Published: June 16 2015 by: Knopf
Pages: 378
Rating: 4/5 stars
Rachel Chu is about to marry Nicholas Young, the man who sacrificed everything in order to be with her. However, Rachel longs for more details about her birth father, and a surprising piece of information is about to whisk her into the lavish world of China's elite. Rachel is able to travel to China and meet her father, and along the way she is befriended by Colette, a glamorous model, and Carlton, a spoiled heir who just happens to be her half-brother. But, life in crazy rich families is not easy, and Rachel, along with many other characters, will learn this the hard way.
I was really excited to get back into the world of Crazy Rich Asians. I absolutely loved the first book, and I knew that I needed to give this one a try. While I was still impressed with Kwan's witty footnotes, vivid attention to detail, and of course, the lovable (and sometimes unlovable) cast of characters, I can still say that I preferred the first book more.
This book has even a larger cast of characters than the first. While Crazy Rich Asians mainly focused on Rachel and Nick's story with other characters affecting that, this book has multiple storylines going on. Rachel and Nick are back, as well as Astrid, who has got her own problems going on completely separate. Then, there is also stuff going on with Kitty Pong, which is a whole other issue. I kinda went back and forth as to whether or not I liked the extensive character arcs. And I think I didn't mind it all that much. I think the supporting characters drive this series forward, and add to the tensions between families. However, there were some notable absences that I wish we saw more of.
For one, with all of these characters, I wish there was more of Eleanor Young! Eleanor is an absolute queen in my opinion. Yes, she is judgemental and did not treat Rachel right in the first book, but she is such a badass Asian mom with incredible grace. I can't help but want to be her. Can you imagine having that much power? Anyways, she appears at the beginning of the book, but doesn't really show up until the end. I needed more of her. She is one of my favourite characters.
I thought that Rachel and Nick's storyline was interesting. I especially enjoyed reading about how absolutely ridiculous Colette's life was. She was a character very easy to dislike, but still well written nonetheless. And can we talk about that twist at the end!? I won't spoil anything, but I did not except that much shit to go down and I frantically flew through the end to make sure that everything turned out alright. It's definitely a lot of action that you would not expect from a romantic comedy.
So overall, I enjoyed this book. I liked the twists, and I liked that we got into more character's storylines. However, I just wish we saw a bit more of Eleanor. She is such an important character to the first book, that I think she needs to have a big part in every book in this series. Still, I would totally recommend this book to fans of the first, as Kwan's signature humour is still there, and the drama just gets even more intense.
Have you read China Rich Girlfriend? What did you think?
Emily @ Paperback Princess
