From Little Tokyo, With Love is a modern fairytale that is wholesome and hilarious. It is a story centred around family, discovering yourself and where you belong, and what it means to embrace your roots.
Rika Rakuyama’s life is what you would call a fairytale in today’s world, but she would rather reject that notion at all costs. Despite being orphaned and having little knowledge of her parents, Rika lives with her two cousins (who are pretty much her stepsisters) and her two aunts in Little Tokyo, whom she loves dearly over everything. It just so happens that her cousins are named after Disney characters and even fit the personalities of princesses, but Rika’s biracial roots, hot headed temper, and superb judo skills aren’t what you would call “princess-like”.
However, Rika’s world is turned upside down when she makes a connection with ultra-famous Asian-American rom-com actress Grace Kimura, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From this point on, everything about her unknown familial background begins to unfold. Along with the cute and upcoming actor Hank Chen, Rika embarks on a journey of discovery, one that unravels Little Tokyo’s gems and secrets, and connecting the dots that Grace is actually Rika’s mother.
For Rika, fairytale endings aren’t exactly something that comes her way. With a Hollywood star potentially being her mother and a potential shot at love right in front of her, she might be setting herself up for disappointment. But does Rika take the risk to find true happiness for herself, or is it really all just a fairytale?
The two main characters really sold me for this novel. Rika and Hank were some of my absolute favourites to read about, especially through their differing yet similar personalities. Their uniqueness also comes from their cultural and ethnic heritage, where Rika is half Japanese and half Caucasian and Henry (Hank’s real name) is half Filipino and half Chinese. You get a cultural glimpse through Rika’s perspective, especially in the settings of Little Tokyo and the restaurant, Katsu That, which both of her aunts own. Her personality shines because she has no problems being utterly blunt and straightforward while interacting with other characters. This is interesting because having such an opiniated and outgoing demeanour can be against the grain within Japanese culture. Being half white has also labelled her as not being “Japanese enough”, which can have her at odds with some of the residents within Little Tokyo. Henry stands out as a character because of his East and Southeast Asian roots. Although from the same race, he is ethnically different from Rika in a familial sense. He wants to make his family proud but is afraid being a disappointment to them. As an actor, his personality is a bit egocentric, but deep down he is the soft-hearted and fun-loving guy virtually anyone would love to date. Other likeable characters include all Belle and Rory (Rika’s cousins and adoptive sisters), Auntie Och and Aunt Suzy, and Craig Shimizu because who doesn’t like a good book villain?
The plot and pacing were set quite nicely. As for plot, I liked how clever the hunt for Grace was planned out. It virtually takes you all throughout L.A., from tourist spots you see in the movies to local ones, and ones that were quite relevant to Rika herself. I thought the build up to certain scenes and events was done quite well, and this is done with the help of strong characters. The biggest takeaway for pacing I could put into words is Rika was literally made to be the narrator of this book and I loved how some of the chapters had fairytale-like narrative to go along with the main story. Triggering topics such as racism and anxiety make themselves known in the plot, and this definitely adds a significant amount of traction to the narrative.
The issues I had with this book was how it ended and the romance. It was a bit of a fall off given all the events that Rika and Henry went through to find Grace, it seemed more like a young adult romance novel instead of what the novel advertises itself as. The romance aspect was a bit rushed as well since I thought Henry and Rika were simply going to stay good friends. There was nothing wrong with this, however, I think it should have been made a bit clearer in the synopsis.
Overall, From Little Tokyo, With Love is a fun story for the YA genre that centres around a character whose motives pertain to discovering herself and where she comes form. With the help of a friend and a potential love interest, it is exciting to see the direction the plot goes for the character. The rating for this book is due to who the characters are initially, and who they become in the end. I recommend this to readers who love YA contemporary novels and have an interest in themes of self-identity, multiculturalism, and an overall eye-opening experience into Asian culture. This will show you what it means to have an open mind and understand that change is often necessary to move forward!
From Little Tokyo, With Love is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.
If Rika’s life seems like the beginning of a familiar fairy tale–being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in her aunts’ business–she would be the first to reject that foolish notion. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney characters), and with her biracial background, amazing judo skills and red-hot temper, she doesn’t quite fit the princess mold.
All that changes the instant she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America’s reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nikkei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a madcap adventure of hope and happiness–searching for clues that Grace is her long-lost mother, exploring Little Tokyo’s hidden treasures with cute actor Hank Chen, and maybe…finally finding a sense of belonging.
But fairy tales are fiction and the real world isn’t so kind. Rika knows she’s setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don’t happen to girls like her. Should she walk away before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away?
