Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary novel about coming-of-age in a time of change. Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is … until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing. Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he’s forced to leave Shanghai to reunite with his estranged father, a respected police officer, who’s already enrolled him in the Hong Kong police academy. Kai wants to hate his job, but instead, he finds himself craving his father’s approval. And when he accidentally swaps phones with Phoenix and discovers she’s part of a protest network, he finds a way to earn by infiltrating the group and reporting their plans back to the police. As Kai and Phoenix join the struggle for the future of Hong Kong, a spark forms between them, pulling them together even as their two worlds try to force them apart. But when their relationship is built on secrets and deception, will they still love the person left behind when the lies fall away?
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I’m usually not a fan of reading about current events but the Hong Kong Riots are an exception. This is still an ongoing issue and the people of Hong Kong demand a democracy.
This story seeks to bring this situation to the forefront of a young adult contemporary novel, with a bit of enemies to lovers romance thrown in. Romeo and Juliet if you will. Only with a protestor and a police officer (in training?).
The protest scenes are great and showing how it turned into a daily reality made the book a quick read. The romance felt forced though and wasn’t a catch for me. The ending made no sense and was unsatisfying as a whole but i refuse to let that overshadow the full meaning of this book. Also seeing the police side was probably not the best way to go about this but this book definitely aims to educate those about Hong Kong’s fight for their independence.
One of the most important topics was an uncle who was a bookseller openly defying China’s Communist Party’s book bans. He was arrested and able to flea to Hong Kong. The novel focuses heavily on the Extradition Bill meaning if the Uncle is caught continuing to sell banned books he could be arrested and tried in China. Hong Kong currently has freedom of speech and press much like Americans do who take those liberties for granted or choose to follow in controlling footsteps to ban books just as they do.
I also want to point out that learning more about this current event is important and shouldn’t be done just through the reading of fiction novels. If this book has peaked your interest in the riots, please look into how you too can support them in the fight.
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