokyo. For anyone who's travelled to Japan, this story highlights it's culture and language as it infuses it's love for the city with the unexpected connection between an unassuming foreigner and a returning local that fate keeps bringing together. Obstacles follow them from the start but it's a slow burn attraction that takes them both by surprise. Some slightly awkward dialogue but has a softer and sad side to it that makes up for it.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest opinion.

I really tried to like this book, but unfortunately it just was not for me.
I love a good enemies to lovers, romantic comedy but this one just did not hit.

One of my biggest issues with the book was that when we were switching between Ryo and Belle’s point of view, we were also switching between f third and first person. It made the writing feel quite choppy and felt hard to get into the flow of the story. Scenes also felt quite stilted, with a lot of unnecessary detail in the internal dialogue, and the dialogue between characters feeling a little odd (not quite how people talk irl)

I also unfortunately was not the biggest fan of either of the main love interests either, which makes it really hard to enjoy a romance story. Belle felt very juvenile, and Ryo’s emotions and internal dialogue were all over the place.

Giving it 2 stars because I genuinely like the premise and liked how the author worked aspects of Japanese culture into the story.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆-𝒂𝒓𝒄.


The reason made me pick up this book was because of the Japan setting and the Japanese male lead, Ryo.

Right from the start, the story really irked me and that was because of our main heroine, Bella, which I find way too childish and frustratingly annoying. Like for the whole story that was just painful to read.

I did enjoy Roy’s character which I really think is way much more better and an interesting character than her. I sometimes hope that the book just did focus on him and his journey than Bella.

Aside from this caring and relatable character, I also did enjoy the presentation of Japan setting here but sometimes I think the author tends to be more of a telling than showing, that made it boring to read at times.

As for the romance, I didn’t like it. They just lack chemistry that it was painful and dragging to read about. I just can’t see them two and I really think that Ryo deserves better?

Overall, this was a disappointing read for me. I just wished that the heroine was much more likable and for the story to be more enjoyable since I really do find it dragging.

I really wanted to rate this a much higher rating because of the Japan setting and of course, Ryo but I just can’t.

The “Female Waldo” meets “The Frowner” in this Enemies to Lovers contemporary romance novel. Bella Bell is a Californian trainer for Little Bear cafe. When the opportunity arises for a cafe to open in Tokyo she is overly excited for this adventure. Ryo, also living in California has to re-plant himself back in Japan due to his twin sisters poor health.

Ryo and Bella meet *officially* on the plane ride to Tokyo, where Ryo is automatically annoyed with her for being an unpleasant seat mate. (When really she was just struggling with the flight anxiety). In this story, Ryo and Bella run into each other all.the.time. It seems also unbelievable at how often they meet in the large city.

I enjoyed this book as a whole, but it was a bit slow for me in the beginning. It seemed to lack some emotional connection between the characters despite them falling in love and felt pretty juvenile. The ending also felt a bit rushed. I did however love experiencing Tokyo through the eyes of someone who had never been there. The way the author described Japan and the culture was really fun for me, too. I also absolutely love the cover of this book as well as the sweet friendships Bella made during her time in Japan. It was a cute story, even leaning on the side of a YA instead of NA. 3 Stars for me - would recommend!

Bella and Ryo don't get off to the best of starts, but still keep bumping in to each other once they arrive in Tokyo.
A fairly slow, gentle read, but I did enjoy it.
Wish my bosses would send me to Tokyo so I could get to see some of these places!