Loveboat, Taipei

Some people can’t stand cliches; they want every book they read to be different from the last. Personally, I don’t mind overused concepts if used in moderation and the tiniest bit different from the original. Take Loveboat, Taipei, for example. The love triangle is so cliched that I groan every time I find a girl with two guys in literature, but Hing Wen executed the characters themselves in such an exceptional way that the structure could be ignored. Ever, the female protagonist, experienced other problems besides that struggle between the two guys, and the two guys, Rick and Xavier, weren’t utter jerks. These gentle twists coupled with Ever’s family issues and life dancing give the story a well-roundedness many romances lack. This makes the story both unique and relatable; after all, ordinary people still have to live their lives after and during their love life goes south. They can’t give up on the world around them, and neither does Ever. I also loved that Hing Wen doesn’t include a true antagonist; rather, certain aspects of certain characters take that role in different points of the story. Ever battles her parents in the beginning, her friend Sophie during the middle, Xavier in spurts, and herself all throughout, but there isn’t a real “bad guy” to throw all the blame onto and pit against the reader. Again, it adds another layer of realism to the story. Every person contains both good and bad traits, and Hing Wen shows this through her writing,

Recommended for the rebellious teenagers and uncertain lovers alike. This book gets it.

--Grace Nask