3.5 stars

With this most recent effort, Michelle Quach offers readers another solid YA contemporary featuring two characters who share perspectives: Francine and Ollie.

Francine and Ollie have been in school together for years but have had some miscommunications, leading to their wavering closeness. When the novel begins, Francine tells Ollie the sad news that her grandfather is terminally ill, and she has one wild plan that she needs Ollie's help to fulfill. Of course, Ollie complies, and to no surprise of the readers, there are revelations of all kinds: some for Francine, some for Ollie, and some for the two of them. There are also some romantic vibes that arise in addition to the more serious (and at times sad) family-related content.

Readers who know Quach's work will get great characters (the secondary characters are included in this!) and some really intriguing cultural elements, many of which were new to me. An added bonus for me is reading about the location since Quach's works tend to be set in my neck of the woods!

This is a nice contemporary YA novel that will please, especially, those looking to learn more about the cultural and familial structures described here.

This was another solid book by Michelle Quach! I read Not Here to Be Liked last year with my high school students for our afterschool book club and I absolutely devoured it! Michelle Quach's writing is detailed and digestible. The Boy You Always Wanted felt like such a personal read to me. I loved how much of East Asian aspects are included in this book such as the emphasis on family and ancestry. The characters were dynamic and interesting and I especially loved that it was written in dual perspective!

Title: A Heartfelt Journey of Deception and Discovery

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Review:
The Boy You Always Wanted by Michelle Quach is a heartwarming tale of love, family, and unexpected connections. Francine, a determined young woman, takes it upon herself to fulfill her grandfather's dying wish for a male heir. She enlists the help of Ollie, a reluctant family friend, to play the role of the grandson her grandfather longs for. As they embark on this unconventional journey, the story explores themes of identity, self-discovery, and the unpredictability of love.

The author skillfully captures the complexities of family dynamics and the lengths one may go to fulfill a loved one's wishes. Francine's unwavering determination to bring comfort to her grandfather creates a compelling narrative that delves into themes of tradition, cultural expectations, and the complexities of personal desires. Ollie's initial reluctance and gradual involvement in Francine's plan provide a contrast that adds depth and tension to their evolving relationship.

Quach's writing style is engaging and filled with emotional depth. The story unfolds at a steady pace, allowing readers to become fully immersed in the characters' journeys. The exploration of Francine and Ollie's individual growth, as well as their growing connection, is heartfelt and satisfying. The author's ability to evoke genuine emotions through their interactions and internal struggles is commendable.

While the book explores important themes and offers a satisfying narrative, there were moments where I wished for deeper exploration of certain plot points and character motivations. Some aspects of the story felt slightly rushed, leaving potential for further development. Despite this, The Boy You Always Wanted remains a captivating and enjoyable read.

In conclusion, Michelle Quach's The Boy You Always Wanted is a touching story that delves into the complexities of family, love, and personal desires. With its well-drawn characters and heartfelt exploration of identity, the book resonates with authenticity. I give it a solid 4-star rating, acknowledging its strengths in storytelling and emotional depth. Readers who appreciate heartfelt journeys of self-discovery and unconventional relationships will find themselves captivated by Francine and Ollie's intertwined tale in The Boy You Always Wanted.

I wanted to love this, I really did! However, I just could not get over the MMC Ollie being such a jerk towards Francine, both behind her back and to her face. I get the frenemies-to-lovers trope but he was almost *too* mean. It felt like he truly thought he was above Francine somehow. Are teenagers horrible to each other sometimes? Yes, absolutely. It just continued to completely take me out how rude and flippant Ollie acted towards Francine, who was going through such a challenging time! You're telling me you're going to continue to act like an absolute jerk while someone you've known your entire life watches their grandpa's health deteriorate? No. Just no.

I did appreciate the light commentary on these:
-Chinese & Vietnamese American identities & the duality of those ethnicities/how they play out/are erased in society
-the sexism of age-old traditions (and specifically of Asian households)
-themes of duty in Asian households versus self-acceptance/self-love/making yourself happy
-grief of loved ones

I just could not root for Ollie & Francine to get together because Francine deserved better. I also think the big reveal that happens is so beyond messed up & just .... poor Francine.

I'll read from this author again but this was not the book for me.

The Boy You Always Wanted was a bittersweet story about anticipatory grief, filial piety, family and love. I found Francine to be an incredibly compelling main character, and loved following her journey. Ollie was such a sweet character too, and really enjoyed Ollie and Francine’s dynamics, although some of the storylines with their respective parents felt unresolved at the end.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 follows Francine and Ollie as they get tangled in an old - and sorta sexist - tradition of adopting a male heir for Francine's family.

- ~ -

It's a love letter and an account of the patriarchal traditions in Francine's Chinese-Viatnamese family.

I'm sure the traditions and customs nowadays are way different in modern households but this story does give an important essence of the sixism faced by people a few decades ago.

I love the way the author has two books out and they both focus and emphasis on female empowerment in a way that makes us resonate with the characters as both women and readers.

