Mika’s life was at the lowest at that time (getting fired, failed in relationship with no savings); conflicts came and an unexpected incident making it worst when Mika fakes her success just to look good for Penny. Amidst the backdrop of cherry blossoms, castles, and royal life, she has real-world struggles trying to fit in to two cultures. Through it all, it feels like Mika has put important parts of her life on hold for years and it might be time to tackle who she really is now. I am so appreciative to publisher William Morrow Books for allowing me to read and review this book and I highly recommend adding to your end of summer reading list.

I did side with her throughout the story though, I suppose I do like her in certain ways, I just couldn't explain it. Biography: Emiko Jean is the author of Tokyo Ever After, which was the Reese Witherspoon YA pick for July and a NYT bestseller.

Like for me, I felt like it was her mom giving a passive dismissal of what happened to Mika and her assault. Told in both narrative and epistolary format; Mika in Real Life started with a letter Mika wrote to Penny, a daughter that she had to place for an adoption when she was 19. Mika and Hana are pleasingly still best friends and in fact, even though there is the family “romance” of mother and daughter reuniting and romance for Mika herself, the primary relationship in the book is between these two loving friends, and they are surrounded by a great friendship group of diverse and interesting people.

But one lie leads to another and soon, Mika has fabricated an entire life that is opposite of the one she is actually living. So, when Penny gets in touch, Mika tells a few white lies, pretending to have it all – a career, partner and money.

The first half of the book was a 5 star for me - I loved reading about Mika and her daughter Penny’s relationship. Only a few pages later, we get the tantalising information that Mika will be back in that hospital with that same person, sixteen years later, but how and why is held back from us very cleverly for most of the book (I kept thinking I’d guessed, and I was wrong every time). So in particular, I’m really passionate about what it means to be a yellow body in America and what the Asian American experience looks like. Took me forever to get through this one because life got in the way and I wasn't necessarily pulled to read it. The details of Mika's life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage.

I learned a lot when I read this book whether about being a daughter and mother later, about truly believing in yourself, about really finding out and realizing who you truly are. There’s also the exploration of how that relationship impacts Mika’s relationship with Penny, and the struggle with understanding better where her mother was coming from but at the same time, wanting to forge a different path with her own daughter. there are a fair few, which could have been messy, but i think everything is handled with care and honesty and is exactly what make this story so heartwarming.

In her curiosity about Mika’s life, Penny asks a lot of questions, but Mika isn’t keen on letting her daughter know about the sorry state of her own miserable existence, so she decides to embellish the facts about her life just a little. In addition to parent / child relationships and love in its different manifestations, the story also explores topics such as adoption, race and identity, interracial relationships, cultural expectations vs societal conventions, etc. I cared most about 1) the messiness of mother-daughter relationships, 2) the immigrant experience and the importance of culture, and 3) healing with the support of good friends. I’m usually not tremendously keen on romances (which I erroneously thought that’s what this book would be), but the more I got into the story, the more I realized that’s not what the book is about at all. However, in the last year, Caroline has passed away, and Penny has started to wonder about her birth mother.