Chloe and the Kaishao Boys is a coming-of-age story at a precipice. While Chloe is definitely trying to figure out who to take as a date, it’s also a story about our feelings leaving home and being unsure of our future. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Chloe is officially off the waitlist at USC, and thus one step closer to realizing her dream of becoming an animator in the United States. But before she leaves home, her auntie insists on planning a traditional debut for Chloe’s eighteenth birthday (think sweet sixteen meets debutante ball). To make matters worse, her father, intent on finding Chloe the perfect escort for the party, keeps setting her up on one awkward kaishao—or arranged date—after another. But . . . why does her dad suddenly care so much about her love life? And what happens when she actually starts to fall for one of the guys, only to have to leave at the end of the summer?
Review
I full on sobbed at the end of Chloe and the Kaishao Boys. This debut is multi-faceted. If you want to read a story about dating and arranged dates? This is for you. Or if you’re interested in a story about family, father and daughter relationships, and being scared of leaving home? Again, this is for you. Finally, if you want a story devoted to the complexity of characters where Coyiuto portrays all our flaws and charm? Read this! This book is heart warming to the maximum!
It’s a book which kept me reading way past when I told myself I’d stop. With dating problems and unexpected crushes, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys is a delight. Each of these characters have hidden depths, little intricacies. But what truly got my heart in tears was the ways Chloe explores her feelings about home and family. On the cusp of going away to college, Chloe is reckoning with homesickness, her relationship with her dad, and also with her visions of the future.
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What happens when we have second doubts? When we aren’t sure if we truly want what we thought we did? We can stand in the doorway between what we thought we wanted to escape and where we thought we’d go. And then freeze. Or suffer a setback that can make us doubt the shimmering vision ahead of us. Chloe and the Kaishao Boys is about that moment. That branching moment. For anyone who’s ever left home, get your tissues ready.
Find Chloe and the Kaishao Boys on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.