Let's start off with a truth, completely unacknowledged by far too many people. I think this is one of the most underrated, underacknowledged, under... KNOWN series out there.
Let's look at the "hoarders" in the series. There's all kinds! A rich gal with more shoes than sense (but not cents)? Yep! An average Jane who piles on the junk to fill a hole in her heart that the junk just falls right through? Yep! A gal who... yeah. She hoards... but she doesn't at the same time.
Then you have the messed-up folks in the series. Nikki? Yep. Her mom? Yep. Her employer? Uh, huh. Some of her friends? Mmm-hmm... One of the beautiful things the series shows is that no matter how diverse a culture might be from your own, no matter what the cultural differences may mean in how people live everyday lives, people are also very much alike at the core. We have similar core needs, desires, hopes, and dreams. As well as fears, foibles, and frustrations (just a little alliteration to go with the series and book title. Hee hee).
Glimpses into Chinese culture show more than just what we "all know" but also why and things we thought we knew that we didn't. Liana George didn't shy away from the hard stuff. She didn't sanitize truth. But she definitely did fill the story with hope and justice.
And at the end of the day, that makes for a great story in my book.
Happy to give it five, heartwarming stars. Anxious to read the next.