What a year it's been. I hope I'll be able to write and edit this enough to post before the new year, but either way, firstly, I'm wishing you and your family a happy and healthy 2020.
So much has happened in my life in 2019. Where does one even begin? Actually, I started the year off standing on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, by myself and surrounded by thousands of strangers. Then, after a few hours of sleep, I took the train to Salamanca, where I studied abroad for my short winter semester.
While studying Spanish in Salamanca (how do I always end up in language classes above my actual level??), I still got to travel quite a bit. My program was basically funded by a scholarship I got from my university, which is what allowed me to be able to save money and travel before (Paris and Luxembourg) and during my time in Spain. Luckily for us, our first weekend was already a three day weekend because of Epiphany/Three Kings Day in Spain. Rather than stay for what I hear is a wonderful celebration in Salamanca, some new friends and I jumped on a bus to Porto, Portugal. Porto was so fun and such a great experience for so many reasons. I have so many stories and so many cherished memories from that trip. Plus, Porto is now one of my favorite cities I ever visited, and I'm glad I got to experience it with friends the way that I did.
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| Porto |
I also ended up going to Segovia (a mandatory school trip), Sevilla, and Cordoba. I've been to Spain so many times already (compared to every other country I've visited), but it's also one that I always want to see more of. I loved Andalucia and really hope to go back and explore more of it soon. In Salamanca, I also took a class on Spanish Culture and Civilization, which also prompted me to want to see the Northern and Western regions of the country...one day!
That culture class was also what really led me to my honors thesis topic. In class, we very briefly talked about how after the Spanish Civil War and Franco's regime, they decided to provide amnesty to those who participated in the regime so that the country could move on. While it seemed at the time like a good idea and the dark and horrific history was quickly erased and "forgotten," its legacy and harm continues to live on in Spanish society. Most obvious has been the debate over the exhumation of Franco's body from the Valle de los Caidos and the recent resurgence of the far-right (a la the Vox party). My Political Science thesis ended up exploring the nexus of artistic-cultural production, transitional justice, and collective memory in post-dictatorship Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.
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| Salamanca |
And then it was back home and the start of my final semester. I actually missed my first day of class because we randomly started on a Friday, and our program ended that day in Spain. The semester was supposed to be calm, but I had to start and finish my thesis and also choreograph a dance and manage the logistics of my final dance competition, which was in March. Honestly, the dance stuff was some of the most stressful parts of the semester, and although I'm not completely happy with the end result, I accept that it was the best that I could do with my mental health and college priorities. I ended my competition journey in the same location that I had my very first dance competition, and my old dance studio was actually competing at the same competition, though in different categories, so I got to see some of my old teachers, and they got to watch me dance too. I'm proud of my small team and of what we accomplished, and I'm proud of myself for the long journey I've been on in terms of dance. It's something I'm still working through, but I hope to write about it in far greater detail one day.
Before I knew it, I finished my thesis (I basically wrote all 75+ pages of it in 6 weeks--I don't recommend this method!) and graduated! I now hold a B.A. in Political Science, a certificate in Public Policy (concentration in International Development), and minors in Human Rights and International Relations. I received two departmental honors (in Political Science), graduated Summa Cum Laude and Salutatorian, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. And honestly, that's all great for sure, but what matters most to me is how I've come and how much I've grown into myself and learned about myself in the past four years. College was truly a transformative experience for me, and while we all have regrets and it has been a roller coaster of a journey, it's the best decision I could've made on a personal front.
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| Graduation 1 (Yes, I had two graduations) |
Then came my celebratory graduation trip with my family. I traveled back to Paris, this time with my whole family. Honestly, I enjoyed it significantly less, but maybe it was also because some of that magic fell away from the first time and also because I was basically the family tour guide and had to manage nearly every single aspect of the vacation. I did get to take a one-day solo trip to Le Mont Saint Michel, which was wonderful. After a week, my dad and sister came home while my mom and I continued on to Brussels and then Amsterdam.
I got to meet up with a close friend of mine in Brussels and spend a day with her, which was wonderful and filled me with such warmth. But it was Amsterdam that I truly fell in love with. To be honest, I didn't actually end up seeing or doing much there, but something about the atmosphere there really captured me. Although completely different, I think Amsterdam has a similar underlying energy as New York City. I know I didn't get to fully experience the city because I was with my mom, so I'm desperate to return there by myself or with some friends. After the first day there, I was already looking up graduate school programs in Amsterdam (something I'd already started thinking about), so who knows?!
