This was a enjoyable book and romance and famliy to read about especially around Lunar New YEar. I always love a heroine with a list

4.25 / 5 stars

This was such a sweet romance. Lunar New Year does not get a lot of love in mainstream romance books so this was a refreshing read. The characters with likable and the second chance romance seemed believable. While this book wasn't anything life-changing, it was a charming and easy listen.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I love that she took her power back and decided to focus on her. I love the idea of this.

I really enjoyed this book, especially seeing the family dynamics or Cecily, Jeffrey, and their families together. I learned a lot about Lunar New Year, as well! Would definitely recommend this book.

Quirky second chance romance. And the bedroom since were so hot. Nothing filthy just spicy.

I loved the cultural perspective or portrait that the author painted through this book. I looked that a different culture and enjoyed the norms and customs. "Look at us through a different cultural lens". I loved this quote about the parents and agree whole heartedly. It is difficult as immigrant kid to maintain both cultures and this showed the struggles both Cecily and Jeff goes through to acclimatize. Spot on with Asian parents and culture.

May be a bit more groveling from Jeff's part would have been nice. I left like Cecily gave up easily. Overall it was a good book. Thank you NetGalley, Lisa Lin (the author), and Dreamscape Media for for the ARC of the audiobook.

4/5
Thank you Lisa Lin and Netgalley for gifting me a audio copy of The Year of Cecily in return for my honest review.

I want to start off by saying that I loved Cecily! She was such a wonderful character, she is strong and independent and knows what she wants. Jefferey not so much... I really didn't like how at times he seemed to talk down and almost scold Cecily for the way she responded to how he treated her in the past. He response was very reasonable and I believe that she forgave him a little to easily for my liking. I am glad that she put her foot down and didn't let him walk all over her, I just wished she had made him work a little harder.

The dialogue was wonderful, which was really fun to listen to. She has a way of giving her characters personalities and really bringing them to life for the reader/listener. This was definitely my favorite aspect of the book and I will check out her other books to read more from her!

This book starts with a list of Cecily’s Lunar New Year resolutions. This premise continues through the story while Cecily decides if those new ears resolutions are actually what is best for her.

The main romance is a second-chance romance. There is also a subplot involving familial love and what we do for those we care about. Although I could not relate to some of the Asian-American cultural references, I did appreciate the story and I hope that others would as well.

I recommend this book for those who like deeper romances, interesting characters, and a twist on new year’s resolutions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun listen around Lunar New Year. Some of the story I had a hard time getting into, but I liked the end. I like Cecily's idea of a year of Cecily. I like her parents and the community around her and what they learn and she learns about wanting the best for each other. I end up loving the love story in the end. There is mature content.

I picked this one up at the Lunar New Year excited by the prospect of Cecily doing the cliché list of single woman resolutions. I'm a sucker for a second chance romance and Jeffrey certainly had promise.

The family dynamics took center stage as some of the details got lost in translation, like how they saw each other so frequently after returning home despite LA/San Fran locations, or some of the friendships outside of the relationship. Yet, the story was light enough and rom-com enough to keep me listening, learning and enjoying.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tule Publishing for access to the audiobook of The Year of Cecily by Lisa Lin in exchange for an honest review.

CW: sexual content, emotional abuse, see full list on StoryGraph

This was such a cute second-chance romance! I loved the dynamic between the two main love interests. I loved the inclusion of the traditional elements of celebrating the Chinese New Year and how Cecily was able to use this holiday celebration to evolve into a stronger woman.

I definitely recommend picking this book up!

I this was a very disappointing book. The first few chapters were engaging and I was interested in learning more about the two main characters. It went downhill pretty quickly though.

I thought this was a second chance romance but it felt more like chaotic insta love. The FMCs feelings/thoughts/emotions were all over the place. The time jumps seemed off. I’m not sure if it was because I listened to the audiobook? I went back a few times to re-listen thinking I had missed something but I hadn’t.

The “romance” part of the book was a bit cringe worthy and I feel like the book would have been better had or been written fade to black.

I almost DNF but I was hoping something would happen to redeem the story. Unfortunately, that never happened.

I’m not usually a romance reader, but I couldn’t resist a Lunar New Year story. Personally, I wasn’t invested in the romance as much as I was in Cecily’s struggle to live up to her Chinese parent’s expectations & all the insights this illustrates about Asian family dynamics. There are two spicy scenes at the beginning and near the end, so if you’re looking for a book heavy in that, this doesn’t get into that as much as some other contemporaries.

This one was a struggle to get through, to be honest. I loved the cultural references and how Chinese New Year played a role in the story, but that's about it. This is a debut, so I think the author has a lot of potential to turn this into a cute and diverse series. This book, if anything, taught me that I'm not a fan of second chance romances.

Things I didn't like:
- I could not stand Cecily, she was arrogant and needed an attitude adjustment. No wonder she had very few friends.
- The ending wasn't anything special. It just kind of ended and left me wondering what the point of this book was.
- There wasn't much comedy. Instead, there were a lot of bickering and frustrating moments Cecily had to work through.
- The guy protagonist was obnoxious and pushy. Maybe that's what comes with the second chance romance trope though.
- The timeline and point of view was all over the place. There was a ton of "weeks later" or just plain "later". I enjoy multiple points of view, but there would be random sentences after a character's speech to give the reader a glimpse into their mind. Both devices made the storyline choppy.
- (This is not the author's fault!) The narrator was not great. The dialog came across as monotonous and inflections in speech were not appropriated.

Laborious and Disjointed, this Diverse rom-com just wasn't for me.

Thanks to @netgalley for an ALC of this title!

