Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

Charity (My Brighter Books)

1 year ago

April 18, 2022

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My Rating:

This was a simple and enjoyable read I have had since the Princess Diaries. Tokyo Ever After has a mix of humor and sweetness that you can’t put the book down for too long.

I found that this book is unique and also slightly cookie cutter as the rest of the stories that I have picked up when the main character finds out that they are actually royal.

First off, I loved how Izumi (AKA Izzy) found out she was the princess of her long lost father. Usually you read how they found out in the media or the media found them. Or the parent told them after years of hiding this big secret that somehow doesn’t get brought up till they are older. After Izzy and her closest friend Noora find a book with a love poem in it. Izzy and her friend did some sleuthing through Harvard to find out who her real father was. She discovers who it was and it is actually the crown prince of Japan.

Even though Izzy had a comfortable and content life with her mother, she still wanted to know more about her father. With some emotional manipulation to her mother, she was finally able to get in contact with her father. Goes to Japan and transitions into the royal life of a princess.

Izzy was expected to learn the culture, language and etiquette of royal life in two weeks. Honestly I feel like they dumped a lot on her when there is no expectation of her staying there to be the princess. I did find that Izzy, even though she was used to wearing the color black and stretchy leggings, she really didn’t fight wearing the dresses and pastels that they forced her to wear. So I felt like she was bragging about how different and independent a woman thinker she is but her independence didn’t really pop out in the book. Sounded like she complied a lot and got upset that she was different and wasn’t accepted by the other royals. She didn’t do anything to be different, she just made mistakes and the royals judged her for it.

I didn’t realize that this was an enemies to lovers situation with Akio, her bodyguard, until a good part in the book when it mentioned it. I felt like there was not enough chemistry for that. It came across as a slow and sweet romance build up. Yeah he did say that he disliked and misjudged her at first. But I felt that Izzy had feelings for him from the very beginning and there wasn’t much in that department.

But I will admit, it was a nice refresher for the romance of the main character to like her bodyguard instead of a handsome prince.

Overall, this was a good read with a different setting and culture to learn about. If you loved The Princess Diaries, you would love this one that is set in Japan.

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