Frankly in Love

Frankly in Love is a cute contemporary novel about first loves, living up to parents' expectations, understanding how to support someone with a terminal illness, tackling the topic of racism, and how to pave your own path to happiness. Imagine all this while being a senior in high school, trying to just do well on your SATs, and getting into a good college. Well, this is what Frank Li has to endure.Frank lives in Southern California and has to uphold many parents' expectations. David Yoon opens up the novel explaining the significance of Frank’s American name and Frank's Korean name. Frank's American full first name (Frank Li) consists of seven letters and his Korean first full name (Sung Min Li) consists of nine letters. Seven to symbolize the lucky number in America and nine to symbolize the lucky number in South Korea. By having Yoon start the novel in this manner, the reader gets a sense of how there is a divide yet a symbiotic relationship between his American and Korean upbringing. It’s supposed to be a bridge between two cultures.Frank’s parents have the typical expectations of Asian parents when it comes to academics. They want their child to get a high test score on the PSATs and SATs, maintain a high GPA and get into Harvard. That is what Frank’s sister, Hanna, did. However, Frank would love to pursue a music career at Berklee School of Music instead of studying law or medicine at an Ivy League.Frank's parents only want him to date a Korean girl so when he falls for Brit Means, a white girl in his Calculus class, he devises a plan with Korean-American Joy Song. His parents know Joy through family friends and think Frank and Joy are dating. Yet, they don't know that Frank and Joy are fake-dating so Frank and Joy can date other people that are not Korean. Frank can see Brit and Joy can see Wu without having their parents breathing down on their necks. Of course this scenario sounds good to be true because something always happens. Unexpected actions and feelings occur and the plan unravels.Yoon’s voice for Frank is simple and relatable for many. What I love about Frank is Frank’s candor. Yoon delves into topics such as interracial relationships, family issues, grades, etc. and tells it how it is. He doesn’t sugar coat anything. I haven’t read a novel with a male point of view that I instantly connected with in ages. Through Frank readers see how Frank and his friends from the Gathering have to appease their Korean parents.There is one scene where Frank almost loses a family member but they survive. It shows how vulnerable someone can be. Your life can change in an instant. Frank's parents have their own secrets that they do not tell Frank until 3/4 quarters of the book. Because they don't want Frank to bomb his SATs and because they want to save face, his parents do not tell him that a family member has cancer. The situations Yoon include in Frankly in Love are things that happen to many teens. This is real life. The emotions are real. And how one handles difficult situations like cheating, finds out someone has cancer, or lives up to parents' expectations can be stressful. How does one deal with all these obstacles?The friendship between Frank and Q is genuine. They are practically brothers. I would love to read a book in Q's point of view like a companion novel of some sort. He has a story to tell us and I know a lot of us will want to find out more about Q and how he navigates the world in his shoes.Frankly in Love is a coming-of-age book about finding yourself and finding love. As Ella mentions, "we all just want to love who we want to love." Not only are characters finding love in a romantic sense but characters also strengthen their family love through bonding and understanding.

The Amazon ratings for this 412 page book, released in 2019, are spot on, 5 stars with over 600 reviews. Though labeled a Young Adult (YA) romance, "Frankly in Love" (FL) is much more than that. In terms of its plot, prose and assimilation issues addressed it reminded me a good bit of Rainbow Rowell's hit of "Eleanor and Park" cited as a NYT "notable" a few years back. The protagonist here is Frank Li, hence some cute "frankly" jokes. Actually Frank has a second name, his official Korean one, a name rarely used. Frank is a high school senior, a brainiac, and all his friends, mostly also 1st generation Korean, are also brains. Frank and parents live in a beach town in southern call; Mom and Dad run a liquor store and are very Korean. Frank knows enough words to meet and greet and to order in a Korean restaurant but that's it... Frank's focus is to get into Stanford and calculus classmate Brit. But Frank's parents are in sync only with the former goal . Since Brit is not of Korean heritage she is a non-qualifier, as is the husband of Frank's older sister, Hanna, and therefore Hanna and spouse are disowned.But Frank is in love, and so pursues some rather devious yet amusing plots to spend time with his beloved. Meanwhile Mom and Dad have found a beautiful and smart Korean girl who is just perfect for Frank. And Joy is the daughter of long time friends and fellow immigrants of years ago. Joy, of course has her own romantic issues.Despite the brief overview above, this is not some frothy 190 page sit-com. Author Yoon pulls few punches in his deep seated characters' biases about Korean and American cultures. The plot and characters are very well developed and the prose is excellent. I have observed much Asian-American cultural interfacing over the years and there isn't one false note in FL. It is very enjoyable and for some it will be eye-opening.

