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lkristin2018's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This adorable YA romance is also a love letter to Chinese American culture. The protagonists care deeply about their community and their culture. It was interesting to learn about some Chinese traditions, as well as the language. I liked that LiYa was able to work things through with her parents despite the difficulties.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Vomit, and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Cursing and Sexual content
lettuce_read's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Vomit, and Grief
odditiex's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Bullying and Grief
Moderate: Death and Vomit
tsundoku_'s review
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This was pretty cute. It was definitely on the cheesy side but it did help me get out of a reading slump. It was lighthearted and fluffy whilst still having depth with the family issues and grief. Both families but specifically Kai's brother and father were absolutely insufferable to the point that I wanted to yell at them. I don't think Kai's family got as complete of a resolution that Liya got with her family. I would've also liked it if Kai and Liya got together a bit sooner because there wasn't much left of the book once they finally did start dating. Also, the reason they stopped talking for a few months was so silly but, I can understand the embarrassment on both ends that caused the misunderstanding. I really enjoyed learning about different Chinese and Asian foods, traditions, festivals, and folktales. It's always fun to learn about a culture you don't know much about. I also really enjoyed the lighthearted personalities of Liya and Kai. Kai is such a golden retriever which was absolutely adorable. I liked how much they laughed with each other. I also really enjoyed that we got both Kai and Liya's POV. Overall I'd recommend this.
Moderate: Grief
cassellwrites's review
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Grief
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Death
mishale1's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a really sweet book.
I’m not sure where to start with my description since there’s a few interesting things happening in the storyline.
Liya is mourning her grandmother and her parents barely mention her. She’s trying to save the family store because she’s seen past due notices on bills and she feels like her parents don’t care. She’s also continuing her grandmother’s tradition of granting wishes secretly. Liya is also trying to deal with her feelings for her best friend Kai who she hasn’t talked to since she embarrassed herself around him. Her parents also don’t approve of Kai because they don’t like his family. But Liya really needs Kai in her life, more than ever because of the loss of her grandmother. Her grandmother and Kai are basically Lita’s closest confidants and favorite people.
Liya’s grandmother brought a lot of Chinese traditions to their part of the world in the United States. The lantern festival was the biggest. It’s the festival where everyone wrote their wishes on a lantern and released it into the sky, hoping that their wishes would come try.
Most people had no idea that Liya and her grandmother were slyly granting wishes themselves.
Now that her grandmother is gone, Liya is trying to keep their tradition alive.
Enter Kai. He reconnects with Liya and offers to help her with the festival and the wish granting.
I thought Liya and Kai were very sweet both as characters and as friends (potentially a couple). I enjoyed the wish granting. I loved learning more about Chinese traditions. I will say this book read a little younger than I was expecting. Also, the ebook from the library was a bit messed up. There are drawings in this book and the library ebook actually showed the drawings directly on top of the text, the text was completely covered in some instances. I don’t know if this is a problem within the Libby app or the ebook itself but I thought it work mentioning in case it could be fixed.
This was a sweet book and I thought the idea of making wishes come true yourself was very heartwarming.
I’m not sure where to start with my description since there’s a few interesting things happening in the storyline.
Liya is mourning her grandmother and her parents barely mention her. She’s trying to save the family store because she’s seen past due notices on bills and she feels like her parents don’t care. She’s also continuing her grandmother’s tradition of granting wishes secretly. Liya is also trying to deal with her feelings for her best friend Kai who she hasn’t talked to since she embarrassed herself around him. Her parents also don’t approve of Kai because they don’t like his family. But Liya really needs Kai in her life, more than ever because of the loss of her grandmother. Her grandmother and Kai are basically Lita’s closest confidants and favorite people.
Liya’s grandmother brought a lot of Chinese traditions to their part of the world in the United States. The lantern festival was the biggest. It’s the festival where everyone wrote their wishes on a lantern and released it into the sky, hoping that their wishes would come try.
Most people had no idea that Liya and her grandmother were slyly granting wishes themselves.
Now that her grandmother is gone, Liya is trying to keep their tradition alive.
Enter Kai. He reconnects with Liya and offers to help her with the festival and the wish granting.
I thought Liya and Kai were very sweet both as characters and as friends (potentially a couple). I enjoyed the wish granting. I loved learning more about Chinese traditions. I will say this book read a little younger than I was expecting. Also, the ebook from the library was a bit messed up. There are drawings in this book and the library ebook actually showed the drawings directly on top of the text, the text was completely covered in some instances. I don’t know if this is a problem within the Libby app or the ebook itself but I thought it work mentioning in case it could be fixed.
This was a sweet book and I thought the idea of making wishes come true yourself was very heartwarming.
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Cancer
bookwormbullet's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Bullying and Death of parent
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