Frankly, I Loved This Book

Frank Li is a Korean-American living in Southern California. It's his senior year of high school, and he's finally found a girl he'd love to date. One problem: his parents only want him to date Korean girls, and his crush is white. Frank's friend Joy is in a similar predicament, so they hatch a scheme to fake-date each other to get their parents off their backs. Will this go disastrously wrong? Maybe!

David Yoon provides a well written perspective I don’t often see in contemporary YA, so I’m grateful for that. I don't read contemporary romance novels very often, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much this book had to say (and not just about love). I found Frank to be a character I could really connect with, and I thought the romantic aspects were well done if not a tad dramatic. Frank and his friends have some very important thoughts & conversations about racism and classism, which really elevated the overall tone of this novel. One hesitation I had was the ending. Although Frank seemed to reach closure in the end, I’m not sure I did? But look at that cover! This one is definitely worth a read.

#realisticfiction #romance #ownvoices #teenreads #contemporary #comingofage #realisticfiction