What a wonderful story. Dual timelines of a Korean mother and daughter. The mother has passed away and the daughter is trying to fill in missing pieces of her knowledge of her mother's life. Tension, love, and a wonderful smattering of Korean culture throughout.

This was a beautifully told tale that embarks on multiple, intense subjects, including immigration, mother-daughter relationships and sexual violence. Mina Lee is a Korea-born mother who has survived horrific atrocities and decides to reinvent herself in CA. She is blessed with a daughter, Margot, who, only upon her mother’s death, learned about her mother’s life both before and after she was born. What spoke profoundly to me was the fact that, although raised exclusively by her mother, Margot did not know Mina at all. The revelations are life-altering and Margot is moved deeply. The author deftly explores some very difficult subjects and this book definitely left me with a lot to think about.

I loved this story. I read it in a few short hours and wanted to read it all over again. This story is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I was adopted from Korea, so I always gravitate toward any chance to learn about my heritage. I enjoyed immersing myself in the sights, sounds and smells of Korea. This story makes me want to hop in my car and drive to Koreatown. Also being from Los Angeles, it was nice to reminisce about other stomping grounds in the book like my old home in Santa Monica, the pier, the Ferris wheel.

For a debut novel, @njooyounkim does a terrific job keeping the reader curious. Each chapter ending left me wanting more, staying up much later to eventually finish the story. I couldn’t wait until morning! If you’re going to put any book on your #tbr list, this must be it. The mother-daughter dynamic, the hardships of being an immigrant in America and the underlying mystery of Mina’s death captivated me from the beginning and kept that attention until the very last sentence.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

When I requested an ARC copy of this book, I also put the audio version on hold at our library. The book seemed to be popular enough that they would get it eventually, but I anticipated a very long wait. After being approved for the review ARC, I was notified that the audio book was available for me at our library, so I got to experience both the ebook and the audio book. I enjoyed the narration of the audio book, and think that the production is well done, however I think I enjoyed the actual reading experience more.

This was such an emotional story, and I really appreciated the writing and description of the characters, locations and time settings. It was such a sad and emotional story. Maybe a bit too emotional for me, right now, at this point in time. I plan to return to this book again in a year or so and I think I'll enjoy the book even more.

The Last Story of Mina Lee is a beautifully written story of a young Korean American woman learning about her traditional Korean mother after her death. The story is told from Margot's view point and alternates with Mina's viewpoint. I loved this book!

The Last Story of Mina Lee is an excellent story of a mother and daughter dealing with struggles in their lives. The daughter Margots, struggles with her mothers death but in the process of finding how she died, she learns about her past.

The first time I heard about this book was by Russell on Ink and Paper blog. So when I got offered the chance to read it for the blog tour I was super excited. Indeed, I had very good reason. This book was an emotional tug that gave me insight into immigrant life.

Margot returns home after a long absence to find her mother dead. As she makes arrangements for her mother's funeral she tries to sort out the pieces of her mother's life. She soon comes to realize that a child never really knows the whole of their parents.

As a mother, Mina has had to make sacrifices and put aside pieces of herself in order to guarantee the best for her child. As the child, Margot was oblivious to her mother's struggles and the secrets she kept to protect her. As a child, she judges her mother for her otherness and blamed her for her own insecurities of not fitting in.

As a woman looking back over that time, she realizes how strong her mother was and how much she must have loved her to make the decisions she did. Margot comes to understand how hard it must have been for her mother to survive as an immigrant in America.

<i><blockquote>"What did this country ask us all to sacrifice? Was it possible to feel anything while we were all trying to get ahead of everyone else, including ourself?"</blockquote></i>

Margot learns what it meant for Mina to be held at arm's length from the American dream. Separated through poverty, by language and living in insular neighborhoods formed from common threats and fears.

In her mother's death Margot learns not only the pieces that made her mother, but her heritage and herself.

Although The Last Story of Mina Lee may be considered a mystery, I was drawn to the characterization and the process by which Margot comes to know her mother.

