Huge thank you to Penguin Team for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Gemma Sun and her mom are a team. For her entire life, it's been the two of them against the world. Gemma's family is all deceased, leaving no connections to her Taiwanese culture-not that her mom wanted anything to do with it anyway. Gemma speaks only English, eats American food, and is 100% a proud American girl. Unlike her ex-boyfriend and longstanding rival, Xander Pan, who is about as perfectly proudly Taiwanese as they come-another thing he likes to smugly rub in her face.

But when a man shows up at Gemma's doorstep with shocking news-her grandfather has been alive this entire time, only passing away recently, and has left Gemma a clue to a treasure hunt to find the inheritance he has left her. The catch? She has to physically GO to Taiwan in order to follow the trail...and through a series of chaotic events, she ends up going WITH Xander. Taipei is gorgeous, filled with culture and beauty, pieces of a self she never knew existed...and maybe a connection and a romance that Gemma has been refusing to acknowledge for way too long.

This book was absolutely stunning. Enemies to lovers, cultural identity, a stunning setting, and a story about connecting with estranged and lost family ties. I am not Asian, but as an adoptee, a lot of the aspects of family and rejection and connection was incredibly emotional and relatable. This was my first book by Gloria Chao but it for sure won't be my last-I was in love with her writing style and her way of making things somehow beautifully funny and deeply emotional on the same page.

This book will be available on 12/31/24 and I highly highly recommend that you pick it up when you're able. 10/10

This was a super fun romance and treasure hunt/adventure book! It felt like a two in one special. There's also rivals to lovers which is one of my favorite tropes. This is the first Gloria Chao book I've read but now I want to read the others! If you like today tonight tomorrow or the inheritance games I recommend!