Francine loves her grandfather, but their time together is running out. He has one final wish: to see a male heir carry on the family traditions. Francine knows his ideas are outdated, but she would do anything for him. Her solution? Ask Ollie Tran, a family friend (and former crush, not that it matters), to pretend to be ceremonially adopted and act like the grandson her A Gung never had.

Ollie has always made a point of avoiding the odd, too blunt (and fine, sort of cute) Francine, whose intensity has always made him uncomfortable. So when she asks him to help deceive her dying A Gung, Ollie’s definitely not down. He doesn’t get why anyone would go to such lengths, even for family. Especially with a backwards (and sexist, Ollie keeps stressing) scheme like this.

Mmm. I loved Michelle Quach’s Not Here to Be Liked and the themes in it: feminism and being Asian in the US. Therefore, I immediately requested The Boy You Always Wanted and thought I would love this one too. Sexism as the central theme this time, a cute love story and a dual POV. All things that should have made this story fantastic for me. Should. In reality, I didn’t like this book as much as I expected. Instead of great, I found Francine’s and Ollie’s story okay. An in-between. Nice. Forgetable. I’ve seen raving reviews, so it’s probably a me-thing, and don’t let me discourage you. Please, read other, more positive reviews.

I love these sort of books. The story was cute and the characters were loveable. It's like a K-drama, and I love the development these characters had.

The book is an asian themed story, the leads were vietnamese and I feel that the story is a bit slow and that women is looked down and men needs to stand out and be the lead of a family. Basically, Francine wants to help her grandfather because he has cancer and Ollie was the one she was convincing to be and heir somewhat pretend because he's a boy. The relationship of the two is complicated for me until the end.

There were so many things in enjoyed about this book. I loved being introduced to Chinese Vietnamese culture. I loved how it dealt with family and grief and I really enjoyed the enemies to friends to romantic couple journey between Francine and Ollie. I thought the ending was cute but I did feel there were still some unresolved issues with Ollie and his dad. I really felt for Francine. She put so much pressure on herself to be this perfect daughter and granddaughter. She devoted so much to her family that she often neglected her own needs and feelings and that a heavy burden for a 17 year old. I was so hurt for her when she found out about the most important people in her life were keeping from her. Great read

After reading Not Here to Be Liked, it was evident to me that Michelle Quach is great at telling moving stories with themes of feminism, immigrant family dynamics, and Chinese & Vietnamese culture. The case is no different in The Boy You Always Wanted, her sophomore novel. I would view this book as more of a coming of age book instead of a romance, as to me. the story focused more on Francine and Ollie's relationship with their families than the slowburn romance between them. It was interesting to me that Ollie was the one who called out on the traditional, sexist traditions of Francine's family, but perhaps it was the fact that Francine had been so used to traditions like this existing in her family that she did not inherently see a problem with it. I feel like this could have been explored more in the novel, as with other themes, but overall, it was still an enjoyable read. I'd rate this book 3.5 stars rounded up.

Another stellar YA novel by Michelle Quach. Exploring deep familial traditions and reckoning with modern expectations, all while giving us a great romance.

This story was very sweet and touched on some interesting topics. I learned a some new things about Chinese-Vietnamese culture while enjoying characters and rooting for Francine and Ollie. The main issue arises when her grandfather is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He laments never having had a son or grandson to continue the family line and take care of making offerings to the dead. Francine comes up with a plan, which involves Ollie becoming an honorary adopted member of the family. Can she get her family on board with this plan while keeping it a secret from her grandfather?

I really liked these characters, and all of the peripheral ones, especially Jiya and Rollo. They were likeable and funny, and made the story that much better. There are some great moments between characters, times that I laughed out loud and times my eyes got a little watery. This is definitely worth a read; it left me with a happy heart.

I loved this book. There are nuanced cultural aspects that are reflected in this book that I think are rarely seen in literature.

Francine is motivated to find an honorary male here for her sick grandpa, who holds traditional, patriarchal views that only a male heir can perform rites that honor those who've passed on. She enlists Ollie, the son of a family friend and a former crush. He's reluctant of course. It's a strange thing to ask, but he agrees given their families' history with each other. While they go along this scheme, they explore topics like balancing duty and individual wants and why Francine would go to such lengths when she tries so hard to be a filial granddaughter. Along the way, their romance blooms.

I appreciate how well the book covers these topics and the sex-positive perspective as their romance grows. Francine and Ollie are funny, relatable characters and I'm excited for more readers to meet them.

THANK YOU NET GALLEY AND PUBLISHER FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THIS. That being said, rating and feelings are my own:

wanted to love this book more. great story, not for me

I just love Michelle Quach's writing and her effortless balance between lightheartedness and heavy emotion in her books.

Francine loves her family, putting them first at every moment. So, when she finds out that her grandpa is dying, she concocts a plan to fulfill his dying wish: to have a male heir. She asks Ollie, who tries to avoid her and her crazy plans, to fill this role for her grandpa. He thinks that all of this is just sexist and old, but no matter how much he tries to get Francine to see this, she doesn't budge away from her plan. Throughout The Plan, Francine and Ollie both begin to change in their feelings and through the relationships with each other and their family.

I loved <i> The Boy You Always Wanted</i> for how it portrayed the complex relationships that we have with our family. The alternating perspectives between Ollie and Francine added to this complexity by showing how different their situations and attitudes were from another, but also how it's necessary for these differing things to coexist within an individual. I was so invested in these two characters and how everything unfolded! Despite this story revolving around such a traditional idea, the book itself is refreshing and captivating.

