3.5
Our Wayward Fate
ByPublisher Description
“A story that’s sure to stick with you for a long time.” —BuzzFeed
“More than a coming-of-age novel.” —School Library Journal
“[An] inventive, deeply heartfelt love story that explores connections of many kinds.” —Booklist
A teen outcast is simultaneously swept up in a whirlwind romance and down a rabbit hole of dark family secrets when another Taiwanese family moves to her small, predominantly white midwestern town in this remarkable novel from the critically acclaimed author of American Panda.
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe, after the mountain in Taiwan.
Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the “they belong together” whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.
Snippets of a love story from 19th-century China (a retelling of the Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers) are interspersed with Ali’s narrative and intertwined with her fate.
“More than a coming-of-age novel.” —School Library Journal
“[An] inventive, deeply heartfelt love story that explores connections of many kinds.” —Booklist
A teen outcast is simultaneously swept up in a whirlwind romance and down a rabbit hole of dark family secrets when another Taiwanese family moves to her small, predominantly white midwestern town in this remarkable novel from the critically acclaimed author of American Panda.
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe, after the mountain in Taiwan.
Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the “they belong together” whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.
Snippets of a love story from 19th-century China (a retelling of the Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers) are interspersed with Ali’s narrative and intertwined with her fate.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities96 Reviews
3.5
shattered_solace
Created 5 months agoShare
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“Very good book, only problem was the constant mentioning of “two genders”.
There’s more than two genders and it disappointed me a little bit.”
Blanca Villas
Created 7 months agoShare
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Riley C
Created 8 months agoShare
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MyLastRomanceNovel
Created 8 months agoShare
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“My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️.75
Spice Meter:”
Danica Page
Created 8 months agoShare
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“My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Overall Thoughts/Impressions: I have read three books by this author now. Gloria has a definite character type she likes to write--an FMC who is a disappointment to her parents, can't meet their expectations for one reason or another, and is struggling to belong. She deftly portrays Taiwanese/Chinese first-gen Americans and the difficulties and struggles they face in a world where they feel there is nowhere they belong. This one follows that pattern. It tackles themes like race/racism in an expert way.
I enjoyed this one. I am curious to see what Gloria writes next. Because I've read a few from her, it felt a teensy bit formulaic and predictable, but enjoyable all the same.
Content: This is a young adult book with some sexual innuendos and strong language. 16ish+.
Love,
Danica Page”
About Gloria Chao
Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, Our Wayward Fate, and Rent a Boyfriend. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her husband on the curling ice or hiking the Indiana Dunes. She does not regret putting aside her MIT and dental degrees to write, and she is grateful to spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.Wordpress.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram @GloriaCChao.
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