This book was completely unexpected for me. It was complex, covering so many different aspects, but also so easy to read and be captivated by. Even the title can be looked at on many levels: the physical search and the unraveling of who Sylvie really is. Told from the viewpoints of the three different women in the Lee family, there is so much substance. I adored the characters from the beginning, and Kwok’s writing kept me entranced. I started reading and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Family, mystery, old secrets, and finding the path you were meant to be on are just some of the layers in this novel.
I would classify it as a must-read!
#SearchingforSylvieLee #Jean Kwok #HarperCollins #RIF

I loved it so much I bought copies for friends! Congratulations it is a wonderful book! I was a little thrown off on some parts, chapter 21 for sure. I did not see that coming but that is what makes a great book!

I love a good mystery however this book started slow for me and I’m not sure why. It had interesting family relationships and I liked how each chapter was told by one of the characters in their voice. The family secrets surprised me but the ending did not. It’s a heartbreaking story.

I received an advance copy on Netgalley for an honest review.

This is a very compelling book; a fascinating blend of mystery, family dynamics, and culture. The story resolves around an extended family of Chinese immigrants living in the United States and The Netherlands, and it was fascinating to read how the families were accepted and not accepted in their new countries. I really enjoyed the Chinese wisdom and expressions that appeared throughout the book, which were insightful, educational and entertaining—it opened up a whole new world to me. This story was a taut mystery as we find out what happened to Sylvie Lee, and also a poignant family saga.

Great summer read, this book grabs you and pulls you in from the start. Family relationships and secrets keep you hooked. Awesome story!

"In love and in life, we never know when we are telling ourselves stories. We are the ultimate unreliable narrators."

This was the first book I completed off my summer reading list and what a way to kick things off! "Searching for Sylvie Lee" is a suspenseful family drama that you won't want to put down. Sylvie Lee is a driven woman who seems like she has it all - the perfect job, the perfect marriage, the perfect life - but when she goes to the Netherlands to visit her dying grandmother, she ends up missing and her younger sister, Amy, is determined to figure out why. The daughters of Chinese-American immigrants, Sylvie spent the first decade of her life living in the Netherlands with her grandmother and cousins, years that Amy knows little about. Told through Sylvie and Amy's alternating perspectives, the novel slowly unravels the truth behind both Sylvie's and the family's secrets.

I loved learning more about the Chinese and Dutch cultures while reading. Jean Kwok has her characters speak in the colloquialisms and slang that members of both cultures would use, which I found really entertaining, and her descriptions of the different cultures and customs were vivid and colorful making the worlds come alive. A combination of mystery and romance and an exploration of identity and the immigrant experience, "Searching for Sylvie Lee" is the beach read you won't want to put down!

I received this book from Willliam Morrow through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Jean Kwok, author of Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown, will keep you up past your bedtime with this suspenseful mystery told from the alternating points of view of two sisters and a mother. Beautiful, smart, successful, international Sylvie Lee has returned to the Netherlands to be with the dying grandmother who helped raise her.. When Sylvie’s Chinese Dutch cousin phones the Lee’s in America because he hasn’t been able to reach Sylvie, who had said she was returning to New York, Sylvie’s introverted younger sister Amy determines to find the sister she has always idolized. What has happened to Sylvie Lee? Is she alive or dead? What will Amy find at Sylvie's New York apartment? What happened between Sylvie and her grandmother? What will Amy learn when she meets the extended Chinese Dutch family who helped raise Sylvie and the friends Sylvie has made in the Netherlands? Does Amy really know her admired older sister? What secrets will be revealed to Sylvie? To Amy? Read Jean Kwok’s new book to find out. Learn more about other cultures in the process. Thanks to William Morrow for providing an advance readers copy through Netgalley.

When 33 year old Sylvie Lee goes missing, her younger sister, Amy, embarks on a desperate search to find her. Sylvie has always been extremely responsible and hard working, so why has she suddenly disappeared? Could there be foul play involved? If so, who is to blame?

