My Summer of Love and Misfortune

by Lindsay Wong

A novel about a Chinese-American teen who is thrust into the 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. 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.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Contemporary, China, Audiobook, Asian Literature

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2020

About the author

Lindsay Wong holds a BFA in Creative Writing from The University of British Columbia and a MFA in Literary Nonfiction from Columbia University in New York City.

Wong has been awarded fellowships and residencies at The Kimmel-Harding Nelson Center in Nebraska City, Caldera Arts in Oregon, and The Studios of Key West, among others. Currently, she is writer-in-residence at The John Howard Society and The Community Arts Council of Vancouver.

Reviews

[Shealea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before anything else: I truly believe that I deserve to be awarded for finishing this book, despite the damages inflicted on my mental well-being. Someday, I will press charges. But, for now, here's my preliminary review of My Summer of Lost Brain Cells and Misfortune:

Iris Wang is a walking, breathing, and (unfortunately) talking oxymoron (emphasis necessary). I have never encountered a character so self-absorbed but also so irritatingly oblivious to her own faults, personality, and (lack of) intelligence.

I can cite so many examples, but one of my favorite ones is the scene where, after getting rejected by every single university she applied to, Iris receives an email from the high school guidance counselor and her first thought is "Omg, are they contacting me to announce that I'm graduating as the valedictorian?" This is coming from the girl who took her SATs hungover and used 2 brain cells for her college admission essays. I'd also like to add that at 17 years old, she admits to not knowing what global warming is or how family trees work (while repeatedly patting herself on the back for being a "genius" and gift to mankind). Indeed, Iris Wang has the audacity of a middle-class white woman and the mental capacity of a 7-year-old child.

Aside from Iris being the most insufferable protagonist I've ever read, none of the other characters were remotely likable. Listen. I just wanted ONE decent character to root for. Just ONE! 'Tis all I ask. And instead, I had to put up with these:

• Iris' (ex-) boyfriend - cheated on her with her best friend and basically treated Iris like his sugar mommy
• Iris' best friend - constantly flaunted their infidelity on social media and to Iris' face
• Iris' parents - locked up their teenage daughter in a cupboard because they were ashamed of her (and despite their constant gripes about their daughter's recklessness, impulsivity, and poor decision-making, they gave her a credit card with virtually no spending limit)
• Iris' uncle - a billionaire who wanted to bulldoze an extremely poor neighborhood so he could build another luxury hotel (and agrees to cease operations and relocate his mall IF AND ONLY IF they're able to raise enough money to cover the cost because he doesn't want to suffer any losses)
• Iris' cousin - unremarkable, and while I could mildly sympathize with her, I felt betrayed when she suggested to do the fundraising thing instead of demanding her father to MOVE THE DAMN HOTEL ELSEWHERE
• Iris' new love interest - could have been charming and decent, but ended up enabling Iris' "woe is me, i'm the victim" narrative and ALWAYS apologized whenever he rightfully called her out

[Sorry, not sorry but I've already forgotten most of their names]

An issue that I have with this book is that it is painfully obvious that all these shitty characters exist to make Iris look less shitty and more like the victim in this situation. Their main purpose is to help Iris escape accountability for her wrong actions and detestable behavior. And honestly? If an author has to go through hoops and make everyone else spectacularly awful just to make the main character seem redeemable in comparison, it's shitty characterization. And since this book is extremely character-driven, it is likewise shitty and terrible and a huge steaming pile of yikes.

The inside of Iris' mind is.... deeply unsettling and uncomfortable. I found it really perplexing that she continuously likened people in her life to... animals. At first, she was fixated on her parents' Chinese zodiac signs, but as the story progressed, she would refer to her dad's speaking as "bleating" (because he was born on the Year of the Goat) and her mom's lecturing as "barking" (because she was born on the Year of the Dog) and suddenly, everyone became an animal in her thoughts.

I gasp loudly. To be honest, everything about them are absolutely perfect, 250 percent pageant-worthy. Frank has the well-shaped buttocks of a prize-winning golden retriever and the legginess of a standard-size schnauzer.

Hearing my messy, snot-waterfalling sniffles, my dad makes some kind of barn animal grunt in return, but he still doesn't speak or look at me.

Frank's mouth is moving, but I can't help thinking about the too-symmetrical shape of his lips, which is like a geometry lesson in itself. The way that he overpronounces his words and nibbles beautifully on his lower lip when he's concentrating. It's adorable and fascinating. Almost like watching a quirky but intelligent chipmunk.

Unsettling animal metaphors aside, Iris is also wildly obsessed with fantasizing that she's adopted (and secretly part of a royal family or something) and she exhibits so much internalized racism that, for the most part, was not sufficiently challenged. On more than one occasion, she asks herself if she's really Chinese or if she's secretly Korean or Japanese -- which perpetuates the notion that Asian ethnicities are interchangeable. She also describes Mandarin as "complicated science-fiction sounds."

Towards the end, Iris "grows" and is now a compassionate, mature, and empowered woman who likes to teach the English language to poor Chinese kids. And her growth comes across as inorganic and leaves so much to be desired. There's a specific scene that's so obviously intended to be a Female Empowerment Moment, but it falls flat on its face because Iris' sudden 180 is just unbelievable and inauthentic. Especially because the lack of accountability in this book is astonishing.

All in all, the success of My Summer of Love and Misfortune lies in Iris Wang's character, and unfortunately, Iris cannot be redeemed. She is the Britta of YA literature. This is the closest I've felt to wanting to cyber-bully a fictional character. And the forced hilarity in the author's writing style is so off-putting that I'll most likely never pick up any of her future books.

Not recommended.

* I received a digital ARC of this book (via NetGalley) from its publisher in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes used in this review are subject to changes in the final copy.

🌻 My links: Blog | Instagram | Twitter

[tiffany (readbytiffany) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I always try to give a book a fair shot and power through until the end, but oh my goodness…THIS BOOK WAS B A D. 🤧

Starring a self-absorbed main character and filled with elementary writing, My Summer of Love and Misfortune was, unfortunately, a cringe-fest. When I started this book, I thought it would be my next love, but unfortunately, I had to DNF the book at the 20% mark, or 70 pages.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune follows the life of Iris Wang, a high school senior whose life is filled with parties, boys, glamour, and avoiding every responsibility ever given to her. 🙄 After putting -10% effort into her college applications, she’s *shocker* rejected by every university and proven to be a disgrace to her parents.

I shit you not…here’s a direct quote from Iris’s mother:

“Let’s face it, Jeff. Our daughter is going to be a loser.”

Iris Wang belongs in the Hall of Fame for delusional main characters alongside Shane from Again, But Better and Belly from The Summer I Turned Pretty . I truly have never read from the perspective of a protagonist that was so out-of-touch with reality.

She remembers the wrong date for her boyfriend’s birthday. She drives WHILE DRUNK and crashes her $50,000 car. When her father drops her off at the airport, she throws a tantrum and exclaims that if he loves her, he wouldn’t send her off to China…and that he must not even be her real father. #what?!

“And how can I be self-absorbed? I’m the most selfless person on the planet, after Gandhi.”

Honestly, this book is almost hilariously bad. Some of the scenes just felt so outrageous I couldn’t help but laugh. 😂 When another Asian family comes over to Iris’s house to brag about their daughter’s acceptance into Princeton, Iris’s mother is so ashamed…she tells her daughter to hide in the food pantry.