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| Amsterdam |
Upon my return home, I spent a few more weeks catching up with friends and getting some much needed rest (I'll be writing about the toll of travel on my body physically soon). Then I was thrust right back into academia as I worked on my research Fulbright application. I'm still waiting for the first round of notifications (when they announce semi-finalists), so please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Something else I'll write a separate blog post on is post-graduation transition and how rough it can be. I'm still in the process of it, and switching to your first full-time job is hard to manage. As I was working on my application, my friends, who had mostly been a similar boat of being unemployed after graduation, started getting job offers and started working. Suddenly, I had no one to hang out with, no one to talk to and commiserate with about that unemployed life. And it felt like I was getting nowhere with my own job search.
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| Living my best life in Sevilla |
Safe to say, I did eventually get a job offer - for the position I'm at now. It's of course not a perfect job, but it's a good start. For me, this is honestly a buffer until I find out about the Fulbright, at which point I think I can better set a plan for the future. In the meantime, I will be (should be) studying for the GRE and brushing up my Spanish to hopefully eventually take the DELE C2 exam before the end of the year (let's see!).
It's been a little over a month since I started working. I'll be traveling for work in a few days, which is so exciting and a little hard to believe. I already have some goals set for 2020, but you know that'll be a post for the new year. ;) Let's see what the year has in store for me while I continue to reflect on the past year. Happy holidays, and happy new year!
Let's chat: What's your biggest accomplishment or best memory of 2019?
You don't know how excited I've been for Loveboat, Taipei. Among my many identities, Taiwanese American is one of them, and I was even more excited that there was finally going to be a YA book about Loveboat. I didn't know about Loveboat when I was young, but sometime in late high school, I started hearing about it. Operating relatively globally, my parents, who grew up in Brazil, had attended Loveboat, and one or two summers before I ended up going, my cousins also went on the trip. So the summer after freshman year of college, it was my turn to go.
Loveboat is, and can be, many things, but drama-filled is certainly a cornerstone of it. Loveboat, Taipei doesn't really fit my own experiences for many reasons (nor did I expect it to), but I think that the book captures the drama and romance and rule-breaking so accurately. Set against the backdrop of Taipei, the book sadly doesn't actually tell you all that much about Taiwan or Taipei, but I was surprised to find that by the end, I realized how much heart there is to the story.
The beginning of the book is quite slow, and I found it difficult to get through. There was a lot of set up that I do think was important to Ever’s character growth by the end. I almost groaned at yet another book, especially one with a Taiwanese American main character, with the typical ultra-strict parents stereotype. But I get it. My parents didn’t grow up in Taiwan, and many of my friends did have varying levels of such strict parents.
I also loved the way dance was fused into Ever’s character and to her story. Another Taiwanese American MC who dances and a wide range of styles too. I really connected to the way her parents approached her dancing - fine as a hobby they will pay for and might help me get into college but not as a viable career path (and don’t I dare think about studying dance!!)
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| Me trying to lead a dance class for my non-dance Taiwan friends |
Anyway, the early stages of Ever being in Taiwan was also a bit slow for me. We got glimpses of deeper insight how she felt to be an American in Taiwan, a place she barely knows. Like I said, I was really expecting more on the atmosphere and setting. With a few exceptions and the fact that Loveboat is quite uniquely Taiwanese (I think maybe only Birthright is similar), this book could have taken place almost anywhere.
All that said, a little past halfway through the book really started picking up and got really good! The characters are really well written and are complex. The dynamics of their cohort was well done, and although again it didn’t fit my Loveboat experience, I easily connected it to how the program must’ve been like for my classmates. And rest assured, below I’ll talk more about my own experience.
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| Keelung's famous night market |
The love triangle is one of the best I’ve ever read. Although I suspected which guy Ever would end up with, there were several times when I second guessed and was so compelled to keep reading so that I could find how which one she’d end up with. That suspense is one of the best parts of the book.
In addition, Loveboat, Taipei does a good job of handling friendships, especially ones formed over the course of a program such as Loveboat. I thought it was incredibly realistic, and there was almost as much of a focus on this aspect as with the romantic relationships. It shows flawed relationships, people making mistakes, and them genuinely making it up to one another.
