"I'm here to take you to live with your father. In
Tokyo, Japan! Happy birthday!"
In the Land of the Rising Sun, where high culture meets high
kitsch, and fashion and technology are at the forefront of the First World's
future, the foreign-born teen elite attend ICS-the International Collegiate
School of Tokyo. Their accents are fluid. Their homes are ridiculously posh.
Their sports games often involve a (private) plane trip to another country. They
miss school because of jet lag and visa issues. When they get in trouble, they
seek diplomatic immunity.
Enter foster-kid-out-of-water Elle Zoellner, who, on her
sixteenth birthday, discovers that her long-lost father, Kenji Takahara, is
actually a Japanese hotel mogul and wants her to come live with him. Um, yes,
please! Elle jets off first class from Washington, DC, to Tokyo, which seems
like a dream come true. Until she meets her enigmatic father, her way-too-fab
aunt, and her hyper-critical grandmother, who seems to wish Elle didn't exist.
In an effort to please her new family, Elle falls in with the Ex-Brats, a troop
of uber-cool international kids who spend money like it's air. But when she
starts to crush on a boy named Ryuu, who's frozen out by the Brats and despised
by her new family, her already tenuous living situation just might implode.
My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life
is about learning what it is to be a family, and finding the inner strength to
be yourself, even in the most extreme circumstances.
"A fun, well-paced novel about family, friendship, and
romance... A fun and enjoyable look into the drama of lives of privilege and
power."―Kirkus Reviews
"A relatable fish-out-of-water story with a lively heroine."―Publishers Weekly
"A relatable fish-out-of-water story with a lively heroine."―Publishers Weekly