Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

DNF @ 56%

I am so sad that this one didn't work out for me because I was so excited. But honestly, I was bored, and I didn't care for the writing, and the characters felt kind of flat, so I couldn't push myself through. To start with the positives, this book features some great Vietnamese American representation. It depicts the trauma of the characters as refugees and how that experience shaped their parents. The Vietnamese culture overall permeated every word of this story and that was a pleasure to read about. I think that's where it really shone. There also was so much food and the descriptions of it, my goodness did it make me hungry. However, the narrative was really clunky overall. It's dual perspective which normally I love, but in this case I think it bogged the story down. The two love interests were just too similar. Their voices were impossible to differentiate other than the differing hobbies. I had to keep flipping back to see whose perspective I was reading from, especially once they started to spend more time together. There also wasn't a whole lot going on throughout the story. It's a Romeo and Juliet retelling with these families having rival Vietnamese restaurants and the main driver is why are they enemies? But I didn't really have enough else to keep me going to find out the answers. I think the book was a bit too long for me personally. I'm so sad I didn't end up enjoying this one, but I think a lot of people will. I think it's a story many will see themselves in which is so important.