China Rich Girlfriend

China Rich Girlfriend was pretty much exactly what you'd expect the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians to be: an almost successful attempt to recreate the magic of the first one. It had all the entitled, big spenders, their manufactured problems, and their constant attempts to one-up each other. It was somewhat clunkier, almost like they skipped the last editing pass to get it to the presses on time. Throughout the book I kept thinking to myself that this or that scene could have been tighter, shinier, more polished. The first book glittered so brightly, maybe this one couldn't help but look a bit dull by comparison.

There are three main storylines: Rachel and Nick's return to Asia after their wedding to get to know her father, Astrid's crumbling marriage, and Kitty Pong's attempts to win the respect of high society. The three storylines never quite come together, so the book ends up feeling a bit schizophrenic. Maybe that will be resolved in the third book. (Though I'll be honest - I'm not sure why Kitty got the prominent story line she did.)

At any rate, I enjoyed it, if not quite as much as the first one. But it was fast and light and exactly the sort of book I want to read right now. And it's probably greedy to ask for more than that.

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