- ~ -

3.97 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Things I loved: the culture, the writing style, the short chapters, the amazing cover

What I didn't like so much: the chemistry between the characters wasn't so believable to me and their relationship felt rushed, the sexism was brushed over, and there were too many loose ends

Overall it was good, and I did enjoy it

AAPI Heritage Month #15

rep: Chinese Vietnamese American

This book hits a lot of heavy topics. What does it mean to grow up female in an Asian household? How does it feel to be displaced by not one, but two countries? If you are Chinese Vietnamese, do you consider yourselves Chinese American or Vietnamese American, and why does that other part of you get erased?

I first read Michelle's Not Here to Be Liked, which I found interesting just for the fact that there was Chinese Vietnamese representation. Chinese people exist all over the world in various diasporas. There is a very large community of them in Southeast Asia. I'm most familiar with the Chinese Vietnamese community because I'm Vietnamese American and knew many of them growing up.

Francine is the only grandchild. In Chinese (and possibly other Asian or Buddhist cultures, but I didn't grow up super steeped in either so don't quote me) culture, ancestors are worshipped after death my grandsons. Granddaughters don't count, because they eventually become part of their husbands' households. The misogyny. I know.

Anyway, Francine thinks it's a great idea to involve her kind of friend and former current crush Ollie to be "adopted" into the family as her grandfather's heir. Ollie is a second son, so he's considered the spare. This obviously blows up in her face. Many things blow up in her face. I found her rather annoying, and Ollie a bit passive. Their romance didn't bloom out of nothing, but I didn't feel a lot of connection there.

Eventually, there is a reveal that comes out of left field. At least, for me it did. Maybe there's a little more that will be written in edits.

My favorite character is Rollo. All the stars for Rollo.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

⭐️=3.25 | 😘=4 | 🤬=3.5 | 15/16+

summary: so the girl’s grandpa is dying and doesn’t have a male heir so she asks this guy from school to pretend to be the male heir for her family?? it mostly makes sense in the book

thoughts: the romcom genre has evolved in such a strange manner—like it’s hard to root for or even describe a plot that doesn’t slot neatly into at least one well-known trope, and given that this isn’t enemies-to-lovers or fake dating or second chance, it’s difficult to define?? it was pretty cute, but not nearly as good as Not Here to Be Liked––like not even close, possibly due to the fact that NHTBL did fall into more conventional tropes. the ending felt super rushed; I wanted Francine to have a more in-depth convo with her grandparents bc that was the most interesting part of the book for me and I wish it was explored more (the same for a scene w Ollie and his dad)—like, more focus on how they interact with their cultures differently, I guess, and their different family dynamics?? idk this was fine but missed the mark for me overall

Damn this cover is gorgeous! And the characters were just as amazing as the cover. Such a real story with great romance and humor!

I loved Michelle Quach's debut, and this one hit a lot of the same notes for me: a careful and deliberate approach to being a teenager and all the (emotional!) mess that comes with it and a sharp critique of sexism. Over the course of the book I came to love both Ollie and Francine's characters, but I definitely connected strongly with Francine from the start for the way she was unabashedly herself, even when it put her at odds with her classmates. The secondary cast was well-drawn and three dimensional and I really enjoyed learning more about Chinese and Chinese-Vietnamese culture.

Thank you to HarperCollins for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

There were so many threads in this story of various themes and issues that never expanded into something more, such as grief, sexism in traditional families, and emotionally distant family members.

Even though the premise made it seem like it was going to really address and explore the sexism, which the book partly did, it quickly gave way to prioritizing the romance. And even though the book was more concerned about the romance, the romance itself was poorly paced and rushed resulting in a lacklustre story. The romance also suffered from little chemistry between the characters.

The main characters themselves displayed characteristics that I thought would be challenged by their character arcs. To specify, Francine is described as a selfless daughter whose devotion at times can burn her out because her actions are not really acknowledged by her grandfather. Meanwhile, Ollie keeps to himself, almost too much and it stunts him at times because instead of shying away, he could be connecting to his grandmother and heritage instead. However, we never go beyond this which I was disappointed in, considering how the narrative sets these characters in juxtaposition with one another and alludes to potential character growth.

The ending felt a bit abrupt and rushed as well — could have benefitted from like twenty more pages.

Overall, I wanted more depth from the story.

I really wanted to like this book but it felt a little off to me. The main characters didn't seem to have that much chemistry together and got together fast. I wish the obvious sexism would have been addressed a little more instead of just brushed over. It just seemed like this story had a lot of lose ends that didnt get resolved.

I did like how much culture this book had. The writing flowed really well and I love a book with reasonable chapter length. The cover is also gorgeous.

Thank you to NetGalley for copy to review.

While I adore Michelle Quach's writing and prose and the way she writes love for the YA genre, The Boy You Always Wanted did not grip me as much as the previous novel did. Perhaps the premise of the novel was not that intriguing, but overall it was a decent read.

So this is like a 2.5 rounded up. I maybe would have given it a two but I truly feel like this book was written for a very specific audience and I am not it.

This book was stuffed with cultural influence and family values. The romance, at times, took a back seat to the family conflicts. And I think that’s where my disconnect comes in. Many times, I was confused and didn’t really relate to anything said. Usually I love learning about Asian culture but in this case, it was all very jumbled and hard to learn.

