**Will be posted to my blog http://pastmidnight.home.blog on August 12, 2019**

Thank you to Simon Pulse and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc.

This book was so full of many things: Ali’s experience living as a Taiwanese girl in Indiana, the secrets her parents are keeping, Chinese folklore, and a budding romance.

I love Ali! She’s outspoken, strong and spirited, she made me laugh out loud, a lot. I mean the girl isn’t even afraid to talk about pooping! 😂👏🏼 But Ali is tired of the racism she experiences in the all-American town she lives in. She’s tired of walking on eggshells at home where her parents never interact with each other and her mom never seems happy. Then one day a new boy comes to her school and he’s Taiwanese too. She was ready to dislike him for disrupting her school life, but having him around opens her eyes to a lot of things.

I felt for Ali and just could imagine how stifling it would be to live in a home where her dad is there but not present. Where her mom’s resentment just infects their way of life. I understood in the end where her mom was coming from but wow, the lengths she went through to ensure Ali’s future happiness, without knowing what would really make her daughter happy…it was a big miss on her part as a parent. Yet, like I said, I understood her mom’s fears, but it just made me sad.

Ali and Chase, are so cute together. It was so nice seeing Ali have someone to relate to because her high school friends were so not it. 🙄 I love Ali and Chase’s banter. Those kung-fu scenes just heightened the tension between them, I loved it. They are so silly together and fun. 😍

As for the larger issue in this book with the Chinese folklore and the history of Ali’s family. That was fascinating and it also made me realize, I don’t recall much about the history between China and Taiwan. You get a little idea of it in the book, but I really need to do some research on it.

This is a wonderful story about confronting family secrets, shame and regret. I really enjoyed reading about Ali’s journey as she faces the truth about her family and herself. Watching her come full circle with her family’s history is inspiring.

This book was just truly wonderful. Gloria Chao writes beautiful contemporaries that sit so well in your heart. This one is slightly different from American Panda, and does add  a little family drama to the mix. My favorite thing about this book were the main characters, Ali and Chase. It was a lot like insta-love and they were just so cute and funny throughout their text messages and interactions. I definitely think this would somewhat qualify as a rom-com, even though there are some more serious moments peppered throughout the book to give it more depth. I thought this book was the perfect balance of romance, drama and heart. I was left feeling heartwarmed at the end of reading this and that makes me want to continue reading books by this author. With fantasy or tough contemporary topics, it can be such a refreshing change of pace to read something like this. I really love how the author incorporates her culture into this book and I continued to learn about it, which I enjoy. I love diverse novels & authors, so this is a great pick for own voices and diverse reads. I don't know much about the culture and I think when you can glean some new experiences or a different point of view from a book, that's powerful and welcomed. 

I can't say I disliked much about this book. I do like that the author writes these standalones that don't feel like I am waiting for more or unsatisfied with the ending; that's definitely a true art! I'm not really a fan of insta-love so that could be my only dislike; that's my own personal opinion, though.

I would recommend this to fans of contemporaries as well as those who enjoy learning about another culture!

*Spoiler free*

I really loved American Panda. It was such a light, fluffy, funny, and amazingly written book. I was really looking forward to reading another one of Gloria's books! After American Panda, I will honestly read anything that she writes. This one sounded different than her debut, more secrets and more delving into characters, but I was still really, really looking forward to it.

This book is very different from American Panda. It's a realistic look at life. It's not as light, but it definitely still has the signature humor sprinkled throughout! I wasn't expecting what this book was. It took me a bit to get used to, and I don't think I loved it as much as I loved American Panda, but it's still a really fantastic book. I think a lot of people are going to fall head over heels for it and I'm really glad it exists.

Since this book is so different than what I expected, it took me a bit to get used to. It sort of threw me for a loop at the beginning and it took me a bit to get into it. I never feel completely into the rhythm of the book, but I was still able to fly through it. It keeps you entranced.

I am so completely different from Ali. But I was still able to connect with her and I still really, really loved her character. She's a badass. She's fed up. She's angry. She's working on communicating better. She's weird. She's awkward. She's frustrated. Her journey, both physically and emotionally was so amazing to read. She wants to make her life her own. She wants to make her choices herself. She's swamped in secrets and she wants that to stop. She's a really special character. She's so complicated because she's so human. I loved that that was able to shine through so much.

Ali's family has so many secrets. I was honestly shocked when they all came to light. It's a family mess. Everything got so tangled up through life that nobody really knew where to start untangling. I really liked that aspect of the book. It allowed Ali to delve into what she wanted in life and examine her emotions toward her parents, to herself, and to everything really. It allowed the book to have so much depth.

Gloria Chao has a way with humor and this book is another showcase of that. Though, I felt like some of the jokes were kind of stilted and kind of awkward. Some of them just missed the mark for me.

I didn't love the romance aspect to it. It happened so fast. It wouldn't call it insta-love, but it was in that kind of realm. Then again, so much was involved in their meeting and their early conversations. They connected so deeply, so fast. I'm just not personally a fan of romances that happen in the blink of an eye!

There was a lot of this book that happened really fast. But honestly, I think that happened because a lot of stuff flew over my head. Which I completely fine with. It was written for Asian American teens, and me, a whiter than white teen, was going to miss some stuff and not be able to connect with certain elements. I know this book is going to mean the world for some people and I so hope this book makes its way into their hands. It's such a real look at racism, microaggressions, anger, miscommunication, secrets, and familial turmoil. It's incredibly written and Ali, Chase, and Yun are easy to fall in love with. This is just a really important, really good book.

Our Wayward Fate follows Ali, a Chinese-American teenager living in "white bread" middle America. When another Chinese student, Chase Yu, shows up at her high school, her world is turned upside down. When Ali's mother forbids the relationship with no explanation, Ali starts digging into her mother's past to find out why she is so secretive and closed off. Ali's story is interwoven with short chapters retelling The Butterfly Lovers, a Chinese folktale, that may have more to do with her life than she knows.

Gloria Chao's writing has matured in her sophomore novel, providing more nuance to her exploration of discrimination, straddling two cultures, familial dysfunction, and the Asian experience in middle America. Ali's anger and hurt is visceral; her peers don't accept her Chinese heritage, her mother can be cruel and secretive, and her father has checked out of life. The book shines while exploring the tense relationship between Ali and her family. The novel's biggest fault is the jarring insta-love between Chase and Ali, though their relationship becomes more believable as the novel progresses. Overall, the novel shows great growth in the author's writing and provides a unique and important addition to the small-but-growing canon of Asian-American YA. Chao has much to say, and will leave readers wanting more of her unique perspective and strong female characters.

I would love to have been able to read this book but sadly could not access it due to the format of the file I had to download.