By Belana Beeck
Emiko Jean, author of Empress of All Seasons and We’ll Never Be Apart, published Tokyo Ever After in May 2021 to great success. It was a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine YA Book Club pick and a New York Times bestseller.
If you love a good modern fairytale, then don’t hesitate to pick this book up. Jean introduces us to Izumi Tanaka, a soon-to-be high school graduate grappling with her Japanese American identity. Raised by a single mother in a small Northern California town, Izumi – Izzy for short – has always wondered about her father. Because her mom never spoke of him, Izumi takes it upon herself to learn more. But what happens when uncovering that missing puzzle piece reveals that you are none other than the princess of Japan?
With her father’s invitation and mother’s support, Izumi decides to travel to Japan to meet her father and to discover more about her family. Through a whirlwind of press, family drama, and her handsome bodyguard, she must learn all her family customs and traditions practically overnight. And it begins to be too much too fast. Will Izumi crumble under the pressure or become the version of herself she was meant to be all along?
If you are a fan of American Royals by Katharine McGee or the classic The Princess Diaries, you’ll enjoy this book. It’s lighthearted, and all around a fun read when you’re looking for something new. The idea of family is strong in this book. Starting with the moment Izzy’s father finds out he has a daughter, you get to see a really sweet father/daughter relationship as the two of them balance the duties of being a part of the royal family and as they get to know each other on a personal level. I also enjoyed seeing the relationship flourish between Izzy’s father and mother. Apart for nearly two decades and still very much in love, it is clear that their past never truly left their minds.
All in all, I really enjoyed the characters in this novel. From mean cousins to charming bodyguards, all the characters felt real and had interesting back stories. There is a plot twist at the end, which I will let you find out if you reside to read this book.
If I had one critique, it would be that I wish Jean would have gone into more depth with some of the close family members that Izzy has in Japan, especially the cousins. Her cousins are present but I wish I would have gotten more details on their lives, maybe a shared moment between them and Izzy to make the family dynamic or history richer. However, Jean is coming out with a second book in the series called Tokyo Dreaming and it is due for release May 31, 2022, so get ready for another adventure with Izzy and her family.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. I enjoyed getting to read about Japanese culture and seeing a Japanese American protagonist within a princess narrative. It’s an important representation, and it’s wonderful to have writers like Jean utilizing her voice to bring something new to the world.
Tokyo Ever After is available from Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, IndieBound, The Last Bookstore, Powell’s City of Books, Semicolon Bookstore and Gallery, and Yu and Me Books.
Belana Beeck is a prose and poetry writer, interested in fantasy, historical, and contemporary fiction. She is also eager to showcase her Latinx culture through her work. She is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University.