#ARCstravaganza (#29): American Panda by Gloria Chao

Happy Monday everyone! And also happy #ARCstravaganza day! This week’s feature is a book that many of us have been very excited for. I heard about this book last year, and knew that due to the hype, it would be difficult to get an ARC. I was lucky enough to receive one however, and I’m so very happy and feel very blessed to be able to read and review an advanced copy of this book.

For those of you coming across this meme for this first time, it was originally created by Krysti at YA and Wine, and hosted by her, and Sarah at The Clever Reader. Due to personal circumstances, however, they have had to let it go. We were all very sad to see the meme go, but then Krysti asked me if I wanted to take it over, and I said yes!

For those of you unfamiliar with #ARCstravaganza, it’s a meme meant to encourage book bloggers to show off and discuss their ARCs (advanced reader copies)! If this sounds like something for you, please check out the info page about the meme here. Another change is that #ARCstravaganza participants can share their posts on their blogs, Instagram, or Twitter (or all three)! Please just be sure to tag your social media posts with the hashtag, or share a link to your blog post on my blog post for each week, so that we can find it!

– My ARC Choice –

American Panda by Gloria Chao

To see the other pics for this meme, go follow me on Instagram!

– About the Book –

Title: American Panda
Author: Gloria Chao
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Published: February 6, 2018
Source: Publisher

An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

– About the Author –

Gloria Chao is an MIT grad turned dentist turned writer. AMERICAN PANDA is her debut novel, coming out February 6, 2018 from Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster. Gloria currently lives in Chicago with her ever-supportive husband, for whom she became a nine-hole golfer (sometimes seven). She is always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. She was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of her was drilled and suctioned out. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at gloriachao.wordpress.com and find her on Twitter @gloriacchao.