This was a super cute, super sweet read. I really liked Francine and Ollie both, and I felt like the alternating POVs were told in distinct voices. My only complaint is that the ending felt a little too rushed -- I would have liked maybe another 20 pages or so. But if you're a fan of YA with a sweet romance, this is definitely one to read!

*Received a copy for review.*
This book had so much potential. The element the story is structured around could have been amazing. However, all of the elements, the story, the romance, the connection all just stayed surface. I needed depth.

Francine is a quirky person with a heart of gold. She always want to please her family and be her own person when it comes to peers. After her grandfather's grim diagnosis she wants to makeb sure she is as happy as he can be which includes finding a solution to pass on their family traditions through a male heir.

Ollie has always been a big part of Francine's life, even though they don't have much in common. Francine convinces Ollie to be a honorary male heir but the more time they spend together the closer they get.

I liked this book a lot. Francine was such a likeable character and i definitely rooted for her. The story was nice but of course there were some things I wasn't a fan of. It was obvious they needed to be included in the story but I didn't like how much Francine let people treat her badly. Ollie ended up being a great character after a rocky start.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It's very heart wrenching at times but also very heart warming to. It touches on some very deep topics but doesn't go to far into them. I think the changing point of views was done really well. The flow of them was easy to switch back and forth between. The cover art has to be mentioned because it is amazing! It ended in a way that yes everything was resolved but it felt like it had so much more potential. All in all I did enjoy!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Michelle Quach is one author I will always read—I'm practically sworn to her for life. There is something addictive in how accessible her writing is: how, despite the complexity of the themes she is attempting to convey, her characters are likable and charismatic, her romances are sweet and lovable, and the plot of each of her books flows nicely for both experienced and unexperienced readers. In NOT HERE TO BE LIKED, she wrote a feminist novel for the ages: the story of a girl fighting the patriarchy within the confines of her own school, all the while dismantling her own internalized misogyny and falling in love with her rival. THE BOY YOU ALWAYS WANTED is not a feminist story; it is a romance interspersed with conversations about love in immigrant families, duty vs. self-love, romance, and, of course, feminism.

Both main characters—Francine and Ollie—are the children of Chinese-Vietnamese immigrants, the former of which recruits the latter to become a sort of adoptive grandson for her dying grandfather. I should warn future readers that this plot starts about halfway through, and it's really just the catalyst that draws Ollie and Francine together after years of being awkward, almost estranged friends. Francine, who is blunt and honest and kind, easily balances out Ollie's nervousness and anxiety. Both of them are incredibly lovable, though I admit I hold a particular fondness for Francine. She is not the Asian girl many of us have grown up seeing in the media, either ultra-nerdy or some sort of exoticized warrior; rather, she's open, kind-hearted, and terribly loyal to her family, as many immigrant daughters are. Ollie—who, despite being my least favorite of the two, is still near and dear to my heart—is her opposite: loyal firstly to himself, and then to his family, with whom he has a strained relationship. This isn't to say that he doesn't care; only that his anxiety worms between him and those he loves.

Michelle Quach expertly crafts a tale of devotion and love, both familial and romantic. Francine and Ollie have to learn to meet in the middle: Francine must give herself more love, and Ollie must learn to show his love in a way that doesn't distance himself from others. Most heartwarming was how the two of them learned to reconcile their modern identities with their parents' and grandparents' traditions, some of which are utterly outdated. As always, Quach's feminism is woven through every word and every page of her book. Her plots flow nicely; her characters bounce off each other wonderfully, and their character arc is staggered evenly through the pages. Everything is balanced so easily, I could hardly tell the plot and characters were changing until I closed the book and recognized how simply and how easily it all flowed.

5 / 5 stars—my first of the year! Thank you to Michelle Quach for existing, to Francine and Ollie for being themselves, and again to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is such a cute rom com esque book. The Boy You Always Wanted is perfect for high school students.

I was expecting a lot more from this book than what we got. I really wanted Quach to dig down deep with these characters and the topics of filial piety and sexism and I don’t feel like we got that here. Everything felt pretty surface level and that’s so disappointing.

I liked Francine and Ollie as characters but I don’t think the dual pov helped the narrative of the story. This story should have been Francine’s and limited to her pov in my opinion. I believe that would have made it more impactful.

Overall, I’m just disappointed because the premise and the cover really swept me away. Thanks, as always, to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Let me just start with the magnificent cover, I mean they even added his dimple.
This was my first best read of 2023 and I was hooked from the first chapter, and if anyone got Deja vu by reading this amazingly constructed book then I should add that it gave MAJOR flipped vibes. Firstly, the one-sided love, then Ollie discovering his feelings, the tension between them, and the guy finally falling for her and he fell harder (chef's kiss). Also, this being my first Asian representation standalone, this covered sexist remarks that are still present to this day, how a girl has to prove her worth to her family, and these being some serious topics, one which Michelle included was how a man or boys in the Asian community should act. I loved how she made the male lead tackle the situation and overall I fell immediately in love with this book.

This is a genre I don't normally pick up, but something about the description and the cover just really drew me in. I liked Ollie and Francine, in general, but the pacing of their character development and the story was a little weird to me. I sort of assumed, mistakenly I guess, that sexism and the role that plays in Asian culture was going to be a bigger part of the story/ more talked about, but that's not really the direction it went in. I liked that some heavier topics were talked about, though, and I really enjoyed the themes of family, culture and heritage. I also didn't really love the ending, I was hoping for more of a punch at the end, but it ended up being a bit unsatisfactory for me. Overall, I can absolutely see where people will like this and it is also YA (and I am slowly growing out of a lot of YA contemporary themes as I reach my mid-twenties) so it could just be that where I find the story lacking, people seeing and experiencing these themes for the first time will absolutely love it. I can't wait to see how the copies my library orders will do with our teen readers :)