A Pho Love Story

It's finally the season of love where everyone either loves or hates it, no in-between. Unfortunately, I have no one to spend Valentine's Day with as well, but it's okay since romance novels exist. Though it isn't exactly equivalent to being in a romantic relationship with a special someone, it'll somewhat help you through your loneliness.

In short, the book is a simple rival to lovers trope, but with a twist. Instead of the two main love interests being rivals, it's actually their families who are feuding.

The story starts off with Bao Nguyen, the male protagonist, lending out a hand to Linh Mai, the female protagonist who also happens to be the youngest daughter of his family's rival. Both protagonists don't actually know why their parents are so against each other, but despite that they both share mutual interest among each other.

One of my favorite parts of this story is both protagonists trying to figure out what their dreams are. For some background, Linh is an amazing artist with strict parents while Bao doesn't know what to do in life but his parents are still supportive. They both share their struggles in a newspaper project a mutual friend of theirs set them up with, and from then the relationship starts to bloom.

If that isn't already a good plot, the cultural appreciation in this book is phenomenal. Loan Le mentions several times about the struggles of being Asian-American with refugee parents. There are many scenes where the characters would talk about the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and bring a new light into the viewers eyes.

I definitely recommend this book for young adults, and those who want to start reading more often. It's very light-hearted and easy to enjoy, and some might even be able to relate to it as well.

- Jan C.