MY SUMMER OF LOVE AND MISFORTUNE

A series of poor life choices earns high school senior Iris Wang a one-way ticket to China.

As a flower-hearted girl born in the Year of the Tiger, Chinese American Iris was destined from birth to be unlucky. She prefers to live in a rose-tinted bubble, determinedly ignoring the consequences of her reckless decisions until things spiral out of control. When she fails her final year of high school and is rejected by all of the colleges she applied to, her parents send her to live with her estranged Uncle Dai and his family in Beijing in order for her to reflect on her mistakes. Iris’ initial terror, followed by delight at discovering that her uncle is a construction tycoon, fades when Uncle Dai insists that she not only work on improving her academic and Mandarin language skills, but also help her haughty cousin, Ruby, learn English. Though well-meaning, Iris is impulsive and careless, especially when it comes to spending money. Her bubbly first-person narration, rife with similes and brand names, occasionally veers from humorous to immature. The importance of family bonds is a theme that runs throughout, but it is overwhelmed by the force of Iris’ effusive and self-absorbed personality in this novel that reads like Confessions of a Shopaholic meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Like spun sugar—glitzy, sweet, and airy.