Early Reader Review: The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu

The Donut Trap by Julie Tieu 

Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: November 2, 2021  

 

Format: Paperback ARC
Source: Received from Goodreads Giveaway. 

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Julie Tieu sparkles in this debut romantic comedy, which is charmingly reminiscent of the TV show Kim’s Convenience and Frankly in Love by David Yoon, about a young woman who feels caught in the life her parents have made for her until she falls in love and finds a way out of the donut trap.

Jasmine Tran has landed herself behind bars—maple bars that is. With no boyfriend or job prospects, Jasmine returns home to work at her parents’ donut shop. Jasmine quickly loses herself in a cyclical routine of donuts, Netflix, and sleep. She wants to break free from her daily grind, but when a hike in rent threatens the survival of their shop, her parents rely on her more than ever.

Help comes in the form of an old college crush, Alex Lai. Not only is he successful and easy on the eyes, to her parents’ delight, he’s also Chinese. He’s everything she should wish for, until a disastrous dinner reveals Alex isn’t as perfect as she thinks. Worse, he doesn’t think she’s perfect either.

With both sets of parents against their relationship, a family legacy about to shut down, and the reappearance of an old high school flame, Jasmine must scheme to find a solution that satisfies her family’s expectations and can get her out of the donut trap once and for all.

Review: 

I have been into the rom-com genre lately and really have been loving these swoon-worthy titles, especially when they are not to steamy. The Donut Trap is a cute, family-focused story about a girl and her life which includes some dating. While this is a romance, it is also a coming-of-age type story. 

The Donut Trap follows Jasmine, out of college, working for her parents at their family-owned donut shop, and trying to be an adult but having a hard time at it. In a crazy turn of events she re-meets a college crush and they hit it off, only to have their families get overly involed and for Jasmine to figure out what she really wants and needs in her like. The overall plot has a lot more to do with the tension between Jasmine and her parents than with her new 'boyfirend'. It is a situation where the first generation immigrant parents and Americanized 2nd generation children had trouble communicating and have very different lives and values. The real struggle being that Jasmine has to break free of their hold over her life without feeling guity for doing so. 

The plot was a good one, I liked that there was a love-interests but really that the focus was on a really relatable female protagonist that had issues with herself, with her past, with her family etc. She as trying to pull it all together and things were going pretty wrong for her for a while. I think that since her character was so real, I felt more in-tune with her than with most rom-com heroines. I was with her when she became frustrated with herself and her parents. 

The romance portion of the book was cute and low-steam which was nice. I liked Alex and he had faults too but he complemented Jasmine well and their story and interactions were fun and funny.  Overall, if you are looking for a light romance read that focuses a lot on family and family pressures, this one fits that build.