Edokko

Sakura+Maple

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Pub Date 17 May 2021 | Archive Date 11 Jun 2021

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Description

Lily Jennings is Going. To. Japan.

Sixteen and on top of the world, Lily is beyond excited to be setting off for a whole year as an exchange student in Tokyo. Fashion and fun are foremost on her mind as she arrives to meet her homestay family and embark on a grand adventure, live-streaming all the way.

What she isn't expecting, however, is for her urban host family to cancel at the last moment and leave her hanging with nowhere to live. She's shipped off to the small town of Ajimu (sorry, where!?), a billion miles from anywhere cool and exciting, with a neurotic host sister, no chances for romance, straight-up-vile classmates and a microscopic community watching her every move.

Too bad for the people of this small town—nothing's going to hold Lily back when she wants something!

Lily Jennings is Going. To. Japan.

Sixteen and on top of the world, Lily is beyond excited to be setting off for a whole year as an exchange student in Tokyo. Fashion and fun are foremost on her...


Available Editions

ISBN 9781777435240
PRICE $2.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 54 members


Featured Reviews

Such a fun read and super interesting. I learned a lot about Japanese culture and what a year abroad that didn't go as planned turned into with a social media presence following you.

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This book is definitely aimed at a younger audience. It was still very fun and lighthearted and a great read.

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It was an enjoyable read!

The book to me back to my days as an exchange student. The troubles that Lily faced like the last-minute change in program, language struggle, learning the new culture and making friends were all very relatable. The book is sprinkled with interesting tidbits on Japan's culture amidst the heartwarming tale.

However, I did not like Lily's character. She came across as a bratty teenager used to getting what she wanted, and her character did not change much till the end, where she breaks some rules and expects everyone to accommodate her. I wish she had more character development.

I found the other characters more interesting and would have loved to see more of them. The first half of the book is almost entirely dominated by Lily and the others feature more prominently only in the second half. I loved Fuyumi blossoming into a lively character and all the boys in Lily's class.

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"Sometimes, imagined and reality are different." ~ Loren Greene

This was such a phenomenal, extremely cute coming-of-age story that gave me such a nostalgic/wanderlust feel. I practically binge-read it in one day.

Edokko by Loren Greene is about a 16-years-old, Canadian Lily Jennings who believes she is ready for an adventure away from home (and away from her overprotective parents). She somehow was able to convince her Dad to let her apply for a year-long study abroad exchange program with the World Friends organization. Lily had high expectations for what she wanted her year in Japan to be like. Unfortunately, an unexpected problem changed all that for her. The result: a new ambiance and environment that becomes a real eye-opening challenge for Lily about the reality of studying abroad.

If I was honest with myself, I was not a fan of Lily at the beginning-middle of the book. I found her to be a self-absorbed, narcissistic Princess whose main reason for her wanting to go abroad is to grow her social media presence. Her teenage objection and ingratitude were getting to me. So, I was very delighted that there was a slow character development of all the characters. 

Overall, I absolutely just fell in love with this YA contemporary tale. A 5-Stars Read and I highly recommend this book. As I was reading Lily's experiences in Japan, my mind simultaneously began to wander...I was reminiscing about my own experiences as a student studying abroad for the first time. Like Lily, I also had expectations about the country I was going to, the school I would be studying at, and the people I would be interacting with. It was such a delight to find there was a book that covered this unique experience. I am tickled pink to have learned that this book belongs in the same universe/kind of a sequel and part of the author's Sakura+Maple series banner published by HachiPress. I can't wait to pick up the first in the series, Meet You By Hachiko asap.

Thank you to author Loren Greene, HachiPress, and Netgalley for gifting me with an eARC.

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Thank you to NetGalley and HahiPress for allowing me the chance to enjoy the advanced readers e-copy!

Adventure is nipping at Lily's heels as she travels to Japan for a whole year, to live in Tokyo. She's so focused on the picture perfect life she's going to have that she get a true sucker punch when she finds out that her urban host family has canceled and she's been relocated to little town of Ajimu, far away from all socially cool and delightful. Will Lily ever get to see the big city or will she learn to be satisfied with her lot in life and in Japan?

