I did what any book reader should never do - I requested this book based solely on this book cover, because it was too cute!

Unfortunately, it ended there. The book was, as it turns out, not so much a book but more a travel guide to Japan. Which, turns out, it's good if you're actually going to travel to Japan.

Let's talk about the nice things in this book:
- Asian rep: MC is half Asian, half white/ambiguous/whatever/not decided? (unclear to me what she was but it wasn't important), and I liked it.
- Learning about Japanese culture through the eyes of a non Japanese, but in Japan.
- Japan in itself is amazing.

The rest... I didn't really connect to Elle, as she wasn't really the type of MC I relate to, and the book itself was set too much into the middle school/high school zone for me to truly enjoy.

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life was a super cute and funny read. I really enjoyed the interaction and growth between the characters. Seeing Elle navigate this new life surrounded by the wealthy and her father's return to her life was a times comical and others made me a little teary eyed. Great summer read.

This story had a lot of potential, but I felt it was lacking. I liked the idea of Elle not finding out who her dad was due to the strict culture beliefs in her dad’s side of the family. It reminded me a lot Ouran High School Host Club as Tamaki couldn’t be with his dad until the grandmother knew he was the only way to be the successor.

I liked Elle’s background, coming from a semi-okay background to her mother getting into drugs and her life came crashing down. That gave depth to the character…

But when Elle moved to Japan, she was quite a snob and disrespectful to her father’s way of life. Yeah, I’d be pissed if my grandmother didn’t like me because I wasn’t full Japanese, and that was understandable, but there were many other things where she was just rude, selfish, and snobby.

The other problem I had with the plot was that nothing really happened and then all the real conflict was at the 75% mark and it was all resolved within the last few pages. And some stuff wasn’t even resolved or talked about again.

I felt this story had a lot of potential, but it fell short.

A seemingly simple story that I really could not put down and finished in a day.
Elle is in a horrible Foster situation because her mother is in jail for drugs. The day she turns 16, a man she once thought of as an uncle but has not seen in years comes to tell her the biological father she has never known wants her to come live with her in Tokyo.
Also, he's SUPER rich and powerful and she gets to go to a fancy school, buy fancy clothes and live in a killer penthouse.
But all Elle really wants is a FAMILY, a relationship with her dad Kenji, and to do well in school so she can go to college and void being like her mom - and it turns out the life she thought would be easy peasy is actually REALLY hard because she has no idea how to fit in to a culture she has never known with extremely strict rules of etiquette - and her family expects her to do all the right things all the time.
Despite an ending that feels a bit rushed, the story was super cute and a great look into living in Japan as an expat.

Actual rating: 3.5

I think it would be so much easier to rate books if Goodreads gave the option of using half-star ratings. Quarter-star ratings would be even better!

I really enjoyed this book and love that the author tackled some serious and important topics but at the same time I feel like she was trying to cover too many things in too short of a book so the romance seemed sudden when it really wasn't because it skips over months. And the ending was very rushed and sudden. Sometimes Elle did things that didn't seem right for her character too just to fit the plot I guess. Overall I enjoyed it but it still had some kinks that would have been worked out to make it even better.

*Thanks to Disney Books/Hyperion and NetGalley for the eARC for review*

Description:
"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!" In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS—the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity. Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahari, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington D.C. to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troupe of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.

My Thoughts:
YA authors are doing a great job of highlighting often marginalized protagonists and making them the moral center of the very diverse and booming multicultural YA literature scene. I am enjoying how books like To All the Boys I've Loved Before and this book, My Flawless. . . highlight multicultural characters who seek to embrace and normalize their different cultural backgrounds and values as part of their coming of age stories. They are not trying to abandon one culture for another, but seek to understand as well as respect each side of themselves. This is not about melting into a generic American pot, but embracing and owning what makes each character special. Hooray!

This book could have been a Mean Girls in Tokyo, or ExPats (Ex Brats) behaving badly in a foreign country, or even Gossip Girl goes toJapan. I am glad it did not go in that direction. In fact it is almost flawless. My big hole in this story is that I really wanted to hear from the mother. Again, almost flawless.

A digital advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.

