There was so much to love about this book. Lin painted the familial relationships and traditions so vividly it was easy to picture.

Unfortunately, I found too much of Cecily's romantic relationship confusing, the pace rushed, and the dialogue stilted.

... And yet, I also couldn't put it down.

I received an advanced listening copy of The Year of Cecily by Lisa Lin through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and, here it is!
•
☆☆☆☆
•
Unbeknownst to each other, Cecily and Jeffrey are returning home to celebrate Lunar New Year with their overbearing parents and their super-involved families. Avoiding your ex and any other drama will surely be difficult especially when they are both focused on their careers, surviving their families, and can't seem to avoid each other. After one steamy night things change.
•
I appreciate this mature story very much! I related to the adult child and parent relationship. When the main characters sometimes revert back to young children when around their parents, trying to please their parents, and feeling critiqued. I also loved the way Cecily and Jeffrey worked through their conflicts by finally being honest with each other, learning to communicate effectively, and giving each other grace.
•
Thanks to Dreamscape Media, NetGalley, and author Lisa Lin for this ALC to honestly review. This book is out now! Go get it!!!

Perfect time of year for a Lunar New Year rom-com! This is a cute story of love, second chances, ambition, and families. Cecily is poised to start the new year with a list of resolutions to better her life after a failed engagement left her broken hearted and she buried herself in her career. Jeffrey is at the early stages of trying to build his career after deciding that he couldn't be a doctor and left medical school, his family's dreams, and Cecily. What will it take for him to win another chance with her? Both characters are smart and witty, and the dynamic and banter between the two gave me some great LOL moments. The tales of the family dynamics are hilarious in any ethnicity, and easily relatable. The narrator did a great job keeping me engaged and entertained. A little funny, a little sentimental, a little spicy, this is a good one to check out for this time of year! Thanks so much to Lisa Lin, the publisher, Dreamscape Media, & NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC audiobook!

Really enjoyed the narrator and how the story came together. It had me laughing out loud at certain sections as well.

The Year of Cecily is an enjoyable, romantic read. Second chance romances don't always hit for me, but this one was fun. The reason behind their separation made sense as did the reasons why it was hard for them to move on from each other. The chemistry between the characters is fantastic. They clearly know each other so well and the teasing that comes with that felt very natural.

I found that the narration in the audio was a little stilted, but I'm not sure if that was the fault of the narrator or the writer. I also found that the the author over explained many of the aspects of the Chinese culture and traditions found in the book. It broke up the flow of the story and took me out of the experience. People could look up things that they don't understand. It makes no sense to have characters who grew up in these things explaining them in their heads for the non-Chinese readers.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I want to begin by saying that I wanted to love this book! A second chance romance that tackles familial and cultural expectations and pressures? Sounds right up my alley. Unfortunately, this book fell so short for me. The book, in many ways, has all the right pieces to the puzzle but feels like it put the pieces in the wrong spot. Maybe I wouldn't feel the same reading it as I did with the audiobook but the dialogue felt so basic and unnatural and in ways robotic. I found it to be so distracting that I almost had to stop listening. I think the other big issue with the book is that the pacing felt off, almost as if we were rushing through the story to check the boxes. I don't think its a bad book! And I bet reading would be more enjoyable than listening. Ugh! I am so sad to not love this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this audibook ARC in exchange of an honest review.

4/5 - Spice: 1.5/5

I enjoyed Cecily's character a lot. I loved the shenanigans her mother got her into, and the second-chance romance aspect of this book was really nice. I really enjoyed this audiobook, and enjoyed getting to listen to it during the Lunar Ney Year. Happy year of the Rabbit! 

Brief Plot: With a New Year, and a new years resolution list, Cecily is striving to better herself. But with the return of her high school ex-boyfriend, who helps her with the...spice missing in her life, the two rekindle their old relationship. As Jeremey keeps fighting for her, and Cecily fights against their relationship, one of the two will have to give up eventually, right? 

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an eARC Audiobook copy of The Year of Cecily, written by Lisa Lin, and narrated by Kat Riley.

