NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2019 BY Marie Claire • Nylon • Huffington Post • CrimeReads • Bookbub • Book Riot • Debutante Ball

ARC ~ From publisher via Goodreads
It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother—and then vanishes.

Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn’t rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.

But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it’s Amy’s turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister’s movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy’s complicated family—and herself—than she ever could have imagined.

A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone—especially those we love.

This is the first book I have read by Jean Kwok and I am adding her to my must-read list!

I was captured by the author’s art for telling a story. I fell right into it, feeling like I knew the characters and I so love that feeling. Sylvie and Amy captured my heart. As the plot was revealed, mysteries laid out for us, I just could not put the book down. I found myself yelling at characters (in my head), “Why are you doing this?” It is a story of immigrants, family, secrets, and love; plus how all those tied together, however well intended, can have harmful consequences.

I don’t want to reveal plot lines. I just want you to pick up this book, read and enjoy it. This truly was a lovely read.

This is now traveling to spoiledrotten. I hope you enjoy the read! =) Happy Reading and Happy BookCrossing!

Thanks so much for the book. This looks great. I am putting it on my short TBR pile in back of of my current read then my bookclub choice.

This book is on reserve for Queen72 as part of the wishlist tag game. I am almost done with it and will mail out asap

I did not feel the same as dvg about this book. I found the first half very hard to get into. By the middle the story did pick up, but the ending was very predictable.
I will be mailing out to Queen72, can’t wait to hear how she likes it!

Thanks dvg for sending this my way!

Sending to Queen72.

Arrived safely in NM! Thanks again for the tag.

When Amy’s sister Sylvie goes missing, she’s desperate to find out what happened to her and retraces Sylvie’s steps to Holland. This book started out good, but then things got really weird. While I enjoyed Sylvie and Amy’s sisterly dynamic, the plots twists didn’t feel believable. Then things got weird between Sylvie and Lukas and no one took issues with it. Overall, a sad and weird book.

Sent to kaila-ann in SC as part of the USA & Canada Wishlist Tag Game 2019 .

Tracking 9549013008539283134106 est 10/16

This arrivedsafe and sound today! Thank you!

Finished - will review soon.

Getting ready for a move and culling the stacks. Hope its new reader enjoys it :)

Arrived in the mail today. Thanks for the RABCK.

I was pulled into this book from the beginning. The story is told and the mystery is revealed by alternating between Sylvie's and Amy's time in Amsterdam, the recent past and the present.

A wishlist tag sent to mrsjones in OH.

Received in the mail. Thanks! I look forward to reading this.

This is the second book by Jean Kwok I've read and I really like her style. Putting Chinese-Americans in the Netherlands made such an interesting cultural twist. I've been to the Netherlands a few times, so really enjoyed the Dutch setting. I did have a little trouble with all the back-and-forth timings, but it didn't detract too much.

Reserving this for the Asian Diaspora VBB.

I took this from the Asian Diaspora VBB. I've never read anything by Kwok.
Thanks for sending mrsjones!

This was a mystery, a family drama, a dysfunctional family story and an immigrant/racist story also.
I liked it and will definitely read more Kwok.

I'm adding this to the Bookbox of Books I've Already Read. It looks as if it was wet at one point, but all pages separate and very readable.
I hope it finds an appreciative new reader.

Chosen from the Books I've read and Journaled Bookbox.