There were so many powerful passages that stayed with me and kept me thinking not only of Mina and Margot but of immigrants, women and mothers and daughters.
<blockquote><i>Did stories keep us alive or kill us with false expectations? It depended on who wrote them perhaps.</i></blockquote>

With The Last Story of Mina Lee, Nancy Jooyun Kim has written an intimate, richly layered and moving portrayal of Korean immigrant experience. I look forward to reading more of her stories and cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

This book was actually published after I received the ARC but before I had a chance to read it. When I saw it made Reece's book club list, I was even more excited to read it. I wish I could say that it lived up to my hopes for it. For me, this book felt like the rough draft of a truly beautiful story. It had a lot of potential but needed just a bit more development and editing. I could see it being made into a movie that I would be interested in seeing. Where the author really shines is describing the various settings, especially where food was involved. Just beautiful! I also really enjoyed the thrill of the search for Mina's daughter, Margot. There were parts of the book where I just had to see what was going to happen next. I really felt for these characters and I'm okay with being sad about how some of their stories panned out. In the end I felt hope for the heroine, which is my favorite way to end a novel.

“Choosing if and when and how to share the truth might be the deepest, most painful necessity of growing out into the world and into yourself.”
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THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE is a novel about immigration, family, and secrets. Margot Lee is trying to discover what happened to her mother when she finds her suspiciously dead in her apartment. as Margot looks for the truth about her mother’s death, she begins to uncover secrets about her mother’s past and their family history. interwoven in the present-day storyline is the story of Mina Lee as a young immigrant in Los Angeles struggling to survive. I enjoyed the book, and I especially enjoyed the mother-daughter dynamic as they struggle to connect and understand each other but learn that being a family means never giving up on each other. 4/5⭐️—I liked it.
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thank you to the publisher @parkrowbooks and @netgalley for the early copy for me to read and review

Thank you @parkrowbooks for sharing a copy of The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim for an honest review.

The Last Story Of Mina Lee is told in two timelines. The first is Margo in the present finding her mother dead in her own apartment in LA. The second is Mina’s story and the history she had before becoming a single mother struggling to get by.
I have to say that Mina’s storyline was by far my favourite. Her history was so complex and heartbreaking. Mina lost everything time and time again and kept picking herself up and powering on. Margot’s storyline was more a mystery, trying to figure out how her mother might have died and learning about her own history along the way.

The Last Story of Mina Lee highlights the struggles of immigrants and how they fight to give themselves and their families better lives. I hope you add this one to your reading list!

THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE defies simple categorization. One part family drama, one part mystery, it alternates timelines and perspective to reveal what happened to Mina with underlying themes of undocumented immigration, belonging, and regret.

Disclosure: I received a physical ARC of this book from the publisher and the publicity firm working on this book. I was not otherwise compensated for this review or feature.

Content warnings: death of a spouse, death of a child, death of a parent, depression, racism, suicidal ideation, stalking, domestic violence, attempted rape, animal mauling

This book is told from alternating perspectives – Margot Lee, and her mother, the titular Mina Lee. On a drive from Seattle to LA with a friend, Margot calls her mother but to no avail. Upon arriving, she discovers Mina dead. We then embark on a journey of uncovered secrets, Margot’s amateur investigation as a way of processing grief, and the truth, hiding in plain sight.

I’ve seen some reviews of this book criticizing Margot and her strained relationship with Mina, and how ungrateful and disrespectful she is. The language barrier in this book is at times literal, but isn’t there always an element of a language barrier between parents and children? That felt so authentic to me; I wouldn’t call my relationship with my (adoptive) mom strained per se, but it’s not one I would describe as open (on my end).

Overall this one didn’t resonate with me as much as I’d hoped. I thought the pacing was uneven, and Margot felt wooden and caricatured. I wanted more depth, more self-awareness. I also wanted more time inside Mrs. Baek’s head. And finally, I thought Miguel – Margot’s friend – was a throwaway character in ways that bothered me, because he could have been much more.

Thank you to Park Row Books for providing me with a copy of The Last Story of Mina Lee in exchange for an honest review!