Self care & San Francisco & New Years Resolutions & Lunar New Year & Family expectations & second chance romance

🧧🥟🏮🌉

35 year old Cecily is on track to make partner but feels like her life is lacking. On New Year’s Eve she makes a list of 8 goals for the year.

Jeffrey is a screenwriter in Los Angeles, who has a great opportunity to write for a popular movie series but has over committed himself.

Both are from Brooklyn and have overbearing parents. And they dated 10 years ago. Trying to avoid family and really, all, drama, Cecily of course runs into her ex who she was trying to avoid.

The Chinese family characters, dynamics and drama is great. Of course Cecily and Jeffrey keep running into each over and hilarity ensures. One steamy night later…

What a fun lunar new year read!

I received an arc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Pub Date: Jan 17, 2023

The Year of Cecily is supposed to be a cute second chance romance between two characters who meet again when going back home for Lunar New Year. Overall, I thought this book was ok. There are things that I liked and things that I didn't really enjoy.

Things I liked about the book:

I liked all of the information on Lunar New Year. The author adds information on cutoms done during that time and great descriptions of food. It made me hungry and I ended up going out to dim sum the next day. lol.
I liked the scenes with the family. It made the characters relatable and interesting.
I also really enjoyed her friend Rachel. Rachel is blunt and she seems to be neurodivergent (not sure if the writer will go that way with her in the second book).
I found Rachel's scenes hilarious and because of that, I would like to take a look at the second book in the series, which revolves around her.

Things I didn't like:

The main couple was not really interesting. I didn't really care about them together. I was hoping that Cecily would find another guy to date and move on from her EX. By the end, I was rolling my eyes that she decided to stay with her EX. It reminds me of those on and off again couples that everyone knows will never stay together.

The narrator for the audiobook was just ok. Some of the scenes I was wondering if it was actually a real person narrating or they somehow had a text to speech type of thing going on because it sounded a little bit robotic. It wasn't all the time and it wasn't enough for me to hate it, but it wasn't memorable either.

For me, the book was ok. I wouldn't reread it, but I might pick up the second in the series.

(This book does have a spicy scene for those who care about it one way or another)

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in order to write an honest review.

Cecily is a big-shot lawyer from Brooklyn living and working on the West Coast. California gives her the reprieve she needs from her family and community who she feels are in everyone's business. She decides to make resolutions this year that will make this her year. When she returns to Brooklyn for Lunar New Year, she immediately bumps into her ex, Jeffrey. She has sworn that she was over him and wouldn't give him a chance but eventually Cecily slowly gives in even after the botched engagement. With time, their families forgive each other for the mess and they are able to rebuild their relationship. It was a fun read and I can't wait for the sequel.

The narration of this book was wonderful. Def not robotoic and even the spicy scenes... WHEW! lots of gravitas.

The second I heard about this book I knew I would be reading it no matter what. My TBR was ignored, Cecily comes first!

I really enjoyed this audiobook. The desire to prove yourself to your parents and constantly be shat on for never being good enough… I felt that. I love a second chance, enemies to lovers romance and wow did we get one. And the SPICE. I had to remember I was listening to this at work.

This was my second lunar new year centered novel, with Lunar Love being the first. I love Cecily and Jeff’s story and am looking forward to many more stories from this author!

The narrator was great. She roped me in and did a great reading.

This is cute second love romance, with a huge focus on improving oneself before finding love. I enjoyed Cecily's focus on herself and telling her her boyfriend that she should be the most important thing in his life if he wanted to be with her. My only negative feedback was that in listening to the audiobook, the narrator was very robotic and monotone sounding, I wish she expressed the emotions better through her voice

I really enjoyed this second chance romance. The characters were fun and while the miscommunication trope is a bit tired it felt like it was done well here. I also really enjoyed the audiobook's narration as well.

