Review by Booklist Review
After graduating college, Jasmine Tran finds herself single and jobless. She moves back in with her parents to help them run their 25-year-old donut shop and falls into a life of monotony; she fills her weekly calendar with things like "New Movie Monday," "New Music Tuesday," and "Reading Wednesday" so that she has something to look forward to. She feels trapped in a loop of dread. When her old college crush, Alex Lai, reappears, things start to change. Jasmine is smitten by him, and he's everything her parents want for her: attractive, successful, and Chinese. That is, until a family dinner goes awry, and her newfound relationship gets her parents' seal of disapproval. While Jasmine and Alex's swift romance is adorable, Jasmine's post-college struggles and feelings of uncertainty carry Tieu's thoughtful debut. The Donut Trap isn't just a tale where a boy meets a girl, and they fall in love. It's a family story in which Tieu perfectly builds tension between Jasmine and her parents as she tries to find her own path.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A floundering heroine struggles to create a meaningful life for herself outside of her immigrant parents' expectations in Tieu's meandering debut. Jasmine "Jas" Tran's parents set up Sunshine Donuts in an L.A. suburb after fleeing the Khmer Rouge and immigrating to the U.S. Jas has worked there since childhood, and after burning out on the pre-med track during her senior year at UCLA, she returns to the shop full-time, giving her parents more opportunities to critique her lack of social life, career, and boyfriend. Enter Jas's old college crush, Alex Lai. The pair start dating, but Alex's own struggles with his Chinese immigrant mother lead to an unfortunate dinner argument that aggravates Jas's insecurities about her career. The narrative gives ample time to the fraught relationship between Jas and her parents, but at the expense of developing the romance between Jas and Alex, who bond over their similar traumas, but share little else. Meanwhile, the friend ex-machina through which Jas eventually finds professional fulfilment strains credulity. Still, the diverse cast and deliciously described donuts make up for some of these flaws. Readers looking for slow-paced, low-stakes romance should find plenty to enjoy. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary. (Nov.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young woman finds love, and herself, when she decides to forge a path outside her parents' expectations. Jasmine Tran is a 22-year-old recent college graduate with no career prospects, no boyfriend, and no clue what to do next. She knows she's lucky to have a job at her parents' shop, Sunshine Donuts, but she's loath to imagine a lifetime of waking up at 5 a.m., boxing dozens of underpriced pastries, and butting heads with her parents, whose high standards she has so far failed to meet. But when Jasmine's best friend, Linh, posts a photo with her boyfriend's new roommate, Jasmine is shocked to see that it's Alex Lai, the hottie she met once in college and never saw again. When Jasmine starts dating Alex, it ignites her desire to make more changes in her life--including expanding Sunshine Donuts' clientele enough that her parents can afford to hire someone else. But when they resist her changes, a disastrous family dinner puts her relationship on the line, and an old flame reappears, Jasmine's plans might go up in smoke. Readers expecting a sweet-as-glaze rom-com will be disappointed. While the romance between Jasmine and Alex features heavily, it's the least interesting aspect of the book. Alex is a good match for Jasmine, and readers will root for them, but there isn't enough spark to justify the lightning-speed progress of their relationship. Where Tieu's writing really shines is in her explorations of complicated family dynamics--particularly for the American-born children of Chinese refugee parents--and overwhelming post-college ennui. The dialogue between Jasmine and her parents is often funny and sharp, and Tieu tackles their fraught relationships with understanding and warmth. Though Jasmine is desperate to leave Sunshine Donuts, readers will no doubt feel the opposite. This heartfelt debut is a sweet treat. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