This one just wasn't it for me. I felt myself scratching my head and wondering if I missed something several times. This was an audiobook. I went back and listened to specific chapters more than once. I thought for sure I accidentally skipped a chapter or let it play without me knowing. I did not. This book is missing critical plot development points.

I love second chances romances if they are done well.

In one chapter we went from.... my ex-finance left me and I have no idea why I randomly see him in the airport, I refuse to speak to him, okay we can get back together, here is a bizarre sex scene all in the matter of one chapter. Just not written well.

What I liked
-the idea of a second chance romance
-set in San Francisco which is always dreamy
- a woman standing up to her overbearing family who doesn't treat her well

What didn't work
-the insta love (puke)
-the list of resolutions was mentioned in the first chapter and then referred to by number the rest of the book. I have no idea what item number 4 was on the list 3 hours into the book???
-tried to be spicy but didn't work at all

One more nitpicky thing... I hated when Jeffery talked to Cecily towards the end and said she shouldn't tell people she was a lawyer but rather a kindergarten teacher. As a teacher...super offensive. Being a teacher isn't an easy job and not one you should use not look intimidating. (eye roll) Yes, being a lawyer is a great career but so is being a teacher.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

We've all made New Year's Resolutions, but how many of us keep them? Cecily does her best to check each of her resolutions off her list, but in the midst of living her life and checking boxes she also has to decide whether or not she should give someone a second chance that has proven that he flees when things get tough or he gets scared. She also has to come to terms with the fact that sometimes what you perceive and what is actually true are not the same thing. This rom com was delightfully witty while being insightfully real in its portrayal of family dynamics, dating and life in general. While this one is set in an Asian family dynamic, it could be set in my family home as well. I can't wait to see what this author comes up with to entertain us next!

This book was a heartwarming read. I am so glad that I read it. I enjoyed the character growth of the main character.
Overall, I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5 stars. I am so excited to read more from this author.

Thanks to Pule Publishing Group for the audiobook arc.

*3 stars*

This was fine, but nothing special. I did enjoy the Asian representation.

The time skips were a little distracting and overall I just had a hard time staying focused on this book despite the fact that it was pretty short. Second chance romance isn’t always my favorite to begin with so this was a bit of an uphill battle.

I did enjoy the narrator for the audiobook, I thought her voices were really well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC of this work. All opinions in this review are my own.

This book was almost a DNF for me. I would not recommend it. I found the writing to be very lackluster and full of cliches- which is somewhat ironic consider one of the characters was meant to be a writer. However, the characters lacked depth, their dialogue felt cheesy and forced, and I couldn’t get invested in any of the relationships. The most interesting one was perhaps between the main character and her female friend, Rachel. The other relationships lacked any believable emotional depth or connection, the characters were hot and cold, sometimes unrealistically so. I typically like books of this genre and can forgive some of the recycled tropes of a love to hate to love storyline, but I couldn’t get into this one. I honestly didn’t care what happened to them. The discussions of cultural expectations and pressures through the generations was somewhat interesting but again, felt surface level. Perhaps it was that it was viewed through the main characters’ lens and they lacked emotional depth for me. Josh was more likable, just because he felt a little more believable. All in all, I had no investment in any of the characters and cared little for the outcome.

As a Chinese Canadian, I really liked the Asian perspective. I did find the book slow and not always engaging. It's a light read if you're into romance novels about giving love a second chance.

The Year of Cecily

Plot: .5
Writing: .5
World building: 1
Characters: 1
Themes: 1
4/5

Spice: 2/5 - It's there but only mildy descriptive.

What you can expect:
- Second chance romance
- Familial relationships, specifically AAPI

**SPOILERS**

This read more like fiction as the familial and friendly relationships were a big part of the story. I think I cared more about that than the romance, which felt more secondary to the story.

I listened to the audiobook and thought it was really well done. The narrator does a wonderful job at the voices.

Cecily is a lawyer wanting to reset her life for the Lunar New Year. She was left right before her wedding by Jeff, years ago. They rekindle their relationship but it feels like a new relationship. I didn't feel insane connection and chemistry between them. One thing I really did not like was that Jeff broke off their engagement days before the wedding due to a misunderstanding. I get that this was a part of his character growth, but breaking an engagment before a wedding is a really big deal. I think I would rather have had them just break up from a normal bf/gf relationship than something that's so much more serious.

I was unsure how I felt about two adults in their 30's learning basic social skills and emotional intelligence...and then I think about all the people I know (asian, who grew up with asian parents) who ARE emotionally stunted and ARE just figuring it out. This is a real thing that I think was well portrayed in the story. I'm not sure everyone will get it, but I liked that Cecily was really intentional about her personal growth and set goals (lists) to achieve it.
In the same vein, Jeff is a man in his mid-30's half-assing his career. Now, I don't mean to generalize and not everyone is like this, but there are so many men who have grown up under tiger moms making every decision for their life that once they are an adult, they're unable to make decisions on their own. Jeff is trying to live for himself in persuing his writing career but was afraid of making the big decisions in putting himself out there. I loved seeing him choosing to fight for what he wants in all aspects of his life.

There were so many nuances in politeness, obligations, and social understanding regarding the asian culture.
So much of this is relatable. The no-contact thing...asians could never. The comparing to other kids and never being good enough...oof. Also, how the parents are pitting kids against each other when in reality, we'd probably all be good friends. We're not originally malicious but how our parents make us feel inferior, we bring that into other relationships. Especially those we were compared against.
This just reminds me that this is a universal experience many asian kids go through, no matter what asian you are. I was not expecting to relate so much, I didn't even care about the romance. lol.

I really did enjoy this one. It was a quick listen, I finished it in a day. Big thanks to Netgalley for providing the audiobook for an honest review.