I like everything about Happy Endings...except the actual reading of it. It's got a great premise, and sounds, on paper, like exactly the kind of romance I love, with a fun second chance set-up. It's got a truly diverse cast, and revels in its sex positive attitude, both things I love in a book. But the execution of these promising traits completely let me down.

The writing - the actual construction of sentences, the putting together of words on a page - is clumsy and bland. It's heavily front-loaded with exposition, consisting largely of "Remember how you and I met? Let me detail our shared experience for some reason!" type of info dump moments. The characters were one-dimensional and flat, and their relationship - the heart of the book - consequently lacked in chemistry or emotional engagement. (Andre was a whole mess, but not enough of a real person for that to even be interesting.) The secondary characters weren't any better - there wasn't anyone who felt real enough for me to care about at all. (And the whole Boss Babes thing...was kind of just obnoxious. There aren't enough of you to be constantly referring to yourselves by this group name instead of just, like, as friends? It felt like the veneer of feminism and empowerment, without any substance.)

It's a romance novel - the relationships, the characters, have to work for the story to work. And I just couldn't bring myself to care about them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the advance review copy!

I liked this book a lot although something in it didn't quite click for me -- I wasn't sure if it was the romance part because it felt a bit of a rushed second chance or something else. I think this author has a lot of potential and the book felt like it was setting up sequels and/or companion series so we'll see what happens. That being said, the setting was good and there was something unique about this. Give it a chance if you like contemporary romance!

Happy Endings comes out TOMORROW on May 18, 2021 and you can purchase HERE.

"My parents seem to forget that they raised me to be American," Trixie said. "So I could fit in and succeed." There was a faraway look in her eyes. "It's confusing to be the daughter of immigrants. Trying to figure out which part of me is more important. There's no guidebook on which situation requires me to be more Vietnamese and which one needs me to be American."

3.5/5 Stars

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

I really enjoyed reading this book, It was fun, steamy and adorable. I'll admit that it took me some time to really get into the story and feel invested. Once I felt connected the book just flew by. Overall it was a quick and easy read. Perfect for somehting fast and fluffy!

I was totally into the concept of an #ownvoices sex-positive romance, and was not disappointed. Trixie was a wonderful, multidimensional protagonist. I enjoyed hearing her voice, watching her discover her own values and identity. The male protagonist left a bit to be desired, but the steaminess was off the charts.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and diverse summer read! Perfect for fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and so if you like that trope as well then this is right up your alley. This book was hilarious and moving at times. I enjoyed the importance of family that was shown in this book. Never taking for granted the time you have left with them.

Trixie is a strong independent women you will be rooting for. She may want a man but that does not mean she will let him come in between her and her dreams.

Happy Endings has a mission, and while I can get behind the mission and the issues it is trying to tackle, I struggled with the execution. I love the idea of exploring sex positivity, following your dreams, and female friendship and community business collaborations. However we are not shown how this works, we are told about these things in a way that detracts from feeling like we are getting to know real characters: it feels like we are reading a manual for a utopian vision of how things could and should be. Info dumps slow the plot to a crawl (especially at the crucial beginning where you want to draw the reader into the story) and saps the story of its emotional energy.

As for the romance: Andre was a hard character to like. He centered himself and his needs in the relationship at every turn, and honestly it's confusing what Trixie sees in him. The romance plot resolves neatly even though Andre has shown a pattern of emotional withholding and making unilateral decisions for their relationship while refusing to communicate. He literally busts into a cardiac unit and demands Trixie talk to him about their relationship despite the fact that she's dealing with a stressful event of her own, disregarding anyone's needs but his own. There's also a tragedy that happens toward the end of the novel that is directly the result of Andre's irresponsibility combined with hurting people he loved by not trusting them that seems to get rug swept way too easily. He was also a prude about sex toys from the beginning up until basically the final chapters and was worried Trixie was corrupting his mother's elderly friends with her sex toy business. I just didn't believe this guy was a good match for Trixie, and it was very hard to invest in their relationship.

I really wanted to like it, but the emotional conflicts were very surface level and also not enticing as a romance reader.

