#AmReading YA

David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Unless He Gets Into an Ivy League College
Ed Lin
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Kaya Press
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

“You’re not allowed to have a girlfriend until college,” my mother warned. “And you’d better get into an Ivy League school!”

David Tung is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top rank at his upscale, Asian-majority, suburban New Jersey high school, and hangs with his “real” friends at weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. When popular girl Christina Tau asks David to the high school Dame’s Dance, David’s tightly regimented life gets thrown into a tailspin. He soon realizes that he actually has feelings for Betty, the smartest girl at Chinese school. But, as his mother reminds him, he’s not allowed to have a girlfriend! Should he defy his mother and go to the dance, or defy Cristina’s wishes and spend Saturday night studying for the MCATs? Ed Lin’s YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, young love, and the confusing expectations of immigrant parental pressure.

When David isn't studying for his high caliber classes, he is either working in his family restaurant or attending Chinese school. What he's NOT doing is dating, because, according to his mother,  David Tung can't have a girlfriend until he gets into an ivy league college. David may understand this, but his heart might not have received the message. 

I really enjoyed getting to know David. Though this story was told from the point of view of a first generation American born Chinese young man, I still found many aspects of his life relatable. When David talked about the pressures of his coursework and juggling his work and school life, while trying to live up to his parents' high expectations, it was easy to understand to some degree where he was coming from. 

I breathed a sigh of relief for David when Saturdays rolled around, and he went to Chinese school. Instead of attending the local school, he traveled to China Town in New York. There, he was able to escape many of the things that constantly pressed upon him. This was his haven. A school, where he didn't have to worry about how well he performed. He was free from his responsibilities and could simply enjoy the time with his peers. 

Though Chinese school offered a respite from the rigors of high school, work, and familial obligations, it was another place where David felt like a bit of an outsider. The students in the school all lived in China Town and shared a common background, and there were times he felt disconnected from them because he didn't. I thought he was more at home there than he was in his own town though. He lived in a town with a large Chinese population, and though David's family were residents, they did not enjoy the economic success of the other inhabitants. Due to the this, he found it difficult to fit in with his schoolmates. I think so many could relate to David's general feelings of otherness more than anything. 

I know I have you feeling sad for David, but I have to say, all these things were explored with so much humor and levity. Seriously, I laughed a LOT as I read this book. David's voice was fantastic, and his observations were witty and wry, and well, really dead-on at times. There were so many things I adored, but one of my favorite things was the friendship between David and Betty. 

Betty was a bit of a Chinese school outsider too, due to her being biracial. Despite that, she was the best student at the school, and initially resented David and his slacker friends. Circumstances brought them together, and a beautiful friendship blossomed between them. Their exchanges made me smile until my cheeks hurt, and I loved how much David learned about himself via this relationship with Betty. He experience a tremendous amount of growth in the time spent with her, and I was as enchanted with Betty as David was. 

This was such a wonderful coming-of-age tale. It was told with lots of humor, which delighted me, and  also a lot of honesty and heart. The ending left me all sorts of warm and fuzzy, and I found myself really proud of how far David had come.

Super Fake Love Song
David Yoon
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: GP Putnam and Sons
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

From the bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a contemporary YA rom-com where a case of mistaken identity kicks off a string of (fake) events that just may lead to (real) love.

When Sunny Dae—self-proclaimed total nerd—meets Cirrus Soh, he can’t believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny’s older brother Gray’s bedroom—with its electric guitars and rock posters—for Sunny’s own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he’s the front man of a rock band.

Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray’s rock-and-roll castoffs. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he’s cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp.

Now there’s only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.

Sunny goes all in on the lie, and pretty soon, the strangest things start happening. People are noticing him in the hallways, and he’s going to football games and parties for the first time. He’s feeling more confident in every aspect of his life, and especially with Cirrus, who’s started to become not just his dream girl but also the real deal. Sunny is falling in love. He’s having fun. He’s even becoming a rocker, for real.

But it’s only a matter of time before Sunny’s house of cards starts tumbling down. As his lies begin to catch up with him, Sunny Dae is forced to wonder whether it was all worth it—and if it’s possible to ever truly change.

When the worldly Cirrus enters his world, Sunny decides to adopt pieces of his brother's old rockstar life. In order to keep up appearances, he recruits his best friends and brother in his scheme, and his web of lies grows. Though it's exhausting keeping up the ruse, he does so out of fear that Cirrus may not love the real Sunny. 

There were a lot of things I enjoyed as I read SUPER FAKE LOVE SONG, but the thing I loved most was the messaging. There came a point in Sunny's life, where he felt the need to hide parts of himself. He believed he could not be accepted as-is. This was the message that resonated most with me, and I really appreciated how it was explored in this story, not only via Sunny, but other characters as well. 

After reading both of Yoon's books, I feel his strength is in the relationships he creates and examines. The friendship between Sunny, Jamal, and Milo was fantastic. I love seeing boys like this in YA. Boys who share their feelings, really talk to each other, and do not fear being honest with one another. They were also fantastic ride-or-die friends, the type of friends one envies. 

But it wasn't only this friendship that delighted me, I also enjoyed seeing the brotherly love between Sunny and his brother, Gray. The brothers used to be very close, but moving to their upscale neighborhood put distance between them. Both Gray and Sunny were affected by the move in ways they never shared with their parents or each other. Not only did they find their way back to each other, but they were able to work through some of those past hurts together.  

A few other things I enjoyed and want to mention:

• I love a nice redemption arc and was happy to see Yoon allow one of his characters to be more than what they seemed. 
• What's nerdy to some is stupendous to others, and I found myself so caught up in the props Sunny and his friends built. All of it, the LARPing, D&D, the YouTube videos had me captivated. I also want one of those elliptical bikes as well. 
• The romance was adorable. Cirrus and Sunny were wonderful together. I didn't suspect Cirrus had this sweet and endearing side to her when she first entered the story, but she did, and the two were precious together. 
• Sunny was a great character. He was a cynic, who wormed his way into my heart. Yes, I shook my head quite a bit with each of his bad decisions, but I was also rooting for him to get the girl, make the prop, and become a rockstar and YouTube sensation. I was proud of how much he grew and internalized the lessons he learned as well. 

Overall, I found this to be both a hilarious and heartwarming coming of age tale, which highlighted family, friendship, first love, and being true to yourself. 

**ARCs received in exchange for honest reviews.

Have you ever made any props for cosplay or LARPing?
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