Every Reason We Shouldn't

by Sara Fujimura

Overview

NPR Best of the Year

Every Reason We Shouldn't by Sara Fujimura is a charming multicultural romance perfect for the many fans of Jenny Han and Rainbow Rowell.

Warning: Contains family expectations, delightful banter, great romantic tension, skating (all kinds!), Korean pastries, and all the feels.

Sixteen-year-old figure skater Olivia Kennedy’s Olympic dreams have ended. She’s bitter, but enjoying life as a regular teenager instead of trying to live up to expectations of being the daughter of Olympians Michael Kennedy and Midori Nakashima...until Jonah Choi starts training at her family's struggling rink.

Jonah's driven, talented, going for the Olympics in speed skating, completely annoying… and totally gorgeous. Between teasing Jonah, helping her best friend try out for roller derby, figuring out life as a normal teen and keeping the family business running, Olivia's got her hands full. But will rivalry bring her closer to Jonah, or drive them apart?

“This book is like a warm hug filled with all the things I love. I started smiling from page one and couldn’t put it down.” —Courtney Milan

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250204080
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,060,306
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.96(d)
Lexile:	HL640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

SARA FUJIMURA is an award-winning young adult author and creative writing teacher. She is the American half of her Japanese-American family, and has written about Japanese culture and raising bicultural children for such magazines as Appleseeds, Learning Through History, East West, and Mothering, as well as travel-related articles for To Japan With Love. Her self-published young adult novels include Tanabata Wish and Breathe. She lives in Phoenix with her husband and children.

Editorial Reviews

This book is like a warm hug filled with all the things I love. I started smiling from page one and couldn’t put it down.” —Courtney Milan

“A rich, emotionally layered story. ... Wonderful.” —NPR

“Whether your first ice skating romance was The Cutting Edge or Yuri!!! On Ice, you will absolutely love this book. Full of complicated family relationships, sparkling friendships, and a completely delicious romance, Every Reason We Shouldn’t is an uplifting love song to everyone who’s ever lost their way, and then had the courage to find it again.” —Lindsay Ribar, author of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies

“Sure to take the gold.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Readers will enjoy the well-developed characters, witty dialogue, and cringe-worthy romantic fumbles right through to the awfully neat, but very happy ending.” —School Library Connection

“Compelling... an obvious choice for fans of classic love stories that play out on the ice, but also for readers looking for a nuanced story of self-discovery.” —Booklist

From the Publisher

01/01/2020

Gr 7 Up—Sixteen-year-old pairs figure skater Olivia Kennedy hasn't felt like herself since her disastrous performance at Skate Detroit. Attending a real high school for the first time, helping out at her family's failing skating rink, and living up to the expectations of her gold medal Olympian parents have her wondering who she is and where she belongs. When Olympic speed skating hopeful Jonah Choi begins practicing at her rink and attending her high school, she finds someone who understands what it means to be a competitive teenage athlete. As she begins a relationship with Jonah, Olivia begins to rediscover her passion for skating and build the confidence to make a comeback. Olivia and Jonah are both biracial Asian Americans and hang out with the other Asian students in their school. Olivia feels like she doesn't fit in with her high school friends because they don't understand why her passion for skating is more important than things like school dances. Vibrant secondary characters add extra dimension and fun to the story. VERDICT High school drama, parental expectations, romance, and a glimpse into the life of a competitive skater will have readers excitedly turning pages. A fun addition to middle and high school libraries.—Ashley Leffel, Griffin Middle School, Frisco, TX

School Library Journal

Caitlin Kelly narrates a new teen contemporary romance. After her ice skating career ends, Olivia focuses on two things: keeping her family’s ice rink from closing and being a normal teenager. Speed skater Jonah is a Winter Olympics hopeful training at Olivia’s rink. The Asian-American teen duo soon realize they have more in common than competitive skating. Kelly adds a quality of youthful exuberance to her performance as Olivia. Additionally, she believably voices the other characters regardless of their ages, making it easy for listeners to imagine how the former champion feels now being a bystander in the skating world. By capturing the teen’s myriad emotions, Kelly further brings Olivia to life. Her strong performance shines, making this an entertaining production. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

MAY 2020 - AudioFile

Caitlin Kelly narrates a new teen contemporary romance. After her ice skating career ends, Olivia focuses on two things: keeping her family’s ice rink from closing and being a normal teenager. Speed skater Jonah is a Winter Olympics hopeful training at Olivia’s rink. The Asian-American teen duo soon realize they have more in common than competitive skating. Kelly adds a quality of youthful exuberance to her performance as Olivia. Additionally, she believably voices the other characters regardless of their ages, making it easy for listeners to imagine how the former champion feels now being a bystander in the skating world. By capturing the teen’s myriad emotions, Kelly further brings Olivia to life. Her strong performance shines, making this an entertaining production. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

MAY 2020 - AudioFile

2019-12-08
At almost 16 years old, Olivia Kennedy, daughter of Olympic gold medalists, already feels like a washed-up failure of a figure skater.

Once the reigning U.S. junior pairs figure skating champions, Olivia and her partner's first season on the Senior Grand Prix circuit was a disaster, and now she's given up competitive skating and is navigating regular high school for the first time. She's also working at her parents' ice rink, Ice Dreams, which is struggling financially, while medical bills mount for her mother's back injury. But when speed skating Olympic hopeful Jonah Choi books the rink for his private training sessions, things heat up. Jonah's determination to be the best is both relatable and inspiring to Olivia, and their friendship grows into something more. Fans of the 1992 movie The Cutting Edge will wonder if that something more includes pairs figure skating, but Fujimura (Breathe, 2018, etc.) simply gives a nod to the movie and takes Olivia's journey on its own trajectory. Olivia has many obstacles to overcome, including absent parents (both literally and figuratively), lack of emotional support, and financial struggles, but her character is believable from start to finish, and the romance is not overly saccharine. Comic relief and perspective are provided by Mack, Olivia's white best friend. Olivia is half white and half Japanese; Jonah is three-quarters Korean and one-quarter assumed white.
Sure to take the gold. (author's note) (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews