I have been looking for a YA book with pure Asian vibes like my favourite shows Hello Kitty and All the Boys I have loved series for a while. So when I came across the opportunity of getting a chance to read this book, I jumped on it, and well, I have been reading a lot thrillers lately as breaks in between deep books, so this came to me at a perfect time, a breath of fresh air with a mix of my favourites.

I loved the vibes instantly, felt like home. It started with a bang of some romance magic which came in with family ties, setting up the plot as we keep reading, smoothly that there is instant connection to the story, and some layers of past were added along which fleshed out the main character Tan, that it made sense why Tan chose to take some action for Rebecca even if its his ex.

And the ride forward into the plot was fun, kudos to the writer for keeping the pacing consistent throughout with more layers added, like the brother sister bond of Tan & Sana, and growing bond of Winter & Tan, each secondary character was given enough attention that I could still remember them even when the thriller part took a crazy edge.

Codes was definitely another highlight as I am always a fan of brainiac main characters. All in all, I loved reading this book, kinda got my mojo back after reading a really deep book.
Book Recommendation - Hell Yeah.

Tan has experienced a tumultuous romantic history. Initially, his socialite ex-girlfriend ended their relationship to pursue someone of higher social standing, and the woman he is currently interested in is hesitant to complicate their relationship further. "Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies" is a fast-paced mystery and romance narrative. Hing Wen constructs the story in an engaging manner that encourages readers to continue turning the pages. While the three main characters are somewhat developed, there were opportunities to deepen their characterization that were not fully utilized. Additionally, the foundation for the mystery is somewhat uncertain, and the antagonist is fairly predictable.

This was a great story. I loved it. Thank you net galley for this arc. It had me laughing out loud. I would highly recommend checking out this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Feiwei and Friends/MacMillan Children's Publishing Group for this advanced copy of Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies. I really wanted to like this book, the premise seemed really interesting. One good thing was that they story was pretty short. But it was too unbelievable for a non-fantasy book. The romance wasn't really a love triangle and the friends to lovers trope was really underwhelming. The two main characters didn't sound like any teenagers I know, they sounded like middle aged fortune cookies a lot of the time. I really hated how Sana was inserted as plot armor to get the story moving. Like the candy crush at the cove, the pirates in Pink game to get the decoys. The fact that they were always able to outsmart or even outfight the trained assassins over and over really made it hard to finish.

Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies promises to be full of vibrant characters, high stake hijinks, and a love triangle. Does it achieve these lofty goals? Yes and no.

I quite enjoyed the fast-pace of this novel, with our characters constantly on the move as they work to help our MC's ex escape from her family's clutches. With strong relationship building, heartwarming moments, and scenes full of action movie cuts, this book will have you on the edge of your seat. I truly loved the overall vibe of the story, the mystery of the pursuit for these golden coins, as well as the softer moments of connection between Tan and the other characters - Winter, Rebecca, and Sana - as they adventure through the Bay area.

That being said, this is a very plot-driven book. Those softer moments are lovely, but the characters as a whole are very one note - Winter is an aspiring actress who has a dead father, Tan is an expert code cracker at 16, Sana is 5-going-on-11 in craftiness, and Rebecca is a frustrating heiress running from her abusive family. At the end of the day, I feel like Rebecca was the only character to truly grow from the events of the book, giving more main character energy than the rest of the cast.

Additionally, this book asked for a lot of suspension of belief. A sixteen year old knowing more about code cracking than his professional parents, or a PhD student? A bunch of children outsmarting goons for hire? A helicopter in a highly populated area of the city? Geographically incorrect landmarks (I don't know whether this was intentional or a huge editing oversight)?? There were also consistency issues that bothered me, and as a whole, I felt like this needed to go through a couple more edits and a thorough dig through Google Maps.

All in all, this was a brain-off, vibes only kind of read that just didn't meet expectations for me. That being said, I'm not the target audience, so someone younger who doesn't know the Bay Area really well would probably be fine with this. I was just so bothered by these details that I couldn't get on board with it all at the end of the day.