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| Me and my Taiwan roommates / friends |
The actual best part, however, is Ever’s character growth in particular. There were a few choices the author made that I didn’t necessarily agree with, but Ever’s rebellious actions was mostly believable. And I was pleasantly surprised with the complexity and acceptance Ever reached by the end of the book. Her life isn’t perfect and she isn’t perfect by the end, but she is able to handle her family situation with grace and compassion and humility, firm in who she is and what she wants but also understanding of her parents and willing to hold space for them. She sees her mistakes and actively makes up for them and for the hurt she caused. And she helped others to go on their paths too. Although some parts of this transformation felt a little forced, for the most part, the journey was very well crafted and meaningful, and you could trace how she got there. Again, truly one of the best character arcs I’ve seen in a while.
While Loveboat, Taipei wasn't the perfect book, I'm glad it exists and think that it does its most important parts extremely well. The tension and conflict is so real and tangible and kept me reading. I am a very biased reader of this book, so I think a lot of my personal qualms with it could be non-issues for most others. Either way, I'd recommend picking up the book!
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I must say, it was quite fun to imagine how the other half lived during Loveboat. Let me tell you a bit more about my personal experience in Taiwan. Loveboat has had many forms and actually now varies quite a bit from country to country. I, too, did a 6 week program, but we were informed somewhat last minute that we would not be in Taipei for the program. Because of Loveboat’s reputation, the usual university did not want to host the program, instead opting to host other international students. So we were placed in Keelung instead. Keelung is near the northern tip of Taiwan, a port city, and about an hour train ride from Taipei.
My roommates, unlike most in the program, slept early and rarely wanted to go out at night. We did make weekend trips to Taipei (as you can imagine it was also much more difficult to sneak out from Keelung and none of the three of us really wanted to try anyway) and did a lot with just the three of us. And I didn’t like most of the other students, who were either way more into Taiwanese culture than me (that triple identity part of me never felt so out of place than among Taiwanese Americans I thought I’d understand and found I barely did) or just personalities that really don’t match with mine. I mostly don’t regret it, but it really wasn’t like the typical Loveboat experience. There were certainly others who had that heavy drama-filled experience, and I saw some of it and got roped in loosely to some, but for the most part, it was all very outside of my own circle.
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| Me and my roommates at Elephant Mountain |
I was placed in the 6th level, the highest, even though I actually didn’t do too great on the placement exam. I just did better than the majority of students, who scored 50 or below (I think I got 74 or something). Unfortunately for me, because I was in the highest class, my class was mostly people who were really passionate about learning Mandarin, love Taiwanese popular culture (movies, music, dramas), and were really good at Chinese. I felt so out of place and out my depth. At least one of my roommates was in the class with me. I spoke to my teachers about at least dropping me down a level, but they refused. So I spent so much time studying, just to try to catch up on the basics and keep up with the basic level of my class. I probably could have failed my classes if I wanted to, but that’s not my nature. But before getting to Taiwan, I had thought that maybe I was ready to slowly go back to learning Mandarin again. I quickly realized I was not and that after so many years of horrible Chinese school experiences, I was still too traumatized and still hated learning Mandarin in a way that I never hate learning Spanish.
As you can imagine, then, I didn’t skip very many classes. We did have other culture classes and such that I definitely hated and maybe skipped some classes of, though...
We also had to do a performance at the end of the program, which was tied to a “masquerade ball” that was really the dumbest thing and which we all hated. Anyway, each class worked on a different performance, and being in the highest class, with the only students who actually cared about class and wanted to do, of course my classmates were super enthusiastic about it. I promise I groaned and complained the entire time and definitely skipped as much of it as I could and did the very bare minimum. 
All of this is to say that I had a very complicated relationship with my time in Taiwan. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and I’m still processing a lot of it. To be Taiwanese American in Taiwan is an experience... But going to Taiwan also helped me to reconnect with my Asian heritage and really jump started my journey of reclaiming that part of my identity and working through my internalized racism.
My mom, grandma, and I went to Taiwan a week early and took a tour around the major parts of the island, and I’m so glad we did that because Loveboat is such a particular experience and one that I had a hard time with. But during the tour, I saw some of the most beautiful sceneries, ate food I didn’t even know existed, and learned more about Taiwan and about my family history. While in Taiwan I also got to see family I knew, as well as family I had never known before, which was so interesting. I learned from my great uncle that my dad and his family had actually left by boat to Brazil from Keelung, only a short walk away from the university we were at. That felt particularly powerful. I also got to go hiking with my aunt and cousin (we’re actually a short distance “removed” by English measures that I don’t completely understand) and saw the freaking Milky Way Galaxy, an experience that really triggered my love for hiking. I spent so much time walking through night markets, drinking bubble tea and eating the most delicious food (seriously, I think I miss the food the most). I have a good relationship with my roommates, still. One visited this past year, and I’ll be seeing another when I’m in Switzerland for work.
