This is a powerful book that takes you on a roller coaster ride throughout it, Two women with different personalities and backgrounds but the same desire to be a mother. One denied that opportunity the other given it but not managing it very well. This book is part historical fiction part suspense. A good read for anyone who likes those types of books.

A complicated and suspenseful story of two women joined unexpectedtly.

Jasmine Yang is a poor Chinese immigrant in NYC, searching for her daughter and hiding from her husband and authorities. Rebecca Whitney is a famous, wealthy publishing executive living the life she dreamed of as a girl. An incident at work puts everything at risk and brings these two women together in a very interesting and complicated way.

Kwok brings a small Chinese village to life as well as the dusky and treacherous world of an Asian strip bar, all the while sharing the competitive realm of publishing houses. A tense, exciting and elucidating thriller for anyone who loves their domestic suspense!
#TheLeftoverwoman #jeanKwok #WilliamMorrow

I just cannot find enough novels like The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok. Expertly written, with a plot I haven’t seen before, and characters I care about, this novel had everything. It pulls at your heart and makes you think. It’s a MUST-READ. I’m already looking forward to whatever Jean writes next, her books are just excellent.

Coming to you in October.

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth–another female casualty of China’s controversial One Child Policy. But with her husband on her trail, the clock is ticking, and she’s forced to make increasingly desperate decisions if she ever hopes to be reunited with her daughter.

Meanwhile, publishing executive Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a prestigious family name and the wealth that comes with it, a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. She’s even hired a Chinese nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working wife and mother. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardize not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble and her role in her own family is called into question.

I'm a huge Jean Kwok fan, so was super excited to receive an early copy of The Leftover Woman. That said, I'm also a mother of a daughter adopted from China and was a little nervous about how how adoption would be portrayed. I didn't have to worry. As always with Jean, the book did not disappoint and the adoption is handled realistically and sensitively. The characters were very well-developed and real. Everyone had their good qualities and their flaws. The book,, with it's twists and turns, was impossible to put down. I did have a problem with the technicalities of the adoption. Adoption from China just doesn't work the way it was portrayed in the book. The US government would have had to approve the adoption, before Fiona could have entered the US. That said, I'm willing to forgive this, since the way it was written helped move the story forward. This book will be an awesome book group read...so much to discuss!

I was so thrilled to open this book up. The description was very intriguing and I was ready to dive straight in.

The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok is an impressive and suspenseful mystery and a engrossing exploration of motherhood and belonging.
What a page-turner! I was hooked from the start. I liked how the plot unfolds, shared between two very different narrators. The characters are well-developed, and the mystery is intriguing. The main characters are compelling, the supporting characters were well-developed, and the story was excellently constructed. The amazing storytelling pulls the reader in immediately, and I found myself being hooked throughout the book. The storyline has so many moving parts and twists. It was so good.
An emotional family drama and a riveting mystery. I found it very hard to put my Kindle down.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and William Morrow for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I found this novel a bit hard to read at the start. I found it had too many characters and too many names. Some of the characters had multiple names.

Once I found my footing, I enjoyed this story about the endurance of love and motherhood.

This is well written, with great insights into the Chinese community.

Thank you Netgalley.

Fantastic and endlessly enthralling. I wanted to keep reading until I was done with the whole book. I enjoyed the characters' complexities, the writing was also fantastic. I'll be recommending this to everyone.

This is one of my favorite books so far this year! Wow, what a story! The two women in this book on an inevitable collision course with many twists and turns kept my attention throughout. The plot was well executed with totally believable characterizations. Wealth and culture divided these two women but their love for Fiona, also known as Fifi, brought them together. Through her her excellent writing, the author plays with all your emotions. Well done and I will be recommending this to EVERYONE! #TheLeftoverWoman #JeanKwok
#NetGalley

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

I finished this masterpiece, dabbing my tears, taking short breaths, feeling overwhelmed, and speechless. No other words can adequately express how this book rocked my entire world. My emotions are all over the place, and my heart is wrenching. I cannot find the best words to express my appreciation for this beautiful story!

As a first step, Jean Kwok discussed her own book by using one of her main characters, which was a smart move. Rebecca, a highly accomplished editor in chief, summarizes the book of Isabel Navarro, an aspiring author she wants to represent, in perfect words. However, she cannot see that the people living so close to her are also enduring the same struggles that have been told in Isabel's book.

Leftover Woman defines each woman from different races, colors, and religions who are neglected, pushed to be wallflowers, taken advantage of, and left behind defenseless, as if they have been ghosts of themselves, as if they have never existed.

This multifaceted book intertwines two characters. One of them is Jasmine, who was left by her own parents to be raised by her uncle and his wife. At the age of 14, she was sold to a man who has a powerful job in government without her consent, leaving behind Anthony, the boy she loved forever. She is physically and verbally abused, mansplained, endures miscarriages and grief of her babies, but she found out the hard truth her husband hides from her. She pays the snake heads to leave her homeland behind for starting a new life in the states as an illegal, paperless immigrant without having linguistic skills to keep her head above the water. She finds herself working at an underground strip club, serving cocktails, being groped and harassed by men to collect enough money for paying her debt to the snake heads.

The other character is Rebecca Whitney, a white, privileged, wealthy woman, a publishing executive, married to a handsome, smart, Columbia University professor, raising her adopted Chinese daughter Fifi with Chinese, clumsy nanny Lucy. After a scandal ruined her reputation in the publishing industry, she has every intention to involve herself in the play by winning the auction to work with promising author Isabel Navarro, who has written a book about a woman of color in the United States and the explosive secret she's hiding.

She gets torn between her career, wife and mother duties, and she cannot fulfill each of her responsibilities. She is afraid that a big secret she's keeping to herself may ruin everything she's worked for! Could little Fifi be the same girl taken away from Jasmine? Could Jasmine find a way to survive in a country as her husband is still looking for her? How will Jasmine and Rebecca's paths cross?

I think Jean Kwok summarized her own book's plot perfectly by using the voice of Rebecca: "It's an intricate, tightly woven story about the price of ambition, displacement, and adoption. Its themes of motherhood, identity, romantic love, and race are specific and universal at the same time."

Those words above were written to review Isabel Navarro's book, but they perfectly match the main story of Leftover Woman!

Overall, this book is the best historical fiction/multicultural interest novel of the year! It left me speechless, broke my heart into a million pieces, and took my breath away! You shouldn't miss it! Jean Kwok is one of the most talented authors of the century! I'm looking forward to devouring more of her works in the near future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing this masterpiece's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest opinions.

A great beautifully heart wrenching and emotional read. A very well written and well executed story.