GOODREADS SUMMARY
Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.
If Rika's life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale--being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts' business--she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn't quite fit the princess mold.
All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America's reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness--searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo's hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe...finally finding a sense of belonging.
But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn't so kind. Rika knows she's setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don't happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?
MY THOUGHTS
The beginning of the story was good. The book has an interesting character (Rika). Although I can't say that I am a fun of her temper. What really makes this book dissappointing is that, 50% of the book was a little boring and slow at times. I enjoyed the town of Little Tokyo and some of the interesting cultural things the town engaged in like the festivals. But for me, there are times that some things are being repeated all the time. The whole story felt like redundant, as if nothing had happened at all. I also had a difficulty infusing myself in the story.
What really kept me from not finishing the book is the revelation of knowing if Grace is her mom. I was hoping for a really interesting twist at the end that I would not have seen coming but… The ending was predictable.
Although I would totally say that some young readers might enjoy this. I don't think this was a bad book but I just don't think it was for me. It has wide discussion and representation of biracial individuals, family, racism and self-identity.
Thank you so much @times.reads for sending me a complimentary copy of this book.
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