This was so cute. I really fell in love with the characters and their conversations together.

Thank you for the e-arc!

This was such an unexpectedly sweet novel. At times I found Lily to be a really unlikable character, but as her character progressed and changed I found myself really loving her.

I wish we'd had more interactions with mean-girl Hameda, and I'd have loved to find out how Fumiya's first relationship goes, but maybe we'll get more of that in another book (I hope!!!)

This book is definitely aimed at a younger audience. It was still very fun and lighthearted and a great read.

This is a really cute story about a 16 year old girl from Canada who thinks she's going cool and hip Tokyo for a year abroad, but ends up in a small town in Kyushu. It's a predictable teen story but the location and characters give it special merit and if you have any interest at all in Japan you will enjoy this story. Kudos for authenticity and a great introduction to the "real" Japan. I think both teens and adults can enjoy this.

I wanted to fall in love with this story when I first read the blurb. I love books set in other countries, with unique cultures and diverse people. As someone with a serious case of wanderlust, I live vicariously through these stories to "see" other countries through the eyes of the characters. I highly enjoyed some of the cultural pieces and locales that are explored in the book. At first it was really hard for me to get into the story, the dialogue and character development felt awkward and fell flat in the first half. Lily, the main character, is sixteen and heading to Japan for a year with an exchange program. It should be every kid's dream! Unfortunately, things do not go as planned and Lily ends up placed with a different family in a small town. A budding blogger, Lily comes off as vain and shallow, caring more about looks and outward appearances and I had a hard time feeling any sympathy for her plight at first. She made some bad decisions, upset a lot of people and got in trouble. She also was not very respectful to the culture at first, such as being respectful to elders and adults, which was confusing to me since she was so in love with the Japanese culture. Lily seems more interested in living out her manga fantasy dreams than living real life. She was a liar, despite calling them "fibs" which in my head showed she didn't quite understand the gravity of her choices and how they effected the people around her. She feels more entitled than anything else, like she should be able to do whatever she wants during her time there. She conveniently escapes any major consequences for her behavior and actions. Then, I reminded myself what it would be like to be that age again going through this and understood some of her natural teenage rebellion a bit more. I also did appreciate her bit of character growth as the story went on and I liked the latter half of the book much more than the first half as Lily settled in with her new family and made friends. Although, it did seem to take her an awfully long time to learn some valuable lessons. I loved being transported to Japan and taking a trip to various places around the country but I felt the ending was too quick and conveniently wrapped up. I would have liked to see Lily have to deal with some consequences with the people around her and have to find ways to make up for it. There are some situations and language that keep this book firmly in YA territory for high school readers and would not be appropriate for middle school readers or younger. Definitely a story many high school readers will connect with and understand, as well as enjoy.

Such a fun read and super interesting. I learned a lot about Japanese culture and what a year abroad that didn't go as planned turned into with a social media presence following you.