The main plot of the book follows Iris’s dramatic character transformation when she’s sent to Beijing for the summer, but unfortunately, I had to stop reading before we landed in China.

“How can my dad be kicking me out of my home and sending me to live with a strange country with strange people???!!”

Friends…I really tried. 😭 I thought this book would be my next love since it sounded so similar to Loveboat, Taipei , but truthfully, it didn’t just fall flat…it metaphorically flung itself off a cliff. If you’re looking for a fun contemporary featuring a transformative story for the main character, I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Content/Trigger Warnings:drunk driving, cheating

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Blog (Read By Tiffany) | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Bloglovin

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

1.5/5 Stars

Full review HERE

It's really hard for me to try and say something nice about Iris, the main character of this story. I think she's one of the most annoying characters I've ever read about. Not only that, but she's also very self-absorbed, shallow and careless. Since the book is totally narrated from her point of view, you can easily understand why I didn't enjoy this novel. I think this book had the opportunity to do a lot of good by showing China and its beautiful culture, instead we got a spoiled teenager who doesn't care about a single thing of the country she's been sent to.
The only thing I appreciated about this story was how fast-paced it was and also how there was never a dull moment, something was always happening. Other than that this book definitely didn't work for me.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the worst book I have ever read.

I really had high hopes for this book, but the plot and characters were very boring and bland.

Iris Wang, our main character, is Annoying, Spoiled, Egotistical, and Narcissistic. She is a failure in her parents' eyes (well, and others). She spends her time shopping, drinking, and partying. She knows basically nothing about her heritage. She is in her senior year of high school and failing all her classes.

One day, while her parents are out of town, she throws a party. At this party, she finds her best friend, Samira, and her boyfriend of 2 years, Peter, sleeping together in her own house. Since there is a party at her house (and I guess she didn't want others seeing what a mess she was), she goes into the garage and sits in the driver's seat of her mother's new Mercedes. Then, she accidentally backs the Mercedes into the garage. Idiot. Her parents immediately come back from their trip after hearing about this car "accident" only to find out that their daughter hosted a party and got herself into this mess. Later, her parents find out that she did not get into a single university. They finally decide to send her to Beijing, where she is to stay with her father's half-brother (which she has never known about) and learn about her heritage and become more mature.

Sometimes I do not know whether I am reading from the perspective of a 7-year-old or a 17-year-old. Her personality and way of thinking are so childish and immature. This book has character growth, but it is at the very end and doesn't seem natural at all. This book was very hard to read without wanting to punch one of the characters after each page. The author uses a lot of metaphors and similes. They're good literary devices -if you use them well. The metaphors and similes that written were terrible. It made Iris and the book feel very juvenile.

Received eARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Yna from Books and Boybands · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much thanks to Netgalley and Rockstar Book Tours for this complimentary copy. This review is voluntary and opinions are fully my own. Also, all quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

📚 Series? No.
📚 Genre? YA Contemporary Fiction
📚 Booktube Feature? I talked about this book in my September Wrap Up Video

#NetgalleyNovember
#30DayReviewChallenge Day 5

I Want To Award Myself 5 Stars For Trying

I can't believe I'm saying this again after my last review.. I am all for shouting out my love for Asian authors but I can't, for the love of my sanity, appreciate this mess. I can't even believe that this book was published.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune showed great promise. Seeing the cover and reading the synopsis will make you think, aaahh, this might be the perfect one for me. As someone who read (AND LOVED) Loveboat, Taipei, I was so excited to read a story of another Asian American visiting a country she has never been before but is a significant part of her history.. However, all I felt while reading this book is disappointed, many times frustrated, and sometimes infuriated.

Simply put, this book is my worst read of 2020, most probably.

There's not much plot in the book, which I don't actually have problems with. BUT when a character-driven story has Iris Wong starring the show, I just can't. She is extremely clueless for a graduating high schooler - failing her classes, not getting into colleges/unis, yet somehow imagining she's going to be the class valedictorian? WHAT. Not only in this moment for all the rest of the book, it felt like there's a 10 year old stuck in the body of a 17 year old. This makes me wonder how the author sees young adults, because, nope, they might make mistakes sometimes, but they are not flat out idiots.

Admittedly, the book is supposedly about her character growth and reaching maturity. But, how would I ever deem root for her when it is physically hurting me to turn the pages?

The writing style is so damn juvenile that it gives me secondhand embarrassment. Don't get me started on the support characters, because they will just make you go 'meh' or 'oh, no'.

Overall, I don't recommend this book to anyone. Unless, you're a fan of hurting yourself and torturing your brain, or something.

☁ THE CRITERIA ☁

🌼 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐☆☆
🌼 Main Character:⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Support Characters:⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Writing Style:⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Character Development:⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Pacing: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Ending: ⭐☆☆☆☆
🌼 Unputdownability: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Bonus:
🌼 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

☁FINAL VERDICT: 1.11/5 ☁

📚 Blog ♡ Booktube ♡ Bookstagram ♡ Facebook ♡ Twitter 📚

[Ms. Woc Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, this book was a mess!

You know when you see a cover that gives you hope that it will be the cutest book ever? Not only was this book bland and boring but the romance was barely existent. There just wasn't enough chemistry or interaction for her to act like it was the end of the world at the end.

Iris Wang is the most obnoxious lead I've read in a YA book in some time. She acted like a self centered 13 yr old versus a girl on the cusp of college. She really cared about no one but herself and I'm not surprised her friends only seemed to hang around her to mooch off her parent's money that she freely spent without haste. She spends most of the book whining about her life while spending thousands of dollars freely. And spends at least 80% of the book being her self-centered self who could care less about her commitments to her family or friends.

Long review here
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot....

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Summer of Love and Misfortune is a Young Adult contemporary novel.

I really loved the idea of this book. Iris Wang is a Chinese American teen who cannot speak the language and gets thrust into high society Beijing.

The book is supposed to be funny. The only problem is that the heroine, Iris (17) is a spoiled brat. She is completely selfish and it's completely impossible to relate to her lack of awareness.

This is a hard book to rate. Because the last third was really strong. The book definitely wanted to be Crazy Rich Asians mixed with Sophie Kinsella's Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic series). But there is a very fine line between the heroine being quirky and misunderstood vs her not caring about anyone but herself. I really struggled with the first half of this book.

The narrator is Iris (1st person POV). She grows up fairly well off. But she spends money like she doesn't have any impulse-control. And honestly she was extremely irresponsible. And pretty unlikable for much of this book. I was really hoping that somehow she would redeem herself. I think that the author was off a bit by making her so self-absorbed. The mishaps would have been funnier if the narrator had been just a little bit relatable.

I did find some of the situations to be funny. But I just wish that Iris had not be so clueless about everything. If she had not been so delusional or entitled I think that what she went through could have been so much funnier.

I really liked the whole idea of Beijing. There were some really amazing things about that part of the story. I loved the whole competitive dog grooming thing. I really enjoyed all of the characters from there (especially her family members). That was a really good part of the story.

There is romance. But it is not really the focus of this book.

Overall, the idea of a teenager out of her element in a different country was a good one. This was a fairly quick read. The last third was actually very strong. And I enjoyed that part of the book a lot.

Thanks to netgalley and Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster Canada for allowing me to read this book.

