This is a tricky book that will connect with teens on a fundamental level. It started out as a slow read where I wasnt connecting with the MC possibly because of age. I'm definitely out of the YA age range yet some of the most relevant and emotionally thought provoking material can be found in this section of a library. Given that, this might be an example of where I could've let this story slip. Hence my hesitancy at the start.

Regardless of all that, this book was well worth the extra effort on my part. As the story evolved, I found myself growing with the MC.
This book is journey.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This was such a cute romance it took me on an emotional rollercoaster that I had no intention on getting off of. This book was exactly what i needed when i needed.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest rating and review.

This book was a nice coming of age, self-discovery novel. I really enjoyed the storyline about finding the main character’s friend’s grandma’s long-lost lover. I also enjoyed the internal monologue throughout about the main character’s thoughts about self expression and coming out. I was extremely frustrated, however, with the fact that it seemed like every couple minutes she had a big crush on somebody different. It made the ending less special, as I felt like anybody who expressed they had feelings for her would’ve made her happy. The story also felt a little too dragged along throughout the middle.

Maybe I'm not in my YA Contemporary Romance era anymore because I found this book difficult to really enjoy.

While it was obvious that Joan was the real love interest, we spent so much time on Ada and Elsie's crush on her that Joan just felt like a throwaway at the end. We spent the whole book looking for Ada's grandmother's friend, there was no satisfying culmination to that arc, and there was no satisfying end to Elsie's crush on ADA either.

There wasn't a real plot or character arc in this book and I think that makes it hard to actually get into the story and the characters.

*3.5 stars
This book was good, but not my favorite. I liked the characters, especially Rikita and Ada, but Elsie low key bothered me sometimes. People kept being reasonable and telling her that finding Theresa was pointless and slightly creepy and she just kept going. I liked the love story, but the plot had some issues.

A tender and emotional read that beautifully weaves together a nuanced and multilayered story of friendship, family, cultural identity, love, abusive relationships, self discovery, sexual identity and gender expression.

I absolutely adored this book! it has a lot to do with reconnecting with people from your past who were important, and I've always loved reading those kinds of stories

I loved the characters and the plot. the ending made me so happy, I absolutely loved this book

This is the summer Elsie confesses to her long distance crush but also discover not only that her heart might have more in store for her but she reconnects with family and old friends as well. Elsie has a crush on her longtime long-distance friend Ada, they just get each other. Ada writes amazing fanfics for Elsie and she’s everything Elsie could ever want... until elsie’s old childhood best friend literally walks back into her life and it’s as if she’s never left... and as if she never moved to Hong Kong and ignored Elsie’s dozens of emails and letters. Elsie barely knows what to make of it. In a move to do a grand gesture for Ada, Elsie wants to help reunite Ada’s grandmother with her own long lost pen pal (and possible love), a woman who lives only a train ride away from Elsie’s home. But as Elsie goes out with her plan to reunite two older woman, she also begins to discover other bonds that need to be repaired within her own family and friends. This was such a heartwarming and beautiful story about love, identity, and community. Elsie is in the summer right before starting college/university, and she’s a queer kid in an asian family that has a different kind of gender norms and expectations. She is dealing with not only her sexual identity but also with how she dresses and how that impacts her family’s perception of her. She is dealing with love and friendship drama as well as family drama. It honestly was such a good read that I would definitely recommend!

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I received this book from NetGalley and the publishers to read and review. All statements above are my true
opinions after fully reading this book.
I loved the cover for this book and second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes to read. The writing style was a little too juvenile for me, and seemed like it did not fit into the YA category.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

2.25/5 stars! The cover of this book is lovely. I think for a very specific audience this book might work, but it reads very young for a YA book. I appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation and the friendships as they were depicted. If the focus had remained on those, I think my review would have skewed higher. But a lot of the story pulled into hobbies of the MC that while entertaining when first mentioned, were gone off far too frequently. It took away from the rest of the story.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

I enjoyed this book a lot. The characters were all really likable to me and the romance was sweet. I was never bored for a moment and I liked everything about it. I definitely recommend this book.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A few pages in I was having major deja vu. Even though I read it before I still found the story interesting enough to keep going a second time. And this second time it finally got through to me. This is not just a YA romance. It tackles some very important topics.

Above all else.

Representation matters. It is important to see ourselves in the stories we read but it is equally as important for those of us not in need of that representation to understand why that representation is important.

“White women are beautiful and worthy of love. Mainstream media taught me that. White women are attractive, and women who aren’t white are as good as invisible.”

Also you become equally as invisible as you get older.

“To meet an older queer person. It’s not like you see them on TV much. I’ve never really thought about being old and queer and … happy.”

I had trouble getting engaged with this book. It picked up a bit around 1/2 or 2/3 of the way in, but that is a long time. I don't think it was any one thing, sort of a combination.

Something about the first person narration was distancing, which is odd. It felt like Elsie was observing her own life instead of living it. When she first sees Joan, it reads "I study the person who interrupted us..."

There is plenty of description of what people are wearing, but not much reaction to it.

There is very little sense of place. I was surprised to find it was set in Oxford, because I hadn't seen anything British about in the story, not even terms like pavement or lorry. Other than complaining about the heat (which doesn't seem like England to me) and riding trains, we don't get any feel for where this happens.

