In a Nutshell Reviews: YA Edition

In a Nutshell Reviews are my version of mini-reviews, because sometimes, you just want the highlights.

Our Wayward Fate
Gloria Chao
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rating:  5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe, after the mountain in Taiwan.

Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the "they belong together" whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.

But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.

Snippets of a love story from nineteenth-century China (a retelling of the Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers) are interspersed with Ali’s narrative and intertwined with her fate.

Ali's mother had one rule for dating - he must be Asian. Being the only Asian kid in town, Ali was therefore, never going to be allowed to date. But, then, Chase showed up, and Ali wanted to resist her attraction to him. Would she be able to resist or would she give in to her wayward fate?

• Pro: I was such an Ali fan. She was witty and snarky, and I especially loved when she was Ali to the Nth degree once Chase came along. 
• Pro: OMG, Chase! From his first on page with Ali, I was hooked. He grew up in such a different environment, and I liked that he challenged those around him, and encouraged Ali to speak up for herself. He was not only her love interest, but he was her ally. 
• Pro: Chao did an incredible job helping me understand Ali's feelings of isolation. It pained me, that Ali believed she had to give up or hide parts of herself to survive in her hometown. My heart ached for her, and I think that's why I was so elated once Chase became part of her world. 
• Pro: Though I did not initially understand the connection to The Butterfly Lovers, it because more clear as I learned what Ali's mother was hiding And, wow! I totally didn't see that coming. The story took quite a turn, and it was an interesting one. 
• Pro: Chao gave me what I needed with respect to Ali's family. They were super dysfunctional, and it was painful being in their home. Chao tempered it with some lovely flashbacks, and also some fabulous resolutions. I had a lot of hope for Ali, her mom, and her dad by the end of the story, and that's important to me. 
• Pro: This story takes on family dysfunction, racism, isolation, and the downside of family culture, but those who know me won't be surprised to learn it was the romance that stood out for me. Ali and Chase were fantastic together. The banter and feisty exchanges never failed to make me smile. They challenged each other so much, but they got gooey too, and it was fun to see someone like Ali sporting heart-eyes. 

Overall: Once again, Gloria Chao delivered a heartfelt and funny tale of east meets west, which featured a complex family dynamic and a really sweet romance.

Maybe This Time
Kasie West
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Point
Rating:  4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

One year. Nine events. Nine chances to . . . fall in love?

Weddings. Funerals. Barbecues. New Year's Eve parties. Name the occasion, and Sophie Evans will be there. Well, she has to be there. Sophie works for the local florist, so she can be found at every big event in her small hometown, arranging bouquets and managing family dramas.

Enter Andrew Hart. The son of the fancy new chef in town, Andrew is suddenly required to attend all the same events as Sophie. Entitled, arrogant, preppy Andrew. Sophie just wants to get her job done and finish up her sketches so she can apply to design school. But every time she turns around, there is Andrew, getting in her way and making her life more complicated. Until one day she wonders if maybe complicated isn't so bad after all . . .

Told over the course of one year and following Sophie from event to event, this delightful novel from master of romantic comedy Kasie West shows how love can blossom in unexpected places.

Sophie had always kept her eyes on the prize, which was escaping her small town life. She dreamed of studying design in New York, and if she could get there, everything would be better. Over the course of a year, Sophie learned a lot about floral arrangements, party planning, her family, her friends, her dreams, and herself.

• Pro: I spent my teen years in a small town, and will forever have a special place in my heart for them. Maybe Sophie was tired of her small town life, but I adored the setting, and loved getting to share their community events with them. 
• Pro: Micah was such a wonderful friend. Micah was a constant in Sophie's life, and was a really important support system for her, especially when her own family sort of fell apart. Not only did she give offer friendship to Sophie, but she was her biggest cheerleader and encouraged her to pursue her design dreams. 
• Pro: Is it wrong, that I was a fan of when Sophie was proven wrong? She had a lot of preconceived notions about people and things, and I liked when something was revealed, which  contradicted her notions. I liked being surprised by people, and West did a nice job layering these characters, so that I was treated to many pleasant surprises. 
• Pro: They banter and interplay between Sophie and Andrew was quite enjoyable. They did that enemies thing quite well, and I was onboard with them as a couple. 
• Con: Everyone knows I love Kasie West books, but my chief complaint about her last few was that there was not enough of the romance. She gave her fantastic love interests, but spent very little time exploring that. This one was just about 9 months of will-they-won't-they, and I just wished there had been more time to enjoy these two as a couple. 
• Pro: Sophie grew tremendously over the course of this book. I was so pleased with how she resolved her feelings about her parents, her town, and her future. She realized a lot of things about some people, who were very important to her, but also about herself. 

Overall: This was a solid addition to West's body of work with a fantastic focus on family, friendship, and personal growth.

Have you read any of these books?
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