A book with a fairy tale premise and a semi-realistic ending: Elle is whisked away from the dire foster home where she is living while her mom is in prison, to a life of glamour with the rich Japanese father she has never met. The book tackles a lot: addiction, foster care, imprisoned parents, Japanese culture, expat snobbishness, the less-than-perfect lives of the rich and famous, sexual assault and racism. Cohn keeps all this afloat because of the typically 16-year-old reactions of main character Elle. Her real life may not have a fairy tale ending, but she comes to appreciate the good mixed with the bad. For high school readers.

I'll round up on this one from a solid 3.5 stars, since the overall rating is NOT great and I would recommend it for certain people. Nothing earth shattering, but fun little book with some serious issues addressed. Rachel Cohn has done it better before, with her Cyd Charisse books, but she left the door open for a sequel and I'd read it if she writes one. Overall, a fun and quick read to pass some time.

My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is essentially a Cinderella contemporary retelling. The main protagonist Elle Zoellner is a teen stuck in Foster Care. Her life is miserable because none of her foster families care for her. Elle's mother is in jail, and nothing seems to be going her way.

On Elle's 16th Birthday, she receives news that her father wants to reconnect with her. Elle's father never played a prominent role in her life. All she had was her mother by her side. Elle was skeptical about her father, and it turns out that he is a influential and rich business man from Japan. Presented with the option of going to Japan, Elle leaves Maryland to pursue new opportunities abroad.

It takes Elle a while to adjust to Japanese society. The author does a good job at describing Japanese society and culture. But, Elle is insensitive of her heritage. She is naive and extremely judgmental of her situation. In Maryland, Elle was bullied and did not have friends to support her. In Japan, she reinvents herself, and makes friends with the stereotypical mean girls of the school. Elle continues to hang out with the popular girls even though she personally does not like them.

The first 70% of the book is description for readers. The story does not pick up till the very end. It was hard to keep interest. I had to skim a lot. Turns out that I did not miss much by skimming. This book could have been A LOT shorter. I had a hard time believing the MC was 16. At times she sounded so juvenile. It was hard to connect to the MC. I understand her situation was bad in foster care, I cannot comment about the system because I have no experience with it. Elle was insensitive and jumped too conclusions. I did not like how she automatically thought her aunt was lesbian without any evidence. I was bothered by her claims.

As for the romance, it was okay. I did not see myself rooting for the MC and her boyfriend. I felt the "yakuza" situation was very tropy. Elle kept enforcing her American beliefs onto people, which was not cool. The family dynamic was very broken. Her Japanese family did not want anything to do with her. There was no indication that her grandma and aunt wanted to connect with Elle. The same can be said about the father-daughter situation. Her father spent more than half of the book ignoring her. He was a terrible parent. The only person that seemed to care for Elle was Uncle Masa. He encouraged Elle, and was sympathetic towards his niece. I wanted the Uncle to adopt her.

The ending of the book was rushed. It ends with a happily ever after, but I felt that not all issues got resolved. The author could have spent MORE time building relationships and LESS time with descriptions of locations and places. The family aspect could have been stronger. I would have liked to see development between Elle and her Japanese family. And, Elle's Japanese heritage gets ignored till the very end. I wanted Elle to fully embrace her family or at least, try to improve herself in Japan.

If you are looking for a cute contemporary book set in Japan, this is NOT the book for you. It was frustrating, the romance was lack luster, and it was more descriptive of scenes than anything else. Thank you, NEXT!

DNF. I was having trouble with the voice on this book, and unfortunately couldn't make it through :(

In My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life Elle Zoellner, who has been bouncing around in foster care since her mother's incarceration, finds her life changed overnight, when she is whisked away to Japan to live with the father she's never met. Elle finds herself living in a 49th floor penthouse apartment and attending a prestigious international school with uber rich kids. Her father, who is a hotel mogul, is distant and her aunt and grandmother downright rude. But Elle embraces her new life, joining the track team and ingratiating herself with the popular "Ex-brats," of whom her dad approves. When Elle begins crushing on a fellow teammate, who is on the outs with the Ex-brats, things begin to change and she struggles to navigate her newfound privileged life. I really enjoyed this unconventional rags to riches story.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I truly enjoyed this book! It was a fun contemporary story that showed the perspective of a teen girl who had spent the past few years living in foster care. I thought this was a very unique perspective that we don’t get a lot of exposure to in the YA world and the author did a nice job developing the each of the characters.