I don’t think Loveboat was the earth shattering experience for me that it is for others. I definitely didn’t hook up with anyone or whatever. I don’t know that it had any profound impact on who I am at the end of the day other than making me re-examine my identity and reclaim that part of my heritage. I made some amazing new memories and some new friends. Maybe one day I’ll start studying Mandarin again, but I know that’s much further in my future now. When I first left, I said that I would definitely want to revisit Taiwan but not for another few years at least, and now that there’s been some distance and lots of learning and unpacking, I do feel ready - already! - to go back.
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When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.
Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.
Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?
December 16
Afire Pages | Author Fancast
December 17
Artsy Draft | Lockscreen/Wallpaper
Magical Reads | Playlist
December 18
Infinite Golden Floors | Loveboat, Taipei, in Fiction and Reality
Lyrical Reads | Moodboards
Kitty Marie's Reading Corner | Moodboard
Fanna Wants the World to Read | Why Fans of Crazy, Rich Asians and La La Land Will Love Loveboat, Taipei
December 19
Utopia State of Mind | Hand Lettering
Bookathon | Loveboat, Taipei Book Tag
December 20
Drizzle & Hurricane Books | Moodboards
Flipping Through the Pages | Favorite Mixed-Race Characters
It's that time of year! 2019 has been an eventful one for me. I think I'll try to get another year-end wrap up reflect post before the holidays to talk about this year on a more personal front (I already have a book blog tour post that needs to go up next week). But in the meantime, enjoy my 2019 favorites. (Every time I make these posts, I remember that I should keep better track of what I watch and listen to, the same way I track what I read, because my memory is horrible.)
Without further ado, my favorites of 2019, in no particular order!
Favorite Books of 2019
Of course I'm starting with books. I am an old book blogger and semi-active bookstagrammer after all...
- ON EARTH WE'RE BRIEFLY GORGEOUS by Ocean Vuong
If you follow me on my bookish accounts, this shouldn't come as a surprise to you. The rest of this list is in no particular order, BUT this book is definitely my top read of the year. Which is not to say it's an easy read. I definitely want to write a full blog post about the book (I have a mini review on Instagram). Anyhow, I've recommended this to everyone while also knowing it isn't a book for everyone. I've never read Vuong's poetry--although now I want to--but you can tell the novel is written by a poet. Each word seems carefully selected, each image and metaphor clearly thought out. It's not a perfect book. It's definitely not an easy book. I sped through it, even while needing to put it down often because of the heaviness of it, but I know that most of my friends have had a hard time picking it up because it's so hard-hitting. It feels strange to see so many white people talk about it and relatively few of the Asian (Americans) I know discuss the book. Which is not to say that I'm the intended audience either, as a relatively privileged East Asian American. But there's something about that white gaze that tickles me a certain way. Either way, this book is surely one of my all time favorites, and I'm eagerly awaiting the paperback's release so I can purchase a copy for a little bit cheaper. - COLOR ME IN by Natasha Diaz
I reviewed this one for a blog tour! I loved it! You should read it! - THE FOUNTAINS OF SILENCE by Ruta Sepetys
I have sooo many thoughts on this one, and you can bet I'm planning to write a review on this blog and on bookstagram. It's a good one and does a good job of relatively lightly diving into a really dark history and into an exploration of societal collective memory after dictatorship. But as someone who has studied (and will hopefully continue to study!) memory and legacies of dictatorship, the book is still a little too clean and removed, but I guess it's because of the gaze of the main character...Anyway, more will be said, but this was one of my most anticipated reads and it mostly delivered. I'm glad it exists.
