Book Review: The Jasmine Project by Meredith Ireland

Publisher’s description
Jenny Han meets The Bachelorette in this effervescent romantic comedy about a teen Korean American adoptee who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a competition for her heart, as orchestrated by her overbearing, loving family.
Jasmine Yap’s life is great. Well, it’s okay. She’s about to move in with her long-time boyfriend, Paul, before starting a nursing program at community college—all of which she mostly wants. But her stable world is turned upside down when she catches Paul cheating. To her giant, overprotective family, Paul’s loss is their golden ticket to showing Jasmine that she deserves much more. The only problem is, Jasmine refuses to meet anyone new.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
But…what if the family set up a situation where she wouldn’t have to know? A secret Jasmine Project.
The plan is simple: use Jasmine’s graduation party as an opportunity for her to meet the most eligible teen bachelors in Orlando. There’s no pressure for Jasmine to choose anyone, of course, but the family hopes their meticulously curated choices will show Jasmine how she should be treated. And maybe one will win her heart.
But with the family fighting for their favorites, bachelors going rogue, and Paul wanting her back, the Jasmine Project may not end in love but total, heartbreaking disaster.
Amanda’s thoughts
This book was great fun! It was literally on page one that I was already rolling my eyes at Paul, Jasmine’s not-great boyfriend, so I was READY to read a story about her finding out what she really wants in life and understanding that she deserves more than Paul is giving her—and more than she is giving herself.
Jasmine is all set to head to community college and move in with Paul, who she has been with for all of high school. He kind of sucks (he’s mean and manipulative and uncaring), but she puts up that fact and makes herself smaller to fit into the narrower version of who he’s decides she should be. When he hooks up with another girl, he decides that they should take the summer to date other people before moving in together. Right. Because that will go great and certainly seems fair and healthy. Her giant, loving family decides to secretly set Jasmine up with three guys to help show her there are people other than Paul that she might connect with (and, you know, BETTER than Paul. Have I mentioned I don’t like Paul?). Keeping her in the dark, they arrange for her to meet these guys, and things take off from there.
Family group texts (minus Jasmine) tell some of the story, as do notes from her siblings on what’s happening and transcripts from the anonymous podcast about the whole ordeal. Jasmine learns a lot about herself as she navigates this summer. But when she finds out what her family has been up to, and how the guys she’s been hanging out with have kept her in the dark too about what’s going on, she feels so betrayed. What’s even real, now?
While reading this, after a few pages, I thought, okay, this is going to be cute and fun, but I don’t really care if she ends up liking any of these boys, I care if she ends up liking herself better. And she does. She grows a lot over the course of the book. She starts off complacent and playing it safe, never feeling good enough or special. She has learn that it’s okay to want things, that it’s okay to want more. She learns to see herself as worth it, to respect herself, and finally starts to live her own life, the one she envisions for herself. A really great read with wide appeal.
Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher
ISBN-13: 9781534477025
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date: 09/07/2021
Age Range: 12 – 18 Years
Filed under: Uncategorized

About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
“I swear I’m never going to write anything this personal ever again.” Jose Pimienta Discusses Halfway to Somewhere
Red Flower | This Week’s Comics
Goodbye for now
When Book Bans are a Form of Discrimination, What is the Path to Justice?
ADVERTISEMENT