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.
Loveboat Reunion by Abigail Hing Wen Series: Loveboat,
Published by HarperTeen on 1/25/22
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 444
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Sophie Ha and Xavier Yeh have what some would call a tumultuous past.
Hearts were broken, revenge was plotted—but at least they’re friends now. They left the drama behind them back in Taipei—at their summer program, Loveboat—forever.
Now that fall is here, they’re focusing on what really matters. Sophie has sworn off boys and is determined to be the best student Dartmouth’s ever had. Xavier just wants to stay under his overbearing father’s radar, collect his trust fund when he turns eighteen, and concentrate on what makes him happy.
But the world doesn’t seem to want Sophie and Xavier to succeed. Sophie’s college professor thinks her first major project is “too feminine.” Xavier’s father gives him an ultimatum: finish high school or be cut off from his inheritance.
Then Sophie and Xavier find themselves on a wild, nonstop Loveboat reunion, hatching a joint plan to take control of their futures. Can they succeed together . . . or are they destined to combust?
Short and Sweet
Sophie and Xavier don’t have the best past, everything that happened on Loveboat was not the ideal situation, but now that the summer is over and they’re leaving Taipei, they decide to move on as friends. Sophie is now at Dartmouth and is focusing on herself and trying to impress her professor with her project proposal which unfortunately is working. Xavier is in LA and has to redo his senior year at his fathers request otherwise he won’t get the trust that his mother left him. Somehow both of Xavier and Sophie’s project lead them back to Taipei where they have a lot of work to do, feelings to fight off, and a loveboat reunion!
Characters
Sophie: It seems like Sophie has grown a lot maybe it’s because she’s leaving loveboat and decides it’s time to focus on herself. She seems more mature and throughout the book we see her learn about herself. She’s still impulsive and sometimes her ambitions are too much for even her. The best thing that Sophie learns to do is to think about things before she actually pursues it, which happens more times than not in this book.
Xavier: After loveboat we see the relationship between Xavier and his father. His father has Xavier in his palm and he knows it and the only way for Xavier to get the trust his mother left him is to play his father’s games. Xavier is resentful towards his dad and we see him do things he know his father won’t approve of just to push those buttons. Xavier still struggles with his learning disabilities and tries to find a way to work around them. Xavier cares about those around him and will try to help them if he can.
Romance
Sophie and Xavier: These two have an interesting dynamic, we see in the first book that their relationship on loveboat blew up spectacularly. But now that they’ve gone there separate ways these two seem better just as friends. Sophie is trying to fight off her feelings for Xavier but it’s hard when she sees him for who he truly is, her heart wants him but her head is saying no, she even goes as far as to try and pair him with another girl. Xavier knows that he has feelings for Sophie, it may not have worked out on loveboat but after leaving he knows that he wants to try to be with her. I thought the relationship between the two worked out better this time around than it did in the first book, but it was hard to see how much Sophie was trying to push Xavier away when she really wanted to pull him closer.
My Thoughts
At Dartmouth Sophie is on the waitlist for a computer science class and the only way to get in is to impress her professor with her proposal, which he rejects because there’s not enough data and Sophie is determined to prove him wrong, and that her idea will work. Xavier on the other hand is redoing his senior year in LA, much to his dismay. When Sophie finds out that a fashion brand has a creation close to what she wants to make for close, she knows its her chance to figure out how they make it work and deliver that information to her professor. The fashion brand is owned by Xavier’s family and he helps Sophie get an interview and also makes his senior project about his family and this is how they end up going back to Taipei and inviting other loveboat friends to join the ride.
We see a lot of different loveboat students some we seen in the last book notably Rick and Ever and we meet some new ones who were at other programs. It was nice to see how Sophie (despite all the pressure) tried to keep everyone happy and plan activities that would be exciting, even though she had other things to worry about. Upon getting to Taipei we see that there’s been some problems with Xavier’s family’s business which he knew nothing about because his father has kept him away so Xavier is in the dark about everything. We see Sophie work on her project and help Xavier with his. We also see Xavier learn more about his family and try to save the business in the end.
I liked the loveboat reunion, I will say that some of them didn’t deserve to be there (Bert, Priscilla). We see Xavier and Sophie get closer and I liked learning about the family business which Xavier has tried to avoid, and seeing the family dynamics.
Overall
This was an entertaining and heartfelt companion novel to Loveboat, Taipei. I did not want to put this book down I just wanted to see what would happen next. Sophie and Xavier were amazing characters to follow and this book did not disappoint!
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