I really liked this book! It was easy to read, easy to follow
and I loved the characters.
The story of going to Cambodia was of huge interest to me.
Truly this is such a good book!

Thank you, NetGalley, Evy Journey, and your publisher for giving
me the chance to read and review this amazing book!

This was an amazing book. It's the story of a young woman, Luna, who is looking for more in her life, she wants to get out and see the world live and experience more... Living between California and Hawaii with her grandmother we follow her as she begins an amazing journey into her future - but first, the meet-cute when Luna leaves her journal in a coffee shop and successful architect Lucien finds it, They eventually do meet in person. Lucien is in love, and along with Luna begins an exciting new future.

Evy Journey did an amazing job, her descriptive prose allows the reader to experience almost firsthand all of the sites, smells, the awe, and wonder of experiencing something new, as they travel the world. This is not a regular romance, it is a whirlwind trip, an adventure - the reader can almost feel breathless as they follow Luna and Lucien's journey. Excellent read. Give yourself a break and read this book, well worth your time. Be kind to yourself.

I struggled with this book; the writing style was difficult to get into and I didn't find the characters likeable. It's a shame as I had high hopes for it.

Personally I enjoyed the start of this book a bit more than the middle, though I couldn't keep up reading because I wasn't interested. I really wanted to like it, but it was just not for me!

I really wanted to like this book. I picked it based on the description. It sounded great, however it fell completely flat for me.
The story is based around 2 main characters, Luna and Lucien. Luna loses her journal in a coffee shop and is picked up by Lucien who decides to read it. He then hopes he will find the person who wrote it. The book is set in multiple locations with differing timelines.
If the book was just based on the brief description I’ve mentioned above, then I think I may have enjoyed it more as for me, I was hoping the journal and the meeting of the characters was going to be the main story. However, I felt that I was reading 3 separate books. There were sections about Hawaii and Cambodia which just didn’t seem to fit or flow with the story. They could have been books in their own right.
The descriptive writing about Hawaii and Cambodia was lovely but I couldn’t get on with the style of writing otherwise. I needed more from this book. I didn’t particularly warm to the characters and in the end it took me a long time to finish the book as it just couldn’t grasp my attention for long enough.

Hmmm. I selected this book based on the blurb describing it as an #ownvoices/multi-cultural interest novel. At its core though it is really a romance between Luna and Lucien, two rather introspective and intense young people living in California. Luna was raised most of her life, by her grandmother in Hawaii. At her grandmother's house was a large mango tree that never bore fruit. The family liked to sit in the plentiful shade of this mango tree (hence the title!). Luna is given a journal at the a Moleskine journal while in high school and spills her soul into it. Luna later moves back to California to live with her parents and siblings. There she also goes to college to study Literature. One day she forgets her journal at a coffee shop where it is found by Lucien, a young architect. Lucien reads the journal and becomes fascinated by Luna. The two later meet and so the story goes...

I was a bit lukewarm on this one. I didn't particularly like either character and honestly it seemed like 2 different books: one about Luna and Lucien and their connection through the journal and the other about Luna's time in Cambodia as part of the Peace Corps. It just didn't quite click with me though the author did have some wonderful descriptions in the book. A good chunk of the book was written as journal entries or emails, this gave it more of an introspective quality and there was less of the characters actually interacting with each other.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this novel.
This novel is hard to be categorized as a romance novel though it does have a sweet romance at the heart of the novel. The journey of Luna as a young woman is fascinating to read and especially her journal is very insightful. I loved the author's writing. The novel deals with some tragic events which makes it heavy at the end of the book. I did enjoy reading parts of the novel.
3 stars

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I really wanted to like this book but could not get on with the storyline or the writing style. The actual story was rushed or skimmed over and the characters felt too one dimensional.

This book was listed under multicultural interest and women’s fiction. It is actually mainly a romance - and I am not a fan of the romance genre, so my review must be read with that proviso. The book I expected to read started on page 337 and was done and dusted by page 429. What could have been the content of the best and most interesting part of Luna’s 2 years in Cambodia was dealt with in one sentence on page 356 - ‘a lot of little local problems crop up. Local problems no-one seems to anticipate. They ask her, and she gets involved. It’s in her nature to help.’ Details of everyday life in a small Cambodian village could have been fascinating and a real insight into the culture of the people. That was the book I’d expected from the description.. Prior to the Cambodia part of the story is boy meets girl, will they/won’t they? Then lots of gazing into eyes and melting into arms - all of which I (personally) find utterly boring. There are several sentences that I needed to read aloud to get the sense of, which breaks the flow of the reading. There are some which are clearly mistakes - e.g. page 304, the couple stroll home over the course of an hour, but he turns off the car engine as they reach her door. Both the description of the book and the cover attracted me, but the book itself was a real disappointment. I finished it out of respect for the fact that the author, publisher and NetGalley had given me a free copy in return for my honest review. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more positive about it. Maybe it will appeal more to fans of romance stories.

An Exotic Coming of Age Novel.

Luna and Lucien are brought together when she mislays her journal in a café. He inspires her to follow her dreams.

Journey has a pleasant, easy-going writing style.

The novel has little of the sights and smells of Hawaii and Cambodia, which would enable the reader to really experience the travels of the protagonist.

A point on formatting: extended passages of italics are not easy to read, and are unnecessary.