Tokyo Dreaming was a very good sequel to Tokyo Ever After. I like how Izumi evolved as a character. She went from trying to change herself to make everyone around her happy to being true to herself. Her relationships with those around her also evolve which I enjoyed. She was able to get coser to her cousins, and we as an audience learned more about their motivations. I would recommmend this duology to my teens as the characters are written well and the plot is interesting. They are also able to learn bout Japanese culture while enjoying a romance story.

This was okay. I enjoyed the first book so much that the follow up kind of felt lackluster. It held my attention the whole time and I did want to see what happened, but not much actually happened.

After rooting for the love interest in the first book, we then are faced with a second book break up (happens right at the beginning so I'm not spoiling anything) which made me confused. I mean, weren't we supposed to see how their unconventional love story - princess and guard - would work out? I suppose that was the point though - to see Izumi come into her own and make discoveries about herself. However, she doesn't do it on her own. She does it with a different guy with the fake dating trope.

All while this is happening, the main story line is that her parents are getting married and she wants to make sure she doesn't do anything to knock them off course. It suddenly became a story about a princess putting on model behavior so that her parents would be allowed to get married and that is just not what I wanted.

It was fine and it was a quick, easy read, but it just wasn't as good as the first one.

I love Izumi and her complicated experiences! It was fun to get to know her parents a bit, but I wasn't all that invested in their story. The book was at its best when Izumi was trying to make sense of the world around her and her place in it.

In the second book in Emiko Jean's fun young adult series, princess Izzy balances pressures, privilege, and expectations in Japan while attempting to stay true to herself, to love who she chooses--and to preserve her parents' chances of happiness.

In Emiko Jean's young adult story Tokyo Ever After, we met Izumi (Izzy) Tanaka, an everyday, average Japanese-American teen...who discovered that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan.
Izumi was gobsmacked to realize that she was literally a princess. She was thrilled to travel to Japan to meet her father and the rest of her royal family for the first time.
But she quickly realized that being a princess involved responsibility, political maneuvering, and mysterious family dynamics she knew nothing about. And getting to know her father was a bigger challenge than Izzy had bargained for.
In Tokyo Dreaming, we pick up the story with Izzy dating her gorgeous bodyguard boyfriend, living with her beloved dog, and having figured out the royal family dynamics of cousins, aunts, uncles, and more. The biggest news is that her parents--once young star-crossed lovers, now mature grown-ups ready to build a loving life together--are engaged.
But before their royal wedding can take place, long-held limitations about who her father may marry must be reconsidered--and in a system steeped in tradition, Izzy's beginning to think the union may never be approved.
The details of princess life, privilege, and pressures are fun and fantastic, including elaborate clothing and frequent costume changes, long-held traditions, and the pomp and circumstance of various ceremonies.
With star-crossed lovers, a love triangle, a search for personal purpose and destiny, and great evil-nemeses/cousin-conflict scenes, Tokyo Dreaming builds on the fun, romance, and immersive Tokyo details of the first book in this solid, satisfying sequel.
Jean is also the author of Tokyo Ever After (Tokyo Ever After #1), Empress of All Seasons, and We'll Never Be Apart.
I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of Flatiron Books and NetGalley.

I absolutely adored Tokyo Ever After, so I was super excited to get my hands on this sequel! What i loved about the first book is that it felt like the author treated the characters as young people on the precipice of adulthood, but they felt real and mature and immature in all the right ways. I was so happy to see that continue in Tokyo Dreaming, which finds us back in Tokyo with Izumi and her parents, who are on the brink of reunion.

While I don't think this quite lived up to Tokyo Ever After, which I contend is a nearly perfect YA novel in every way, it did exactly what it should do, which is allow Izumi's life and story as she settles into her new role to develop, grow, and change. She experiences having to choose between two very different men who she cares for. She makes big mistakes. She changes contentious relationships. And she starts to discover what she may really want for her life. We get to see her continue to make sense of being American and Japanese at the same time, and how she feels like not enough of both most of the time.

I don't know if we'll get another chapter of this story, but if we do I will be one of the first in line to read it. I think Izumi is a wonderfully imperfect character, and I enjoy her voice and her growth.

I loved Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After, so I was very excited when I was asked to be a part of the blog tour for Tokyo Dreaming. Izumi is a charming heroine and I love the narrative voice throughout the novel.

I usually hate love triangles. But Tokyo Dreaming manages to not only pull off it’s love triangle in a realistic feeling way, but also had me torn, rooting equally for both Eriku and Akio.