[Hannah (Hannah, Fully) · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author/publisher provided a free copy of the book for review purposes - thank you! Receiving a review copy does not guarantee a positive review and therefore do not affect the opinion or content of the review. My reaction while surviving the 18% of My Summer of Love and Misfortune that I read can be summarized in one GIF:


The book is that bad, friends. I think at a certain point I started viewing the book from a comedic standpoint just to make things feel a little better for me personally, but LOL, there are better books out there to read. Also, if I could give this book 0 out of 5, I would. But alas, I'll have to settle with what I settled with.

Let me just talk about all the ways My Summer of Love and Misfortune was Hilariously Awful™.
So we start the book introduced to Iris Wang, who we quickly find out that because she is born as a tiger and has a teardrop-shaped mole under her right eye, she's unlucky. She's addicted to Starbucks lattes and expensive makeup, she parties a lot, she shows up hungover to SATs, and she half-asses her college admissions essays like I once half-assed a 10-page paper the day it was due. In other words, she lives up to being unlucky, and she has priority issues. It's not even that bad yet.

Her credit card bill one day will rival that one person in the movie with a massive credit card debt -- was that The Devil Wears Prada? -- only, I don't think Iris Wang will improve. And I have to wonder: do her parents actually notice the usage and teach her how to be responsible with it or do they just let her run wild and pay for it? How in the world do her parents trust her? I'm so confused??? And how are they not pissed about her credit card usage? She's not even 18; she's got to be an authorized user.

She knocks off the garage door with a $50K car while drunk after walking in on her best friend and boyfriend having sex. Don't get me wrong; cheating is awful to experience, and I wouldn't wish it on most people. But Iris had that one coming for her: she doesn't remember her boyfriend's birthday, and she didn't even know her best friend Samira is capable of writing articles or that she volunteers. How... how do you not know your boyfriend's birthday, and what kind of friend are you if you don't even know your best friend is capable of writing articles? Hell, she thinks best friends are supposed to be an identical reflection of each other. So in the words of my mom, Iris Wang deserved what she got.

Oh, she also thinks no one uses the postal service anymore, and to top it off, she doesn't understand what global warming is.


How... how do you not know this.

Basically, Iris Wang thinks the world revolves around her, and only her.
And here I was once told that I was in my own world for wanting to be an astronaut. The only difference is, I was in preschool at the time, so at least I had the Little Kids are Cute factor going on.

She thinks you can be voted in as valedictorian and salutatorian. LMAO Iris never studies, how the hell would she be top of the class? I'd be surprised if she's not at the very bottom. Let's not forget she showed up hungover to the SATs, either.

But anyway, let's backtrack to where she knocks off her parent's garage door with a very fancy car. The incident ends up as the last straw for her parents, so they decide to send Iris off to Beijing in the hopes she'll get her act together. She wonders if her parents even love her for doing so, going so far as thinking they must not be her parents; her parents must be super rich, and they can be found in a Forbes list. She thinks she's a genius for looking for what she thinks are her birth parents on Forbes.

Okay, but here's what killed me, friends. Iris is in the plane's bathroom for long enough time that people are in a line waiting for her to finish, she accidentally drops the contents of her purse into the toilet... and wonders if she should flush it all away. If you're not supposed to flush paper towels down the toilet, why the actual fuck would you...?

And when she gets off the plane and tries to turn on her phone to no avail, she thinks she can bake her phone in the oven so it can work again. LMFAO, more like starting a fire if the entire oven doesn't explode.


This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts.

[Danielle (Life of a Literary Nerd) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 33%

I kept pushing myself to read this and it was still so hard to do, and I'm really sad about it because I thought this would be my summer book.

The story is over-the-top and outlandish, which I'm okay with, but Iris is so incredibly unlikeable that it was hard to be in her perspective. She is completely out of touch with reality and is easily one of the most self absorbed characters I've ever encountered. There was no reason to get behind her or want to see her potential growth, because honestly, I'm not sure it would have been satisfying or believable given where she starts out. The story read more like a first draft and lacked detail and genuineness that could have grounded all the over the top stuff.

[~Madison · Rating 1 out of 5]

there is a reason why this book is rated so low on goodreads.... yeah don't bother with this book if you enjoy having happiness present in your life.

the mc was the WORST.

[Maureen]

DNF at 150 pages because HOO BOY i did not like this book and that was just my breaking point.

[Brooke — brooklynnnnereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a WILD ride with this novel!

Due to the main character and her behaviour, it really impacted how I felt about the overall story. I really had a difficult time getting through the first half to three quarters of this novel. However, eventually, the main character's behaviours seemed to change and I had some real hope and was enjoying/anticipating the story's conclusion.

Well.

I have to be extremely vague here to avoid spoilers but.....I understand the message that the author was trying to deliver. I just don't feel that the message was delivered in the right manner. This main character made a lot of mistakes, lied, and people forgave her. I don't understand how a different character's mistakes are unforgivable and worse than her own. Especially as the mistakes made from the other character were at least justified and unselfish compared to the main character's mistakes.

I think the ending took away from any of the character development that may have occurred for the main character throughout this novel. It didn't sit right with me and impacted how I felt about the whole novel.

***Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

[Paloma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Review in English | Reseña en Español

I would say “don’t bother” with this book but then I realized I just managed to finish it, so there must be something about it right? Well, I think the only redeeming quality of this book is that it is fast-paced and therefore, though it is painful to read, the pain passes quickly.

Iris is a Chinese-American girl who is a mess –she doesn’t care about school, nor life, nor her future. She’s there for shopping and having fun, which makes her be in constant conflict with her parents who want her to go to an Ivy League University. When she fails to enter any University and does not even graduate from high school, her parents decide to send her to China so she can meet her only cousin and some family and learn some things about being Chinese and working hard.

My problem with the book was that our main character was annoying AF, and honestly, she at times was just plain stupid. One thing is to be rich and have no worries in life, and another is to be so shallow that you do not even know if your cousin can have the same grandparents as you do. PLEASE. Iris was just DUMB in the most basic things in life, something that I found unbelievable, knowing a bit about how Chinese families tend to be and the high expectations for their kids. This girl did not know a word of Mandarin, though she was first generation.

Iris kept asking herself why her parents were mad at her for failing school, spending too much money and hanging with awful friends. Seriously, at one point I though may be she had some health condition, maybe dyslexic or something, and then it could have made sense. But no! She was selfish and careless.

And the worst thing was that I did not really see any character development. Though by the end she allegedly redeems herself, until the last few pages she just sort of keeps thinking about herself as the center of the universe and she learns of life by doing charity through a rich uncle. Sighs.

The writing was also pretty mediocre. Not bad because, as I said, I somehow managed to push through the story, but it was very basic. It was very annoying how the author kept listing foods and beverages to express Iris’ feelings or anxieties, as if every emotion had to be associated with food. Also, this book was branded as a story about a girl discovering herself and reconnecting with her roots, and to be honest, I believe we saw very little of modern China and of relevant cultural things. And I don’t even want to remember the time Iris just wanted to go into the National Museum to buy souvenirs, because why not contribute to China’s growth? Or when she was unaware who Mao Tse Tung was –like bitch I am Mexican and not versed on Chinese history but even I know who he is.

Overall, this book was disappointing: I went in looking for a fun, entertaining and enjoyable read and I found just a pale shadow of a story and a terrible main character.

_______

Este libro no ha sido publicado en español pero desde ahora puedo decirles: no se molesten por favor. Es una historia malísima, y la única cualidad que le encontré es que el tono ligero hace que se lea muy rápido, pero fuera de eso, en verdad pueden ahorrarse este libro.

