I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn – ⭐⭐⭐

Enhanced by my own memories of Japan that really made this come to life. So cute! I knew from the moment I saw that perfect pink inside the cover 😊

“Say what you want out loud and to the right person.”

Recommended: sure!
For a fun lighthearted read, for those looking to get hyped about their own trip to Japan

Summary:
Kimi Nakamura loves translating life into clothing, but her mother is pressuring her to focus on painting for the fancy college Kimi’s accepted to. So when Kimi gets an invite to visit grandparents in Japan who her mother never speaks to, she escapes in a hurry. She loses herself in Kyoto’s atmosphere and explorations–and meets Akira, a cute med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. What begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

Thoughts:
Awwww! So I put my request for this book in like mid-July hoping to get it to read over my birthday vacation. That didn’t happen. I only just got it in September!! I knew the second I saw that lovely pink in the front cover that this would have exactly the tone I was looking forward to: light and optimistic and sweet.

It was entirely predictable, really, but that’s kind of what I was looking for in this case. What I loved were the characters, because even though I had an idea of what they would do, I still really enjoyed learning who they were. The unique pieces of fashion that Kimi creates were so fun to read about too. I’m not typically interested in fashion in any way, but the connections she found in making hella creative designs to reflect people, passions, nature, basically anything, were incredible. It gave me a bit of newfound respect for designers, honestly! Must be fun to be able to translate things into clothes.

Having visited Japan, this had a bit of an extra kick for me since I could so vividly picture where they were, what they were seeing, and what the atmosphere would be like. Plus I super miss it, so nostalgia and longing were inevitably tied up in this for me. Ah, be still, my heart!

The romance was pretty much what you would expect from a 2-week YA trip to Japan, and that’s all I really have to say. Very PG, very wholesome and sweet. I had some definite chuckles as well, though! Overall only three stars though because nothing really stood out to me as something I’ll remember in a month (besides the title and the pretty pink color), and it was a pretty familiar story and style. I enjoyed it, but it’s nothing that doesn’t already exist in a similar form. (I’ll be honest: I finished this a few days ago, and had to look up the MCs name again because I had already forgotten!)

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