Eriku, Izumi’s new love interest, starts out as her tutor. Convinced that getting into the right college will help her parents get permission to get married, Izumi throws herself into studying and becoming the perfect princess. That’s how she meets Eriku, and the two come up with a plan. They decide to pretend to date, helping both Izumi’s image in the press and Eriku’s relationship with his father. They start out as friends, happy to spend time together and deploy their scheme, but as it usually goes with the Fake Dating trope, their pretend feelings soon become real.

One of my favorite Izumi and Eriku moments was their Tokyo Disney outing. Even though it was all for show, Eriku still took care to plan things he thought Izumi would like, even private moments away from the press when they could catch their breath.

In Tokyo Ever After, Izumi acquired two nemeses in the form of her cousins, Noriko and Akiko, who she fondly refers to as The Shining Twins. But after breaking an antique vase during a fight, the three are sent away to learn how to get along- or else. I really liked how Izumi, Akiko, and Noriko’s relationship was developed. The three were able to come to a better understanding of each other, becoming friends as they grew to appreciate their unique skills and personalities.

Sweet and heartfelt, Tokyo Dreaming is an utterly charming sequel to Tokyo Ever After. I loved seeing how Izumi continued to learn and thrive as a princess, as well how she grew in her relationships with her family and in love. This duology is perfect for fans of The Princess Diaries and not to be missed.

Tokyo Dreaming is the sequel to Tokyo Ever After. This series tells the story of a fictional Japanese Princess. This series is a delight to read especially since a few months ago a real Japanese princess made the news by marrying a commoner! Therefore, this series is very relevant to our times!

Izumi is a very relatable and lovable character. From the first novel, she learns that being a princess is not at all as she has expected to be. In this, she has to learn to choose between her own love or her parents’ happiness. Therefore, I found Izumi to be a very mature character. I admired her willingness to make sacrifices. She was a woman who cared about those she loved. Thus, I rooted for Izumi to find her own happiness.

Overall, this novel is about choices, family, and responsibility. All of the characters have grown since the first novel and each of them have compelling stories. The story is very well-written! Mrs. Jean has created a realistic alternative world f Japan! There is a lot of drama, humor, and romance! This novel will be sure to delight readers of American Royals! I also recommend this fans of Kat Cho, Jenny Han, and Jessica Jung!

Returning to a beloved world in a sequel is always a little nerve-wracking. Sequels are delicate things, they easily fall short. So while I was incredibly excited to read Tokyo Dreaming, I was also cautious. As many of us readers, I’ve been disappointed by sequels a lot. So I am happy to tell you now that you have nothing to worry about. Tokyo Dreaming was simply delightful! Most importantly, I think it does what any good sequel should: mix things up, expand the world and explore new perspectives.

We meet new characters and are invited to reevaluate familiar ones. This latter aspect in particular truly won me over. It would’ve been easy to just give us some new shiny faces and leave all the existing relationships as they were. Emiko Jean refuses to take that easy way out. Instead, she shakes things up with realistic, albeit painful, conflict. We get to see new sides of previously disliked characters and Tokyo Dreaming is better for it. I love it when books treat all their characters with nuance and care and invite us to reconsider our judgements, even seemingly righteous ones.

Among the new faces is Eriku, Izumi’s new tutor. He’s smart and caring and I would be lying if I didn’t join Izumi’s swooning just a little bit. This brings me to one of my favourite parts of the book: a fake dating plotline! As your resident fake dating lover, I was utterly delighted. However, I do think the storyline could’ve been developed a little bit more.

This is a feeling I had about a few of the subplots, some of them felt slightly undercooked. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed them tremendously, but I felt like they all could’ve used just a bit more time and breath to fulfil their potential. There were times when the pacing was a little too quick for my taste, I would’ve liked to linger in Izumi’s experiences and feelings.

I wrote about the first book that it feels like a hug and an exploration of home. This remains true for Tokyo Dreaming. Emiko Jean’s writing oscillates between being poetic and grounded, perfectly capturing the grandness and difficulties of navigating life as a teenager, especially when you’re a princess.

The book also includes a lot of actual poetry, which might actually be my favourite aspect! The poems Izumi writes felt like direct connections to her inner world and some of them made me cry. Getting to experience love and heartbreak and all the struggles of growing up through her poetry was a true gift.

One of the central themes of this series is identity and our search for a place in the world. As a Japanese-American with the added burden of being a princess, Izumi struggles to find her place. She is torn between tradition and expectations, her actions and choices directly affecting everyone around her. I appreciated that Tokyo Dreaming treats this with nuance. It’s never as simple as “tradition is a prison, you should rebel!”. Instead, Izumi gets to do both: learn from and respect her Japanese heritage and the traditions that come with it, while also forging her own path. Ultimately, I loved the resolution to Izumi’s struggles. To me, it felt true to the character I’ve gotten to know and love. I’ve cried with her, laughed with her and finally, celebrated her making the right choices for herself.

