The Downstairs Girl

Overall, I enjoyed this book. What I enjoyed most though was the narrator. She was brilliant! She really brought the character of Jo Kwon to life with her southern accent and charm. I would rate a 3.5 if I could.

In terms of the story, I found it to be simultaneously realistic and unrealistic.

It was realistic in the sense that it was an ordinary story lacking tension and drama. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of an Asian American girl growing up in the south, but the story was still quite simple. Nothing out of the ordinary happens that I wasn't expecting. I wouldn't go so far as to call it boring, but if it wasn't for the narrator, it would've taken me far longer to finish this book.

I did love the concept of her being Miss Sweetie, and I also love Nathan and his family (especially Bear the doggo).

In terms of it being unrealistic: conflict seem to resolve itself are too quickly. For example, she is fired for her job and immediately finds a job the next day, Caroline is being cruel to her but Jo conveniently gets blackmail on her soon after, her grandfather is beaten to a pulp/ her home is discovered yet the owners don't get mad, etc. these examples don't particularly bother me as I was not looking for a dark story full of death and misery. The one thing that did stick out as being far too convenient to be believable was in regards to Billy. Spoiler- Noemi is his sister and is able to help Jo out of the debt. That was just far too convenient. Instead, I would have liked to have seen Jo and Nathan resolve the issue with Billy and the debt together. And her winning the horse race is another one! No way I believe that as she has no experience with professional horse riding.

I would've liked to have seen many things, including more romance between her and Nathan, and even her opening up to him about her issues to him. We get none of that, only a tease into their future. Lastly, I would have liked for Jo to speak to her mother about her father so learn more about him.

Regardless, I enjoyed it overall and appreciated its light tone and simple story.