Frankly in Love (Frankly in Love #1)

Frankly in Love is a cute contemporary novel about first loves, living up to parents\’ expectations, understanding how to support someone with a terminal illness, tackling the topic of racism, and how to pave your own path to happiness. Imagine all this while being a senior in high school, trying to just do well on your SATs, and getting into a good college. Well, this is what Frank Li has to endure. Frank lives in Southern California and has to uphold many parents\’ expectations. David Yoon opens up the novel explaining the significance of Franks American name and Frank\’s Korean name. Frank\’s American full first name (Frank Li) consists of seven letters and his Korean first full name (Sung Min Li) consists of nine letters. Seven to symbolize the lucky number in America and nine to symbolize the lucky number in South Korea. By having Yoon start the novel in this manner, the reader gets a sense of how there is a divide yet a symbiotic relationship between his American and Korean upbringing. Its supposed to be a bridge between two cultures. Franks parents have the typical expectations of Asian parents when it comes to academics. They want their child to get a high test score on the PSATs and SATs, maintain a high GPA and get into Harvard. That is what Franks sister, Hanna, did. However, Frank would love to pursue a music career at Berklee School of Music instead of studying law or medicine at an Ivy League. Frank\’s parents only want him to date a Korean girl so when he falls for Brit Means, a white girl in his Calculus class, he devises a plan with Korean-American Joy Song. His parents know Joy through family friends and think Frank and Joy are dating. Yet, they don\’t know that Frank and Joy are fake-dating so Frank and Joy can date other people that are not Korean. Frank can see Brit and Joy can see Wu without having their parents breathing down on their necks. Of course this scenario sounds good to be true because something always happens. Unexpected actions and feelings occur and the plan unravels. Yoons voice for Frank is simple and relatable for many. What I love about Frank is Franks candor. Yoon delves into topics such as interracial relationships, family issues, grades, etc. and tells it how it is. He doesnt sugar coat anything. I havent read a novel with a male point of view that I instantly connected with in ages. Through Frank readers see how Frank and his friends from the Gathering have to appease their Korean parents. There is one scene where Frank almost loses a family member but they survive. It shows how vulnerable someone can be. Your life can change in an instant. Frank\’s parents have their own secrets that they do not tell Frank until 3/4 quarters of the book. Because they don\’t want Frank to bomb his SATs and because they want to save face, his parents do not tell him that a family member has cancer. The situations Yoon include in Frankly in Love are things that happen to many teens. This is real life. The emotions are real. And how one handles difficult situations like cheating, finds out someone has cancer, or lives up to parents\’ expectations can be stressful. How does one deal with all these obstacles? The friendship between Frank and Q is genuine. They are practically brothers. I would love to read a book in Q\’s point of view like a companion novel of some sort. He has a story to tell us and I know a lot of us will want to find out more about Q and how he navigates the world in his shoes. Frankly in Love is a coming-of-age book about finding yourself and finding love. As Ella mentions, \”we all just want to love who we want to love.\” Not only are characters finding love in a romantic sense but characters also strengthen their family love through bonding and understanding.

My daughter was told by one of her classmates about this book so we got it but there is a lot of swearing in it so she quit after page 34. She said it would\’ve been a cool story so it\’s too bad the author couldn\’t think of better vocab.

I just finished the book and felt compelled to write a review. I am a high school teacher, and the dialogue is perfect, including witty banter between friends. It reminded me of some conversations I had as a teen. I really like how the novel incorporates real-life situations for high school students, and they are accurately portrayed. Because of my profession, it bothers me when books or movies centered around teens are not correct in their timelines (students not choosing their colleges or taking the SAT tests until graduation day, for example). I appreciate the honest look at the racism that exists in some Asian families. It\’s not always easy to write (or read) about it, but Yoon does a wonderful job showing the parents who think one way, while the next generation does not agree with their ways but still respects their parents. He also writes thoughtfully about how others treat POC. Although the title contains the word love, this is not only a love story; instead, it is a wonderful coming of age novel showing the importance of family, friendships, relationships, and loyalty. I try to teach my students empathy through reading, and I think this book has some great passages I could use. I see that the author has another novel coming out soon, and I am looking forward to reading it.

Let me start by saying how much I adore the cover of this book! Oh and the blue pages! Love! From the beginning, I knew that there was more to Frank and Joys story! You just can tell. Which is funny because they would have had no problem being together as their parents would both approve. But both were determined to date these people they went against their parents wishes. Rebellion, maybe? I find it interesting that the entire limbo group was brought here by their parents to have a better education and better all around upbringing yet the parents are very strict, want them to only date within their culture and want them to be friends with the others in their gathering group. Why not just stay in Korea? But thats the beauty of the story, they want the American Dream but in the comfort of their cultural norms/identities. I was so sad for Franks sister, who was basically banished or written off for dating outside of her race. She would eventually marry and have a child and it took an earth shattering event for her parents to realize they were wrong and salvage their relationship. This was a terrific coming of age story and I loved it and cant wait for the 2nd book in the series!

I went into Frankly In Love expecting a love story, I came out of it realizing it was so much more. It is a story of growing up, of love and heartbreak, of joy and loss, and of family, definitely of family. Frank Li\’s parents came to America from Korea. Now a senior in high school, Frank feels torn between those two worlds. It doesn\’t help when he falls for a white American girl, and his parents want him to date a Korean and only a Korean. To keep his parents of his back Frank pretends to date Joy Song, which works, until it doesn\’t. And that is only the first half of the book. I honestly loved this book so much. David Yoon is a fantastic author and this is a stunning debut. I love Frank and all his Apey friends. I felt the pacing was perfect. The story flows good even with the twists that I was definitely not expecting. It was just totally great and I hope everyone will read it.

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