This Is My Brain in Love
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4.6 • 9 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A Schneider Family Book Award winner!
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year!
Told in dual narrative, This Is My Brain in Love is a stunning YA contemporary romance, exploring mental health, race, and, ultimately self-acceptance, for fans of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Emergency Contact.
Jocelyn Wu has just three wishes for her junior year: To make it through without dying of boredom, to direct a short film with her BFF Priya Venkatram, and to get at least two months into the year without being compared to or confused with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade. Will Domenici has two goals: to find a paying summer internship, and to prove he has what it takes to become an editor on his school paper.
Then Jocelyn's father tells her their family restaurant may be going under, and all wishes are off. Because her dad has the marketing skills of a dumpling, it's up to Jocelyn and her unlikely new employee, Will, to bring A-Plus Chinese Garden into the 21st century (or, at least, to Facebook).
What starts off as a rocky partnership soon grows into something more. But family prejudices and the uncertain future of A-Plus threaten to keep Will and Jocelyn apart. It will take everything they have and more, to save the family restaurant and their budding romance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gregorio (None of the Above) introduces Taiwanese-American Jocelyn Wu, 16, who is determined to save her family's failing Chinese restaurant in central New York, and biracial (half black, half white) William Domenici, also 16, in need of both a paying summer gig and the "investigative skills" required to earn a more significant role at his school newspaper. A charmingly awkward meet-cute ends with Jos hiring Will to help the business. As feelings develop between the two, familial expectations and difficult truths including the failing restaurant, Jos's depression, and Will's anxiety threaten to quash their relationship. Gregorio introduces the protagonists through alternating perspectives, unspooling each character's quirks and the ways their strengths, insecurities, and experiences affect them and those closest to them. Readers will come to this story for dynamic romantic and familial relationships, but they'll stay for its smart exploration of depression, anxiety, and self-care. Gregorio doesn't preach or prescribe, instead offering readers a safe space in which to consider and develop their understanding of mental health and, like Jos and Will, find the courage to ask for help if needed. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Too much info.
I really like this book but there is so much unneeded information on side characters that don't need that much attention, but otherwise i really enjoyed this book 💗