Blog Tour: Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean | Book Review
Author: Emiko Jean
Edition: eARC
Publisher: Flatiron Books (May 31, 2022)
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Today, I am incredibly excited to be part of the official blog tour for Tokyo Dreaming! The first book in this series, Tokyo Ever After, was one of my favourite reads of 2021 so I was looking forward to this sequel and it did not disappoint! Thank you to Flatiron Books for including me on this blog tour!
Synopsis
When Japanese-American Izumi Tanaka learned her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s overcome conniving cousins, salacious press, and an imperial scandal to finally find a place she belongs. She has a perfect bodyguard turned boyfriend. Her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, is living with her in Tokyo. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance and are engaged. A royal wedding is on the horizon! Izumi’s life is a Tokyo dream come true. Only. . .
Her parents’ engagement hits a brick wall. The Imperial Household Council refuses to approve the marriage citing concerns about Izumi and her mother’s lack of pedigree. And on top of it all, her bodyguard turned boyfriend makes a shocking decision about their relationship. At the threat of everything falling apart, Izumi vows to do whatever it takes to help win over the council. Which means upping her newly acquired princess game.
But at what cost? Izumi will do anything to help her parents achieve their happily ever after, but what if playing the perfect princess means sacrificing her own? Will she find a way to forge her own path and follow her heart?
My review of Tokyo Dreaming
Tokyo Dreaming is a delightful sequel that masterfully picks up the threads of the story and continues weaving them in unexpected ways.
I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review
Familiar Faces and New Feelings
Returning to a beloved world in a sequel is always a little nerve-wracking. Sequels are delicate things, they easily fall short. So while I was incredibly excited to read Tokyo Dreaming, I was also cautious. As many of us readers, I’ve been disappointed by sequels a lot. So I am happy to tell you now that you have nothing to worry about. Tokyo Dreaming was simply delightful! Most importantly, I think it does what any good sequel should: mix things up, expand the world and explore new perspectives.
We meet new characters and are invited to reevaluate familiar ones. This latter aspect in particular truly won me over. It would’ve been easy to just give us some new shiny faces and leave all the existing relationships as they were. Emiko Jean refuses to take that easy way out. Instead, she shakes things up with realistic, albeit painful, conflict. We get to see new sides of previously disliked characters and Tokyo Dreaming is better for it. I love it when books treat all their characters with nuance and care and invite us to reconsider our judgements, even seemingly righteous ones.
Among the new faces is Eriku, Izumi’s new tutor. He’s smart and caring and I would be lying if I didn’t join Izumi’s swooning just a little bit. This brings me to one of my favourite parts of the book: a fake dating plotline! As your resident fake dating lover, I was utterly delighted. However, I do think the storyline could’ve been developed a little bit more.
This is a feeling I had about a few of the subplots, some of them felt slightly undercooked. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed them tremendously, but I felt like they all could’ve used just a bit more time and breath to fulfil their potential.There were times when the pacing was a little too quick for my taste, I would’ve liked to linger in Izumi’s experiences and feelings.
Poetry and Identity
I wrote about the first book that it feels like a hug and an exploration of home. This remains true for Tokyo Dreaming. Emiko Jean’s writing oscillates between being poetic and grounded, perfectly capturing the grandness and difficulties of navigating life as a teenager, especially when you’re a princess.
The book also includes a lot of actual poetry, which might actually be my favourite aspect! The poems Izumi writes felt like direct connections to her inner world and some of them made me cry. Getting to experience love and heartbreak and all the struggles of growing up through her poetry was a true gift.
One of the central themes of this series is identity and our search for a place in the world. As a Japanese-American with the added burden of being a princess, Izumi struggles to find her place. She is torn between tradition and expectations, her actions and choices directly affecting everyone around her. I appreciated that Tokyo Dreaming treats this with nuance. It’s never as simple as “tradition is a prison, you should rebel!”. Instead, Izumi gets to do both: learn from and respect her Japanese heritage and the traditions that come with it, while also forging her own path.
Ultimately, I loved the resolution to Izumi’s struggles. To me, it felt true to the character I’ve gotten to know and love. I’ve cried with her, laughed with her and finally, celebrated her making the right choices for herself.
Overall…
Tokyo Dreaming retains the sweetness and swoon-worthiness of the first book while also breathing new life into Izumi’s story and the world.
This book is for you if…
…you liked Tokyo Ever After
…you are looking for a sweet contemporary story full of heart, romance and the struggles of growing up.
A post you might also enjoy: My Review of Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
About the Author
When Emiko Jean isn’t writing, she is reading. Before she became a writer, she was an entomologist, a candlemaker, a florist, and most recently, a teacher. She lives in Washington with her husband and children (unruly twins). She is also the author of Empress of all Seasons and We’ll Never Be Apart.
4 Comments
Karla
Wonderful review!! I am soo happy this lived up to your expectations! I absolutely adored the first book and i have been a little weary and scared by the sequel but this was very encouraging, thank you! 🥰
bookshelfsoliloquies
Thank you so so much! There’s a few aspects of the sequel that are a little hit or miss I think, depending on your preferences, but overall I thought it was a worthy follow-up! So I hope you enjoy it! 💜✨
Kal @ Reader Voracious
Great review and I’m glad you enjoyed the book as well! I liked the first one a bit more than the sequel but honestly I love the poetry inclusion and Eriku in general (grr to the ending). This is such a feel-good series
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