Trixie is growing her business selling sex toys and hoping to gain acceptance from her traditional Vietnamese parents. At a pop up event, she runs into her ex, Andre, who happens to own the restaurant the event is in. They end up in a partnership, hoping to help both of their businesses by continuing to host pop-up events in the restaurant. But can they continue to work as business partners or will their history and chemistry get in the way?

First of all, any book set in the SC area automatically makes me happy. All of the DMV references gave me life! I loved the sex positivity in this one, and the message of embracing your body. This was a fun and unique second-change romance and I loved that this one features a biracial couple! This was a fun debut romance!

This is a lovely, very sexy, foodie romance with a diverse cast. I really enjoyed the sense of community in the book, and the fact that both hero and heroine had strong friendships and relationships outside of their romantic relationship. I also loved the heroine's passion for teaching people about sex and pleasure.
However, the hero really annoyed me. He's someone who tends to take everything on himself and feel like it's his job to fix everything, and I do have a lot of sympathy for that. However, he has a tendency to keep people in the dark about problems that affect them and that they might actually be able to help fix, which frustrated me enormously. It takes him far too long to stop doing this, and to stop doing things for people's own good without consulting them, and frankly, the happy ending comes very much in spite of his behaviour and because of a deus ex machina.
Another point of frustration was that this book kind of nibbled around the edges of what could have been a really interesting conversation about gentrification and community and real estate and different models of property ownership/occupancy, but it chose not to. Instead, we have the hero laying down ultimatums to the heroine when she is offered an opportunity that he feels is siding with the gentrifiers – and again, this is resolved only by a deus ex machina. We never really see this resolved between them, either. The problem goes away and so does the ultimatum, but I do wonder about how this works in a relationship.
I'm really torn on how to grade this, to be honest, because despite my issues with the hero and the ending of the book, I really enjoyed reading it. I liked the heroine and her friends, and of course I liked the food. I think this is 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to a 4 because I did have fun reading this story, despite its flaws.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon, Harper Voyager and Thien-Kim Lam for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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A #ownvoices, second chance romance that gives us a tase (literally) of two cultures coming together, some serious sex positivity throughout and friendship for days, Happy Endings is a solid romance novel! It’s a quick and easy read that tackles things like loss, gentrification, and familial expectations. I am pretty torn on how to review this one. While there were some things, like Trixie’s job, her friendship with her two girlfriends and the food descriptions, that I really liked, there were a few things I just didn’t mesh with. The spark between Trixie and Andre just wasn’t there for me. Andre wasn’t my favorite character and honestly I didn’t love him for Trixie. At times the scenes between the two started to feel a little repetitive and it got old, quick. The bedroom scenes between the two were *chef’s kiss*, though. It’s always nice to read a female lead that’s not afraid to love herself, including making time for some self love between the sheets.
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While I think there are some people who will absolutely love this one, I do think Happy Endings will fit in that 3-star rating slo for most readers. A solid read, but at the end of the day it just doesn’t stand out.

When I heard about this book several months ago, I thought it sounded amazing. It follows a young woman named Trixie that sells sex toys, and is hoping to start her own sex toy boutique in the near future. When she hosts a pop up shop, she discovers that one of the owners of the store she’s working out of is her ex-boyfriend, Andre, who dumped her via post-it. As the two are forced by circumstance to spend more time together, they find that their feelings for one another might not be gone.

I assumed that this would be a sex-positive, second chance romance. I’ll be honest and say that second chance romances are one of my least favorite tropes, but I figured that the forced proximity would make up for it. And I adore sex-positive books, so that was another aspect that made me put aside my hesitation and pick this book up.

Unfortunately, this book did not resonate with me on any level. Even the aspects that I thought I would like were not handled well, and ultimately I ended up disliking almost every facet of the story. I normally start out by saying something positive about the book, but in this case I’m genuinely struggling. The one thing I will say is that a lot of my complaints are personal issues, so someone else may enjoy the book. I just very much did not.

If I had to sum up everything I didn’t appreciate about this book into one problem, it would be the lack of emotional depth. I say this because once I enumerate my issues with the book you’ll start noticing that as a theme.

