My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn

Elle's life hasn't been going very well, ever since her mom got addicted to painkillers and subsequently sent to prison. Elle has been in a series of heinous foster homes ever since, until her sixteenth birthday, when she gets the news that her father, whom she has never met, wants her to come live with him in Tokyo. Suddenly, Elle is thrust into the glamorous life of a wealthy expat teen, attending the International Collegiate School, falling in with the popular crowd, and living in her father's penthouse apartment in the luxury hotel and office skyscraper that he owns. The downside? Her father works pretty much all the time, her Japanese grandmother is cold and unfriendly (and racist), and the popular crowd isn't welcoming to some of the other friends Elle has made. As Elle experiences all of the wonders of her new city, she can't help but wonder: how long will this dream life last?

I must admit, I didn't care for this one very much. Elle sure does whine a lot. Plus, there's a lot less plot and a lot more description of Elle doing touristy things, like going to a cat cafe and a robot restaurant. None of the characters have much depth, and none of Elle's actions appear to have consequences, so she never gets so much as a telling off, nor does she have that internal moment of realization that maybe she didn't do the right thing. There's no indication that her actions aren't a good strategy to get her way. On top of that, I thought that there were some problems with the writing.  The perspective is first person, but often in describing the sights of Tokyo, the author uses vocabulary that Elle probably wouldn't have. She doesn't always sound like a believable teenager to me.

Also . . . look, I'm sure there are some dreadful foster homes out there, and I realize that the narrator needed a terrible situation for Elle to be rescued from. But, having recently watched a colleague go through the arduous process of getting approved to provide foster care, I did wonder how much research the author did on the current state of foster care before writing this book. (She had Elle placed in not one, but three, terrible foster homes, and mentioned that Elle's friend Reggie had also experienced nothing but terrible foster homes, so it wasn't supposed to be an isolated case.)

I'd only recommend this book for Japanophile readers who are fascinated with the culture and want to read something like a Tokyo travel guide with a bit of a plot.  I know very little about the culture and nothing about the language, so I can't speak to the accuracy of those parts of the book. For a similar but better read, I'd recommend Seven Days of You by Cecelia Vinesse.

(Reviewed from an e-audiobook borrowed through my library system.)

Nate Expectations by Tim Federle

Nate has loved everything about being on Broadway, but when his show closes, he must return to the Pittsburgh suburbs his family calls home. He dreads attending public high school, but is surprised to find that it’s not quite what he expected. His Broadway experience seems to have given him a certain amount of... could it be? ... popularity? As he attempts to stage an ambitious musical version of Great Expectations with the help of long-time bestie Libby, he starts to worry that his secret New York City boyfriend is pulling away from him.

A fun ending to Federle’s Nate series. Though Nate is a little older than he was in the first book, the tone and content are still appropriate for upper elementary and middle school readers. I thought the character development was lacking a bit, especially concerning a certain new relationship, where I just didn’t feel any emotional connection. Still, I’d recommend this to readers who enjoyed the first two books.

(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)