- I WANNA BE WHERE YOU ARE by Kristina Forest
I also have a very, very short review(ish) post on bookstagram about this one! I should have definitely said more, but life, y'all. The perfect summer read for me, and Kristina is the sweetest. Ballet! Road trips! Black main characters and black love/romance! Need I say more? - THE MAP FROM HERE TO THERE by Emery Lord
Emery is one of my favorite authors, as a person and as a writer. To be honest, The Start of Me and You was probably my least favorite of her books. That doesn't mean much because I love all of them, so "least favorite" is weird to say. [Later Jess here to say that I double checked on Goodreads, and When We Collided actually had my lowest (4 star) rating of Emery's books, but I went back and changed TSoMaY to 4 stars because in hindsight it seems more accurate.] Aaaaanyway! I loved this one, and I definitely read it at the right time--as Paige was worrying about massive life changes that were coming up after high school graduation, I was dealing with transitioning out of college. The book still isn't as high energy fun as Open Road Summer (which remains my favorite Emery book), but it's so real. - HIS HIDEOUS HEART edited by Dahlia Adler
This one took me by surprise! It's been a while since I've read an anthology, and this one isn't my usual reading genre at all. But Dahlia truly delivered. I'm not one of those who read Edgar Allen Poe in high school or connected with his work. I read Tell Tale Heart and The Raven in 7th grade for Halloween. We probably spent a day on it and that's it. I went into this anthology, which retells some of Poe's work for modern, diverse audiences, not knowing or remembering any of the original works. I was surprised (I probably should've known about it lol) that the book includes the actual Poe originals at the second portion of the book, but full disclosure, I loved the retellings so much that I didn't even want to read the originals...oops. Some of them were scarier than others (don't read Caleb Roehrig's at night by yourself!), but each story was a joy to read.
- RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston
I know this will be on many a favorites compilations. It deserves to be on mine too. Do I really need to say much about this one? And hey, I wrote a mini bookstagram review for this one too! (Katherine's comment honestly made me chuckle, but I'm very glad I have some #brand.) - A BODY OF WORK: Dancing to the Edge and Back by David Hallberg
Dance memoir from one of the biggest names in ballet right now. Also planned to write a full blog post about this one. We'll see if that happens, but in the meantime, I also have a mini bookstagram review of A Body of Work (wow I was on a roll with reviews on Instagram--please give my bookstagram a peruse if you're the bookish type and haven't checked it out yet hehe). - OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord (re-read)
I didn't intend to include two re-reads on this list, but I didn't want to have 8 books when I could have 10, so #9 and 10 are re-reads because they remain among my all time favorites and always deserve another shout out. As mentioned, Open Road Summer is my favorite Emery book, and I re-read it almost every year. I still love it. It's one of my most highly recommended, even though most of my friends, if not all of them, are no longer reading YA. This book just always delivers and never fails me. I turn to it when I'm in a slump, which is probably why I picked it up earlier this year. - LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT by Dahlia Adler (re-read)
I was nervous going into this re-read because I was scared I wouldn't love it as much as I did the first time, but I'm so glad it still delivered. I first read LWaT in high school, and I wanted to see what I would think of it after having gone through college. I still love the book!! I haven't re-read the others in the series because I only have those on my Kindle and I do have a physical copy of LWaT. Anyway, y'all need to stop sleeping on the series.
Favorite Movies
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Captain Marvel
- The Farewell
- Parasite
- Searching (2018 release but watched this year)
Favorite New Music
- Fever Dream - Of Monsters and Men
- Heard It In a Past Life - Maggie Rogers
- New Ways - Leif Vollebekk
- Busyhead - Noah Kahan
- Oh My Messy Mind (EP) - James Bay
- A Place We Knew - Dean Lewis
- N - Anavitoria
- Freya Ridings - Freya Ridings
- Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent - Lewis Capaldi
- Lover - Taylor Swift
- Favorite Ex (EP); It's Your Bed Babe, It's Your Funeral (EP) - Maisie Peters
For more music I loved this year (but didn't necessarily come out in 2019), check out some of my Spotify playlists:
senior year: best compilation of music that I listened to and particularly loved this school year
post-grad confusion: not super extensive because I haven't updated it; music I've enjoyed since graduating
college graduation/college memories: music that reminds me of certain experiences, places, and memories from college; I made something similar for high school, but I feel like there's a lot that happened in college that I don't necessarily associate with music but with other things instead
playlist to get me through this polsci thesis: don't judge me! this is music that I could write/concentrate to without being classical/instrumental--it probably also changed a few times as I got used to certain music and had to swap it out
Ever since I took a German Fairytales course in college, I've looked at retellings, particularly of the Grimms' tales (or the tales they helped popularize), in a different light. I've also been looking to expand my reading, especially now that I've graduated. So I was, of course, excited to be asked to join the blog tour for Glass Slippers, Ever After, and Me by Julie Wright.