Esta historia es sobre Iris, una joven chino-americana que es un desastre: no le importa la escuela, ni la vida ni su futuro. Sus únicos intereses son ir de compras y divertirse, lo cual hace que esté en conflicto con sus padres, quienes han planeado para ella un futuro brillante, en las mejores universidades. Pero cuando no logra entrar a ninguna universidad y peor aún, reprueba su último año de preparatoria, sus padres deciden enviara a China para que conozca a una parte de la familia que quedó allá y de paso, aprenda el significado del trabajo duro.

El problema con este libro es que la protagonista principal es nefasta y en ocasiones en verdad me pregunté si tendría alguna especie de retraso. Una cosa es ser rico y no tener preocupaciones en la vida y otra ser tan superflua para preguntarte si puedes compartir abuelos con tus primos. POR FAVOR. Iris es el personaje más tonto que he conocido en cosas simples en la vida y esto me pareció un poco inverosímil, sobre todo conociendo un poquito el contexto de familias chinas –y que por lo general son muy exigentes con sus hijos. Y no me refiero a la cuestión social o profesional únicamente, sino al valor y orgullo que le dan a sus raíces y al respeto que tiene por su pasado. Esta chica no sabía ni decir HOLA en mandarín, a pesar de ser primera generación.

Su falta de sentido común en verdad rayaba en lo ridículo: se preguntaba por qué sus padres se enojaban con ella por reprobar, por tener hasta el tope sus tarjetas e involucrarse con amigos nefastos. No es broma: en algún momento pensé que quizá tenía algún tema de salud, quizá fuera disléxica o le faltara algún químico en el cerebro, porque entonces sería entendible su comportamiento. Pero no, resulta que simplemente era egoísta y tonta.

Y lo peor es que no hubo ningún desarrollo de personalidad. Supuestamente al final de la historia ella cambia pero incluso en las últimas páginas se seguía haciendo preguntas tontas y viéndose como el centro del universo: si bien comienza a preocuparse por los demás, su redención se basa en hacer caridad para gente pobre con el dinero de su familia.

Finalmente, la escritura fue muy regular. No mala porque, como mencioné, de alguna forma logré terminar el libro, pero todo fue muy básico. Me molestó que la autora citara o hiciera referencia cada cinco minutos a una comida, vinculando las emociones de Iris con helados, chocolates, etc. Asimismo, este libro se vende como la historia de una chica que se reencuentra y reconecta con sus raíces y la verdad es que vemos muy poco de la China moderna, salvo hoteles de siete estrellas y gente rica. No quiero ni recordar la parte en donde Iris quería ir al Museo Nacional de China a comprar souvenirs porque se rehusaba a tener una conversación seria y ¿por qué no contribuir al crecimiento del país comprando? O cuando confundió a Mao Tse Tung con su tío porque no tenía ni idea de quién era. Y yo así de, “por favor, soy mexicana y no soy experta en historia china pero sé quién es”. Fatal.

En resumen este libro resultó decepcionante: esperaba una historia divertida y agradable y resultó ser mediocre y con un personaje infumable.

[Kate R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I thought this one would be right up my alley. The blurb literally mentions two of my favorite books. But, unfortunately, I could not finish this one. I have to say the writing was good, the setting was awesome and the descriptions were very detailed, but the main character was awful, just absolutely horrible. Ultimately, I could not get past her ridiculous ways and I did not finish. However, I will read other books the author writes because like I said this was just a character that I struggled with, not the writing at all.

* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[claud.]

DNF-ed at page 123.

I impulse-bought this book two years ago without checking any reviews online, mostly because it's a YA contemporary with an Asian lead written by an Asian author. I was shocked when I saw that this had less than a 3.0 average rating on Goodreads. I thought, Jesus, is it really that bad? But I decided to at least try and read it anyway.

I've skimmed some of the reviews on here, and I could see that people's biggest problem was Iris herself. I agree that she is extremely stupid, self-absorbed, and shallow, to the point of it being unrealistic. She also lacked common sense in some regards to the point of delusion, for example: not getting into any of the colleges she applied to but then thinking the school counsellor was somehow calling her to tell her she was valedictorian. She was also convinced at one point that she was the long-lost daughter of a Chinese billionaire.

I could sort of tolerate these characteristics of her if I kept thinking this book was supposed to be satirical. I mean, come on. Growing "three-inch" long facial hair due to stress? That's not a thing, right? I quickly adapted the mentality of this book being an over-the-top satirical comedy, and with that mentality I honestly thought Iris was hilarious. Don't get me wrong, she was still all of those negative adjectives I said above, but this time I was laughing. It's like watching an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

But the reason I DNF-ed this was the writing itself, which just wasn't good. Forget the fact that Iris was impossible to sympathize with as a reader, the writing style and the dialogue themselves were almost unreadable. The characters were empty caricatures and came off almost as stupid as Iris herself. The brand name-drops were so heavy-handed and Iris' inner monologue was repetitive and grating to read.

I honestly think Lindsay Wong's editor hated her, because I really don't know how this book was published like this. There were more than a few times where I couldn't tell if it was Iris who was being dumb and the author intentionally wrote her that way, or if the author herself didn't know what she was writing about. And you know, whatever, not every author knows everything, but that's where editors come in. It's like her team set her up to fail. I would be less harsh about this book if it was a WattPad story written by a teenager, but it was written by an adult writer published by Simon and Schuster.

I'm over the whole trend of Asian YA authors trying to emulate Crazy Rich Asians. I'm just over it. The reasons CRA worked were that 1) it was marketed from the start as a satire, 2) it's funny without solely relying on the characters' stupidity, and 3) the characters were actually compelling and interesting. Just, give it up to God. Find a new schtick.

[delphine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full review on my blog.

An e-ARC was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

When Iris Wang failed her senior year in top of destroying the garage door after backing up her dad’s car in it, she’s sent to Beijing by her parents in the hope that she’ll mature.

Honestly, I tried. I was so excited for this book because I’ve always loved books with teenagers sent to another countries to discover and reconnect with their culture. I loved Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay with a teenage boy going to the Philippines to learn more about his cousin’s death but also to learn more about the political context of this country. I loved I Love You so Mochi by Sarah Kuhn where a teenage girl goes to Japan to discover what she wants to do while discovering Japan. So when I read this synopsis, read that it was a girl who was sent to Beijing to « reconnect with her culture, » I was sold. I don’t know if I expected too much but I was disappointed because I got nothing of that. Well, nothing may be a bit harsh. She learnt something like ten sentences of Mandarin (in three months???) and visited one or two famous places. But then, Iris as a character deserves a whole section of this review for herself so I’ll talk about her later.

Diversity tag: chinese-american mc, chinese-american side characters, chinese side-characters, #ownvoices, chinese-american author
Trigger warnings/content warnings: underage drinking, drugs, drunk driving, sex scenes (not explicit), cheating

[Alice]

The summary is so relatable - I’m super glad there’s an own voices take on this because I feel like there aren’t enough As-Am stories where the main character doesn’t get have a successful college application season.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Reading Fairy

TW: Underage Drinking, drunk driving, vomiting, cheating, death threats

Rep: Chinese American MC, Chinese Immigrants, side characters, Chinese side characters, Korean side character

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I really wished I was able to drink right now because it would really make this book entertaining. Welp, since this girl can’t drink alcohol-we’re just going to go into the tea. And it’s a good thing I have my tea right next to me, because the tea is sizzling the more I read this book. Also, I’ll try to keep spoilers minimum, but I probably won’t help it because I really do not like this book.

