Tokyo Ever After

 

Release date: May 25, 2021 **UPDATE** New release date May 16, 2021! 

This one is getting major buzz on Goodreads, so they upped the release date. What a fabulous way to fight against #AAPI hate by literature that honors #AAPI love

My Thoughts:

This is a Japanese Princess Diaries combined with What a Girl Wants. This story is about a secret pregnancy,  a crown prince who does not know he has a daughter, an "Asian George Clooney" aka the same clueless crown prince, a Japanese teen (Izumi or Zoom Zoom as her mom calls her) in a small town in Oregon who has always felt not American enough, yet not knowing anything about Japanese culture, and of course an irritatingly handsome and aloof Imperial guard. In other words, this has everything a feel good rom com should have, including the ability to devour this in one sitting. 

Like the Amanda Bynes character in What a Girl Wants, Izzy continues to be a bright light wherever she goes, despite her numerous cultural faux pas. I think the American Japanese versus the Japan Japanese added to the mysteries and secrecy of the  Chrysanthemum crown culture just adds to the fun of reading this. 

In addition to being laugh out loud funny, a great rom com book will also make you cry and this does not disappoint. My favorite heartfelt scene happens in Kyōto. I cannot say more without spoiling the plot, but I definitely want to read that chapter over again because it was already a few hours before dawn as I was trying to finish this book and I may have raced through to get to the end. Considering my tendency to read multiple books at one time and let some books sit for weeks or months,  I literally could not put this book down. 

Funny thing, though, is that  I did have a hankering for dorayaki. If I were not reading this in the middle of the night, I would have put the book down to head to my nearest Japanese bakery for dorayaki filled with sweet azuki. Perhaps the fact that Izzy cannot say no to one more dorayaki is reason enough to love this book. 

From the Publishers:

Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in―it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi―or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”―and her mom against the world. But then Izumi discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity…and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess.

In a whirlwind, Izumi travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of. But being a princess isn’t all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hungry press, a scowling but handsome bodyguard who just might be her soulmate, and thousands of years of tradition and customs to learn practically overnight.

Izumi soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself―back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough. Will Izumi crumble under the weight of the crown, or will she live out her fairy tale, happily ever after?