Ever feel like you're stuck in a fairy tale gone wrong? Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn explores the highs and lows of love and loss in this funny and poignant story of a girl who never thought happy endings were for people like her.
If Rika's life seems like a fairy tale in the making--being an orphan with two bossy cousins and working away in the family business--she would be the first one to reject that idiocy. After all, she loves her family (even if her cousins were named after Disney heroines) and working at her aunts' restaurant in LA's Little Tokyo is kind of fun. Anyway, with her judo skills, half-Asian heritage, and a healthy interest in Japanese snake-girl folklore, Rika is sure she's more the misunderstood witch than the singing princess.
All that changes the moment she locks eyes with Grace Kimura, America's reigning rom-com sweetheart, during the Nisei Week Festival. From there, Rika embarks on a wild adventure straight out of a Hallmark movie--discovering the truth about her mother, exploring Little Tokyo's hidden treasures with a cute boy who happens to be a famous actor, and maybe...finally losing that feeling of never quite belonging.
But fairy tales are fake, and the real world isn't so kind. Rika knows she's setting herself up for disappointment, because happy endings don't happen to girls like her. She can walk away now before she gets in even deeper, or let herself be swept away into heartache. What would a judo-fighting Japanese snake-girl do?
