💜 Book Review 🩷
When You Wish Upon a Lantern
Gloria Chao
Publishing: February 14, 2023

Special thank you to PenguinTeen and Gloria Chao for my digital copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

"Liya and Kai had been best friends since they were little kids, but all that changed when a humiliating incident sparked The Biggest Misunderstanding of All Time—and they haven’t spoken since.
Then Liya discovers her family's wishing lantern store is struggling, and she decides to resume a tradition she had with her beloved late grandmother: secretly fulfilling the wishes people write on the lanterns they send into the sky. It may boost sales and save the store, but she can't do it alone . . . and Kai is the only one who cares enough to help.
While working on their covert missions, Liya and Kai rekindle their friendship—and maybe more. But when their feuding families and changing futures threaten to tear them apart again, can they find a way to make their own wishes come true?"

This was such a sweet friend's to lovers YA romance. I loved the funny back-and-forth with the characters as they helped grant wishes and pretend not to like each other. I liked the added baking element and the many generations represented. I also really enjoyed getting to learn more about Chinese culture and the different festivals.
A very cute little story out just in time for Valentine's Day!


#whenyouwishuponalantern #gloriachao #Penguin #penguinteen #Reviewer #ya #yaromance #friendstolovers #Chineseculture #festivals #lanterns #paperlanterns #comingsoon #yafiction #teenfiction #purple #pink

Thank you for the digital copy, I ended up receiving a physical copy and will be reading and reviewing on my socials that way. Thank you again for the digital ARC.

<b>Quick Stats</b>
Age Rating: 13+
Over All: 3.75 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 3.5/5

<i>Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>

This book was really cute. It was fast paced, light hearted, and swoony. Liya and Kai were compelling main characters who were easy to root for, and I’m a sucker for friends-to-lovers, so this book was right up my alley.
I really loved the cultural aspect of this, as well. I learned a lot about some of Liya and Kai’s different traditions, like the three finger tap, and about Qixi. These aspects were seamlessly woven into the plot and added a lot to the story as a whole.
This book does rely heavily on the miscommunication trope, which can be annoying. For the most part it’s easy to overlook, as it’s more of a background machination, but there were times where it would come to a head and it was painful to read. Like Kai and Liya’s blow up at 70%? That was so pointless and stupid and annoying to read. However, when these miscommunications got to the point where they were really difficult to read, it only lasted a chapter or two (and they’re short chapters), so it wasn’t too bad.
The one thing I couldn’t get behind was the feud between Kai and Liya’s dads. It was so unnecessary, made very little sense, and was painfully cliche. It was annoying to read about it, and I think the book would’ve been stronger if it had simply been removed.
Despite my few annoyances, this book was fun and fast to read. A great YA romance with a good message and an interesting premise. It’ll give you all the warm and fuzzies. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read of Gloria Chao’s, and I definitely recommend her work.

P.S.
This isn’t really a part of the review, because it’s not a critique of the book, but every time they let off lanterns all I could think about was the environmental impact? In this book, the entire town is having festivals where they fill the skies (and the pond) with these lanterns basically every two weeks. What happens to the lanterns after they let them go? Where do they end up? Isn’t that like… a lot of litter?

3.5 rounded down

When You Wish Upon a Lantern is a cute, contemporary coming -0f-age story that centers around childhood friends Liya and Kai. Liya's family runs a lantern/Chinese convenience store, and Kai's family runs a Chinese bakery. They've been close their entire lives, but after a misunderstanding, they've fallen out of touch. When Liya finds out that her family's store is struggling, she and Kai decide to work together to save it.

This story is a little basic in its construction, but it was a really cute read with some important messages about the immigrant experience and grief. I think that the misunderstanding between Liya and Kai that sets up the entire book is so childish, but it could(??) be plausible. Some other character motivations were childish as well, but those moments were offset by really impactful moments between Liya and her family. This book is 3.5 stars for me mostly because of those childish moments since I think that this book is aimed at the younger end of the YA audience, and I also think there could have been better conflicts and resolutions. Overall, though, a pretty cute read!

A delightful book about family, community, love, following own's dreams, personal growth, and identity set in Chicago's Chinatown. This does read a little younger than the ages of the protagonists (juniors/seniors in high school) but they are still engaging characters who are easy to root for, and you cheer with them when they finally work through lingering issues with better communication, whether with their families or themselves.