To start with, we have the characters who were extremely one-dimensional. Starting with our main characters, Trixie and Andre, they were practically given a character description in the beginning of the book that they stuck to throughout the entire book. Trixie was a Strong Independent Sex Positive Woman TM. Andre was, well, Andre was a mess. Trixie was tolerable, but Andre was just a summation of every possible terrible trait a significant other could have wrapped up in one.

Objectifying the love interest? Check!

Incapable of communication? Check!

Thinking only of himself? Check!

I think you get the picture. Andre just was not likable to me. He hides important information about the restaurant that he owns from his sister, the co-owner to “protect her”. He gets angry at Trixie for something, won’t tell her what, gives her the silent treatment, and then decides to kiss her when Trixie asks what’s wrong?

Which is another thing. I am no stranger to steamy book. I love when there’s lots of smutty scenes, and even casual kisses and snuggling throughout the book. So technically I should have liked this book! There was so much physical affection! Except, it all came at a cost of communication. By which I mean there was no communication. The two of them would just tear off each other’s clothes whenever they were near one another. They’d kiss instead of talk. When Trixie wanted Andre to join her to go somewhere important to her, even after just claiming he wished Trixie would open up more and treat him more like a boyfriend, he tries to push off whatever Trixie had planned so they could just have sex instead. In fact, I don’t see why Andre cared so much about wanting Trixie and him to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend. All he seemed to ever want Trixie for was sex. Any time there was something deeper involved he pushed her away. So not only did I not ship the two of these characters, I actively disliked one of them by the end of this book!

This all goes back to what I was talking about earlier. This book did a whole lot of telling, but never enough showing. We were told that Andre was sweet, but there never were any actions to prove it. We were told Trixie was a strong independent woman, but that lacked nuance in its execution. Even Trixie’s friends, the Boss Babes, were friends in name only. They only had appeared when Trixie needed advice, or to move along the plot. I didn’t really understand why any of them were friends with one another because besides for knowing what their jobs were, we didn’t learn anything about the Boss Babes.

For me, it’s the little details that make a story. Yes, knowing that a character has always wanted a cat, but their mother was allergic so they never had one doesn’t add anything to the story, but it does add depth and background to a character. Sure, I don’t need to know why a character will never eat mint chocolate chip ice cream again after that one prank her best friend pulled, but it sure provides me an insight into the character dynamics. We never really got those moments in this book. Everything written was purposeful and specific and it showed. Maybe that doesn’t bother you, but it sure bothered me. It didn’t feel realistic, it felt like a screenplay. We were given all the actions and dialogue but nothing else. Because of that I wasn’t drawn towards the book whenever I put it down. In fact I even got bored at high tension scenes because I was so detached!

Now I can go into the some nitty gritty aspects of plot points that don’t make sense, but I won’t. Because had the rest of the book been enjoyable, I could have easily overlooked those parts. But there were too many things that I disliked and didn’t care for that lead to this being a two star read.

I know this is a debut, and I know I may have been a little harsh. I think this book had a lot of potential, and if none of the things I mentioned bother you, there’s no reason not to read it. I didn’t like it, but I have nothing against this book. Sometimes books work for you and sometimes they don’t. This one just didn’t work for me.

This book had some redeeming qualities such as the sex positive premise and multicultural representation but as a romance it was weak one. Second chance romance is a tough trope to get right in my opinion. But there was not much going on in the name of romance in this story. Once Trixie and Andre decided to give their relationship another chance, albeit a no strings attached arrangement, it as all about sex.

I've found the dialogue forced. For example the complements they give to each other felt in-genuine. Another thing I didn't like was that the story lines especially Andre's was a bit cliche with the whole saving the neighborhood bit. And I just couldn't understand why all the people describe the job Trixie doing as helping people. She is just selling sex-toys! I get that she is also educating people in a way and at the end decided to pursue a career as a sex therapist but still it sounded cheesy. I couldn't connect with the main characters at all and the whole Boss Babes thing felt like the author was trying too hard to make it about women empowerment.

This book was definitely very informative about the use of sex toys:) If I look at this book as a romance it was only a mediocre read for me. But as a women's contemporary fiction, it was a little bit more satisfying. I enjoyed reading about Trixie's Vietnamese parents and Trixie's experiences as being a daughter of immigrants and not meeting their expectations by choosing a non-traditional career approach.