This was a great story. When I first started reading it and I saw that Elle was in foster care, I thought it was going to be a stereotypical story of a girl who has to survive foster care. However, she had a “Princess Diaries” style discovery when her biological father sent for her to come to Tokyo.

The rest of the story was reminiscent of Crazy Rich Asians. Elle went to an elite international school in Tokyo, and she lived in a hotel with a gorgeous view of the city and 24/7 room service. I had never had a desire to go to Tokyo, but after reading this book, it looks like so much fun!

I was a little disappointed at the ending. It felt rushed and sudden. There were some important issues that were mentioned, such as teen pregnancy and alcoholism, but they weren’t explored very much. I would love to see what happens to Elle after the ending of the story.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!"
In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS-the International Collegiate School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh. Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they seek diplomatic immunity.
Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her sixteenth birthday, discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes, please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist. In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troop of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode.
My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.
This was my first book by this author. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
4.5 star rating!

On Elle's 16th birthday, the father she never knew sends for her to be retrieved from foster care where she has been since her mother's incarceration. She is whisked away to a life in Tokyo, Japan where she gets the cinderella life she never imagined. But all the glamour falls short as she struggle to adjusts to the customs of Japan and the distance she still has from her new found father.


The Story
Despite my 3 star placing this book right in the middle, I was beyond disappointed by this book. I expected a fun ya contemporary in Japan. Yes we got a YA contemporary in Japan, but half the book felt like a long Japanese culture and etiquette handbook in disguise. At the halfway point, the only thing that had really happened was that Elle had gotten to Japan. The real story really didn't take off till 70%. So a majority of the book was establishing just the slight bit of culture shock, no real movement in the plot. On top of all that, when the ending came through I felt like it wrapped up way too quickly, and still left a few loose ends. Also, somehow the story left off with only adults making any real mistakes, no real correction for the actions of the main character.


The Characters
I really didn't like Elle. Despite knowing all that she had gone through, I somehow didn't find myself sympathizing with her as she was pulled out of her awful situation that she managed to adjust to, and yet still had a negative outlook to new circumstances. She made all the adults out to be the bad guys, and while her actions came out that she was coming to terms with her new lifestyle, she didn't really make much effort to understand the people she was now family with. She just expected them to understand her because she was the child, and that since they were the adults they had to be the bigger people. While often times there was a awed fascination of the Japanese culture, I felt an underlying negative vibe as Elle learned about it.

This book was surprisingly really good. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn was a lighthearted and delightfully fun read that kept me entertained until the very end.

I really enjoyed reading this book and getting to see Japan through Elle’s story. I think that was my favorite part of this book. I liked the gorgeous sceneries, learning a bit about the culture and traditions, and just reading everything about Tokyo. Without a doubt, this novel definitely made me want to visit Japan now more than ever and the food… don’t even get me started on that. I was literally so hungry the entire time I was reading.

I liked the author’s writing style a lot. It was illustrative and engaging. I liked that I could picture myself being at certain places and almost tasting the delicious food. I also really liked the plot. I thought it was fast-paced, entertaining, humorous, and emotionally affecting. The story moved pretty quickly and if I didn’t have to sleep, go to work, and take care of my newly spayed pup, I absolutely could have finished this in one sitting. It’s totally one of those books that easily get you hooked and you’re so into the story that you don’t even realize when you’re almost finished. At least it was for me and I love when books can do that.

The characters were all pretty great. I thought they were realistic, genuine and relatable. Elle was a fantastic lead and I really enjoyed her character development. From the beginning, I just had this feeling that I would like her, and I honestly really did. Even though I didn’t always agree with Elle, I liked that she was determined, strong, and had a great sense of humor. For a teenager who went through so much, I admired her strength and perseverance, choosing to better her life, and fighting for what she wants.

So, this book was mainly focused on family, but there was a bit of romance. As a romance addict, it surprised me that I was not a fan and I honestly could care less. There were some good moments, but it didn’t work for me and I wouldn’t have minded if there was none of it in the book. But, if you do like stories with romance, then you’re in luck. It just wasn’t my cup of tea in this book.