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I, Iris Wang, was born to be unlucky.

Iris is one of the most UNLIKABLE character I have ever read. She is without a doubt, SPOILED, DUMB and ANNOYING character. There are a few things I literally can not stand in the world, but characters who say, “I need a new manicure even though I just got it three days ago.” or “I probably need another Venti-size Starbucks refill really soon.” in the book, literally I’m destined to hate them. Or having a shopping problem like MAJORLY.

I can’t understand people who do that. Like no hate for people who love to shop, or drink Starbucks, or want their nails done-but all that literally screams that you’re rich and annoying. And than freak out, because nothing lines up with how much you owe? How who does that?

Also, what kind of person doesn’t remember the right date for her boyfriend’s birthday, and accuses her friend of lying when her friend was correct? Like how dumb do you have to be just to do that?



I really feel like this is Iris. You know how dumb London is from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody, but the only difference is that she is actually rich and Iris owes way too much. If my parents actually find out I owe that much, my parents would ground me for life, or kill me first. One of the two.

“You’re…really boring,” he finally says, looking deeply uncomfortable. “You’re superficial, self-absorbed, and you kind of think the world revolves around you.”

…

“You’re narcissistic, Iris. And vapid. You just try too hard.”

“What’s wrong with that?” I say, not understanding. How can I be all these things? I’m just one person.

😂😂. I can not believe this is in the book. It’s so hilariously bad and shows how much Iris is that dumb. Did she not know that there are multiple things that make up your personality?

Also, you have got to be an idiot while ‘driving’ under the influence of alcohol, to crash your parents $50,000 car? If I did that, my parents would kill me big time.

Who does not know what self-absorbed, or narcissistic means? Vapid I could understand, because I did not know until I looked it up. But honestly. It does not take a genius to even know what two of those words mean.

Oh wait. Iris is not a genius. Literally. And she’s not bright in school either.

I’ve just failed Algebra II. And AP Economics. And World History. And English!!!!

How does one even fail English? It’s my first and only language.

I kid you not that line is in the book. My god, that is hilarious. So does anyone want to tell her that English is not only a language, but it’s called language arts where you learn how to be a better writer and reader? And also you fail classes by not turning in your work, not showing up and completing your assignments, failing tests. Anything else that I’m forgetting?

And more of her idiocy is revealed… Wait for it, she starts questioning if her parents really loved her enough to send her off to Beijing and if her father is actually her father? The fuck?



I’d kill to even go to Beijing or even New York. Also, girl you’re lucky to have a father. I don’t know anything about him really (He raped my mom, his name is Chris, I have his big toe, I have his attitude. He’s an alcoholic)

So I hope we know by know, Iris is a Dumb protagonist. Reading the book, I’m so confused.

This girl had a hangover when she did her SAT, does a crap job of filling out college applications who is shocked when she gets denied, didn’t study on her SAT, and if I remembered correctly she got 450 on her SAT?

“She’s not even going to community college. Let’s face it, Jeff. Our daughter is going to be a loser.”

Like why would the parents even say this? You have got to be kidding me? You’re going to insult your daughter because she’s going to be a loser since she can’t get into colleges?

Some of the scenes are just terribly hilarious and honestly, like why? If this book was trying to achieve the worst YA Asian Contemporary book than it did. Another Asian family came, and her parents forced her to hide in the pantry because you know embarrassment and shamed. And than there was another scene on the plane that was hilarious.

Iris is like, my iphone should be fine when we get to Beijing right? After it fell in the toilet? And she wrapped it in toilet paper? She also spends a lot of time not doing anything about that when it fell so it’s best to get it out of there quickly as possible.

Geez, one time my airpod fell out of my ear and fell right into the toilet. I wasted no time in grabbing it, dried it and blew on it and it worked! And I did not spend any time worrying because water destroys electronics really quickly.

Oh well this is a surprise. I didn’t know Iris was naive. Oh wait, she probably wouldn’t even know what that words means 🤣.

But once she realizes that I’m her long-lost American cousin, she’ll know that this has been a gigantic misunderstanding and we’ll automatically be BFF’s.

Family can always forgive and find each other.

Oh my fucking god. Someone tell this girl, please 😂. Trust me, family is not like this or else my family wouldn’t be complicated. I haven’t seen my cousins in New Mexico for a long time all because of an argument which according to when I asked why we never saw them, I called them (which I do not remember) and blamed me and my family for that.

And there’s a matter of Emily, ‘the step-grandma’ a demon from hell if you want to be technical. Trust me, when I heard that my grandpa got married (also one thing you should not do: Online dating), and they were coming back to America I got really excited. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to meet who he married. And I imagined that we were going to be close.

I was way off. She always gave off a disinterested attitude, and I didn’t see my grandpa as often anymore. There a few times when she had to babysit me, and I liked her. She was really cool and then I find out, she was just putting up with me because I was Richard’s (my grandpa) granddaughter.

And then when I got older and there were several instances where she hated my family’s guts. The 2017 trip, where I was only there for like a few weeks. She was good up until she started insulting my family and my mom and I gone outside to cry. I really wished I didn’t go, but I’m glad I did.

The 2019 trip? I spent a month in California. She was actually on her best behavior up until the end of June, where she blames EVERYONE. If it’s not up to her perfect rules, she will yell at you. She also makes everyone in the house miserable to where you feel it. No wonder my grandpa is depressed.

And more scenes are hilarious! The restaurant scene was by far the hilarious.

Iris: Um, my cellphone broke.

Uncle: Really? *chucks phone in the trashcan*

Iris (internally): Those are like millions of dollars

Uncle: *pulls out iphone from his jacket* Here.

Iris: What?

Wait, so is Iris rich? That would probably explain everything because it wouldn’t make any sense without that.

I have to applaud her Uncle at times, but honestly this is my thoughts:



Her Uncle decides to teach her how to be Chinese. And honestly I’m really starting to even hate Iris. Is that even possible at this point because it’s just terrible; including Iris’s decisions and incapable learning abilities.

So if you can’t read a paragraph without spacing out, probably cannot do 2x+3=3x+7; unwilling to learn about China with their culture and history. Honey, you may have been privileged in America by a lot-but seriously, can’t you respect someone else’s customs around learning.


Oh my fucking god. Did I just read that correctly? *Facepalm*. Like why.

Is he mixing up Ruby’s grandparents with mine? Wait, do cousins even have the same grandparents? How do family trees work?

I’m not kidding this line is literally in the book, and I have to facepalm so bad. I have officially met the stupidest protagonist ever? Okay seriously, did this bitch ever go to school or ever did family trees? I just did a family tree that goes up to my grandparents thank god, but why the fuck would you ever ask this type of question?

Anyone want to know more on why I really fucking hate Iris? It’s her stupid, self-centered atttiute that she really does not get. I mean like why. Trust me, when someone’s you don’t care about them, they’re about 99% telling the truth if you have never shown interest in their own problems. Honestly, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.

I kinda want to point this out before I forget it again: Traveler’s Diarrhea. I actually did not know how about that until I looked it up and I remember the book saying that she can’t have local street food. And this is what google says; caused by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water.

This book does not even make sense know that I realize it. Iris does not grow as a person until the last 20 pages. I’m not kidding. It’s like all of a sudden she sees poor people and she wants to help them, when she didn’t even bother. Like that that is not accurate growth as a person. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be the entire novel and NOT THE LAST 20 PAGES.