The book follows Charlotte Kingsley, a struggling writer who suddenly hits it big and gets a huge book deal. With the deal, however, comes a stipulation: a PR manager who dictates some major changes to Charlotte and her media presence. All in the name of sales, of course. She goes from struggling writer in an apartment filled with thrifted finds to a sparkling clean, inspiring self-help author. But all of this change is not so positively received, particularly by Charlotte's best friend-turned-boyfriend Anders. (Official summary can be found at the bottom of this post.)
The book was a relatively quick read, although the pace does drag in several places and does take a while to get into. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for some light romance, as I actually found that the romance isn't actually the central part of the book. I was pleasantly surprised by that and think it strengthens the book and the author's message. And I actually found that most of the plot build up in the book, although maybe supposed to be centered around the romance, really isn't revolved around Charlotte and Anders's relationship.
There's a lot going on in the book, from the publishing aspects to family drama to Charlotte's budding (I guess?) relationship with Anders to Charlotte's own internal struggles. I think these were all fairly well-balanced and in a refreshing way for a Cinderella retelling. That said, I don't know that I would really consider this a Cinderella retelling or even a Cinderella-type tale (it's okay if you don't know what the latter means, but it's something we spent a lot of time talking about in my German Fairytales class). I don't think it's a bad thing other than that it's advertised as a retelling. There are certainly elements that I can see were pulled from Cinderella, or rather from fairytales in general (particularly the Grimms' tales and the Disney adapted tales), but unless I knew this was a Cinderella retelling, I would not have pegged it as such. I would venture to say that in trying to make the story modern, it lost a lot of the connection to the original tale. I think the story could have been made modern without getting rid of the heart of the tale, which I do believe is what happened.
While there's a lot to the story that I thought could have been improved upon (pacing, characters, dialogue, how race/ethnicity is handled (especially with Kat and Anders), stakes), I think the strongest part of the book is the central conflict between Charlotte's "real" self, as defined by those around her, and her constructed, PR-directed self. It seems so relevant in the day and age of people talking about authenticity on social media/online. It seems so relevant to anyone on social media. It seems so relevant to anyone who has struggled to strike a balance between different parts of themselves, who has struggled to figure out who they are as they change and grow. Charlotte's revelation at the art gallery near the end of the book really struck me and caused me to pause while reading. Because it's exactly where I feel like I've been at in life but especially in regards to my social media (mostly Instagram) presence. I don't know how accurate the publishing portions of the book are (though, from my knowledge of the YA book industry, this seemed like a stretch and not super true-to-life), but the culmination of everything to that scene and to Charlotte's realizations by the end of the book were possibly the most real, most well-written parts and arcs of the entire book. It's what made the book really come together for me and made sticking with it so worth it.
Glass Slippers, Ever After, and Me isn't a book that asks to be taken too seriously. It's a quick, light on romance romance novel. It doesn't necessarily even realize its strongest parts, but they come together and make the last third or quarter of the book really engaging and worthwhile. The book is great in particular, I believe, for the true young/"new" adult audience--those in their 20s and 30s. It hits at insecurities and challenges that I think are particularly found in people in that age range--coming from someone who is still only 22 hahaha. I don't think this book will be for everyone, but I did find it enjoyable and would again recommend it for young people (young women?) in their 20s and 30s or for those who are struggling to fill the distance between who they are trying to be and who they were and struggling to figure out who exactly they are right now.
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Release Date: October 21, 2019
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Art Direction: Richard Erickson
Design: Kimberly Kay
Can the fairy tale bring Charlotte the happiness she’s looking for, or was he always there to begin with?
A modern, reimagined Cinderella story.
When aspiring author Charlotte Kingsley finally gets published, she thinks all her dreams have come true. But the trouble begins when her publicity firm reinvents her quirky online presence into a perfectly curated dream life. Gone are the days of sweatpant posts and ice cream binges with her best friend, Anders, replaced instead with beautiful clothes, orchestrated selfies, and no boyfriend. Only, that carefully curated fairy tale life is ruining her self-esteem and making her feel like a fraud.
When a bestselling author takes Charlotte under her wing—almost like a fairy godmother—she helps Charlotte see the beautiful person she already is and the worth of being authentic. But is it too late to save her relationship with Anders? The clock is quickly ticking towards midnight, and Charlotte must decide between her fairy tale life and the man she loves, before he's gone forever.
About the Author
Julie Wright is the author of more than twenty novels, including the Proper Romance novels Lies Jane Austen Told Me and Lies, Love, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She is a Whitney Award winner and a Crown Heart recipient. She is represented by agent Sara Crowe. She loves reading and writing, playing on the beach or hiking with her husband and kids, and watching her husband make dinner.