It's always a delight when a YA book surprises you, especially one you weren't sure about to begin with. The premise of this book, a young girl on a journey, Japanese culture, and growth overtones, immediately caught my attention, but it was the characters and the plot that sold me through. With journey stories like these, there can be a heavy romance filter over the plot. This book on the other hand dabbled in a little bit of flirting, but mostly it was about Lily, cozy rural Japan, and friendship.

Lily's growth is punctuated by break throughs with her host family, burgeoning friendships, and beautiful Japanese settings. I adored the descriptions of the school life and the traveling, and the hot springs! The writing gets a little bratty, but she is a teenager. THe plot moves steadily and staunchly, and the dated blog posts really help ground where Lily is mentally and emotionally though out.

Overall, a delightful read, 8/10 for anyone who enjoys YA, Japanese culture, and hot springs.

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I enjoyed this book although it felt a little like a middle/ kid book. It is told in first person and third person at points which I didn't enjoy that much. cute enough for be to finish it. The plot was cute and the friendships in the book were realistic. The first chapter was short and a good induction into the characters we would be following. I really enjoyed how the main characters were introduced. The world building was beautiful and painted a clear picture in my head. The dialogue between some characters was funny and very entertaining. The characters were relatable. Overall I would recommend this book if you are looking for a fast and fun read with super cute characters.

Thank to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I wanted to read Edokko because the blurb made it sound so interesting and the story lived up to my expectations. Through the story I got to explore a different side of Japan that I haven’t heard a lot about. Most of my knowledge came from hearing about Tokyo but this book explores the small town side of Japan and I loved that.

The one thing I struggled with most was Lily. I didn’t like her at the beginning because she was so stuck up and self centered. But as the story went on she changed. Her experience in Japan helped shape her into a better person and that’s what I loved about this book the most; it shows how experiences can shape and change you. I also loved the gradual growth of Lily’s relationships with her peers, teachers, and her host sister.

This story used blog posts as a story element and that helped to cement Lily’s personality, as the story is told in 3rd person except for the blog posts which are in 1st person from Lily’s perspective. I liked this addiction, though it helped me dislike Lily more when she was acting like a brat. Haha.

Overall a good read and if you want to read about a story that focuses on personal growth then I think this novel is for you.

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This book was so wonderful! I was an exchange student myself when I was around Lily’s age and this definitely brought back a lot of memories!

Things I loved most about this book:

The protagonist. Lily felt like such a real teenage girl to me. She thought she knew it all and had it all figured out, when in reality she still had so much growing up to do and so much to learn and experience. I especially liked that she was not very likable in the beginning. She was such a self-absorbed, close-minded, consumerism-driven, entitled teen princess. She really only wanted to go to Japan to go shopping and eat sushi and boast about being in Tokyo to her online-followers. Ugh! And that left a lot of room for beautiful character growth. I think this is one of the ya books with the most believable and rewarding character growth I’ve ever read

The setting. The author really brings Japan to life, it was as if you could breathe and feel and see the country. I loved how real it all felt, so very different from a lot of the „I went to Japan once and now I am using it as a pretty backdrop for my story“ novels it was

The pacing: I was never once bored while reading this, even though the story is kind of a quiet one, without too much super-duper-drama. But despite the slow feeling, I was so engaged and grew to love all of the characters so much that I finished this in one sitting

The characters: They all felt so real and I was sad when the book ended, because I really wanted to spend more time with them!

The blog. The idea of Lily writing a blog and the way her entries and her actual experience diverged the more the book went on was so cool. And I really liked how it ended and what that showed about Lily as a person and how she had grown and changed throughout her year abroad

Overall, this was a very beautiful, character-driven YA read that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes YA contemporary fiction. It was such a warm-feeling, beautiful story!

ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Loved the fact that the setting of the book was in rural Japan instead of the glamorous, energetic, and lively city of Tokyo. It gives us a different perspective of Japan. The display of the culture clash between Lily’s Canadian upbringings and the Fujino family’s Japanese culture is very nicely done. This book has the necessary elements to translate nicely into the cinema.

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I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is a spinoff of another book by this author, which I have not read, but I did not feel like I was missing anything for that. This definitely works as a standalone. I really enjoyed this story, which follows Canadian Lily as she does an exchange year in Japan. She has the trip glorified in her mind, and when it doesn't go as planned (her original host family in Tokyo falls through) she falls down this rabbit hole of disappointment and lies. She runs a blog to document her trip, and she just keeps making up stories about Tokyo, despite now being nowhere near there. Lily frustrated me a lot as a character. She has this very entitled, spoiled, attitude, and its always all about her. For someone who is voluntarily in a foreign country, she seems very negative about experiencing the local culture and cuisine. Its pretty clear that she was more interested in the clout than the actual experience. Luckily, she does begin to grow as a person as her time in Japan progresses. It takes her about 7 of her 12 months, but she does come around eventually.
Despite Lily's attitude, or perhaps because of it, I really enjoyed this story. It was an interesting look into life during a foreign exchange trip, and gave some good insight into life in Japan. I do wish we had seen more of Lily's experiences - many things were alluded to, but lost in large time jumps - but I understand that the author was trying to fit a year of content into one book.
All in all, I recommend this one to fans of travel and Japansese culture.

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Edokko follows Lily Jennings on a high school exchange program to Japan. Lily keeps a blog of her trip that we get to read, along with Lily’s unfiltered daily experiences. I enjoyed the way the author explores the difference between how we present ourselves online and what is really going on in our lives. Lily’s trip doesn’t turn out the way she’d imagined, but Lily learns some important life lessons. This is definitely a YA book and as an adult I found Lily's teenage behaviour a bit exasperating. I think this is a great book for a 15, 16 or 17 year old to read, it is less relevant for older readers, but still enjoyable as a light read.

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This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

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Before going in be advised to have lots of patience set aside to deal with the main character Lily. She is a piece! Having to read through Lily's perspective is a challenge, although I was more interested in "experiencing" Japan through her eyes, so I was able to gloss over some of her attitudes.

Lily is a shallow spoiled brat. At first, she doesn't show it. You side with her because the experience she was promised was in Tokyo. But then that plan went south and she ends up in the middle of nowhere. And I get it. I probably wouldn't like that last-minute change as well. Although she starts to hate everything. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to see what it's like to live in rural Japan and experience the culture, all she focuses on is the fact she is not in Tokyo.

With time, Lily does change and we get to see that deep down she has a good heart. After putting aside the rebel teen hormones she is a good girl with her heart in the right place. She had some actions that made me change my opinion of her slightly. And that is the primary goal of the story to follow allow Lily's growth while spending one year abroad.

Since the story is character-driven, it develops more slowly and at times feels like nothing is happening and I'm just following along with the daily life of an exchange student. There are a lot of small moments that work together to develop the relationships between the characters. Also, there is no romance. Despite Lily's desire, there isn't any romance. The story focus on building friendships.

Knowing from the start this is an adventure of a one-year exchange program, it's kind of bitter-sweet. For once, I didn't care Lily had to get back home to Canada. She wasn't being appreciative of her time in Japan, so I didn't care if she went home. For another, she created good relationships that now she would have to abandon and only be able to keep them as long-distance.

Lastly, Edokko is a good book for Japan lovers. A vision of Japan as an exchange student away from the big touristy cities. As I said Lily is hard to deal with, but in between her complaints, it's possible to appreciate the setting.

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I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. The pacing of this story is good. This book is set in between California and Japan. This book will make you want to visit Japan. It is such a entertaining reading experience. This ebook is in stores for $2.99 (USD).

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This book is well written and the characters are good, the story is cute and is set in between California and Japan. It’s a fun YA read


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

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