And I really did not like the romance. It was so rushed. The characters didn’t even hang out together to much, and all of a sudden I see Iris and Frank kissing and already being naked to each other. How am I supposed to believe that? I’m really glad the torturement is over, and honestly please do not get this book on Netgalley.

[Anniek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book must have the lowest average rating I've ever seen, and I've seen so many 1 star review. I fully expected to really dislike it too, and I kept putting off reading this book. Now, this is certainly not a new favourite. But I honestly enjoyed the drama, for the most part. I don't tend to enjoy books with unlikeable main characters very much, but I thought it was mostly well done here, with the addition that the girl on girl hate was A LOT. I had some other problems with this as well, that were better discussed by other readers, but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading this. I would recommend maybe giving it a shot if you enjoyed Anna K and Loveboat, Taipei!

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher theough NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

1 ⭐️
DNF at 46%

If this is how Lindsay Wong sees teenagers, she should stop writing about them right now. Or at least, she should spend a few years around them before ever trying to write another YA novel.

This book is terrible. There’s no other way to put this. I tried and tried to keep reading in the hopes that Iris would eventually grow a brain, but she never does. She’s the epitome of spoiled shopaholic airhead, and she’s not even rich! I assume that her parents are upper-middle class, but she’s nowhere near the class level you’d usually see this kind of behaviour (read here: rich spoiled heiress).

And she’s so freaking stupid! Not even funny dumb, just incredibly not self-aware and so profoundly idiotic. Nothing she does makes any sense, and her internal monologue is cringeworthy. I ran out of synonyms for her stupidity way before I gave up on this book.

Frankly, I do not understand how this was picked up by a big 5, other than that it’s ownvoice for Chinese rep. But it’s kind of really shitty rep. There are much better books out there depicting Chinese culture without having to read through the worst teen MC I’ve seen in a long time.

[Giselle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got about 150+ pages into this one and couldn’t go any further. This character is just too ridiculous. Maybe she was supposed to be this way on purpose but I can’t imagine a more annoying character. No wait.. I can.. Anastasia Steele from FSoG fame. Not only does she not care about the people around her, she deflects and runs away from all her problems. I thought that she would change when she went to China but she is still the spoiled little brat from the beginning. I thought this would be just like “Loveboat, Taipei” which I actually enjoyed.. but much to my dismay, it had to redeeming qualities.

[Desiree · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this as an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. A sincere thank you to them for that opportunity.

I was initially excited about this story centering around a young Asian-American woman wanting to connect with her heritage. I thought the first chapter was cute and quirky. I thought it told us a lot about her and her father in a way that was informative without being an info-dump of exposition.
Unfortunately, it went downhill from that point.

My biggest issue with this book was with Iris, our protagonist. She is perhaps the dumbest and most willfully-ignorant character I've ever read about. EVER. It felt like there was an attempt made to make her a Cher-Horowitz-type character, but it just didn't work. She lacked the care Cher has for the people around her. She was vapid, self-absorbed, and unapologetic in her disinterest and disdain for the people and situations going on around her. I spent a good deal of time before writing this review trying to figure out what the purpose of this character was. Are we supposed to start out disliking her and then as she matures we learn to love her? If that's the case, it failed. Her 'transformation' was far too little, too late. Are we supposed to find her ignorance quirky and fun? Again, it didn't work that way for me. It felt like this book was trying way too hard to be funny and quirky instead of giving us characters that felt real and believable. The following are just a few examples of things that drove me nuts about Iris:
1. She ditches class and tutor sessions, shows up to the SAT test (that she didn't study for) half-drunk, and is then shocked when she doesn't get accepted to any of the colleges she applied for and when she isn't 'voted' valedictorian. By the way, that is not the way valedictorian's are chosen. I'm not sure if this is actually how the author thinks this happens or is just supposed to be another example of how clueless Iris is. The fact that it isn't clear is a sign to me that it doesn't work in the story. Any teenager in America who goes to public high school would be able to tell you how a valedictorian is chosen. It's not realistic that she wouldn't know, even if she is a total moron.
2. She doesn't know what global warming is, except that it's some sort of 'current event'. She then likens it to face cream. Again, I just don't see how even the most self-absorbed 18-year old wouldn't know what global warming is.
3. She questions her parentage for the entire book, just because her parents are taller than her. The first time she mentioned wondering if she was adopted, I thought it was just some sort of throwaway comment from a sullen teenager. But then she spends the entire book thinking about it and it comes off as absolutely ridiculous.
4. She doesn't know how to pronounce her Chinese name because she never asked her dad how to pronounce it. I just can't imagine being so apathetic.
5. She doesn't 'understand' Star Wars, even though she's watched the films with her father. It's not that deep.
6. She doesn't have any idea what the exchange rate is between yuan and US Dollars, even though it was explained to her. She remains ignorant of this throughout the course of the book.
7. At one point she says that she hasn't eaten in twelve hours, or 'practically half a day.' People aren't this stupid.
8. She blames all of her flaws and faults on her birth sign.
9. She tells someone she has 22/22 vision. This isn't a thing.
10. Someone asks her what the word 'acute' means. She proudly answers that it means 'adorable' (like, a cute dog! or a cute bag! STAHP)
11. She doesn't know that cousins have the same grandparents.
12. SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT A MUSEUM IS. She's surprised that there aren't price tags on the pieces and no one is haggling. I just...don't believe that someone who has grown up in American in the upper-middle class doesn't understand the concept of a museum. This is cringy. There is no way to root for this girl. She is too ridiculous.
13. She doesn't know where China is in relation to America on a world map.
14. She agrees to help her cousin with something, then breaks her promise. The cousin texts her and Iris basically ignores it. Then later on she acts completely shocked that she forgot, as if she hadn't received the text a couple chapters earlier. I'm not sure if that's a structural error with the writing or if we are really supposed to think that Iris is that stupid and selfish. Again, the fact that it isn't clear is a problem.
This is just a sample of this character's idiocy. Every single page of this book had multiple eye-rolling moments with regard to her sheer ineptitude at life. I have to question the decision to make her the butt of a thousand jokes throughout the course of this book. It just doesn't make sense. Ignorance and stupidity aren't cute and quirky in our society. They're just sad and frankly inexcusable.

I also thought her parents were really inconsistent with regard to their characterization. On the one hand, we're supposed to believe that they are these traditional Chinese parents putting pressure on their child to get good grades, go to a good college, be a successful adult. But on the other hand, they are completely neglectful and oblivious to the reality of who their daughter is. They apparently have no idea that their daughter doesn't go to class or tutor sessions. They don't know that she bombed her SAT test. They don't know that she is on the cusp of failing her senior year of high school. THAT IS NOT REALISTIC. If a child isn't showing up to school, her parents would've received multiple calls from the school. If they were risking failing out, the counselor would call the parents, not the lazy teenager. Her father never told her about his family in China, but then decides that, instead of actually PARENTING their child, they'll send her to live in China with said brother who she's never met or spoken to. She doesn't even know his name or what he looks like when she's sent off. They also give her free access to a credit card, apparently completely unaware that she is totally irresponsible with money and also totally disrespectful of her parents finances and belongings. Making them so ignorant about her shenanigans but then also being shocked that she isn't accepted to good colleges just doesn't track.

I wasn't a fan of any of the other characters either. Not enough to rant about them, since this is already getting really long, but suffice it to say, I made several notes on my Kindle about the fact that everyone in this book is an asshole.

