When You Wish Upon a Lantern

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.*

This was really cute. As someone who lives near Chinatown Chicago, I loved the references to places that made me feel like I was there and that I might run into Liya and Kai when going out. I loved the chemistry between them; part best-friend, part crush, their shared humor and wonderfully awkward teen moments were perfect.

This is a wonderful, quick read about grief, growing up, and what it means to do right by your family. While much of it focuses on Liya's struggle with her feelings of loss from her grandmother's death, I didn't feel as though this were too heavy or sad. Instead, it feels hopeful and inspiring, and the romance elements are so perfectly on point.

As sweet as a cinnamon roll, this YA romance centers two teens who love their community and each other, but don't dare admit it. With a dash of humor and a generous helping of lyrical lines, this author has written romance to remember.

Kai and Liya are best friends, but their families are rivals, a long-standing feud ignited by trash in a shared alleyway and an exploding dumpster. When a hilarious-for-the-reader misunderstanding pulls them apart, it takes Liya discovering her family's shop is in crisis to pull them together. Together, they find new ways to pull their Chinatown community together through cultural festivals and granting wishes while they work to save Liya's grandmother's beloved business.

The cutest part of this book is show more the wishes. Liya and Kai work as wish fairies behind the scenes to help the wishes people write on the lanterns come true. In addition to playing matchmaker for elderly couples, they also get a dog adopted and help a boy's father accept his dreams of playing basketball. A few nudges, a little manipulation and presto, wish granted! But the biggest question is: will Liya and Kai ever get the courage to grant their own wish and be together?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

A beautiful cover and an equally beautiful story!

When You Wish Upon a Lantern is filled with Chinese culture; the foods, the traditions. I think those parts were my absolute favorite. I really felt like I was there at the festivals too.
Kai and Liya's story centered around their culture and how it shaped their choices as young adults. The chapters alternated between Liya and Kai, giving the reader a good glimpse into both of their home lives.
The middle of the book dragged a bit and there was miscommunication between multiple characters throughout the story. Being a YA novel, I didn't feel like it was necessarily a bad thing as that's a normal part of growing up, learning how to express your thoughts and feelings.
"Sometimes I wish you show more could bottle up moments and relive them when you need to."

Overall, this book has a very feel-good, magical quality to it. It's a sweet and heartfelt romance with some young adult, awkward humor rolled in.
Definitely recommend!

The glossary at the back of the book was very helpful and highly appreciated.

Thank you PenguinTeen for the e-ARC to read and honestly review! show less

There’s no shortage of story potential here, Liya and Kai both have issues within their families and their family businesses, there’s a feud between their families, plus their friendship is strained by their crushes on each other, and Liya wants to carry on her grandmother’s tradition of granting lantern wishes for their community, yet despite all of that, this book frequently felt like it needed more plot. Too often it seemed like this skimmed the surface and the conflicts weren’t as strong as maybe they could have been to truly drive the story forward and get the pages turning.

There were definitely areas where I wanted this to dig deeper and areas where it didn’t feel like there was enough going on to truly hold my show more attention, but I did like Liya and Kai together, and I liked Liya’s interractions with Stephanie to the point where I wished it had been featured more prominently. I also enjoyed reading about Chinese culture, particularly the various holidays that I hadn’t previously known much about.

This delivers when it comes to super light and sweet so as long as that’s all you’re in the mood for and aren’t craving something slightly meatier, this might prove a little more satisfying for you than it ultimately was for me. show less

* I got this book for review from the publisher*
I loved this book so much. It was so sweet and loved the friends to mroe element. I also loved the "magic element" it gzve me the charmed list vibes but less magaical and more small town vibes. I also thought this book was softer verious og the complex realtiomships the main character that had with their parents. This book was a bit of softer read but also had harder topics like grief. This book also ahd massive self didvocery plot line for both characters!! Def a new favorite by this author!!

* I got this book for review from the publisher*
I loved this book so much. It was so sweet and loved the friends to mroe element. I also loved the "magic element" it gzve me the charmed list vibes but less magaical and more small town vibes. I also thought this book was softer verious og the complex realtiomships the main character that had with their parents. This book was a bit of softer read but also had harder topics like grief. This book also ahd massive self didvocery plot line for both characters!! Def a new favorite by this author!!