Overall, Tokyo Dreaming retains the sweetness and swoon-worthiness of the first book while also breathing new life into Izumi’s story and the world.

First thing first, I loved this books predecessor. Honestly one of my top contemporaries of the year, with dazzling voice and all sorts of royal drama that I vibe with so hard. It’s just so good (so good! so good!).

When it came to that same sort of voice, Tokyo Dreaming delivered as well. From the very first chapter, I fell into the rhythm of Jean and her lovely sense of humor. The first person made for an even more fun version of events (what can I say, I’m a first person girlie) and kept things fresh.

I also find that obscene amounts of pop culture references aren’t normally my vibe (*she says as if she is not an avid overuser of cringey pop culture references and a walking TikTok sound replicator*), so I was also really glad the voice wasn’t super reliant on that. It felt modern and fresh with some references and indicators of the time, but I don’t think it is one of those that I’ll look back with in a couple years and go oh wow, that is like,,, so 2022.*

*really had to resist the urge to make a 22 by Taylor Swift joke there. Will be rewarding my self restraint with this fun little astrick moment

In addtion to the fresh voice, I really liked the continuation of the relationship and how the characters worked through issues throughout the book. As long as we can ignore the physical ick the pet name “radish” gave me, then totally approved.

All and all, Tokyo Dreaming delivered on the character development, the drama, and the voice. It was fun and summery in the best way possible, truly a strong contendor for a nice beach read.

Sweet, comforting, fun, sweet, family-focused, light

Tokyo Dreaming is a wonderful addition to Izumi’s story. Though I loved Tokyo Ever After more (which is common for me and sequels), this still holds a special place in my heart. Tokyo Dreaming gives us a glimpse into Izumi’s life as she learns to blend her two selves. Just like any other major life change, when we settle down into everyday life again, we start to grapple with how to reconcile our two selves from before and after the event. I love Tokyo Dreaming because it doesn’t let us get swept up in the whirlwind of excitement of becoming an overnight princess and a happily ever after, it’s about the challenges that came after a major life change and a major change in family dynamic. In this sequel, we’re allowed to see Izumi and her family struggle with their new normal. We get to see them decide how they want to find their voice and build their lives.

Quick Summary: After Izumi learned her father was the Crowned Pince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s finally settling into her life as a princess when she overhears that the Imperial Household Council refuses to approve the marriage of her parents, Izumi pledges to become the picture-perfect princess to make up for her mother’s lack of status. Unfortunately trying to be someone you’re not isn’t all it’s cut out to be. As Izumi starts to become what everyone wants her to be, she starts to lose herself in the process. In the process of giving her mom and dad a happily ever after, will she lose her own?

Tokyo Ever After was one of my favorite reads of 2021. It was the first book I’ve ever read where the Asian American protagonist went to the country where her parents are from and is accepted. Izumi may not have been fully accepted easily as the princess of the nation, that always has to come with struggles, but she was never questioned on whether she was Japanese. Izumi was able to go to a place where everyone looked like her and everyone accepted that she looked like them as well. I cried a lot.

As a mixed race person, this is a magical phenomena I could never imagine for myself, but inside this series, I’m able to dream. Tokyo Dreaming picks up from Izumi learning how to exist in Japan in the previous book and allows her to begin her life where her heart is. It is a delightful extension to that dream that Tokyo Ever After made possible for me. It helped me imagine what that could be like and I never want to let it go. This series takes The Princess Diaries, one of my favorite movies as a kid, and gives it back to Asian Americans. Tokyo Ever After gives us our magical princess story and Tokyo Dreaming gives us our princess life.

Tokyo Dreaming is a delightful follow-up to Tokyo Ever After. Though I adored the first much more, I loved how we got a look into how the reconciliation of past and present could come together for the characters. We didn’t just get a happily ever after with the first book, we got to see how they can build lives they love together. It was beautiful.

Absolutely loved this sequel to Tokyo Ever After! Wonderful characters, interesting plot developments, plenty of emotional depth and humor, and a very satisfying ending. Highly recommended!

A vida da Princesa Izumi estaria perfeita, se não fosse a imprensa japonesa não dando tregua para sua mãe e seu namoro. Quando seu pai pede a mão de sua mãe em casamento, Izumi fica radiante, mas a Agência da Casa Imperial não se mostra favorável, e restam alguns meses para fazerem eles mudarem de opinião. Izumi sabe que boa parte dessa rejeição vem dela, então ela decide fazer algumas mudanças para ver seus pais felizes.

