Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ½
After hearing all the crazy hype about the movie, I thought for once it would be wise to read the book before watching the movie (which I still need to do btw).
When Rachel Chu agrees to go to Singapore for the summer with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she pictures visiting a quaint family home with a sweet, accepting family and spending some quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nicholas fails to provide Rachel with some key details. His family happens to live in houses that look like palaces, they almost own more private planes than luxury cars, and that he is one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. Before Rachel has stepped foot into the country, she has a target on her back and what she thought would be a relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of money, making good impressions, forcing herself to fit into the role Nick's family expects her to be and people talking and scheming behind her back.
I'll be honest, I did have to somewhat trudge my way through this. The book is split into different perspectives of some of the different people on the incredibly big (and confusing) family tree. The only perspectives I really cared about were Rachel, Nick, and Astrid. All of the others I read quickly or even skimmed because I wanted to get back to the "action." But all I really went back to was Rachel being confused, shocked, or worried about Nick's family, Nick figuring out that he loves Rachel more and more even though he is letting her be humiliated by his family and Astrid struggling with the fact that her husband might be having an affair (which she specifies so many times is common but that she isn't just another girl so it's more difficult for her).
The part of the story I was anxiously waiting for took almost the whole book to "build" up to and then ended so quickly and not at all how I thought or wanted it to. Plus Rachel should have seen some sort of sabotage coming, the most eligible bachelor isn't simply allowed to go and propose to the girl he wants to be with, not when there are many girls letting her in on the fact that she, supposedly, isn't good enough for him. But the situation is so overwhelming that she just passes out and that's pretty much it. No big fight or family feud, just Nick's nosy mother telling Rachel details about her family that she thought she was hiding from Nick.
Overall, I was somewhat disappointed with this story because I expected more drama packed moments instead of simply gossip. In my opinion, the book would've been more interesting if just some of the perspectives were written out so the more interesting ones could be explored in depth. Just because I want to know what happens between Nick and Rachel, I might make an effort to read the other books in the series but we'll see.
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