*minor spoilers ahead*
This book is about Rachel Chu, who agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young. She envisions a humble family home and time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn’t know is that Nick’s family home happens to look like a palace and that she is about to encounter the strangest, craziest group of people in existence.
This book, which has now been made into a film, has been on my TBR list forever. It’s written in the third person, and there are lots of families and characters introduced quickly, making it a little tricky to follow. This book frequently compares new money and old money and how wealth dominates society. As expected, there are lots of Asian references and terms which were always footnoted, but there was a general humour of stereotypes that went over my head a bit.
My favourite parts were those that focused on Rachel and Nick together, as well as Astrid and Michael. This book opened my eyes to a whole other world due to the behaviour of many of the characters. As I was reading, I kept thinking, ‘Do people really act like this?!’ and so I did feel sorry for Rachel with the way she was treated, as it was always cruel and unfair to the point where I’m not too sure how she put up with it!
Unfortunately, I found the plot quite slow in the book, and I think that’s because not too much happens plot-wise, and there is not much character development. As the following scenes were always predictable, I didn’t feel excited reading the book. The plot does improve towards the end of the book, especially when we learned more about Rachel‘s family history, as it gives the book more depth.
Overall, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book, and so I won’t be carrying on this series, but I’m glad I gave it a go, as I’ve owned it for a long time. I also enjoy watching the movie despite many plot and character changes.
2/5 stars
Soph's Library 
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