The plot, what there was of a plot, felt like something that could've been interesting, but the book spent too long on Iris's idiotic decisions and not enough on her minimal growth. By the time we got to it I was so annoyed by the main character that I couldn't bring myself to care about what else was going on.

As far as the writing goes, I wasn't impressed. The sheer number of similes and metaphors used on essentially every page was just ridiculous. Most of them made no sense, and many of them were redundancies of similes and metaphors used in previous paragraphs on the EXACT SAME PAGE. I started highlighting them about a third of the way through the book and it's just excessive.

A couple other head-scratchers:

1. On the plane to China, she drops her phone into the toilet, which ruins it because water gets into it. Anyone who has been on a plane in the last couple of decades will tell you that's not how airplane toilets work.

2. Early in the book, we are told that Iris' parents own a swanky Mercedes. Later she talks about her parents and their 'boring Volkswagon'...which is it?

3. There were three comments about pupils that made me wonder if the author didn't mean something else. The first was about how you're supposed to 'widen your pupils' to show sorrow. The second was about someone being sad. We're told that her 'pupils are wet'. The third is Iris talking about how she can't stop looking at someone 'with her pupils'. None of these sentences make any sense. It feels like the word pupil is being used as a synonym for eye, but they aren't synonyms.

4. the term 'expiry date' is used and that's not something someone from the U.S. would say. We would say 'expiration date'.

The one saving grace of this book is the descriptions of the food. Oh my goodness, I want a dozen steamed pork buns right now. Every time she talked about food (with the exception of the scene where they eat scorpion and caterpillar...sorry, I'm just not that adventurous) my mouth would start watering. Unfortunately, that doesn't make up for all of the issues I had with this book.

At the end of the day, I think this story gets bogged down by a mind-numbingly stupid protagonist and a lack of intention with regards to the plot and characterizations.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Iris Wang’s summer is starting rough. Really rough. In a hopeful attempt to get her refocused, her parents send her to visit family in Beijing. Iris is anything but happy about this, but maybe, just maybe this could actually be good for her.

Oh boy, I wish I knew where to begin here because as much as I wanted to like this book and thought that there was a chance for a good turn around, this never hit it.

My Summer of Love and Misfortune is a story that is character-driven. The focus is entirely on Iris and her experiences. The problem with this is that Iris is not a likeable character. She is entirely self-absorbed and believes that she is a gift to man-kind. There were so many moments that I couldn’t believe she could be so ridiculous, but she surprised me time and time again in the worst way possible.

To have a protagonist this unlikable, progress really needs to be shown. But Iris did not grow throughout this story. Instead of growing or being put in situations that might make her question herself and grow from that, she was consistently put in situations that excused her actions. She’d be told that she acted like this because deep down this was her issue. You cannot excuse someone's actions and say it’s just how they are. HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE!

Iris had so many other ticks that just grated on my nerves. She’d compare people or things to the oddest things that made no sense and more often than not, seemed to be a way to keep herself above them. She would also compare the Mandarin language to Star Wars or sci-fi sounds or something along that line while also consistently thinking that maybe she was Korean or Japanese. Wait, maybe she was even adopted and really belonged to a rich family. None of it was ever challenged and just felt… wrong. With how often it was brought up, it was upsetting to never see any of that challenged.

Technically, I guess you could say that Iris has some growth, but all of it is told and not shown which left me not believing any of it. It all felt like a lie that would pass any second and she would go back to her own ways because how couldn’t she when there was never a moment that left her actually thinking about her actions?

I could also get into the side characters and how bad they were, but I think talking about Iris and how no one challenged her probably is a good explanation of all the other characters in itself.

My Summer of Misfortune and Love could have been a promising book about growth, but instead it went a completely different route of never finding yourself truly accountable for your actions.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC received at ALA Midwinter Conference.

Summary
After a series of reckless encounters, Iris Wang is sent to Beijing for the summer to live with her long lost half-uncle. Her parents hope this trip will straighten her out, but unbeknownst to them, she is swept up in the luxury of Beijing's elite.

Review
I just......don't know if I have anything good to say about this book? I would have probably DNFed it but it was an easy read and sometimes it's hard to look away from a train-wreck.

I went in to this book expecting a fun, summery YA contemporary along the lines of Crazy Rich Asians. What I got instead was......this. Iris is one of the most insufferable main characters I have EVER read about. She was incredibly self-centered, and did not even have enough self awareness to see ANY of her faults. She was written as a straight up flat, one-dimensional character and I am not sure she had any redeeming qualities. To top that off, none of the other characters had any redeeming qualities either.

A lot of the reckless situations that Iris got herself in to were also just.....over the top unrealistic. I understand that this is fiction, but some of the events were just so ridiculously unbelievable.

Anyways, save yourself the time and skip this one.

[Myra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have thoughts... and sadly they're not too good...

I picked this book up as part of Becca's Bookoplathon in September 2020, for the challenge 'read the lowest rated book on your TBR'. And about 20% of the way through the audiobook, I started to understand why this was the lowest rated book on my TBR.

This book follows Iris Wang, a Chinese-American girl who has sort of... gone off the rails, I guess you can say. After working up a credit-card bill of $6000, crashing her parents car, failing her senior year of high-school and not getting into a single college she applied to, her parents decide enough is enough. They send her to Beijing, to live with her uncle (who she had never heard about before this all happens) and to get her s*** together, basically.

This book sounded like something I would like, which is the whole reason why I added it to my want-to-read shelf in the first place. I thought it would a fun, light-hearted contemporary, and overall just a good time. Well... I was wrong. This wasn't a good time. Really, really not.
About 30% of the way through the audiobook I took a break, and I had ZERO motivation to finish it. But I pushed through. And would you look at that! It's my least favourite book of the year!

From here on, there may be spoilers. So take this as your spoiler warning. But honestly I would not recommend you read this. You can 100% find something better to spend your time doing.

Let me start by talking about the characters:

Iris - the most infuriating, self-absorbed, naive, ignorant and outright stupid character I have ever encountered. Iris cares about nothing but herself, and how she presents herself to others/what others think of her. She pays no attention to how her actions will impact the people around her and she's overall just careless. She's also delusional. On the plane to Beijing she convinces herself that she is adopted, and she is actually a princess and doesn't deserve this life. She also wonders whether she's even Chinese at all, and at one point asks her mom outright, who her 'real mom' is.

I would go into detail with all characters, but I didn't care enough about any of them, to do that. Just know, that every other character is made out to be terrible in different ways, in order to make Iris look better. And hopnestly, it doesn't work. So you end up with a book full of horrible characters, and it's just NOT A GOOD TIME. So here are some quick and short examples of why all the characters were terrible:
- Iris' boyfriend - besides being a terrible boyfriend in general, cheats on Iris with her best friend
- Iris' best friend - constantly flaunts her relationship with Iris' (now ex)boyfriend on social media for Iris in particular to see, and expects Iris to forgive her for what she did, no questions asked
- Iris' parents - I don't doubt they love their daughter, but at one point they literally stuffed her into a cupboard because they were ashamed of her. That should give you an idea of them as characters
- Iris' uncle - wants to put up a new luxury hotel, completely ignoring the fact that he'll have to bulldoze a poor neighborhood to do so
- Iris' cousin probably not the works character in this book... but she's made out to be such a b***h throughout the book and she's honestly completely unremarkable to be honest

Okay that's enough on that.
Iris is the most infuriating character I have ever has the displeasure of reading about. I hated her pretty much from the get-go. She seems to believe she is above everybody else, she makes herself out to be such a victim when in reality, she's so privileged, and she's just so, so, so unintelligent. Painfully so.

