Lindsay Wong

After a series of disastrous choices and rejections, seventeen-year-old Chinese American Iris Wang is thrust into the decadent world of Beijing high society as her cousin's English tutor.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune

Alice

So Iris, the MC, is a terribly self-absorbed, oblivious, and delusional (to name just a few of her best traits) highschool senior born in the year of the Tiger (for which she is doomed + she has been cursed). She doesn’t care for the world around her and lives only for her own pleasure.

When a series of dreadful events result as a consequence of her clueless, impulsive, and irresponsible actions and her world starts to crumble, Iris’ parents take a drastic decision (I kid you not): half to hide her dishonoring failures, half to punish her, they send her to live with relatives she had never known to have (incredibly responsible behavior there, dude).

As a 17-year-old girl who can't speak the local language and doesn't know a thing about local culture, Iris is shipped to Beijing, where she will very begrudgingly sail on a journey of change and introspection. Nothing of what she does, thinks, or plans seems to go well, and she will end up discovering, against her will and terrible love for laziness, hidden family secrets on a big scale. 

Allow me to say that this was a disastrous read with an ending that lightly makes up for it.

Full review

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

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Crazy Rich Asians meets Love & Gelato in this hilarious, quirky novel about a Chinese-American teen who is thrust into the decadent world of Beijing high society when she is sent away to spend the summer in China. Iris Wang is having a bit of a rough start to her summer: Her boyfriend cheated on her, she didn’t get into any colleges, and she has no idea who she is or what she wants to do with her life. She’s always felt torn about being Chinese-American, feeling neither Chinese nor American enough to claim either identity. She’s just a sad pizza combo from Domino’s, as far as she’s concerned. In an attempt to snap her out of her funk, Iris’s parents send her away to visit family in Beijing, with the hopes that Iris would “reconnect with her culture” and “find herself.” Iris resents the condescension, but even she admits that this might be a good opportunity to hit the reset button on the apocalyptic disaster that has become her life. With this trip, Iris expects to eat a few dumplings, meet some family, and visit a tourist hotspot or two. Instead, she gets swept up in the ridiculous, opulent world of Beijing’s wealthy elite, leading her to unexpected and extraordinary discoveries about her family, her future, and herself.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: My Summer of Love and Misfortune

Author: Lindsay Wong

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 1/5

Diversity: Chinese American main character!

Recommended For...: Chinese American main and finding yourself

Publication Date: June 2, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: can’t recommend, dnf-ed

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Pages: 384

Synopsis: Iris Wang is having a bit of a rough start to her summer. In an attempt to snap her out of her funk, Iris’s parents send her away to visit family in Beijing, with the hopes that Iris will “reconnect with her culture” and “find herself.” Iris resents her parents’ high-handedness, but even she admits that this might be a good opportunity to hit the reset button.

Iris expects to eat a few dumplings, meet some of her family, and visit a tourist hotspot or two. What she doesn’t expect is to meet a handsome Mandarin-language tutor named Frank and to be swept up in the ridiculous, opulent world of Beijing’s wealthy elite, leading her to unexpected and extraordinary discoveries about her family, her future, and herself.

Review: I had to DNF this read. I loved seeing a Chinese American main character, but I didn’t like a lot of things about her. In short, she’s a brat and while the author tries to redeem her, this character wasn’t redeemed at all. She blew through credit cards like nothing, she lives off of excuses, she ran away from home, and she has no character growth. It’s very unflattering and by 62% (the part I got to before putting the book down) I would have expected the author to have made the character redeemable. I think the book is salvageable, I think the character could be rewritten and saved (and truthfully I want it to be saved! I hardly see Chinese American YA Contemporaries and I would love to enjoy this one too), but until then it’s hard to read about her when I’m swimming in debt and would love the opportunities she has.

Verdict: Not for me.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune

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