What Makes Patri: Guest Post

May 16, 2021 No comments

Loveboat, Taipei (Loveboat, Taipei #1)

by Abigail Hing Wen
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: January 7th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Travel, Asian Literature

Synopsis:

For fans of Crazy Rich Asians or Jane Austen Comedy of Manners, with a hint of La La Land

When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.

Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.

Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?

A Letter From the Author

When I landed as a teen in Taipei for a summer of Mandarin immersion, I was completely unprepared for what lay ahead. Chien Tan wasn’t just a language and cultural program. It was the notorious LOVEBOAT, though until then, I’d never heard of it. A thousand Chinese-American kids of immigrants, who’d spent the past ten years studying hard to get into college and living by their traditional family rules—now dropped off in a foreign land with zero supervision.

There was a lot of sneaking out into humid nights to go dancing. Eating the best street food on the planet. Dating and breaking up and making up.

Even falling in love.

Somehow in the midst of all that craziness, we still managed to absorb some language and culture, too. I made lifelong friendships who turned into a network around the United States (my future husband, as it would turn out, attended Loveboat in an earlier summer). In that summer that can never be replicated, I connected with parts of myself I hadn’t allowed myself to embrace before.

I wrote LOVEBOAT, TAIPEI to capture some of that journey.

This novel is a romp—a story of repressed teens gone wild, and of discovering one’s identity in all its facets. Between these pages live and breathe a cast of over thirty Asian Americans. Though they share a cultural heritage and are from similarly high-achieving families, they are individuals—some funny, some quiet, some timid, some outrageous. But they are all diverse, all talented and all flawed in their own ways:

Eighteen-year-old Ever Wong is working towards becoming a doctor, but nurses a secret passion to dance.

Rick Woo is the Yale-bound, child prodigy bane of her existence.

Boy-crazy Sophie Ha turns out to have more to her than meets the eye.

And under sexy Xavier Yeh’s shell is buried a shameful secret he’ll never admit.

Writing their stories as they navigate their cultures and search for their place in the world was one of the most difficult, rewarding experiences of my life. I hope that I’ve done them justice and that you find a small measure of yourself in their stories, too.

Abigail was born in West Virginia to a family of immigrants: Her mother is from the Philippines and her father from Indonesia, and her grandparents emigrated to those countries from Fujian and Shandong provinces in China.

Abigail grew up in Ohio and graduated from Harvard University and Columbia Law School. She worked in Washington DC for the Senate, as a law clerk for a federal judge. and now in Silicon Valley in venture capital and artificial intelligence. She also earned her Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

In her spare time, she enjoys long walks with her husband and two boys, and hanging out with friends and over 100 family members in the Bay Area. She loves music and dances to it when no one is watching.

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January 01, 2020 No comments

Today, I am participating in the Bad Romance blog tour organised by Fierce Reads to promote Heather Demetrios' new book.

I did not have an abusive relationship whatsoever, but I did suffer from a bad romance. I spent 8 years with my ex-boyfriend and the last 6 years of my relationship I was not happy. I use to think that I was the one to blame. You see, I am Spanish and I can sometimes be compared to Gloria from Modern Family. So I have a quite strong character and it can be a lot to handle. However, being in a relationship means that there are two people sharing and caring and contributing to the partnership in equal parts. When you don't, is because there's something broken.

Therefore, I had some sort of blame in that relationship. I was comfortable with what I had and I was afraid to be alone since I had been in a relationship with the same person since I was seventeen. I did not know how to live on my own. It was easy to rely on someone that always agreed to what I wanted to do. Even banal actions such as going to the cinema were unthinkable when I thought about being alone. And I kept asking the same questions: How would I do it without him and Who am I as a person without him? Everyone knew me because of him and as a part of him. So that left me alone and friendless. Believe, it is the greatest terrifying feeling ever.