I don't know what I was expecting when getting into The Last Story of Mina Lee, but it definitely wasn't this. & that's a good thing, because wow, what a wild ride.

In The Last Story of Mina Lee, we explore two different timelines:

- The Past: A young Mina Lee who's exploring her first year in Los Angeles as an undocumented immigrant.
-The Present: Margot, who discovers her mother, Mina Lee, has died. It's been ruled as an accident, but Margot is convinced there's more to what happened.

I love the fact that The Last Story of Mina Lee wove elements of Mystery and Thriller into a Contemporary/Historical Fiction read. It adds the umph that I personally need when reading an Adult Contemporary. & on top of the "whodunnit?" aspect, this novel puts you into the shoes of Mina Lee. As mentioned above, Mina Lee is an undocumented immigrant who's just arrived in America. Diverse books are so important!!!! -- it's always good to step into the shoes of others, and see the world through their lens!

The Last Story of Mina Lee has the perfect amount of just about everything: suspicious death, mystery & secrets? CHECK. Diversity? CHECK. Figuring out what it truly means to belong? CHECK. & taking a step away from the plot-content, it's all so beautifully written! This is Nancy Jooyoun Kim's debut novel & I can't wait to see what else she puts into this world.

“Her mother’s body was proof that sometimes there was not one more hour, one more day, one more week in this life. Sometimes, all you had left was right now—the seconds ticking away.”

The Last Story of Mina Lee is a character-centric story about Korean immigrant Mina Lee and her daughter, Margot, told in different viewpoints and timelines. Early into the novel, Margot discovers Mina has died and the rest of the book is spent with Margot trying to piece together her mother’s life, since she did not know her as well as she thought. At times heart wrenching, I loved living the parallel stories of both characters. While there is a mystery element to the book (What happened to Mina), I would not classify this as a mystery in the topical sense of the genre. I really enjoyed the topic of immigration, starting over, and familial bonds of this story. I recently got this book for my Mother in Law and I just can’t wait to hear what she thinks.

I originally was reading this as an ARC on my kindle, but I switched to audio after pub date. I love the ability to switch back and forth between different modalities!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequinn (Park Row) for my early copy of this book. All opinions are my own!

This is a story of a relationship between a mother and daughter and the friendship between women and an immigrants acceptance of self and place. A combination of mystery, love story and contemporary fiction. Told from the voices of two strong women bound by blood. Mina Lee- a woman who came to the United States to escape a tragic past and found love, lost it and found purpose with her daughter and Margot Lee who spent her whole life thinking her mother was cold and never knowing why. This is a story that is all about heart. Beautifully written. A well deserved pick by @reesesbookclub This is a story that made me cry, hope and at times took my breath away! @njooyounkim

DREAM CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Margot - Jamie Chung
Mina - Sandra Oh

This book was a roller coaster of emotion and actually had a good little "mystery" build up.

Margot has always been somewhat embarrassed of her immigrant mother, Mina Lee. Margot, who was born in America, feels more savvy Mina Lee. In Margot's eyes, Mina has never tried to achieve more or tried to make her life better in any way. Mina has bought shame to Margot by not speaking English, gotten a better job or tried to get out of her dingy apartment, the same apartment she's still in, much to Margot's chagrin. And to top everything else off, Margot does not know who her father is. Mina refuses to tell her. So, Margot was thrilled to finally become of age when she can leave home and put distance between her and her mother.

One day, when accompanying her friend on a move to the city where Mina still lives, Margot decides to visit. Usually the visits are on holidays only. They don't see each other often and barely talk on the phone. Margot is in shock when she finds her mother dead in her apartment. It appears to be a fall, but things aren't always what they seem.

I am not going to give too much away, but I think we ALL forget our parents had different lives, dreams and desires before we came on the scene. This is just one lesson that Margot learns about Mina when starting to dig into her life. Because they were never close, Margot finds there's actually a lot to learn about her mother, and unfortunately hard lessons about regret. The story then starts going back and forth between Mina's story and present day.

