[Book Review] I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn

Synopsis (from Goodreads) :

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement. She's obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel brave, fabulous, and like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother sees this as a distraction from working on her portfolio paintings for the prestigious fine art academy where she's been accepted for college. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi's estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she loses herself in Kyoto's outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival--and meets Akira, a cute med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. What begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

My rating :

4.3/5 stars.

My review :

Can we just appreciate the cover for a second? That’s one awesomely beautiful cover and I’m not gonna lie, the book cover attracted me first. And luckily, when I read the synopsis I was interested and intrigued. This reader right here definitely didn’t regret picking this up.

The story began with Kimi who went to Japan to get some brief vision of what she aspired to do in her life, as she couldn’t handle the very thing her mother wanted her to do – drawing wasn’t fully her passion, and she couldn’t discover the passion that had driven her mood every day. I definitely loved how this book brought me to Japan indirectly and learned more about the food, the culture, etc. I would love to say that this book didn’t only focus on giving Kimi’s dream some exposure and her love story with the Japanese boy, Akira – who was a precious mochi to me – but some other aspects that I find vital in not exacerbating the story and leading it towards boredom. I extremely loved the family relationships in this book and their very own back stories. The friendship in this book was super strong, I adored how they were there for each other through thick and thin. This wasn’t exactly a light read, but the plot could be easily grasped and definitely expressed the story well.

However, I wish the author could expand the plot a little bit by inserting some other conflicts. There were some conflicts that I found a bit cliché as almost all books have them now. Nonetheless, I didn’t really have much problematic issues with the plot and definitely loved it!

The attention in making the characters in this book perfect was meticulously impressive. I adored Kimi and Akira with all my heart – they were perfect together and I could accept their adorableness. Both of them had different visions in life and held on to different characteristics of their own. The differences attracted them well. I loved, LOVED Kimi’s family especially her grandparents. Her friends were adorable as well, and I loved to have supportive friends like them. Regardless of all this, I personally wish the characters had more character growths. I was a bit irritated when Kimi couldn’t realize what her passion in life was – it was in front of you, girl! This is what I’m talking about character growth.

I was comfortable with the author’s writing style – wasn’t exactly simple but wasn’t complicated, either. Her writing style definitely gave the Japanese vibes and spread the can’t-help-but-fall-for-it cuteness throughout the story. I would sincerely love to read more books from this author in the future!

Overall, I Love You So Mochi was a delightful read that could form a broad smile on your face. I was soft reading this and highly grateful that I enjoyed it wonderfully.

My final rating for this book is 4.3 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!