But when you are left behind, forgotten and unloved, you don't have a chance. You need to survive and try to crawl out of the hole you created for yourself. And that's exactly what I did. I met new friends which are now my best friends, I started doing activities I had never done with him (even boxing!) and I moved out of my parents' house and to another country! I had the best summer of my life with my friends and I found myself. I learn how to love me and how to appreciate small things. I became a strong independent woman and I have to thank him for giving me the chance at being happy again. Merely, because I was so scared and so trapped that I would have never left him if he had not left me. And I am not being the stereotypical woman who says this as a resentment for what happened. I am honestly thankful for giving me those years with me and for letting me go when he knew it was over and it was pointless to continue. Even though, I was terrified of terminating what I considered my whole world.

My advice? If you are not happy, it is a bad romance. Do not settle for something or someone less than what you deserve just because you are scared of the unknown or to be alone. Sometimes being alone can help you discover yourself, you can meet amazing people and you'll have thousands of adventures and experiences you one day will explain to your kids and grandchildren. Moreover, you can meet the person that was meant for you all along. Who knows?

We all want to fall in love, find our soul mate and, if not, find the closest thing to our book boyfriend(s). However, even though I suffer the risk of becoming a cliche, sometimes love is not enough.

1) Be honest. In order for a relationship to work and to be healthy, you need to be able to talk to that special person without any barriers. You need to be comfortable enough to talk about any topic and knowing it's going to be okay because the person on the other end is just going to be there to support you.

2) Trust. If there's no trust in a relationship, is there really anything going on there? And it works both ways. You also need to be comfortable enough to trust the person you are with. If you do not, maybe there's a problem.

3) Always On My Mind. I believe that if you fell in love and it's a good relationship, that special person it's always on your mind. From small gestures like going to the supermarket and buying something special for him/her just because to having a conversation with your friends and not being able to talk about anything else (well, almost!).

4) Respect. We are all humans, we make mistakes, we can argue and drive each other mad up to a point. But there's always that fine line called respect that no one should surpass and it should always be respected in order to have no regrets and don't hold a grudge for a comment said later on.

5) Talk. I do not believe that bottling everything up and keep it inside it's a good thing. If you are having a bad day? Talk with someone. If something is bothering you? Talk. If there's something in your mind? Talk. Talk. Talk. You can even yell if given the occasion. Sometimes, getting all out is better than keeping it all in. Because believe me, one day you will pop and it's going to get nasty.

6) YOLO. I apologise for the silly acronym, but sometimes it is useful. If you are in a relationship, let things flow. Do not pressure anything, do not overthink everything... Just relax and enjoy. If it's meant to work, everything will happen accordingly.

7) Be comfortable. If you trust someone enough to love them, you are comfortable to the point of being able to show all your vulnerabilities to that person. Because that person is going to cherish even the saddest and darkest side of you.

Bad Romance
by Heather Demetrios
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Release Date: June 13th 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Grace wants out. Out of her house, where her stepfather wields fear like a weapon and her mother makes her scrub imaginary dirt off the floors. Out of her California town, too small to contain her big city dreams. Out of her life, and into the role of Parisian artist, New York director—anything but scared and alone.

Enter Gavin: charming, talented, adored. Controlling. Dangerous. When Grace and Gavin fall in love, Grace is sure it's too good to be true. She has no idea their relationship will become a prison she's unable to escape.

Deeply affecting and unflinchingly honest, this is a story about spiraling into darkness—and emerging into the light again.

Heather Demetrios is the author of the critically acclaimed YA novel Something Real. When she's not traipsing around the world or spending time in imaginary places, she lives with her husband in New York City. Originally from Los Angeles, Heather is part of the Summer 2014 Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA class at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a recipient of the Susan P. Bloom PEN New England Discovery Award forSomething Real.

June 08, 2017 No comments

Shadow and Bone (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1)

Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1)

Loveboat, Taipei (Loveboat, Taipei #1)

A Letter From the Author

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