China Rich Girlfriend

Eleanor Young hasn’t talked to her son Nicholas and his future wife for months.  She’s brooding, and desperate to win his favor again.  So when she stumbles across her future daughter-in-law’s mysterious birthfather, Eleanor schemes to use this information to get back into their lives.  That chance encounter opens Pandora’s box in Rachel Chu’s life.

The Young family chaos is the central thread to China Rich Girlfriend, the second book in this series from author Kevin Kwan.  Along with Eleanor, Nicholas, and Rachel Chu, other fan favorite characters from Crazy Rich Asians, the book that started it all, show up in the new installment as well.  Astrid and Michael’s marriage is on the rocks.  Kitty Pong is still ostracized from high society.  Peik Lin is still trying to help Rachel fit in to high society.  Nick’s aunts are still meddling in everyone’s business.  Kwan also introduces great new additions to the cast including Rachel’s half-brother and his girlfriend, who come with an entirely new level of drama.

I give China Rich Girlfriend 4 out of 5 stars.  I have been wanting to read this sequel since I read Crazy Rich Asians in 2022.  While this was a very entertaining storyline, sections of the book felt forced and kitschy.  Character interactions felt inauthentic at times both to reality and to their historical storylines.  But I also appreciated the diverse character focus in this book – instead of focusing on Rachel and Nick’s relationship, this book felt more like an ensemble play with equal time spent on each major relationship. 

I recommend this book to readers who loved Crazy Rich Asians.  While this is a great book, the reader needs the historical storyline found in the original book to make complete sense of the sequel.  I feel like this book would be great for reading alone or with a book club group or just a group of girlfriends.  With topics of sex, adultery, and drug/alcohol abuse, this book would be best for readers over 13.

I chose China Rich Girlfriend for my Lunar New Year read in January.  I was looking for a book about Asian culture but wanted something light and airy.  I had shared several great books for Lunar New Year a few weeks ago, but none seemed to fit this specific need, so I chose the sequel to one of my favorite books from 2022!

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: Abe, David S Reynolds
• Current audio book: Paradise Lost, John Milton
• Book I’m most looking forward to: A Vineyard Valentine, Nina Bocci