I read Ice Cream Lover twice in one day. The joke in the title is that Drew hates ice cream and Chloe owns an Asian ice cream shop called Ginger Scoops. I 100% want an Asian ice cream store close by so that I too can have ginger ice cream in a bubble waffle cone. After reading two of Jackie Lau’s books, I’m going to need her to come out with a cookbook soon too. Ice Cream Lover is out May 21. I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Drew has been single since his fiance left him at the alter and then making him the bad guy of her self help book. Chloe has just opened her ice cream shop after her mother’s death derailed her education plans and left her feeling adrift. Chloe feels like the ice cream shop is a way to stay connected to her mother and capture her Chinese heritage in her own way.
How does an ice cream hater fall in love with an ice cream purveyor? The unlikely duo is brought together by Drew’s niece. Michelle, like Chloe, is biracial. She is also very serious about food, Chloe’s shop, and unicorns.
Side note: Some readers may find Michelle’s foodie sophistication unlikely for a 5/6 year old. I had no problem with it. I had the privilege of being nanny to a precocious child from 18 months – 5 years. She was a sophisticated fashionista even before she had the words to express herself. It was only on reflection years later that I realized it is not normal to get your outfits approved by a 3 year old before leaving the house. She is now a stylist in Washington DC. DM me if you want to be one of the sharpest dressed people in the Beltway.
Getting back to the book, I enjoyed Chloe and Drew’s growing relationship. They are each quite certain they have no time for or interest in a relationship and then are surprised by the way they make time for each other. The attraction between them is palpable. There is plenty of sexual tension and some steamy *insert funky baseline here.* Lau does not neglect the emotional connection.
Entwined with their romance are their individual struggles. Drew is a grumpy cinnamon roll. His ex fiance accuses him of stifling her and that accusation is translated into 23 languages. Drew has to figure out how much of him really is the killjoy he is depicted as, and how much it was their relationship. Chloe has to figure out how to get her father, who is white, to accept her for who she is, including being Asian, bisexual, and a college dropout. She struggles for a feeling of belonging.
This is only the second book of Lau’s that I have read, but there are some common elements.
- Her characters have fully formed lives outside of their romance.
- Lau writes beautifully about the long term reverberations of a death in the family. Grief changes her characters and their relationships without becoming a plot device impediment to the romantic relationship.
- Characters must rethink their own ideas about themselves in order to move into the future as a couple.
The emojis in the title of the review have meaning, but you have to read the book to find out what they are. I enjoyed this book very much and am looking forward to diving into her other books.
