After reading and loving Tokyo Ever After, I was super excited to learn there was going to be a sequel. Soft contemporary romance that reminds me of The Princess Diaries, an old favorite? YES, please. Check out my full review below to find out if this book met all of my expectations!
Tokyo Dreaming (Tokyo Ever After, #2) by Emiko Jean Published by Flatiron Books on May 31, 2022
Genres: contemporary, romance, young adult
Format: ARC
Source: Macmillan INTL, NetGalley
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Return to Tokyo for a royal wedding in Emiko Jean's Tokyo Dreaming, the sequel to the Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Tokyo Ever After
When Japanese-American Izumi Tanaka learned her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s overcome conniving cousins, salacious press, and an imperial scandal to finally find a place she belongs. She has a perfect bodyguard turned boyfriend. Her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, is living with her in Tokyo. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance and are engaged. A royal wedding is on the horizon! Izumi’s life is a Tokyo dream come true.
Only...
Her parents’ engagement hits a brick wall. The Imperial Household Council refuses to approve the marriage citing concerns about Izumi and her mother’s lack of pedigree. And on top of it all, her bodyguard turned boyfriend makes a shocking decision about their relationship. At the threat of everything falling apart, Izumi vows to do whatever it takes to help win over the council. Which means upping her newly acquired princess game.
But at what cost? Izumi will do anything to help her parents achieve their happily ever after, but what if playing the perfect princess means sacrificing her own? Will she find a way to forge her own path and follow her heart?
I received this book for free from Macmillan INTL, NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
☂️ TRIGGER WARNINGS:
none in particular: if you noticed some I might have missed, please let me know!There are no spoilers in this review.
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I ENJOYED…
☂️
- Tokyo Dreaming takes place a few months after Izumi discovered she’s actually the daughter of the Crown Prince of Japan. Still living in the country and the palace, she thinks she’s found her pace with the royal life and the people surrounding her, until her parents’ engagement is threatened.
- I found that it was easy to get back into Izumi’s story: Tokyo Dreaming is one of these YA contemporary reads that quickly fits, like an old shoe you’re happy to get back in, in a sense.
- Izumi’s character growth is lovely to follow in this story. She’s struggling with what she wants to do, go to college or not, follow a traditional path or not. There are a lot of expectations weighting on her shoulders, both from the situation of being a royal and from her own self, as well. I really liked seeing her grow, make decisions and ultimately find the best one for her. Also, the way she cares for her family just makes my heart soar.
- One of my favorite parts of this book was the friendship between Izumi and the Shining twins, Akiko and Noriko. I really loved how we got to know these characters a bit better in this story. We got to peel the layers a little bit more, discovering their past and their struggles and what lay behind their cold, sometimes bitchy exterior. I really loved that and found myself caring deeply for their slowly building friendship, too.
- Tokyo Dreaming introduces a new character and I really, really loved him and his relationship with Izumi. It starts off as tutoring, turns into a friendship and then into a fake-dating scheme, which is, let’s be honest, one of my favorite tropes so YAY for that!!
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
☂️
- Be warned: there is a love triangle in this sequel. I’ll admit that I didn’t feel like this was entirely necessary. No spoilers here, so I will stop my sentence here 😉
- Overall, I felt less captivated by this sequel than its predecessor. For me, it was a mix of a mood thing (sorry! but this happens, I guess) and the fact that I feel like, while this sequel brought me back into this world and with these characters I really like, it also didn’t feel… necessary, in a way.
OVERALL
☂️
If you enjoyed Tokyo Ever After, I can still recommend Tokyo Dreaming. This was a fun, entertaining YA contemporary read and you’ll find in it everything you loved in the first book, for sure. I’m eager to read more from the author, maybe in another world and with new characters, though!
FINAL RATING : 3 stars!
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📚 Books similar to Tokyo Dreaming that I’d recommend:
- Review: Tokyo Ever After, Emiko Jean
- 10 YA Books With The Fake-Dating Trope I Recommend (And Want To Read!)
Did you read Tokyo Dreaming, or do you want to? What’s the latest YA contemporary you read? Let me know in comments!
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I always appreciate when it’s easy to step back into a sequel without needing to reread the first. Reminding readers naturally of what happened and what’s important is such a crucial skill for a series! I love your comparison of it fitting like a shoe. Felt very appropriately princessy ☺️
Agree! I hate it when I start a sequel and I feel so lost about what has happened before. It just makes me want to give up ahah. Thank you so much, Jennifer! 🙂
I loved the first book but oh gosh, I’m nervous now because I tend to dislike triangles in YA books. I liked the ship in the 1st book so much, so I’m a bit bummed. If I read this, I’ll read it for Izumi!
Oh no! I get that, though, I’m not a big fan of that trope either and thought that the book could have been a bit better without it. Thank you, Nick! I hope you’ll like it, if you decide to read it 🙂
I was unimpressed with the love triangle and also wonder if it was really necessary, that whole thing and how it ended soured my experience a bit. The true shine was the relationship with Izumi’s parents in my eyes, and also the Shining Twins. Great review, Marie!
Agree! I loved the twins and their relationship with Izumi, this was one of the best parts of the book. Thank you so, so much for reading, Kal!
This duology is on my TBR! Do you have any similar books that you’d recommend?
Oh yay, I hope you’ll love it! I do have some posts with YA Books About Royalty that could be of interest to you, if you’re looking for something like that!
Otherwise, I’d recommend, for a soft YA contemporary romance, between you, me and the honeybees, a disaster in three acts, you say it first ;; for a book where the character is out of her comfort zone in a new place, I’d also recommend a cuban girl’s guide to tea and tomorrow, which is absolutely EXCELLENT! 🙂