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A review by skylarkblue1
The Boy You Always Wanted by Michelle Quach
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I knew this book kinda wouldn't be for me when going into it, but it was an interesting read even if it kinda lost me in the second half.
There's not much plot, it's a "fake dating" trope with a bit of a twist - pretending to be an honorary heir for Francine's dying grandad's wish. And of course ends up how you'd expect it to, not much difference there with the story it kinda just progresses like you'd think.
The characters are pretty sweet but also felt mostly flat. They had their flaws and intentions but despite having a few mentions of a history between the 2 MC's, we're really only told that, not shown it. At the start of the book you could have told me they'd never spoke to each other before in their lives and I'd have believed it. They didn't really grow that much over the book either, they learn to be a bit more like themselves but there's nothing that strong there.
The family dramas and cultural insights are quite a nice read though. It's pretty realistic how the families work and the contrast between a more "Americanised" family with Ollie and a more traditional family with Francine was interesting to read. Lots of tiny details where you could see the difference between each family - for example Ollie defaulting to using their American names and messes up saying American names instead of their Chinese names where Francine has no issues with that and seamlessly uses Chinese names where applicable.
The plots are also a bit loose and never really tied up, so many threads get started for side stories and then just forgotten about quite quickly. Or just random things happen like the concert problems near the end of the book which get 0 consequences or resolution and never mentioned again afterwards, like none of those events ever happened.
There is a LOT of telling, not showing in this book. Even for the finale where the main plot line is being wrapped up, we're only *told* how it ends and not shown it at all (and.. isn't really resolved at all tbh).
It'd be nice if it chose what kind of conversation it was trying to open with it's themes, but it seems like it tried to have multiple sides of the same conversations (gender roles, traditional family values and roles, etc) without then actually taking a side or even really having a proper conversation about them despite how many times the topics are mentioned.
I think it's maybe worth reading if you think the premise is interesting and are interested in using it as a launching point to have a conversation yourself about the topics, but otherwise idk if I can recommend it. Even as a romance it felt rushed and not realistic - both of them seemed to genuinely dislike each other for most of the book!
There's not much plot, it's a "fake dating" trope with a bit of a twist - pretending to be an honorary heir for Francine's dying grandad's wish. And of course ends up how you'd expect it to, not much difference there with the story it kinda just progresses like you'd think.
The characters are pretty sweet but also felt mostly flat. They had their flaws and intentions but despite having a few mentions of a history between the 2 MC's, we're really only told that, not shown it. At the start of the book you could have told me they'd never spoke to each other before in their lives and I'd have believed it. They didn't really grow that much over the book either, they learn to be a bit more like themselves but there's nothing that strong there.
The family dramas and cultural insights are quite a nice read though. It's pretty realistic how the families work and the contrast between a more "Americanised" family with Ollie and a more traditional family with Francine was interesting to read. Lots of tiny details where you could see the difference between each family - for example Ollie defaulting to using their American names and messes up saying American names instead of their Chinese names where Francine has no issues with that and seamlessly uses Chinese names where applicable.
The plots are also a bit loose and never really tied up, so many threads get started for side stories and then just forgotten about quite quickly. Or just random things happen like the concert problems near the end of the book which get 0 consequences or resolution and never mentioned again afterwards, like none of those events ever happened.
There is a LOT of telling, not showing in this book. Even for the finale where the main plot line is being wrapped up, we're only *told* how it ends and not shown it at all (and.. isn't really resolved at all tbh).
It'd be nice if it chose what kind of conversation it was trying to open with it's themes, but it seems like it tried to have multiple sides of the same conversations (gender roles, traditional family values and roles, etc) without then actually taking a side or even really having a proper conversation about them despite how many times the topics are mentioned.
I think it's maybe worth reading if you think the premise is interesting and are interested in using it as a launching point to have a conversation yourself about the topics, but otherwise idk if I can recommend it. Even as a romance it felt rushed and not realistic - both of them seemed to genuinely dislike each other for most of the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Sexism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Medical content and Death of parent
Minor: War