{Thank you to @williammorrowbooks for my free copy to read, review & share with all of you!}
Mika in Real Life by Emiko Jean
My August reading is off to a great start, and I am excited to share that I had my first #FiveStarRead of the month! 🤩
Mika in Real Life surprised me, in the best possible way. It’s been a while since I read a book about family that just felt so real, and human. Don’t let this cute book cover deceive you, because while this book is totally heartwarming, it’s also real and covers some heavy topics that made this book really stick. 💗
Mika is a Japanese-American woman in her mid-30s who’s life looks nothing like the one she had once imagined. Mike is at a low point when her daughter she had given up for adoption 16 years earlier, reaches out to her, hoping to connect. ☎️
In her quest to be a person her daughter Penny is proud of, Mika creates a few white lies which, of course, end up snowballing into something way bigger than she ever imagined. While this storyline seems predictable at first, it ends up being the foundation of a novel that captures the essence of what makes a parent and what makes a life. 📖
Not only is Mika endearing but she’s also beautifully flawed. Author Emiko Jean delves into how our own pasts have made us who we are, and how our families expectations have shaped us but also don’t make us. The Japanese American immigrant experience was woven in throughout this story. In addition, the side characters are multifaceted and add so much to this brilliant novel. 🙌
I can’t say enough about this book and I know it will stick with me for a long time. It was also picked as the @gmabookclub August selection and I highly recommend adding to your end of summer reading list. Is Mika In Real Life on your reading radar yet? ☀️📝
✨QOTD: What was your last five star read? I am discussing this one over on my @genthebookworm Instagram feed and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
We have done a lot of swapping kids with our “quarantine crew” since the end of August which meant there was A LOT of boy energy around here…even the dogs were wild! Although the end of summer is bittersweet, everyone is definitely ready for a change of pace. 
{My mask pictured above is from t