Truly, where do I even begin my review for this novel?

I think it goes without saying that I love a good multiple POVs rom com, and Happy Endings did that. Might I also add that the steam factor in the book made it feel like I was sitting in a 120 degree sauna room. 😅

However, what I wanted to talk about is more than the romance, because there was so much more to this book than that for me. Being of mixed race, to this day, I still struggle with my own identity. I have always been told I'm not "Black enough" or not "Asian/Vietnamese enough" or "American enough". While I'm still not really sure what all that means, it is my reality, so it is not every day I get to see myself in a book.

Trixie Nguyen is the youngest daughter of immigrant parents. Her parents want her to be a pharmacist, medical doctor, or go to law school. Trixie has other plans and her parents disapproves. It was so relatable watching Trixie struggle with her own identity and trying to make herself happy while making her parents proud of her. We get to see Trixie become confident and independent as she navigates her way through life.

I love the various cultural representations, body and sex positivity, the support system between neighbors, family, and friends and (oh my goodness) ALL THE FOOD and its galore! Give me all the #ownvoice romance now!

Thank you @msthienkim for writing a book that I can find a piece of myself in and thank you @netgalley and @avonbooks for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. Happy Endings publishes on Tuesday, 5/18. Go support your local book store and pick up this wonderful #ownvoice second chance romance novel!

"My parents seem to forget that they raised me to be American. So I could fit in and succeed... It's confusing to be the daughter of immigrants. Trying to figure out which part of me is more important. There's no guidebook on which situation requires me to be more Vietnamese and which one needs me to be more American."

3.5. I loved the female and sexual empowerment inherent in this story, mostly reflected through Trixie's sex therapy and sex toy enterprise. Overall, Trixie is a pretty strong character, but like others I felt like all of her growth happened before the story took place--she served mostly as a foil to Andre, who had a LOT of growth to accomplish. As a result, the pacing felt a little off. The chemistry is intense and well-done, though, and it's a quick read that still has substance.

Reading romance novels has helped me a lot with shedding socially ingrained nerves/embarrassment around talking about sex. I'm still a work in progress, and I loved that this book is such a glowing model of sex positivity. Trixie is a sex educator and toy saleswoman on a mission to help everyone, especially women, learn about their own bodies and pleasure. She's saving money to open her own boutique even as she worries that her parents aren't proud of her business successes because of the merchandise. When a pop-up sales event throws her back into contact with the ex who broke up with her via post-it, her 5 year plan doesn't seem to have room for Andre...or does it?

The book packs in some sizzling chemistry and especially hot-and-bothered explicit scenes featuring Trixie's wares. This added element separates it from some of the more predictable scenes you see in the genre. I also loved reading about Trixie's experience as the daughter of immigrants and how she works to build the future she wants.

Plotting was a bit more of an issue for me. The story is fast-paced to the point that character growth felt abrupt and rushed for Andre. For Trixie, all her growth was apparently in the two years previous to the story. We learn of it through Andre's comparisons between the then and now without getting to go on the journey with her. Also, the book taps into some meaningful conversation about gentrification and references complex family relationships, but these conflicts and struggles flit through the story rather than fermenting and growing into a deeper conversation.

Trixie is a Vietnamese American woman from New Orleans now living in DC, and her best friends–the Boss Babes–are strong, independent women from diverse backgrounds. Andre is Black, and those he includes in his family circle are the aunties and uncles, also a diverse set of individuals, he grew up around. And the food…I loved the mention of food from pho to collard greens to kimchi. The book is also sex-positive, and I liked that Trixie not only loves her job but also teaches sex education classes.

