When Brenda’s internet quits on her just as an important scholarship deadline approaches (UCLA here we come! *fingers crossed*), her only recourse is the library. When that fails, she’s lucky enough to stumble into a local coffeeshop, replete with both wifi and Kat. Brenda falls for cool, confident, attractive Kat, who seems to actually want to listen to Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through the power of science and scholastic volunteer work. Meanwhile, Kat thinks Brenda is everything she didn’t know she needed; Brenda actually doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the Chosen One, prophesized to complete the Ritual and stop magic from destroying Los Angeles.
Wait, what?
Seems that apparently Brenda has stumbled into an alternate universe, and stumbles out soon after. With the Ritual looming, Kat’s universe bleeding into Brenda’s and vice versa, and needing to keep track of a schedule of timed portals to arrange a second date, can a girl who has a plan to save the world fall in love with the girl determined to deny her destiny?
I don’t 100% know what I thought of this book. I mean, Brenda and Kat were reasonably inoffensive leads, and the story was interesting, but I really couldn’t work up a warmer opinion about it than “it was reasonably enjoyable”. The idea of a Coffeeshop AU taking place in an AU is a fascinating one, and the fact that Target is a constant in both universes is so strange it’s funny. I know that the “extremely ambitious and intelligent Asian-American teenager” is a stereotype based on reality for a reason, but really? And the “Chosen One fighting their destiny and wanting to be seen as something other than the piece that will fulfill the prophecy” just seems so of the last couple of generations, if that makes any sense. As well as the one character being too hyper-focused on micromanaging their future to date and the other indulging in countless meaningless hookups I think I’ve read in at least a thousand fanfics. I realize that it seems like I’m doing nothing but denigrating the book; I did really enjoy it, I just seem to have an easier time articulating what I didn’t like than what I did. Who turned out to be the Big Bad I thought was too good to be true from the beginning, but maybe I’ve either read too many books or I’m just too cynical. I am glad we had two parents who were accepting about their daughters being lesbians (or bisexual in Kat’s case); I’m in the middle of a book right now where one of the parents desperately wants her daughter to marry a man and it is just so exasperating; lady, just let your kid love who they want to love! These parents wisely choose to do. Actually, all the parents in this book are pretty darn good; Erica, one of Brenda’s friends, puts her parents into a situation that could have gone a lot worse than just a “uttering of the full name”, which every child knows is serious business. Everyone accepted magic and parallel world quickly, which I guess goes to show how resilient and go with the flow teenagers are, and some adults as well. Though seeing as when Kat and Brenda first meet Kat thinks Brenda is discussing real magic, while Brenda thinks Kat is a fellow DnD player; the misunderstanding over dragons and cell phones/runebooks is funny and goes on for several chapters. The main focus being “love will save the day” was sweet, and empowering, and very on brand for a YA Sapphic Romantasy.
The chapters also alternating between Kat and Brenda’s points of view help make sure you’re getting the full story. One other thing I will ding Lee on: in a world that doesn’t have electricity on the whole I can understand horses and trolley being the main modes of transportation not cars, but must the fashion be Steampunk? I am getting a little tired of Steampunk being the way to show a world as “modern but not really with modern technology”; surely we could have something other than “fast fashion” without sticking with high-low bustle skirts and cravats? I will temper that by mentioning that a lot of the Vietnamese and Chinese themes in the book are heavily influenced by C.B. Lee’s own family; their maternal side of the family were “boat people”: refugees fleeing the Fall of Saigon.
Fancy and Ana sound absolutely adorable though, and it was funny imagining the scene where they first meet. I will say that I would love to have either a pocket dragon, or a Totoro-sized fluffy cat (or both at once; both is good!).
I want to know how they’ll explain the sax though, or how much Erica’s parents will be spending on cat food and kitty litter.
I just had two questions at the end; whatever happened to Shannon’s husband, and does Brenda ever get her TARDIS keychain back?