When people talk about reading to understand other people and other lives, this is the kind of book I think of: a story that captures the complexities of living a life that’s balancing on the edge of two completely different cultures.

I will never fully be able to understand the Taiwanese American experience. But it’s through books like this that I can begin to learn that they go through things I cannot fathom. Things that don’t make sense to me because I have never and will never experience them. But for some people—for these characters—this is real and this is happening.

This is what life looks like, feels like, and what life expects them to be.

At it’s core, this is a story about family, love, and the choices we make, both for ourselves and for others.

It made me giggle and kick my feet, but it also made me cry. I found myself highlighting paragraphs full of wisdom and resonance that I could ponder forever. It made me think more deeply about how lucky I am to have parents who have always loved and supported my dreams, never once hesitating to ask me what I want for my life.

This book made me feel things in a way that was both painful and cathartic all at once . . . and I think that sometimes those are the best kind of stories.

 What I Loved
- Juliana and Garrett's relationship. This is the best kind of grumpy x sunshine pairing. I haven't read a ton of books with that trope, but this one wins for me. Juliana is such a hopeless romantic, and Garrett is . . . well, he's not so quick to jump into romanticizing the idea of love. They really couldn't be more different, and it's those differences that make their journey so beautiful. There's also, like, really good banter. So, that's also a huge bonus.
- Garrett. Everything about this boy was literally perfect, and I shall not be accepting criticism. He's complicated. There' s so much more to him than just the brooding, angsty sad boy mask. I literally have no critiques.
- The intricate relationship between Juliana and her mother. As someone who has a close relationship with my own mother, I didn't understand everything about their relationship. They're very different from the mother/daughter relationships I've seen and experienced, and then there's the added cultural differences. But . . . I could sympathize at the beginning. I could watch as Juliana tried to fix everything that was broken in her family and know that things would probably come crumbling down. I could listen to their conversations and begin to experience their relationship through Juliana's eyes. I don't want to spoil anything, but trust me when I say that this particular relationship really made the book.
- The way that grief was explored and not just casually thrown in for "depth." I read a lot of novels about grief, and I'm always worried about how it'll be portrayed. But Chen did an incredible job. No, grief isn't the main point of this novel. It's not even the primary conflict. But it's present. It's there. It lingers in the cracks of Juliana's story because that's what grief does. It lays dormant in certain seasons before coming out and wreaking havoc on our lives. The destruction of grief and the different ways people handle it (or don't handle it) are depicted in both an honest and delicate way that will leave you feeling like you're right there with the characters in their darkest moments.

What I Didn't Love
- The LGBT themes. This didn't bother me that much—mostly because it wasn't a focal point of the story—but it was something that I didn't love.