Gong hei fat choy! (Wishing you happiness and prosperity in Chinese)

The Year of Cecily gave me all the feels! I loved reading about a successful, late 20s girl, who liked to set goals, because I see myself as that! I also loved reading about Cecily and Jeff, even if at times the communication was lacking so much in their relationship it drove me crazy. Overall, I liked the will they/won’t they of it all, but sometimes it was a little too cheesy, even for me 😂 still such a cute read, especially during Lunar New Year! I really enjoyed listening to it, so I would say audio might be the way to go for this one.

{READ THIS IF: you had strict parents, celebrate Lunar New Year, love second chance romances}

Big thanks to @netgalley and @dreamscape_media for this ARC!

This is my first time reading from the author Lisa Lin. This story is set around the Lunar New Year, and as someone who enjoys New Years and resolutions this was such a fun read! (I like the narrator as well). I’m sure many of us can relate to the family drama that comes along with holiday gatherings. This second chance romance with some good ole spice is definitely something I would recommend. I really enjoyed the characters, and the story really was worthwhile for me. I will definitely be picking up a copy once this publishes!

Will post this to other platforms once it releases!

I had a hard time getting into this and didn't finish it. The premise built on resolutions just wasn't really my jam. I'm sure this book will resonate for many people, just not for me.

The Year of Cecily was the perfect Rom-Com to ring in the Lunar New Year. Cecily (FMC) was a fun and complex character to get to know. Lisa Lin described the interesting dynamics of families, and how expectations can be maddening sometimes. Jeffrey.(MMC) was able to repent for any past and future miscommunications. Again, this story was enjoyable, took place over a couple different locations a couple different timelines. I was lucky enough to get the audiobook to listen to through NetGalley as an arc. Overall, I found the narration was done well, and would recommend both the story and the audiobook. This book gets a 4.5 star reading from me maybe even a 4.75. Which may not be fair to the author, because I2 made a resolution or goal this year to not give us many five star ratings. Good news is that since this app/website does not allow 4.5 or other star giving’s a round it up to a five.

Spicy second-chance romance must-read as we celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The story is wildly relatable for most high-achieving children of immigrants, especially for those for whom tradition and culture are important. I really enjoyed how the author balanced Cecily's desire for validation from her parents with her own ambitions through her 8 resolutions.
I found the narration pleasant, entertaining and easy to follow; the demarcation between characters sufficient to move the story to its next turning point.
I appreciated this novel for adding to diversifying the 'own voices' stories of this genre - it's about time and this is a strong contender for your #TBR!

Oh my goodness what an incredible book!!

The Year of Cecily follows the main character, Cecily Chang, a woman in her thirties trying to figure out what the heck she wants out of life. She makes resolutions to make it “the year of Cecily”. From there she tries to accomplish all her New Year’s resolutions, while trying to deal with her family during Lunar New Year. All the while, rediscovering an old romance blossoming again.

Wow, I truly cannot say enough about how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book! A special thank you to Lisa Lin for being the sweetest and giving the world a story that all deserve to hear, especially to the Asian-American community!

I actually adored these characters right from the start! I felt so attached to Cecily from the get-go that she felt almost like an extension of me. Every emotion she exuded felt so closely to my own train of thought and heart that it can’t explain in words how much I love her, and the same goes for Jeffery. He is such a “listen to the heart” kind of guy, making him the perfect match for Cecily and her “control-freak” kind of manner. He feels almost like an extremely close brother to me and I love him with my whole heart.

This is truly one of the best second chance romances I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve tried my hand at a lot of them. It had everything a good second chance romance needs, cuteness, heartbreak, smut, and of course, groveling (will not spoil who though). I was truly so invested and was hanging onto every single line trying to figure out where their relationship was going to go next. Needless to say, I loved it!!

Lastly, the representation was on point. Everything from the snarky parental remarks to the no privacy “rule” spoke to me on a personal level. Thank you Lisa Lin for making Cecily and Jeffery’s generational trauma so incredibly real and full, we need more representation like this in writing.

Overall, I could not recommend this book enough! The narrator did a phenomenal job and captured the essence of the story completely! Highly, HIGHLY recommend!!