I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior.

Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview.

With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

Short and Sweet Review

Asking for a Friend follows our main character Juliana who is determined to win the  Asian Americans in Business Competition. When Juliana’s partner dumps her for someone else, she’s forced to work with Garrett which is her frenemy. Juliana and Garrett come up with the idea to start an advice column. As Juliana makes her way through the ranks in the competition she starts to wonder if winning the competition is really worth it.

Juliana is Taiwanese so her mom has high expectations for her. Juliana wants to win the AABC competition not only for the prize but because her father made the competition before he died. When Juliana’s original partner dumps her because of some reputation thing she scrambles and asks Garrett to help her. They decide to make an advice column, Garrett gave straight forward and honest advice, Juliana on the other hand would try to be optimistic to the point where her advice was useless and it made me happy when people called her out on it. I did like how there was an inside look into Juliana’s life. Her older sister got pregnant and didn’t follow what her mother wanted so she got cut off and Juliana and her younger sister try to do everything their mom wants, and they basically sacrifice their happiness. I thought it was great that Juliana had character development, in the beginning of the book we see her trying to please other people but in the end she does realize its okay to follow your dreams and live your own life not the one someone else wants for you. The relationship between Garrett and Juliana was cute even though it was predictable, he was able to get her to really analyze her life and figure out what was actually important.

Overall, this was a cute book. Juliana may not have given the best advice but she did learn about breaking the cycle and eventually how it’s okay to put yourself first. I would recommend this book to anyone look for a romance, the advice column and business competition also adds a fun touch.