Thank you #PenguinTeenPartner for the gifted ebook and beautiful physical copy of When you Wish Upon a Lantern.

This book was so sweet. A friends to lovers romance with a Romeo and Juliet spin. I soaked up the amazing descriptive elements of the Chinese community, culture, holidays and food the characters described with reverence. These teenagers are focused on making others’ wishes come true and trying to help others while missing out on their own desire due to miscommunication.

This novel explores topics such as grief, familial expectations and communication. This was such a sweet and heartfelt book!

This one isn't my usual read but it was a really sweet read. The characters were really well done, the story was very heartwarming and sweet and I loved the magic of this one.

My Thoughts:

This is listed as a YA romance, but I think it can also work in middle level since the romance scenes are mild. When Liya loses her beloved grandmother and finds out that her family's lantern store is struggling, she is determined to resume the secret wish fulfillment activities that she and her grandmother once did to bring the community together and save her family's store.

Her parents seem to not care about the store so Liya needs to put away her shame over the embarassing incident that broke her friendship with Kai. Despite the feud between Kai and Liyaʻs fathers, Kai has always been Liya's best friend. Besides that, Liya's grandmother loved Kai.

The two teens set out on a great wish fulfilling adventure in their community and along the way, they start to fulfill their own secret wishes. Cute, cute, cute! The pacing captures the reader and only forced sleep will stop reading this devour-worthy book in one take.

I really enjoyed this glimpse of Chinese culture through both the different types of wish lanterns, moon cakes and the different cultural festivals that bring the community together. The fact that Liya and Kai are both interested in helping the elders of their community find love was so cute. Chao's characters are good kids who deserve all the love.

From the Publisher:
Liya and Kai had been best friends since they were little kids, but all that changed when a humiliating incident sparked The Biggest Misunderstanding of All Time—and they haven’t spoken since.

Then Liya discovers her family's wishing lantern store is struggling, and she decides to resume a tradition she had with her beloved late grandmother: secretly fulfilling the wishes people write on the lanterns they send into the sky. It may boost sales and save the store, but she can't do it alone . . . and Kai is the only one who cares enough to help.

While working on their covert missions, Liya and Kai rekindle their friendship—and maybe more. But when their feuding families and changing futures threaten to tear them apart again, can they find a way to make their own wishes come true?

Publication descriptions:
Author: Gloria Chao
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (2/14/2023)

Thank you Penguin Teen for the eARC. My opinions are my own.

A super cute YA set in Chicago's Chinatown. Liya loves to help people with their wish lantern and is known in the community to be a wish granter. After her nainai's passing, she hasn't had the heart to grant them, but will still help at her parents lantern shop. She finds out her parents shop is behind on rent and tries to find a way to help pay for the backrent. She enlists Kai's help by having him make the mooncakes with a wish inside.

I appreciate the explanations of the pronunciations and meanings. I think it's important to have understanding and learning about language and culture. I love that people in Chinatown look out for each other. Even when there's a feud over something miniscule between families, Kai and Liya remain friends.

This is a fun fast paced story of 2 friends who rise up to the challenge. As an adult who enjoys reading YA, this one does read more on the younger YA end. However, if you enjoy a book filled with fun puns and beautiful culture, I definitely recommend.

Did I pick this book up because the cover had tangled vibes? yes. Yes I did. Obviously, I loved the book despite it not actually being Tangled related.

I loved the family dynamics, especially as a child of an immigrant family. I really related to wanting to hold on to your family traditions and legacies! I also loved how each of them had these little wishes and goals for each other and how both characters were still their own person despite their friends to lovers arc! While of course the budding romance was adorable, my favorite aspect of the book was definitely their character development. When they realize their own dreams and passions, I felt really touched!

While I did think that Liya and Kai's misunderstanding was a bit random, I did enjoy the cute friendship they had and little bits of backstory that played into the current timeline. Overall, this was a cute read that I'd definitely recommend!

Here is a video I made for the book on TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRGRyxLV/

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 STARS

This is a YA coming of age/friends to lovers romance book set around the Chinese culture.

Liya and Kai are best friends. Liya’s family owns a wishing lantern store while Kai’s family owns a Chinese bakery. When the lantern store starts to fail, Kai tries to help and their friendship develops into something more.