Towards the end of the novel, she goes through some inevitable growth. However the growth happens in basically less than a chapter and is incredibly unbelievable because of this. So the whole point of the book - Iris becoming a better person - is pretty lost in the end.

The plot of this book - weak, at best. It is a character driven story, and when the characters all end up being infuriating and the worst people I've had to read about... Yeah, safe to say I didn't end up enjoying this, if you hadn't understood that already.

I said it at the beginning of this review and I'll say it again - I understand why this was the lowest rated book on my TBR. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, if I'm being completely honest. Just all around, not at all enjoyable for me. 0/10 tbh.

[Bookundermybed · Rating 1 out of 5]

Haha. OMG, this book was trash.

Iris is a disaster, she fails at everything. She can’t get into college or even keep a best friend. One day her parents decide to send her to China to stay with an uncle she didn’t know she had and Iris’s life starts looking up.

Okay, where to start? I hated the characters. Iris was shallow, irritating, spoilt and completely oblivious to other peoples feelings. In the beginning we meet Iris who is wasting all her money buying and shopping because she doesn’t earn that money. She even buys her boyfriend and her tickets to Paris, with her parents’ money.
She throws a ridiculously big party and at that party she catches her boyfriend cheating with her ‘so called’ best friend. She gets drunk and then crashes her parents’ car. Great way to start Lindsay Wong, drunk driving.
It gets worse.

Her parents have to send her to China because she did not get into ANY COLLEGES BECAUSE OF HER LACK OF INTEREST. She didn’t even make an effort. When her ex bestie with her parents come over to tell her and her parents that she got into an Ivy League, Iris’s parents literally lock her up in the pantry cupboard but she comes marching out covered in Nutella.
See what I mean…failure?

On the way to China she imagines she’s actually a millionaire’s child and her parents have adopted her. Dude, they put up with so much from you already. 🙄
She gets there and moves into her uncle’s million dollar hotel, touches all the dresses and gets stuck in one that is clearly not hers or her size. It’s her cousin Ruby’s, and obviously Ruby is a selfish little brat. They end up having to cut Iris out of the dress.

Iris messes up a lot more (think slurping at a fancy restaurant, dropping the contents of her purse into a toilet and not picking up her cousin’s dog) but if I had to mention it all we would be here for a year.

She also hits on her ‘hot’ tutor and learns no mandarin in a couple of months. He basically helps her discover the city and they end up eating tarantulas and taking ‘inappropriate’ photos. She even fakes pregnant so she can talk to a fortune teller…that’s totally normal right?!

Anyway, turns out the ‘hot’ tutor gets fired because her uncle thinks he is letting her slack off and stuff happens but they break up. After a while she finds out that poor widdle tutor was so poor and he was living in the little town they were going to demolish to build her uncle’s new hotel.

Ruby and Iris become friends and find a way to help everyone out. A fundraiser, to give them money so her uncle can demolish their town. So helpful 🙄. Iris becomes a completely different person and even starts teaching kids English, how charitable of her.

This book was completely ridiculous. I actually hated most of the characters. Ruby was tolerable but she was a whiny little brat. I also hated the themes in here and how teenagers were viewed as dumb and a complete liability to society. The way the conflicts were resolved were ridiculous and Iris’s lack of any normal human emotion annoyed me to no bounds.

Okay, well I was a bit depressed when I read this book so it gave me a laugh (out of ridiculousness) but wow, I have never read anything like this and I hope I never will. 🤣💕

[Gavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Summer of Love and Misfortune was a huge letdown. I didn’t like the main character and the story at all. Iris Wang was a spoiled, narcissistic, annoying, self-absorbed, and dense brat. Some of her actions throughout the book were so childish.

Her parents exiled her to China because of her spoiled behavior. Her parents were also hoping that she will learn about her heritage and the language Mandarin. Instead, She spent most of the time wishing that she knew Mandarin so that she could understand what the people are saying, but she wouldn’t put the effort to learn it. Her uncle even hired a tutor to teach her basic Mandarin.

She was so self-centered that she doesn't care for the people around her but only herself. She had broken promises and did reckless things. She kept saying sorry, but she wouldn't correct her behavior She had multiple opportunities to change, but she didn’t. She even kept telling herself that she will. She doesn’t listen to other people.

Towards the end of the book, the character miraculously had an instant character development just because she went to a poor place. She was now a better person because she will do a fundraiser for them to help them. One thing that I can commend her for is not continuing to have a romantic relationship with Frank/Paul and friendship with Samira. I wanted to like this book but I couldn't.

[K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trigger warnings: alcohol abuse, drug use, cheating, vomit, lying, toxic friendships.

😬

Okay, so when I first marked this as currently-reading, I looked at the average rating and went "Okay, WTF????? That is STAGGERINGLY low." So I scrolled through some of the reviews to see why. And I saw a ton of people talking about how they DNFed this because it was the worst thing they'd ever read etc etc etc. And, like, I didn't think it was THAT bad so I pressed on and finished it.

But here's the thing: when I was reading it, I was quite enjoying it. But every time I stopped reading and thought about Iris as a character? OH MY GOD, SHE IS THE FUCKING WORST. Her solution to everything is to, like, go shopping and spend thousands of dollars of other people's money.

She seems to have about two braincells to rub together (she wonders why there aren't price tags on everything at A MUSEUM????, she wonders where the gift shop is in Tiananmen Square, she takes selfies with posters of Mao Tse-tung and laughs that he looks like her uncle and has NO IDEA why all of that is a terrible idea. And it's just, like, never addressed???). I would have been here for it if it was the story of a Chinese kid who struggles in school and can't get the straight As that her parents expect because, like, she's just an average sort of kid. But this wasn't that. This was a kid who puts in ZERO effort and zero fucks and somehow is meant to be the character that we cheer for.

Add in the fact that when she's confronted with her privilege and the realities of life in Beijing, her solution is to throw a fucking gala to raise money to move the hotel her uncle wants to build in a low income area and also to set up a school for the "migrant children" who live there so that they can learn English and, like, NO. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. No thank you.

All of that being said, I did quite like the family reconnection side of the story, so I guess it can have 2 stars.

[Ren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried my best to like this book. I kept putting and down and picking it back up, but every time I picked it back up I hated it more. Please do yourself a favor and do not read this book.
The main character is incredibly self-centered and, quite frankly, stupid. Reading about her made me, for a moment, wish I was no longer Chinese-American if only so I had one less thing in common with this character.
Not only did she lack academic intelligence and common sense, she also showed some internalized racism which I did not like.
The description sounded so promising, but the execution of it all is just unbearable. I agree with many of the other one star reviews for this book.
I wish I hadn’t spent money to read My Summer of Love and Misfortune. If I could give it a negative star review, I would.

[KristynRene SwissCheese JellyBean]

Chinese American slice-of-life? Now that is a YA contemporary I will read.

Thank you to Edelweiss and the Publisher for granting this eARC in exchange for an honest review


This story is incredibly entertaining. That is the grace I grant this book since I did not finish it.

DNF

Sometimes you start a book and you feel you can read that book cover to cover in one sitting. And then you put the book down and it feels like you’ve missed a chance at a life with that book because you never feel like reading it again. That’s exactly what happened in this case. I do not doubt this book will be successful. I’m simply no longer the crowd for this one.