TW: kidnapping, hostage taking, violence, threats of gun violence, injury detail; mentions domestic abuse, toxic family, threats of deportation, death of a parent

Plot: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
World Building: 2/5
Writing: 3/5
Pacing: 2/5
Overall: 2/5

eARC and finished copy gifted via NetGalley by Feiwel & Friends via Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! I love Abigail's writing and she created such a fun world in this story! I loved the different cultural elements and the way all the characters truly cared about each other.

I really enjoyed this one! It definitely gave me Adventures in Babysitting with a side of Hackers vibes. I loved how action-packed it was while finding time for tackling some serious family issues and a splash of romance. I also loved that it was the perfect length to binge in a day so I didn’t have to sit in suspense wondering what was going to happen next!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Title:  Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies    
Author:  Abigail Hing Wen       
Genre: YA      
Rating:  4 out of 5

After a magical kiss at Prom, best friends Tan Lee and Winter Woo agree to cool it off, a plan that goes awry when their parents jointly head off to Hawaii and leave Tan and Winter to babysit Tan's sister Sana together. If that isn't complicated enough, Tan's ex-girlfriend from Shanghai arrives on his doorstep with money stolen from her billionaire father and thugs on her heels.

Tan soon finds himself on the run, trying to out-manuever international hackers and protect his friends, family and sister - and his own heart.

Okay, the premise sounded a little bit far-fetched to me, but this was a fun read. I liked Tan and Winter a lot, and Sana was such a handful! If you’re looking for a cute, fun read with a happy ending, this would be perfect. Fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of talk of code to eliminate the fun

Abigail Hing Wen is a bestselling author. Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies is her newest novel.  

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing in exchange for an honest review.)

I wish Abigail Hing Wen's books were around when I was a teenage girl. I love the way she writes smart, funny, and complex Asian female characters. And of course, there's fun romance in her books. This one is different in the others in that the plot moves quickly because of a mystery. There's so much fun in the heist and conspiracy plot!

Tan, the male lead, also is dealing with a love triangle. He has a magical kiss with Winter at prom, but then decides to not progress things further. Of course, he has no choice because they end up in forced proximity when Winter is hired to babysit Tan's sisters. Then the ex-girlfriend show up. So many hijinks set up in San Francisco. So much of this book feels cinematic, and I can see teens especially getting drawn in, and not wanting to put the book down. It's sort of a younger version of Crazy Rich Asians. Very fun.

This was quite enjoyable. It kind of gave me The 39 Clues vibes, which I loved. There is some romance, but not much, as this is a YA book. Tan and Winter have a bit of a makeout session after prom, and Winter decides they need to cool it, which, from her perspective, I understand entirely. I appreciated that Tan also understood where she was coming from. After avoiding each other for a while, their parents take a holiday together to Hawaii, leaving them to babysit Tan’s little sister, Sana, who is absolutely adorable.

Enter Rebecca. She took something from her father, and he wants it back. This leads the three to solve puzzles and avoid the people chasing them. There is a bit of a love triangle, but you kind of really know who the endgame is.

Tan and Winter were fantastic characters, and Rebecca served her purpose. Rebecca probably had the most character growth, but as I said, she served her purpose. For most of the book, I was utterly enthralled by the heist more than the characters. It’s not that they were bad characters, but the lack of communication did drive me a bit batty.

Overall, this was quite enjoyable, and I hope to read more from this author.

I enjoyed this author's other book - The Loveboat so was excited to check this one out. I enjoyed the plot of this book - it was full of action - it was entertaining and fun. This is a definite YA novel - solid book with a wild adventure. Thank you to NETGALLEY and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

thank you so much to netgalley and colored pages blog tours for the early copy! all my opinions are my own!

this was so cute and at the same time so heartbreaking????
there is so much good stuff in this book: the sibling dynamic, the friendships, how the MC is constantly puching himself and changing, THE FACT THAT IT'S FROM A GUY'S POINT OF VIEW, something i haven't read in a while 😱 the constant thinking and theorizing (gosh, these kids are so smart, i couldn't have been able to pull off even half of what they did), the AMAZING SIDE CHARACTERS AND THE CUTE FOUND FAMILY 😭😭😭 but no, seriously, the Cove and all the new characters were so much fun and loved how involved they became by the end and helped the main guys to change and develop. the romance was slow but there, and i just adored the ending, the way it made me smile and gave me so much hope after so much crazyness 😍😍
and just in case no one picked it up, i highly recommend it!!