The package was fine but the book cover was a little damaged on the spine (book I got was paperback)

I just finished the book and felt compelled to write a review. I am a high school teacher, and the dialogue is perfect, including witty banter between friends. It reminded me of some conversations I had as a teen. I really like how the novel incorporates real-life situations for high school students, and they are accurately portrayed. Because of my profession, it bothers me when books or movies centered around teens are not correct in their timelines (students not choosing their colleges or taking the SAT tests until graduation day, for example).I appreciate the honest look at the racism that exists in some Asian families. It's not always easy to write (or read) about it, but Yoon does a wonderful job showing the parents who think one way, while the next generation does not agree with their ways but still respects their parents. He also writes thoughtfully about how others treat POC.Although the title contains the word love, this is not only a love story; instead, it is a wonderful coming of age novel showing the importance of family, friendships, relationships, and loyalty. I try to teach my students empathy through reading, and I think this book has some great passages I could use.I see that the author has another novel coming out soon, and I am looking forward to reading it.

Q: Fake dating trope: Yes or No?-This is a story about Frank Li and his friends and family and their lives living in America whilst also being Korean or African. The story follows Frank Li who fake dates Joy Song (I think that’s her name) because his parents want him to fall in love with a Korean girl whilst he believes he loves Brit, an American. His family is extremely racist and believe in the stereotypes about the different races and areas of America. The story takes a turn when Frank Li starts spending more time talking to Joy and realises at a friends wedding that he may not love Brit after all.-This book has both strengths and flaws. This is a great book for adding diversity to your shelf as well as being a great story to show how people of different races are affected by what seems mundane to us. However, I was not a fan of Frank or the story in general. The fake dating only lasted for a small portion of the book which is both great and also disappointing. I just feel like the ending wasn’t what I wanted and I still had questions about where Frank and Joy stand with each other. I rated this 3 stars on goodreads. I loved that at the back of the book David promotes his wife’s work, that was a really cute detail to me. On the plus side, it is a quick read and is kinda happy which is very unlike most of the books I read!-

I read various genres and would never normally read YA. However, after seeing this book all over #Bookstagram getting some positive reviews, I decided I’d look into it and see if perhaps it might be worth a read.The plot line in very obvious from the start and it’s most definitely aimed at a younger audience. I found some bits humorous but overall, the story was very basic and just didn’t interest me at all. I also dabbled with the audio version whilst doing housework as the story isn’t something you need to pay close attention to. However, I have to admit that at halfway through the book and whilst I’ve tried to persevere, the book just isn’t for me. Overall it’s relatively well-written but is definitely aimed (and would appeal to) teenagers and perhaps some younger adults as opposed to anyone over the age of 25 lol If you do wish to give it a chance, I can highly recommend the audio version. The narrator has a pleasant voice and does a good job with accents and various voices of the characters.

I've realised I never wrote a review for this and now I have an urge to just come and spill all my feelings about it.Frankly In Love is a YA contemporary following the fake dating trope, which on its own instantly called my attention. Korean American representation? Check. Cool trope? Check. Teenage love and fears? Check.This book has it all and it did not disappoint me. I won't spoil it, but I must say I was absolutely not expecting it to end the way it did. All I'll say is you guys need to buckle up and get ready for all the feels to hit you.David Yoon has an incredible writing style, so easy to adapt to and so easy to jump into the minds of the characters.Pretty please go read this book.

Easy to read feel good story nice characters recommend for 13+

Not a big fan of the book itself the author only used the word says,said etc. Which irked me so it wasn’t for me but it might be for someone else