Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK Children’s for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads Synopsis
When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.
Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
Review
I was scared before starting this book because I was beginning to get to a point where I thought I was no longer able to enjoy YA contemporaries and honestly that is a depressing thought on its own. This book re-lit my love for them, and I had so much trouble putting it down!
This is a story about finding yourself and not living a life that you’re not comfortable with or even want to. Ever is incredibly relatable who is doing her best to appease her parents, who gave up everything to provide her with a good life. She does what most teenagers would do in her situation when finally given some form of freedom.
My only issue with Ever is how quick she is to forgive. Without spoiling the book she has everything ripped out from under her and she’s quite quick to forgive the person who done it. I feel like there should have been more of a fight? Maybe that’s just me?
I would have loved to have given this book five stars, but I did have some small issues with the book. I would have liked to have read more about Taiwan where the book is set and some of the side characters blurred into one for me. Otherwise, I really liked Abigail Hing Wen’s writing style and I cannot wait to read more of her work and the next book in this series.
Loveboat, Taipei covers a lot of important topics, especially ones that children of immigrant parents can relate to. It is a fast-paced, fun read with diversity at its core. I really do recommend giving this book a read if you love a good contemporary!
Rating: 4/5 stars
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