Searching for Sylvie was a fast paced, suspenseful and intriguing read, and I enjoyed the majority of the story. In fact, I was at a solid 4 star rating all the way until the ending, which I found disappointing, and ultimately caused my rating to go down a star. I had guessed one of the twists early on and found it reminiscent of other books I'd read, while another part was just too "wrong" and depressing for me. I did enjoy learning about the Chinese and Dutch cultures.

Lastly, I much prefer the author's previous work, Girl in Translation (4 stars), over this one.

Location: New York (Queens), Netherlands (Amsterdam), and Italy (Venice).

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Amy travels to Holland to searching for her missing sister. The story is told by multiple narrators jumping back and forth through time, which made it confusing at times. The best part of the book was learning more about Holland.

I loved Jean Kwok's Girl in Translation, and was really excited to read Searching for Sylvie Lee. Although there were many aspects of this book that I really liked, I struggled with staying engaged with the story.

Searching for Sylvie Lee alternates primarily between the perspectives of the two sisters, Sylvie and Amy, with occasional chapters from the perspective of their mother as well as snippets of phone calls, emails, or newspaper articles. The story is both a journey of self-discovery and a mystery.

I loved that Searching for Sylvie Lee is set mainly in the Netherlands. I haven't seen a character with a storyline like Sylvie's—a child of immigrants whose parents have no choice but send away to be taken care of by relatives. Sylvie faces racism growing up as a child in the Netherlands, and then again when she returns to her parents in the United States at the age of nine. I liked how Sylvie's feeling at home in the Netherlands contrasted with Amy's surprise at the cultural differences, offering two perspectives. Having been separated from her parents for so long, it's no surprise that Sylvie feels unloved and unwanted, but from Amy's perspective, Sylvie is perfect, smart and successful. She worships her older sister. My heart broke that despite their love for each other, there was such a distance between them. I was glad to see Amy experience a lot of growth during her time in the Netherlands.

Although the story was suspenseful, and I was curious about both what happened to Sylvie and what family secrets were being hidden, the breadcrumbs had been left along the way and this isn't a story meant to shock the reader. Overall, I enjoyed it.

This complex book is chronicled by two sisters – Amy and Sylvie – and their mother. I hardly know how to start to explain this one. This Chinese immigrant family has ties to the Netherlands and New York. Sylvie was raised by her grandmother and other relatives in the Netherlands before she is reunited with her parents in New York at age 9. She never quite feels at home anywhere and has developed a beautiful successful persona that she hides behind. Her grandmother is dying, so Sylvie heads to the Netherlands to say goodbye and then mysteriously disappears.

Amy begins the desperate search and ends up finding deep family secrets. Amy wants to track down her beloved older sister Sylvie and the suspense builds as we read about Sylvie’s time reuniting with family and old friends before everyone loses track of her.

I enjoyed the chapters narrated by the mother and it becomes clear that her daughters don’t know her very well. In fact, the whole family seems to hold things in reserve and keeps secrets. There is also the complicated theme of identity and this family never quite seems at home, either in New York or the Netherlands.

What has happened to Sylvie is at the heart of the story and as you near the end of the book, strong feelings collide, and the truth finally emerges. These characters stayed in my subconscious as I had a dream about them! I recommend this one if you like character-driven fiction with strong writing.

*my Goodreads review will be updated next week on publication day

“We had all been hidden behind the curtain of language and culture”, as is th case for Sylvia Lee. Amy’s sister is missing after visiting the Netherlands to attend their grandmother’s funeral. Sylvia is the sister who appears to have it all, but is hiding behind a curtain of despair. Amy has idolize her sister without awareness of what really was happening in her life. I could not put the book down, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. Read this one!

Sylvie Lee is missing, and it's up to her seemingly irresponsible younger sister to find her.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book, and like so many of us with towering to-be-read piles, I kept pushing it down the list in order to read other "more pressing" books that I knew I wanted to read. Once I started reading "Searching for Sylvie Lee," though, I didn't want to put it down.