Nessa sequência de Tokyo Ever After, Izumi será capaz de sacrificar sua felicidade pela dos pais. Akio me decepcionou com a forma como ele lidou com toda essa situação logo no primeiro grande obstáculo, recorrendo a saída mais fácil para tentar fazer o melhor para Izumi e seus pais. Mesmo de coração partido, Izumi ergue a cabeça e vai atrás do que ela acha ser o plano perfeito para mudar a opinião das pessoas.

É nesse momento que Eriku Nakamura entra na vida de Izumi. Eriku está sempre com um sorriso no rosto, doces nos bolsos e uma luz que traz um alento para o momento que ela está vivendo. Eles são muito parecidos no que se trata de querer aprovação se outros, e acabam se ajudando nessa caminhada, com novas descobertas sobre si mesmos e amadurecimento. Uma outra surpresa nessa sequência é a aproximação de Izumi com suas primas, ou Gêmeas Iluminadas, Akiko e Noriko, foi bom ver a mudança entre elas.

Eu li esse livro tão rápido quanto o primeiro, é uma leitura muito fluída que fica quase impossível de largar. Só não foi cinco estrelas porque achei que faltou explorar melhor algumas coisas nos últimos capítulos, ficou um pouco corrido e superficial.

This was an absolutely delightful follow up to Tokyo Ever After, and I think it is a must read for those who enjoyed that one and want more of Izumi. Emiko Jean's writing is immersive and makes you feel like you're living Izumi's experience in Japan. There's a bit more romance in this one, with a fake dating trope and even a love triangle. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the first book in this duology, Tokyo Ever After, and I was so excited to receive an e-ARC of this sequel!

I enjoyed this book so much. Getting to see Izumi a bit more accustomed to her life as a princess was fun, but as her parents’ got closer, it was her mother who seemed to be put through the royal wringer, and Izumi’s perspective on it was so interesting, having just gone through it herself, but really wanting her parents to stay together, no matter how difficult it seemed to be for her mother to adjust to a new life.

I was fully prepared to detest the love triangle in this story, but I wound up enjoying how each partner brought out a different side of Izumi, and I understood her struggle to figure out where her feelings were leading her.

But my favourite thing about this story was her relationship with her twins, who I couldn’t stand in book one. I love when an author shows me more of a character and changes my opinion of them.

This was a sweet, fun, delightful read, and a fantastic follow up to Tokyo Ever After!

I really love the Tokyo setting in this series! Learning about the culture and history of Japan is so fun. Izumi is such a relatable character, I find myself rooting for her throughout this series and those she loves. The love triangle trope isn’t my favorite, but I love that the romance themes were more constant in this second installment (with Izumi and her parents). I can’t wait to read more! ✨

Cover Story: Still Paper-tastic

If there was one thing I was sure of about this sequel, it’s that it would have an awesome cover. Artist John Ed De Vera* has returned with another exquisite masterpiece. Ironically, for a book with ‘dreaming’ in the title, Izumi’s eyes are wide open, as if she’s gazing at the limitless possibilities ahead. And, of course, she’s surrounded by the iconic sakura of her new home.

*Bonus for YA fans: he also created a design of Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes series!

The Deal:

After a rocky arrival as as newly discovered princess of Japan, Izumi Tanaka is finally settling into life in Tokyo. Love is in the air, between her and Akio, her former bodyguard and now boyfriend, and also Izumi’s parents, who have been lovey-dovey and inseparable ever since they’ve been reunited.

In fact, Mom and Dad want to married — but not if the Imperial Household Council has their way. They don’t approve of Izumi’s mother as a suitable match for the Crown Prince of Japan, and their impression of Izumi herself isn’t helping matters, either.



With her parents’ marriage on the line, Izumi is determined to do everything she can to get them to the proverbial altar. Becoming the perfect princess might win the council’s approval, but will Izumi lose sight of her own Happily Ever After?

BFF Charm: Big Sister

BFF Charm Big Sister with Clarissa from Clarissa Explains It All's face
When we last saw Izumi, it seemed like the Japanese public was finally warming up to her. Well, one step forward and two steps back, since they’re less receptive to their new princess dating a commoner and also having the audacity of being an 18-year-old who hasn’t figured out what to do with their life. (Not that Izumi’s actually expected to work a day job, but her indecisiveness over colleges — which one to go to, or whether to go at all — is causing a minor commotion.)