There were some minor flaws and the ending was a bit rushed, but overall, I really liked this book. My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life was a beautifully written, satisfyingly entertaining, and wonderfully heartwarming tale of family, forgiveness, friendship and love. It’s sweet, short, charming, and a fun novel that will engross readers from beginning to end. Definitely recommend you check this book out.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher and Rockstar Book Tours via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Cohn, and Disney-Hyperion for the opportunity to read My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life in exchange for an honest review.

This is a spunky, fast-paced novel geared toward teenage girls. It is told in the perspective of Elle, a girl who just wants to graduate high school so she can get out of foster care. She loves her mom, but ever since her mom started doing drugs, life has been a challenge, and she knows nothing of her dad.

That is, until one day her uncle, who Elle greatly cares about, arrives to take her to live with her father in Japan! She's never met the man before, and her uncle is far more of  a father than her real father, who she is more comfortable with calling Kenji rather than dad. It turns out that Elle's father is a major businessman in Japan, and his own father was not okay with his lover and having a hafu in the family--half Japanese half...whatever.

As Elle falls in with the pristine crowd at her new, prestigious school that teaches in the American way, she learns that being popular is great and all, but not necessarily all it's cooked up to be. Elle also finds romance with the son of a yakuza, something that her own father frowns upon as well. There is definitely a message to be said that a child should not be brought down by the crimes of their parents, but Japan has its own way of viewing people in its social structure.

One of the things I liked about this novel was the quick pace. It was easy and fun to read. It also introduces a number of Japanese phrases, colloquialisms, and cultural inferences that are a nice introduction for someone who might not know a whole lot about Japan, but it's a bit bland and basic for those of us who are very familiar with anime and manga. The book itself felt like reading an anime, which was a nice touch. I also enjoyed some of the references to iconic landmarks or known areas, suck as Shinjuku, or Cat Island, which I was just talking to one of my Japanese friends about.

One thing that really made the score on this novel drop for me was the character development. Most of the characters felt very flat, and the most interesting character, Ryuu, didn't have enough page or development time. The noel could easily have gone on for another 50-100 pages to develop these characters in a "show, don't tell" way. Many of the interactions between Elle and Ryuu, as well as between Elle and a number of other characters, were brushed off in a quick paragraph to highlight the expanse of a day or a week. It would have been better to really show some of those scenes to help the development, considering there's still some room to expand the novel without overdoing word/page count.

Overall, this was a book that was still hard for me to put down. There's a lot to say about family. What does the word "family" truly mean to us as individuals? How does family define who we are? While this is the main premise of the novel, the driving point for me was Ryuu, a character that definitely did not get a lot of action, but I would like to see his story sometime, perhaps!

Thank you NetGalley and Disney Book Group for granting my wish!

I requested this hoping it would be good and it ended up being amazing!!!
The scenery, food, culture and of course cats made this a delight to read.
It was so much fun and had a lot more to it than I expected.
Now I really must get back to Japan and actually see more than just the airport.
I really enjoyed this and hope all of you get a chance to check it out too!!!

I read this book quite some time ago, and it was fine. I know some of my Japanophile students will really enjoy it, but ultimately it offered nothing refreshing or new. As someone who knows quite a bit about Japanese culture, it definitely was written by a gaijin, which made perspectives awkward to me. But for a teen who wants this type of fantasy, it's a perfectly good read.

When Elle’s mother is sent to prison for drugs, she is put in the foster care system. Elle learns quickly how to live with few material possessions and how to count on only herself. On her sixteenth birthday, Elle is contacted by a long-lost family friend, who intends to take her to Japan to live with her father. Thinking that anything could be better than where she currently lives, Elle goes to learn about her new father. She quickly finds that he is a well-connected and affluent business man in Japan. While she sees very little of him and her other newly found family members, she is desperate to learn more about this side of her history. Elle attends a prestigious boarding school with other high-power students, she will need to adapt quickly if she hopes to be successful and please her father. This novel updates the classic Cinderella story and takes it to Tokyo.

I enjoyed this novel and wish that it would have lasted longer. The ending came together too quickly. I did enjoy exploring the characters and their connections with each other.