Told from the perspectives of Sylvie, her younger sister Amy and and their mother, the story ultimately is about secrets and their power to separate people and cause unhappiness. It's also an immigrant story.

The writing is peppered with musical language . . . English translations of Chinese or Dutch that sound slightly odd but accurately depict the intended meaning. The story slowly unfolds and gives us a chance to understand our characters.

How the story eventually concludes isn't a surprise. That's OK. I enjoyed the book.

When Sylvie, the outgoing & successful daughter, disappears her sister, Amy, the quiet sheltered introverted one, decides to face her fears and follow Sylvie to the Netherlands to find out what happened. She uncovers secrets that have haunted her family (especially their mother) for years.

I didn't know what to expect from this story. At first, it seemed just a simple mystery/suspense novel about a missing sister. By the end it has become a coming-of-age story about discovering family secrets with a bigger message about family relationships and how events and decisions shape and mold us throughout our lives. There are some specifics about Chinese culture and the differences between European and American lifestyles, but the themes are universal and relate to any family, in any country/culture. A touching, heartfelt story that is very readable and relatable.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair review. All opinions are my own.
Jean Kwok is a real "take you there" kind of author. Girl In Translation was a tough act to follow but Searching for Sylvie Lee has masterfully done it again. When sister Sylvie goes missing, it is up to Amy to do everything she can to find her. The story transports you to the Netherlands and successfully navigates family traditions, cultural stereotypes and the complex bonds that are shared and the secrets that we fight to keep. This book will keep you guessing to very last page and will stay with you long after reading. A page turning mystery with a thoughtful delivery is a must read for 2019.

A beloved older sister who is missing is the catalyst for Amy to search for Sylvie Lee and to discover things about herself, her family, and her sister. This is an excellent portrayal of the difficulties of the immigrant experience and the danger of keeping family secrets. It would make a good discussion book. (Longer review at the link below.)

Searching for Sylvie Lee is so many things woven together into one book: a mystery dealing with relationships, immigration, families, cultures, secrets, and so much more. I absolutely love this book. It’s a beautifully written, thought-provoking novel that will fill you with so many emotions.

“It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

SEARCHING FOR SYLVIE LEE is a suspenseful emotional drama that brings us the saga of three women (two sisters and their mother) in a Chinese immigrant family. Beginning with mystery, Sylvie - the successful older daughter of the Lee family- flies to Netherlands to visit her dying grandmother for the last time and then she disappears.

The book gives us a good portrait of the hard lives of an immigrant family by exploring themes such as family, secrets, cultural identity, love, loss and forgiveness. Told in multiple POVs, I could deeply examine each character and their inner thoughts. The characters are well-crafted and meaningful - to begin with, Kwok illustrates perfectly the difficulties and painful feeling that Lee's parents go through to send Sylvie to be raised by a distant relative, reality that often occurs in Chinese immigrant families nowadays. Personally I loved Amy - determined and strong to find answers behind the disappearance of her beloved sister, also, the sisterhood between Amy and Sylvie is beautifully described, without losing its genuineness. Both Tan and Lee's families are explored in its complexity and profoundness.

Furthermore, Kwok transports us to both Netherlands and America through vivid descriptions that I found myself quickly immersed. The plot is utterly compelling which made me flew through the pages in a couple of sittings in order to unravel the secrets. Lastly, the ending will make your jaw drop.

Based on Kwok's life experience, "Searching for Sylvie Lee" is an unputdownable page-turner perfect for people who love immigrant family story mixed with a gripping mystery. I can't recommend enough!

On the whole, this was a decent read with multi-dementional characters and descriptions of the Netherlands, which was a character itself. I enjoyed the setting and the character of the Netherlands made this novel stand out in some ways. However, I found the "twists" to be very predictable and the overall ending fell flat for me. One of the twists was obvious from the very beginning of the book.

I received an ARC from Net Galley in return for this honest review.

Admittedly, Jean Kwok is a favorite of mine... and this book resonates in the same way as her other titles. The mix of cultures with a dash of mystery make for an enjoyable, entertaining read.