About the Book- The Boy You Always Wanted
Francine always has a plan. Ollie wants no part of it.
Francine loves her grandfather, but their time together is running out. He has one final wish: to see a male heir carry on the family traditions. Francine knows his ideas are outdated, but she would do anything for him. Her solution? Ask Ollie Tran, a family friend (and former crush, not that it matters), to pretend to be ceremonially adopted and act like the grandson A Gūng never had.
Ollie generally avoids the odd, too blunt (and fine, sort of cute) Francine, whose intensity makes him uncomfortable. So when she asks him to help deceive her dying grandpa, Ollie’s not down. He doesn’t get why anyone would go to such lengths, even for family. Especially with a backwards (and sexist, Ollie keeps stressing) scheme like this.
Francine, however, is determined to make it happen, and soon Ollie finds himself more invested in her plan—and in her—than he ever thought possible. But as the tangled lies and feelings pile up, Francine must discover what exactly she needs for herself—and from Ollie. Because sometimes the boy you always wanted isn’t what you expected.
A bit of context into Chinese-Vietnamese life and how their migration to America affects them as well as the next generation.
Read on for our review of The Boy You Always Wanted by Michelle Quach
Our Review of The Boy You Always Wanted
The book is a good option if you want a bit of cultural insight into the life of a modern, Chinese-Vitenamese-American teen. The very term itself holds a lot of intrigueness right? It’s this aspect that is best worked on in the book. A bit of context into Chinese-Vietnamese life and how their migration to America affects them as well as the next generation. Well, I wouldn’t say that the book explores it fully but yes within a story that is unfolding in the book, the book does bring about a bit of introduction to all these little nuances and snippets into their culture and life and I believe that is the only point where the book could really shine.
The other aspect, the romance is sort of lacking in a lot of departments in the book. The reason I feel this is because, while working on the cultural points, it couldn’t make space for developing the romance track so what eventually happens is that we are to assume that over a flick of the page, these characters have developed some intense feeling and are all ready to die for each other. This is a bit hard to kind of swallow as you have just started seeing a good friendship and camaraderie develop and then it sort of sprints from there, feeling a bit off.
I believe as a romance it has still scope for improvement but as a bit of a slice of life, the book does give us some great moments and charming familial bondings and nuggets that are kind of sweet. The book is a slow burn so it takes a while but all this while, you really do get a clear and crisp view of the families and their characters and the dynamics they all have.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that “The Boy You Always Wanted” is a good way to have a glimpse of Chinese- Vietnamese- American cultural but as romance the book does need to focus more on that track as right now, it is very quick and surfacial which makes it hard to absorb. As a bit of slice of life drama, this book does have some strong points and messages.
Squirrel Rating
