Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

 

Title:  Rent a Boyfriend

Author: Gloria Chao

Read by:  Emily Woo Zeller & Feodor Chin

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 56 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

Chloe has a problem.  Her Taiwanese – American parents already disapprove of her going to the University of Chicago and majoring in Economics.  Now they are pushing a rich man, Hong Bo, on her as a potential husband.  Hong Bo is a terrible person and has been bullying Chloe her entire life.  In desperation, Chloe rents a boyfriend from “Rent for your ‘Rents.” 

Drew is estranged from his own strict Taiwanese – American family as he has dropped out of college and is an artist.  In order to make ends meet, he works for Rent for your ‘Rents and is specially trained to impress strict Asian parents.  What he doesn’t expect is to fall for one of his clients. As Chloe and Drew continue their fake dating, will they form a real relationship?

I greatly enjoyed this audiobook. This book had a dual narrative between Chloe and Drew that were voiced by two different voice actors, Emily Woo Zeller and Feodor Chin.  I LOVED this.   It made it such a fun listening experience.  I loved the banter between the two characters.   This novel had a great mix of humor, romance, and dealing with the Taiwanese American experience.

I also enjoyed that at the start of the novel, author Gloria Chao explained that renting a boyfriend is a real life practice in some Asian Countries.  Women will rent a boyfriend over holidays like the Lunar New Year to alleviate pressure from their family to marry.  Chao fictionalized this and put it in an American setting. 

This is a Young Adult novel and was a clean novel.  There is some kissing, but nothing more than that.  It was more about the romance and family relationships.  I liked the struggle that both Chloe and Drew have as they try to make their way in America, but still hold onto traditions their family has from the old country.

I started listening to this audiobook in May for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, but I didn’t finish it until this month.

Overall, Rent a Boyfriend was a delightful and fun book.  I greatly enjoyed it!

American Panda by Gloria Chao

Title: American Panda

Author: Gloria Chao

Read by:  Emily Moo Zeller

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 33 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

Mei is a seventeen-year-old Taiwanese American student starting at MIT. Mei’s life has been mapped out for her by her overprotective traditional parents. Her parents want her to be a doctor, but Mei is not so sure as she hates germs, Biology, and gets squeamish at the sight of blood.  She doesn’t want to disappoint them, but she dreams of working in her real passion, which is dance.  She also is afraid of getting kicked out of her family, as her brother Xing did for dating an “unsuitable” women.  Mei misses Xing and wonders – what will happen to her if she follows her dreams?  Especially when her dreams include fellow student, Darren Hakahasi who is Japanese American.

This still makes me laugh, but I thought it was a memoir until about halfway through the audiobook.   I guess you can say this really felt like realistic fiction to me!  I really enjoyed the story. It’s a young adult story about finding yourself.  Mei really wants to be a good daughter to her parents, but can she do it without losing her own soul?  I also really liked how her parents want her to keep her Taiwanese traditions, but she is American and has a problem trying to be both American and Taiwanese.  Family is complicated.

The title, American Panda, is a sad fat joke.  Mei thinks she is an American panda as she is not a skinny Chinese girl.  It was a cute joke in the book, but also sad.

Emily Moo Zeller was an excellent narrator. I felt that she was Mei in the novel.

Favorite Quotes:

“And right now, I had no idea where I ended, and my parents began.”

“I couldn't go through life as a shadow.”

Overall, American Panda is a very enjoyable coming of age novel.