I was given an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Rooney Gao is an artist who feels she has always lived in the shadow of her famous artist mother. Her mother’s breakthrough piece was a live video of the birth of her daughter, Rooney. Rooney feels that because of her notoriety since birth, she has to create under the alias, Red String Girl (RSG). RSG’s creations all use red string to convey messages about destiny and interconnectedness. Rooney believes strongly in fate, especially the story from a Chinese myth about how soulmates are tied together with a red string of fate.
One cold winter afternoon, in New York City she meets Jack Liu. Jack is a NASA engineer from California who absolutely does NOT believe in fate, destiny, or the red string of fate. They have a meet-cute in a copy shop that has screwed up both of their orders, and Rooney gives Jack her red scarf. They part and both realize they kind of miss the other person. Then they run into each other again the same night at a party. They release a paper lantern together and on a whim follow one of the lanterns from the party, which takes them on adventures all over the city. Eventually, their night ends with a kiss and Jack goes back to California. They do exchange numbers, but Rooney doesn’t put it into her phone correctly and they lose touch. If it feels like I’m giving away too much of the plot, all of this is just the first couple of chapters! Will our lovers find each other again? Are they each other’s string-mate?
This book was adorable. Rooney’s unshakable belief in destiny and soulmates was endearing, and she and Jack had excellent banter. I was hard-core rooting for them in the end. I loved watching Jack eventually become a bit of a romantic. Rooney could be a little bit Manic Pixie Dream Girl sometimes, but she was an artist who was raised by a nomadic artist, so it made sense.
I listened to the audiobook, and I found both of the narrators to have pleasant voices, and I LOVED that it was true duet narration, instead of just alternating chapters. Between this and Butcher & Blackbird, I am spoiled and want all audiobooks to do this going forward.
4 Stars