I really enjoyed this book and was thankful to the publisher for the opportunity. The only thing that lost points for me was the several thinly veiled semi political, semi social comments as if the author was trying to force certain stances in, probably her own opinions.

Otherwise, I am glad I got to read this story. I love reading about other cultures and I think the author was informative in this area. Thank you to the publisher. I think this book will do well. Released September 1, 2020.

You can find more information at my blog notenoughtimeforbooks.blogspot.com

Told from alternating timelines, The Last Story of Mina Lee tells the story of Mina Lee and her life in America as an immigrant. Mina’s daughter, Margot, becomes worried when her mother doesn’t answer her phone calls and unfortunately when Margot arrives at her mother’s apartment, she’s heartbroken to find Mina dead. What looks like an accident just doesn’t sit right with Margot and send her on a mission to investigate her mother’s life.

This book was such an emotional ride. Following Mina’s story as an immigrant to America was so eye-opening. The struggles and obstacles immigrants are faced with makes me see them in a whole new light. I also enjoyed how Margot learned about her mother and was able to appreciate how much her mother did for her. This book was phenomenal and easily gets 5 stars!

This story was a bit unexpected. The characters could not have been more different, though they were mother and daughter. The suspense and twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat!

I loved the author provides views into both Mina Lee and Margot's story with dual POV. Getting to know both of them separately really made me that much more interested in the story and allowed for Mina to shine. It was a bit heartbreaking to learn about the breakdown in the relationship between Margot. What a shock for Margot to make a surprise visit and find her mother dead and alone in her apartment. Her intuition lead her down the path to determine if what happened to her mother was truly an "accident" or if something more sinister had happened. The further along Margot goes to find the answers, the more she long to find a piece of her mother that she had long been pushing away.

This is a beautifully written book about mothers and daughters and how we never really know our parents. In this case, Margot knew even less about her mother than most and it was heartbreaking that she only began to care after her mother was dead. The dual timelines and dual voices work well to move the story along. There are multiple themes here in addition to the mother/daughter relationship including immigrants, poverty, and even - murder - maybe? Through it all there are fantastic descriptions of Korean food which made me want to try them!

This is a sad book in so many ways - so many missed opportunities and hard times - and yet I finished the book feeling not overly sad but hopeful that Margot has learned from her mistakes and will go on to have made Mina proud. If only Mina had lived to see it.

The Last Story of Nancy Jooyoun Kim is a story about a mother and daughter and the choices that are made that sometimes is not known by the other. Told in dual point of views from Mina, the mother and Margot, the daughter. Their relationship was not the best, as Margot lived the American life while Mina was an immigrant with a history she hid. Margot at times seemed embarrassed of her mother. Then she finds her mother has passed away and we begin to see Mina’s story. We learn about the culture and see family dynamics in a story that was sprinkled with mystery. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Happy reading!

Margot is from Los Angeles, but is currently living in Seattle, working. Her mother still lives in Los Angeles in the same apartment, Margot grew up in. When her friend Miguel makes a move to LA, Margot decides to help him find a place. When she arrives to check in on her mother, she is shocked to find her mother dead. No one seems to know what happened. Margot finds things in the apartment that shock her, she always thought her mother was boring and did nothing. With this discovery, Margot is determined to find out as much as she can about her mother, Mina Lee and about herself as well.

Thank you to Park Row books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.



This book moved a little slowly for me. Margot seemed really laid back. I found it hard to concentrate on the book and often found other things to do, instead of reading. The book did warm my heart though and make me wish I lived closer to my mother. I remember there was a time when the power had gone out at her house and she had to be away for work. I had to drive almost an hour roundtrip to make sure everything was turned off, because she had turned on the tea kettle and wasn't sure if she turned the oven off since the power was out. Her neighbors at the time didn't have a key to her house. That has since changed, but I still wish I lived a little closer.

For a long time Margot was ashamed of her mother, I'm not sure if it was because they were poor or because her mother never did anything for herself. In her quests will she find a totally different person than the one she thought she knew her entire life?