Gr 8 Up—When Izumi finds out that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan, she is thrust into the world of the
Imperial Court, a family that is not the most inviting, and a royal guard that may steal her heart. Part Princess Diaries, part Crazy Rich Asians, Izumi's story is decadent coming-of-age romantic fiction.

My two main issues with this book were the character herself and the fact that nothing new was brought to the table with this story. The second issue is self explanatory, but the first is now specific to me. 

Izumi speaks like people 15-25 sound on social media. The people I usually cringe at despite being around that age myself. It's full of the overly dramatic writing style of Instagram and Twitter and tumblr. I hated it, which made me dislike her, which made me not enjoy the book. I also called the "twist" getting the introduction of a character. Meh.  ( )

Super cute, agree with the princess diaries crazy rich Asians mashup description ( )

This is a great audiobook to pass the time and to take a break from serious newsy podcasts. A little Princess Diaries meets The Bodyguard. I'm excited to have a Japanese American book to share with younger JA preteens and teens. This helps to diversify the narrative around who gets to be a princess and what it means to be an independent person while upholding traditions. ( )

1.25 stars because it got better by the end. i know i'm not really the audience for this (i hate the whole princess thing) but thought there was a chance i'd like this so thought i'd give it a try. it absolutely got better by the end but for most of this i really thought it was pretty bad. the whole idea of just becoming a princess overnight and learning a language like japanese in a few weeks and leaving your actual life - and still being allowed to graduate when not being in school for months - just all felt so unrealistic. and central to the plot working. so it bothered me pretty much without end. i also didn't find the witty banter witty at all. the characters - except for izzy - never felt even partially drawn and so i didn't know or understand (or care about) anyone. i started to care more by the end, as it got more into the interpersonal relationships, and i did like the interspersing of japanese words and culture, so it gets bumped up a bit.

i also definitely liked the relationship she had with her mom; showing a healthy, close relationship is nice as it's so unusual in fiction. also the themes around fitting in and not being "enough" of whichever culture she was in, as she was part of, but not wholly, either. that was about the only believable part of the whole thing to me. ( )