This was a sweet story by an #ownvoices author. I loved the Chinese culture the book described. It was a fun, quick read. I really appreciated The Amazing Race references as I was on the show in 2013 with my husband and got second place 🥰.
I also happened to read it during the Chinese New Year and the lanterns fit in with that vibe.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the ARC and PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook 🏮🏮

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the characters and I was rooting for them the entire time. I loved the plot and how the story progressed. I wanted them both to have their happy ending, I will say that the reason for them not speaking for six months was not something I anticipated and I feel like was a little… childish — i think if someone I knew did that when I was asking an important question, I’d have more follow up questions.

My biggest critique is that Liya read very young, I thought she was like 13-14 and not the 17 years old she was supposed to be. Her POV juxtaposed to Kai’s was very stark.

Friends to lover storyline with some family feud aspects in it. It's a light, quick read but as far as depth it is very within the YA expectation.

Reviews Posted: January 31, 20223
Goodreads
Storygraph


This book honestly has my whole heart. From the characters to the romance, and the culture I just could not get enough. I ended up reading most of this in one sitting I just could not put it down.

I loved both Liya and Kia. They both had their own journeys to go on throughout the book, which brought up interesting conversations about family dynamics. As someone who is Chinese, I heavily relate to a lot in this book and was able to identify with both main characters. While romance is one of the main points of this book, I really enjoyed seeing Liya navigate other types of relationships in a close-knit community.

The romance was just so freaking cute. It perfectly captured just how awkward teen dating can be. And how they are all trying to figure out these new emotions for the first time. When Liya felt awkward I felt it in my bones. So much of how she approached life reminded me of when I was younger. The ending had me smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.

I think it is great that the author talks about so many different Chinese holidays in the book. Especially the ones that are not often talked about or celebrated in the United States. In many ways, it felt like I was reading about home.

I have read and loved a few Gloria Chao books, so it is no surprise that I loved this one too.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for letting me read this early.

This was a cute cozy read that will have you hungry for all the deserts mentioned until the very last page.

Former best friends Liya and Kai are from rival family businesses. Kai’s focused on his family’s bakery and Liya’s focused on finding ways to help save her family’s lantern shop—where people light up lanterns filled with their wishes—passed on from her late grandmother. When she becomes consumed with helping grant others’ wishes, will there be room for her own?

After reading LUNAR LOVE, I got similar vibes as I was reading because of save the whole family business thing. This one definitely focused more on Chinese culture, traditions, the family feud between Kai’s and Liya’s families, but I loved how it incorporated hopes and dreams—truly inspiring. Of course there was a romance between the two friends, in a Romeo & Juliet kind of forbidden way because of the family rivalry, but it was sweet (and didn’t end in tragedy). The dual POV definitely helped with the storytelling.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I've enjoyed each one, especially the characters and the humor. I enjoyed the many references to the Asian cultures and how the families desired to keep their traditions alive for future generations. Liya and Kai make not only the cutest couple, but the warmest of friends. I laughed out loud and swooned many times as well as felt all the frustrations, disappointments, and sadness as Liya and Kai struggled to rekindle their friendship and take a chance on romance despite their feuding families.

I have been a fan of Gloria Chao's books for the most part, and this one was also enjoyable! It follows two best friends as they navigate their feelings for each other (separately) and deal with their families and respective family businesses. Liya and Kai both narrate the story, and I enjoyed getting to see both of their perspectives. I also really liked that both of them had family businesses; their dedication to them drove a good part of the story and I enjoyed seeing them interact with their customers. Liya, especially, was a lot of fun to follow because she made it her mission to grant wishes to her customers. Their romance was cute, but it felt like it was kind of stagnant for most of the book until the very end when declarations were made. I did like this book, but it was kind of underwhelming and simple, but I think many YA readers will enjoy it.

dnf @ 7%

I really usually try to make it through a quarter of a book before I dnf but I'm pretty sure I will not like this book at all. I think I've outgrown Gloria Chao's writing personally, and I'm sure the bumpiness I didn't like (Kai's chapter starting with almost exactly the same internal monologue as Liya's; the writing itself feeling too tell not show; etc.) might've evened out a little more, had I continued. However, I've been told that it does not get that much better, so I'm just going to call it. again, my personal tastes, maybe you'll like this one more, etc!!

This book was a delight! Gloria has a wonderful sense of humor, and it really shines through in her latest work. I would have liked it a bit more if it hadn't stopped to explain almost every single aspect of Chinese culture in the book—it really took me out of the story—and the interpretation of Chicago's Chinatown was a bit idealistic, but overall, it was very fun and sweet.