Harlequin, January 2013
RATING: 4 out of 5 (Very Good)
Tiffany
Cheung hightailed it out of the small town of Everville, New York as soon as
she had the opportunity. For years, she’s been trying to make a name for herself
in publishing, attempting to put her English degree to good use in Manhattan.
But when she loses her job and can’t pay the rent on her apartment, her only
option is to move back in with her parents. Her family is embarrassed by the
way Tiffany’s career has worked out, but they’re delighted that she’s available
to help out at the family diner. Tiffany is not so pleased at this prospect,
and when the opportunity arises to tutor her high school crush’s son in English,
she immediately accepts.
Tiffany
hadn’t realised that Chris Jamieson had returned to Everville, let alone that
he’d dropped out of college when his girlfriend got pregnant. Now Chris is a
divorced, single-parent attempting to make his dad’s farm into a profitable
business venture. Chris doesn’t want to project his lost dreams on to his son,
but he can’t help but wish Simon would make of his life than he did. Tiffany
tutored Chris in high school, and he hopes that she’ll help Simon make his way
through summer school unscathed.
What neither
of them expects is for the spark Tiffany and Chris had in high school to be
reappear, especially considering that Tiffany has no plans to stay in Everville
permanently. Given that Chris is tied to his farm, is there any hope for their
romance to last beyond this summer?
Back to the Good Fortune Diner immediately grabbed my attention
when I was flipping through the publisher’s catalogue, even though I’ve only
dabbled in the Superromance line once before. It might not be obvious from my
profile picture, but I’m Anglo-Indian, and I’m always pleased to come across a
mixed-race heroine in the romance genre. The fact that Tiffany was
Asian-American was enough to inspire me to read this book, and it helped that
I’m a big fan of small-town stories and reunion romances.
Tiffany is
actually the second Asian-American heroine I’ve encountered this year, since I
read Camy Tang’s Sushi
for One? back in
January. Both novels featured single women nearing the age of thirty and
struggling with their families’ projections for their futures. I have to say
that I related to Tiffany more so than Lex, the protagonist of Sushi for One? Admittedly, I didn’t
think I’d have a lot in common with either woman, given that I got married at
the age of twenty and that my Indian family has managed to avoid pigeon-holing
me into the traditional career route of doctor/lawyer/minister. But as Back to the Good Fortune Diner
progressed, I realised that I had more in common with Tiffany than I initially
thought, and I’m sure I won’t be the only reader who is pleasantly surprised by
the message in this novel.
Several reviewers
have commented on the fact that Tiffany isn’t always the most likeable heroine,
and I commend Vicki Essex for taking this risk. Even if I disagreed with some of
Tiffany’s actions, I didn’t want to shake her for making such silly decisions
because I could understand her reasoning. Tiffany is scared of taking risks,
and constantly has her defences up, a throwback to the bullying she experienced
as a child. Although the bullying I experienced at school wasn’t linked to my
ethnicity (given that my skin is more akin to that of a vampire than my Indian
grandfather) I, too, would be shocked if someone who had looked down on me at
school suddenly wanted to go on a coffee date. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile
our past memories of a person or a place with the present-day reality, so I
didn’t blame Tiffany for the way she acted at certain points throughout the
novel. I’m sure that anyone who has had trouble fitting in—whether for issues
of race or not—will be able to relate to Tiffany’s problems in Everville.
Despite
their different racial backgrounds, Tiffany and Chris’s families have a lot in
common, mainly their constant projecting of ideas about their children’s
futures. This is something I’m so, so thankful that I never experienced, but I
didn’t stop me from sympathising with Tiffany and her brother, Daniel, or Chris
and his son, Simon. I appreciated that Vicki showed that parents having visions
of their children’s futures isn’t limited to any specific ethnic group, and
your race doesn’t determine how you deal with parental pressure. Tiffany and
Daniel had very different responses, with Tiffany running away to Manhattan and
Daniel attempting to align his life to his parents’ vision. On the other hand,
both Chris and Simon get defensive about their respective parents pushing them
towards a certain future, which causes a lot of tension in their family.
I hadn’t
realised that the Superromance novels contained sub-plots, so Daniel’s story
was a pleasant surprise. It did take me a while to warm up to Daniel and his
dilemma over introducing his non-Asian girlfriend to his family, and admitting to
them that he might not want to run the family business when his father retired.
Initially I didn’t care much about Daniel and just wanted to get back to
Tiffany’s story, but he grew on me as the novel developed.
I realise
that I’ve not actually discussed much about the romance yet, which might seem
odd given that this is a romance novel. The theme of fitting-in and Tiffany and
Chris’s character growth is tied tightly to their romance, with all of the
elements depending on each other in order for their relationship to survive. I
suppose you could say that their romance is typical of small-town stories where
one character returns and discovers that the sparks are still there despite not
having seen each other in years. Personally, I like those sorts of romances,
and I appreciated that what was keeping Chris and Tiffany from admitting that they
wanted their relationship to last was actually their own fears and
misconceptions about the future.
This was
wrapped up in what I felt was the major theme of the novel—Do you really know
what you want? Sometimes we think something is the best path for us in life
because it makes the most money, or because it fulfils our parents’ dreams for
us, or because it validates our university or career choices. Or sometimes it’s
simply because it’s the safest route. I know I’ve been guilty of this lately,
and it’s taken me a while to admit to friends and family that I want to devote
the next few years of my life working on my writing, rather than getting
further qualifications or taking a safe job. Tiffany and Chris’s fears really
spoke to me, and I have a feeling that they’ll hit a chord with other readers
as well.
There isn’t
a lot that I disliked about this novel, but if I had to pin-point anything, I
had a couple of issues with the secondary characters. As I mentioned before, it
took me a while to warm up to Daniel, but it was quite the opposite with
Chris’s father, William. Regardless of how completely un-politically correct he
might be, he seemed pretty realistic at the start of the novel. However, he had
a complete turn-around later in the book when someone confronted him about his
treatment of Tiffany, and I didn’t find it terribly believable, given how adamant
he had been about his earlier beliefs. Perhaps if his change of character had
been more drawn-out I would have bought it. I also wish that Simon’s conflict
had been resolved more. He seemed a little forgotten in the rush to conclude
Tiffany and Chris’s romance.
My small
issues with the secondary characters are honestly all I can criticise about
this novel, which has been a wonderful introduction to the Harlequin
Superromance line. If you like romances that feature dynamic characters,
believable conflicts and appealing settings, this is definitely a line to check
out, and I highly recommend starting with Back
to the Good Fortune Diner.
Disclaimer: This is a mass-market
romance and contains three, brief sexual scenes, as well as a few instances of
foul language.
Review
title provided by Harlequin.
No comments:
Post a Comment