I really enjoyed the Stand In by Lily Chu which inspired me to listen to this book. I loved the little nods to the Stand In that were present in this book. However, I feel like this book was too long which made it kind of repetitive. Within the last 10 chapters I found myself really losing interest. I loved Hannah & thought Phoebe was an awesome character to help show Ari's character growth. Overall I liked the book but felt it was just too long. 

This had so much potential. 😩 I really enjoyed Lily Chu's first book The Stand In, and thought this would be an instant winner but the plot was underdeveloped, the writing rushed, and overall the book was too long and poorly paced. I appreciated how Chu wove in topics of internalized racism, workplace microaggressions, and navigating open communication. Chu's ability to insert larger societal issues into what's otherwise a light romp is fantastic, but here these points were swallowed by the endless back and forth of the plot. The characters were relatively one note and their big "epiphanies" were hardly surprising. Ultimately this was just disappointing, but I will say that Chu writes about Toronto stunningly (There really is a book vending machine in The Monkey's Paw bookstore). 

I absolutely loved this book! Phillipa Soo is an excellent narrator because she is able to capture each character in a manner that keeps the story moving smoothly and without any confusion as to who is speaking. I really loved the will they won’t they of an everyday young woman from Toronto and the quiet, mysterious, handsome cousin of her roommate crashing at their place. I also loved the tiny nod to Lily Chu’s other book, The Stand-In. This was a fun, easy read. I enjoyed learning more about Korean culture and the fandom of K-pop. I think the thing that really stuck out to me was seeing the dynamic of a young woman who was born in Canada but she’s second generation Canadian. She is Canadian but Canada sees her as Asian or Chinese Canadian. This is a great book and I encourage everyone to read it!