03 May / A Phở Love Story by Loan Le [in Booklist]
Ryan Do and Vyvy Nguyen might be audiobook newbies, but they’re just what debut novelist Loan Le must have ordered: together, the trio offers an #OwnVoices treat combining a never-meant-to-be love story, family feuds, and drool-worthy Vietnamese cuisine.
Vibrant Nguyen is Linh Mai, who’s always been the good girl, fulfilling parental expectations often by devaluing her own dreams. School and working in her parents’ restaurant leave her little room for what she loves most – making art. Affable Do becomes Bảo Nguyễn, fellow senior who doesn’t think he’s particularly good at anything. His parents own the restaurant across the street … making them Linh’s family’s constant competition. Linh and Bảo have dutifully avoided each other, until Bảo crosses over, albeit incognito, to provide much-needed last minute help on Phở Day. Turns out certain combinations were meant to be. Meanwhile, complicated overlapping history comes to a boil.
Irresistibly toothsome – although not without stinging bites of war trauma, blatant racism, and social justice – Le and her aural enablers produce quite the delectable concoction.
Review: “Media,” Booklist, May 1, 2021
Readers: Young Adult
Published: 2021