The reason I did end up lowering the rating for other concrete reasons. So we get a weird FMC and an indecisive MMC who are neighbors and the girl had a crush on the boy in the past. So basically the romantic relationship of Flipped. And for most of the book, I truly felt like I was reading an Asian Flipped. 😅 And I didn’t really care for Flipped so that’s not really a good thing in my opinion.

The two characters didn’t really have much chemistry and then suddenly they’re doing some very high level things randomly and I am taken aback by it? Honestly, this book’s voice and the characters themselves felt VERY young. I was surprised to hear that she’s 17. She felt a few years younger as did he. And so the small sexual moments just feel out of place in these very young-sounding POVs.

And ultimately a lot of their ideals were preached to us. Not much happened in terms of plot? And when I look back on this book…. I think I’ll forget the entire thing by tomorrow.

This is just WORLDS different from Not Here to be Liked. I honestly can’t believe both books are written by the same author.

Thank Netgalley for this arc

This book follows Francine who wants to make her grandfather granting his one wish. His wish is to have a male heir to carry on the family traditions. I really like Francine. She was just a sweetheart. I was willing to fight anyone who was against her. The book explored themes of sexism through the grandfather's wish. The theme of sexism could have been explored more. I wish that was the case. There is a twist in this book that GAGGED me. I wish Francine had a bigger reaction, however, I can see why she reacted the way she did. Overall, it was a good book that left me wanting more on-page scenes of the hard conversations.

4/5 stars! Thank you netgalley for providing me with an ARC!

This book was pretty good! I adored the cover so much, the way it looks like a painting completely drew me in and I was invested in the story from that alone.

The story follows Francine, a girl who always has a plan and this time her plan involved her beloved, albeit sexist, grandfather. She wants to deceive him by adopting a young man so her grandfather would have a grandson like he always wanted. Ollie wants no part in this ridiculous scheme. Still, he gets swept into it, and maybe also starts to like the girl who came up with it a little more than intended.

The characters, Francine and Ollie were both fun although Ollie took longer to like than Francine. She was a joy from the beginning. I liked how distinct their character voices were.

With Francine, I really liked how the sexism in her family was addressed and how it affected her. The characters both felt SO real and I adored watching them grow over the course of the story. She was considered too intense, and he was too soft, but by the end they had both adapted to each other a little more.

I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed, but otherwise really enjoyed it!

Overall, super fun read! I can’t wait for more from this author!

This book was an interesting look into Asian culture. Francine’s grandfather is dying and wants a male son to take over the family name and duty. She enlists Ollie who is a family friend whose grandparents grew up with her own to be adopted as the male heir.

To be honest, I didn’t like Ollie. Even after he has character development, I just struggled to like him. Francine is funny and clever, and I loved her character, but I just found Ollie annoying. As a main character, that ruined the book a bit for me.

The book was an interesting look at sexism, and how it can divide families. I thought the discussion around roles of gender in the family, and how to deconstruct them, was really well done.

That said, this was an interesting book. I thought it was a little slow at times, but the thing that gets me is just that I didn’t like Ollie.

Another sweet, contemporary drama from Quach. I love the characters in this story. They are so complex and flawed, yet they truly grow over the course of the book. Francine reminds me a lot of myself, always trying to be a support to her family, going above and beyond so that everyone is comfortable and happy, even if that means ignoring her own wants and needs. Ollie is almost the opposite, thinking a lot about his own troubles, not connecting to people on a meaningful level because he's too busy trying to fit in and care about what others think of him. His family is disconnected (his parents always working) and he lets a language barrier excuse him from trying to connect with his extended family. Throughout the book, both Ollie and Francine end up coming together, either accidentally or sometimes through necessity, and through their being in each others' lives, they learn and grow.

The plot is very much family-centric, with Francine trying to help her grandfather, as he is slowly dying from cancer. Much of what happens is pushed by this storyline, and Ollie's storyline of needing to put together a booth presentation about his family for the upcoming school gala, which he signs up for because he needs to beef up his college resume. Both of the stories progress through Francine's and Ollie's interactions with each other, so the plot is very much developed as the two MCs characters develop. It's a well-written story and feels very real and easy to connect to.

I would recommend this book to those looking for contemporary fiction, with a hint of romance. There is a bit of drama, conflict arising between the two MCs, but it's pretty typical of a YA novel. There's a strong family element, as well as some interest for those seeking BIPOC authors and stories that highlight BIPOC lives.

This is the kind of book that I needed to read when I was in middle school. Of course, I enjoyed how cute and cheesy the romance was, but the underlying themes (especially how it relates to the book title!) spoke to me on another level. I first want to say I adored the representation of this book. Growing up, I never had characters that looked like me and had diverse love interests. Having characters that looked like me, which reminded me of my parents and grandparents, was a type of joy that I hadn’t experienced in a YA book in a long time. I enjoyed the novel's underlying message and how it addressed the patriarchy that is especially prominent in Asian cultures. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this author in the future.