The connections to comics seemed off, too. Does anybody just read one comic? Yes, Elsie is introduced to more, but has she just been waiting each month for her one true comic? Compare it to [book:Verona Comics|51901322] by Jennifer Dugan, where the characters bond over a particular comic, but read widely. Or [book:Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good|51284112] by Nancy Werlin, where the found family of fandom is a huge part of the story.

What others have said about the representation and the heartwarming story is all true, but I also have to care about the characters. It was just hard to connect with them.

Netgalley ARC Educator 55094

Wonderful, multi generational family story. Themes of homophobia, self loathing, yellow fever preference and coming home. I enjoyed this story. Some parts will have you laughing out loud and others will have you crying.

this book was so cute. sapphic asians that reunite after a long time apart? count me in.

the author really encapsulated the queer asian experience. it’s so nice to see asian culture mix with queer identities; it makes me feel seen.

i loved elsie and joan. while i was rooting for ada and elsie in the beginning—mostly because i had gone through the same thing without someone once—joan really wormed her way into my heart. i loved their chemistry and the way they were able to pick up their relationship after so many years as if they never left. they really are just everything you’re looking for in a couple.

This book started out a bit rocky for me, only because I felt like things were progressing somewhat slow and a lot of the plot seemed trivial. Then, it became SO MUCH MORE. I sped through the second half of the book and my mindset turned from "ugh young people problems" to "my sweet queer babies". It went from me feeling like things were silly high school problems to realizing the author was actually hitting very important topics.

First, I just want to go over a bunch of things that I loved! Obviously, front and center, is going to be LGBTQIA representation. It's such an amazing thing to read a YA book from the POV of a young girl who identifies as bisexual and is struggling with her identity. To jump off of that, not only is she a queer girl, but a queer Asian girl growing up in London. Not only are we hitting what it's like to live through these two separate identity crises, but also how those two identities also are very much tied together. It still awes me to read books diving into topics like this as an adult...my generation had no books close to this and it makes me happy to know future generations will grow up seeing themselves in media. I also really appreciated that it did not just stop there, but expanded a lot of queer and non-white cultural commentary to the surrounding characters as well.

Another favorite aspect of the book was the author put real effort into explaining a lot about Elsie's culture through her family, her language, and food. I loved that Cynthia So put different Cantonese phrases and words into the story to really envelope you in Elsie's life and identity. Same thing with queerness and explaining things like how different people do or do not identify based on their personal preferences. I just loved that it was also educational!

As much as Elsie, the main character, sometimes drove me crazy with her rationalizations, I ended up loving every minute of it. She struggles through real problems that drive her to making unusual decisions and explaining why she is the way she is. Yes, some of them are "very high school" like her falling for her crappy boyfriend Leo -- I feel like most of us had that relationship we now look back on and become sad knowing what we put up with thinking "why did this ever feel like real love"? However, most of her problems, are HEAVY and REAL. You slowly watch her work through all of her issues and get closer to accepting her queerness, her family. and her past. Joan is also the perfect match, NOT because she is a butch lesbian meeting a girly bisexual, but because she emotionally pairs well with Elsie. Joan is a quiet, yet solid anchor for Elsie who feels like she is constantly lost in who she wants to be vs. who people expect her to be. Elsie on the other hand brings out Joan's bravery and courage. It's a lovely pair. Of course shout out to Ritika and Felix for being the cutest friendies ever!

Overall, I really liked this book and felt wrapped in a cozy YA romance and coming of age story. I would compare it to "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" so if that is a series you liked, you will definitely like this. It reads very much the same and has cute YA vibes for an easy, yet surprisingly profound read. I will definitely buy this to add to my shelf.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't the one for me. I'm not sure what it was about the writing, but it didn't resonate with me and it felt a bit flat. It actually felt like reading fanfic, which isn't a bad thing, per se -- it's just not *my* thing.
The characters didn't really come alive for me, either, which made it hard to care about what happened to any of them.
I'll give Cynthia So another shot, because I can see how someone might really enjoy this book. I just wasn't that someone.

A great first attempt for a debut author.
This book talks alot about discovering who you are, your identity and overall family dynamic.
They way it represented the fandoms aspect in this book was very relatable to me as I often found myself trying to find who i am and where i belong by trying to connect with other people who liked the same things as me.
The characters are a bit dull for characters that are suppose to be on their way to college. The plot is going no where. I wished there was less information pushed into my face and more plot points instead.

The representation and relatability factors are the key points in this book that made me love it. Everything else was okay at best. Overall I think alot of asian readers would be able to relate and like this book which i did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love the concept of this, of the girl who is bi, who has a long lost crush come back into her life, even while she has a crush on a fanfic writer in the states, and a best friend that she might also like. Plus, she has abandoned who she is, dressing feminine, because she figures that is what she is supposed to do.

Problem I had with it was that Elsie takes so dang long to realize all this. To realize who she really loves. To realize what she has done to herself. It isn't really her fault, as her mother has kept information from her, such as that her uncle is not only gay, but also estranged from his mother, and is living with his husband, who Elsie met as a child, but never made the connection about.

And the sub-plot about finding a long lost love of her American crushes grandmother is interesting, but I find it hard to believe that they have never met any older lesbians. It isn't as though we are all locked up some where. Perhaps Elsie and her friends just don't know how to recognize them.

There are good things about this book. It was just so slow, that I had to force myself to keep going.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>