Under the scrutiny of an entire country, it’s understandable why Izumi feels like transforming herself into a picture-perfect princess is an obvious solution. (If you don’t give them anything to nitpick, then they won’t nitpick!) I’ve been through these people-pleasing scenarios with enough younger book siblings to know how they usually play out, so all you can do is watch them make mistakes that you can see coming and hope that the lessons won’t be too painful to learn.

Swoonworthy Scale: 5

Now that Izumi and Akio have gone public, he’s no longer her bodyguard (which assuages my ethical concerns from last time), which also means he’s joined her under the microscope of the prying public. It’s an unenviable position, but one that’s less harsh to someone who’s already accustomed to high society — like Izumi’s new college tutor, Eriku. And what’s missing from the Perfect Princess Plan? A Perfect (Fake) Boyfriend.

There’s one more couple in the book that’s arguably the most important but I would have liked more of: the long-lost star-crossed lovers, Izumi’s mother and father. Even though this is YA, I wanted to be more invested in their romance, especially since Izumi is sacrificing so much for it. Give me Season 5 Emily and Richard shipping!

Talky Talk: Easy Breezy

Who doesn’t like a bit of escapism, especially amidst *gestures at everything*? The books in this series make for great beach reads that can be devoured in single sittings — and you might pick up some phonetic Japanese, too.

Bonus Factor: The Fame Game


I’m not familiar with Japan’s tabloid culture as it pertains to their royals, but the one in this series is reminiscent of the IRL British press (but less vicious to women of colour). Tokyo Tattler articles have appeared throughout the books since the first installment, and and there’s no shortage of opinions from royal reporters and bloggers to provide a sense of public sentiment towards the spectacle caused by Izumi’s mere existence.

Annoying and invasive as these gossip hounds can be, Izumi’s also learning how to game the system. If she’s going to be the talk of the town no matter what she does, she might as well let them gossip — but on her own terms.

Bonus Factor: Best Frienemies

Serena and Blair from Gossip Girl air kissing
Glamourous and seemingly perfect, Izumi’s cousins Akiko and Noriko (aka The Shining Twins (as in, that The Shining)) might be even better as her allies than they were her enemies. And they were really, really good at being her enemies.

Bonus Factor: Loyal Pets

A beagle puppy
Izumi’s mother isn’t the only one who’s made the move to Tokyo — Tamagotchi the terrier mix is now a palace pooch! He’s also not the only canine on the scene, as Momo-chan the Saint Bernard becomes the most frequent important name-drop of the book.

Relationship Status: Vacation Fling

As these books have shown, dreaming of being with royalty is a different matter altogether than actually being with royalty. (Honestly, I was thinking about how much more I’d enjoy royalty if not for the classism, which is, like, the entire point.) This series and I might not be made for each other, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop hooking up when we’re in the same city.

I loved this sequel! Izzy's story continues as her parents decide to finally marry, she tries to decide whether to start college or have a gap year, and her romantic life hits some bumps. As with Tokyo Ever After, the audiobook was excellently narrated, which is nice with all the Japanese words thrown in to the narrative. And I would totally read a third installment in the series.

I LOVED Tokyo Ever After and was so glad to be back in Izumi's world. We start off right where we left off and we are excited to see where Izumi's choices take her.

This is a really entertaining YA book about sacrifices. All Izumi wants is to be a whole family and she makes so many sacrifices to make that happen. Even with a second book there was character development, new story lines and just an all around excellent continuation of TEA.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

Not as delightful as the first one mostly because it felt like too much was going on and it was a little all over the place (although it pulled together nicely in the end), but Izzy's voice was fantastic and amazing and I just love her as a person and wish she was real.

In a nutshell, and spoiler free!

Rating: 👑👑👑👑

For starters, this book was the compilation of 5678 years of fantasizing on my part. The princess vibes, the troubles, the over the top romantic scenarios that have less than .4% chance of every happening in real life- did it hurt you? Because it did hurt me. A lot. And this book was a band-aid for that pain. To be honest, it is hard (basically impossible) to beat the first book of this series because the first one was guilty pleasure hand wrapped with copious amount of ‘AM I SWEATING OR AM I… SWEATING-‘ and even though the first book is my own Princess Diaries ‘let me cry because this will absolutely never happen to me’, this one continued the story wonderfully! There were moments where I wanted to scream, cry, rage, make kissy noises because being obnoxious is my life’s calling and I enjoyed the ride (with bumps, scars, car accidents and everything in between. Also, pink beautiful sunsets, mountains full of soft translucent watery powder… snow, yes. That.)

So if you enjoy, racing hearts, twisty turns and a family that goes through lots… and lots… and lots of changes (I love being evil like this, hehehe) I recommend this story as an escape from the sucky reality of the world!