I wished the writing had been more descriptive to evoke the images of such a beloved neighborhood or the aroma of the delicious food Andre concocted. Additionally, this extended to the feelings Andrew and Trixie had for one another. While each said they loved one another and weren’t really over the other person, I never felt the emotions that would have made me root for them. Despite my dislike of Andre, I might have been persuaded to be more open to the second chance had the writing been able to evoke any longing to see them together. Additionally, the book is a fair length but felt long-winded at times. Ultimately, there was a lot to like about the book and the two lead characters, but the delivery fell flat for me. (2.5 stars rounded to 3 stars)

I’m just going to jump right in with this one.
What I liked:
- Trixie. I loved Trixie! A strong Asian badass, confident in herself and her sexuality, standing up for herself to her parents, to her boyfriend, and fighting for her dreams. All of my yes.
- Setting - The New Orleans style restaurant in DC was a cool setting, in a neighborhood where it’s a real community, everyone taking care of each other - I’m a sucker for that.
- Real talk about gentrification, culture, and sex
- Great sex scenes

What I didn’t like:
- Andre. I’m honestly a little mad that such an awesome female lead was paired with such a selfish douche. I don’t think he deserved her, and he cared more about having her because he wanted her, not because he wanted to make her happy.
- The secondary characters (except Keisha, I also loved Keisha) were pretty two-dimensional.
- There was a lot of awkward dialogue.
- Ok this one is nitpicky but it bothered me so much throughout the whole book. Trixie and her friends referred to themselves as the Boss Babes CONSTANTLY. And they don’t hang out. They have Boss Babes meetings. It was just really weird and it was so prominent.

Overall this was enjoyable enough, there were definitely some good things about it. I probably wouldn’t re-read it and so think it had the potential to be better but I still liked it.

Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

There is a lot to like about Happy Endings. It‘s funny, Trixie is a badass sex toy seller, the friends are amazing and the romance is good. I liked the representation of a Vietnamese MC and the interracial relationship with a black man. It was very well done and I loved the blending of cultures. The sex positivity was off the charts. However, Andre is the biggest idiot ever and I could have done without some of that. Sometimes it really took away from the story, but overall Happy Endings was a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this novel.

RATING: 3 stars

Overall, I liked this book - I finished it in one day! I appreciate that there was a strong female character who took initiative, showed independence, and had a good family background storyline. However, I do not believe there was strong character development throughout this story. Both Tre and Trixie faced limited growth, in my mind. The most significant "development" was their sexual chemistry and realization of their feelings for one another. While it makes for a great story, I did not find the characters relatable, nor did I find myself rooting for Trixie along the way. This storyline was very predicable - we knew the next chapter would be another hookup or conversation about when they would sleep together. There was the sprinkling of a chapter where a small conflict started to arise, but fizzled before there was true drama.

I do think there was potential for this to be a great piece. I think it was "good" but I am not sold that I would recommend it to friends and, if I did, that I would recommend it be at the top of their list. I look forward to reading more of Lam's work to get a better grasp on her writing style and storytelling, as this was my first novel of hers and I am optimistic that her other work has stronger storylines and characters.

The premise of this book sounded like so much fun and the food descriptions were so good and it really made me miss all the good food I had in New Orleans a few years ago.

I’m usually a little hesitant about the second chance romance trope because they are usually kind of angsty and I like to read because it’s a good escape from reality so angst isn’t usually my thing and yes this had some angst but it wasn’t too much, although I still don’t like this trope that much.

I liked the diversity in this story and it also had some really good steam to it.

However, there were some plot holes and things that were not fully explained and plot holes are one of my biggest pet peeves.

Examples:
The book took place in D.C. and Trixie was originally from New Orleans which is where she met Andre but it was never explained why she decided to move to D.C. over a different city.
The other thing I was confused about was her friend group, which really seemed like more club for women business owners and since Trixie was not a business owner I really didn’t understand how she met them or became friends with them. It’s possible that she knew them from college or before she moved to D.C. but again it wasn’t explained.

I really could not pinpoint exactly why but I really wasn’t a fan of Andre and I think Trixie deserved better. I really liked Trixie although it bugged me that I felt like everything she did was driven by her need to make her parents proud.

Overall this was just an okay read for me.
3.5 stars.

I received an ARC of this book from Avon and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story! The characters felt fully formed and living in the setting the author put them. Their everyday worries held weight that I found relatable, specifically the Trixie's struggle to meet her parent's expectations. I loved that she sold sex toys and that the author showed them being used during sexy scenes.

One of the things that confused me was the initial break up mentioned in the back cover blurb. Once we met Andre it felt a bit out of character and they didn't talk about it as much as I wanted them to.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and the relationship that developed between Trixie and Andre. Recommend!