Publishing Date: May 8, 2018
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Pages: 336
Young Adult Contemporary
The Premise from the Publisher: "Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad's business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?"
My overall thoughts and review: I've been dying to read a book by Maurene Goo for a while now and when I saw this was available at my local library, I decided to pick it up. Clara is such a hilarious character and from the very first page, she is already getting up to some trouble. She lives for pranks and she's encouraged by her two friends, Felix and Patrick. Her hi-jinks are often directed at her arch-enemy, Rose. Unfortunately on the night of prom, one of Clara's pranks goes to far and she finds herself having to work the summer on her dad's food truck with Rose, when she has plans to visit her mom/social media-influencer in Tulum. I really like that despite their rocky start, Rose and Clara end up becoming really good friends with one another. I love stories of unexpected friendships and I really liked how they still had their bickering, but it moved towards a more friendly tone. There's also a sweet love interest, Hamlet. Clara isn't often serious about boys but Hamlet is able to push down her boundaries. Most of all though, I really liked Clara's relationship with her father, Pai. They definitely have some rocky moments but Pai is a really wonderful dad to her. I won't give too much away, but I really liked how the story included not only friendship, but how families work and the diverse range of families (We get insight into Clara's family, but also Rose's and Hamlet's). Some things I will say of why this doesn't get the full five stars for me is that Clara was incredibly frustrating at times (I seriously wanted to yank her through the book and shake her!) and I would've liked to see some resolution with Felix and Patrick in the story. Overall though, I really enjoyed this book and I honestly couldn't put it down. It had me laughing, swooning, and also grinning a lot! If you are looking for something similar to Gloria Chao's American Panda, definitely check this book out! In the meantime... I'm going to go check out other books by Goo! ;)
My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮½ (4.5/5 stars)
Available for purchase at:
Chapters/Indigo, Kobo Books, Amazon, and Book Depository
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