I'm a little bummed that I didn't enjoy this more. I just found the romance to fall a little flat for me, and I will say that I enjoyed Loveboat, Taipei a lot more. I found the characters a little hard to believe, which drew me out of the story a bit. I definitely see what the author was going for, and I do think that people will enjoy it. For me, it just wasn't a 5-star read, which is okay!

High school best friends Tan Lee and Winter Woo have been left to babysit Tan’s younger sister, Sana, while the adults all vacation in Hawaii. If that doesn’t sound bad enough, Tan’s ex-girlfriend, Rebecca, suddenly shows up with millions of stolen money and a bunch of thugs on her tail. The four of them go on the run to try to evade the bad guys and save Rebecca from her parents, who want to keep her in their bubble. Not only was this plot hard to follow at times, but so many things happened that didn’t make sense. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the author’s Loveboat Taipei trilogy, this book fell flat, especially where the romance was concerned. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3

I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies “ by Abigail Hing Wen.

The dynamic between Tan Lee and Winter Woo was both heartwarming and complex. The addition of Tan’s ex-girlfriend from Shanghai and the danger she brought with her added an extra layer of excitement to the story.

I’m a HUGE fan of Abigail Hing Wen’s Loveboat, Taipei trilogy so I was incredibly excited about her newest book. What a wild adventure of a book! The action rarely stopped in this one, but when it did, there were some really beautiful moments of friendship and found family. I absolutely loved these characters so much. Tan was such a great MC and I loved his commitment to keeping everyone safe and also how clever he was with the encryption stuff. I am not savvy with any of that technology whatsoever, but I felt like it was incredibly easy to understand in this story. Also I loved Rebecca’s character growth from a spoiled, out of touch rich girl to someone who cares about helping others. I loved the Cove and all of its inhabitants, especially Sister Ava and Lucia. Those scenes were probably my favorite parts of the story. Also there’s a chase in a Barnes and Noble that was just so much fun to imagine! If you’re looking for a fun, crazy adventure with codes, running through San Francisco and found family, look no further!
CW: violence, death of a parent, mentions of transphobia

Thank you to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies begins with prom dates Tan Lee and Winter Woo agreeing to remain platonic friends, even though their attraction is real. Although Winter and her mom rent rooms from the Lees, she and Tan manage to avoid each other until his parents and her mom decide to go to Hawaii for a conference, leaving them alone with his five-year-old sister Sana. Things go smoothly until Tan's ex-girlfriend Rebecca Tseng arrives at the house, looking to hide from her father's wealthy goons. She has three gold coins with her that she wants to pawn, promising she will disappear as soon as she gets the money. Unbeknownst to Rebecca the coins are actually housing digital codes to her father's cryptocurrency accounts. Cryptography enthusiast Tan recognizes this, but before he can break the codes, her father's goons arrive, causing the four kids to go on the run to protect the coins.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for the arc.

I wanted to like this, I can suspend disbelief to an extent, but this was just too much. Rebecca was just a bit too much of the stereotypical ex girlfriend….. and her showing up out of nowhere being on the run…. It all just felt too cliched and a bit too ridiculous.

I have Loveboat, Taipei on my shelf and I’m still going to give that a shot and hope I enjoy it more than I did this one…

This is such a great YA "adventure" story. To this reader, it is reminiscent of Marie Lu's works. This story is intriguing and kept me hooked from the "get-go". There are so many parts where the hero's young sibling steals the show and our hearts!

A young man, Tan, gets dragged into an international game of "cops and robbers" when his ex-girlfriend shows up with some of her wealthy father's antiques and asking for his help. This sends the reader on an adventure of trying to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and keeping his family safe. We go along and run around the San Francisco area.

Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies is not for me. The amount that you have to "suspend disbelief" with is wild. The whole plot is nonsensical and made for a not enjoyable read.