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For fans of Frankly in Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways. Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it. With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought. Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.
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I absolutely loved this book. I was laughing my heart was hurting and i felt so happy. I devoured the book and read it any chance I got.
Recommended for those that loved To all boys I loved before and XO Kitty. Caties along with her Stepmom and stepsister move to Utah to live her Mormon aunt. . Catie feels disconnected from the world after dad died cancer two years before. Feeling like she lost part of herself and her connection with her culture.
While she’s in Utah she starts working for a Korean family and befriends Toby. Toby wants to learn how to date and after overhearing a lie from Catie decides she’s the best to help him. She’ll teach him love languages while he tutors her in mandarin.
Focusing on identity in culture grief and LGBTQ identity First love Language helps bring together that forming community can help embrace your identity. I found the book heartwarming and honest and just a good time overall.
Thank you netgalley and penguin work shop for Digital Arc in exchange for an honest review.