Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean

The Quick Cut: A girl turned overnight princess does what she can to build support for her parents' recent engagement. A Real Review: Many kids from broken homes imagine what it's like to have their parents back together again, but for Izumi that's a reality when her parents get engaged. Izumi went from average girl to a true princess overnight and has been through plenty of scandals. All of that trauma isn't nearly as difficult as the latest hurdle to appear: after getting back together, her mom and dad have gotten engaged again. The problem? The Imperial Household Council will not approve of the marriage and without their support, their relationship is dead in the water. Can Izumi move mountains to get them support? Izumi as a character won my heart with the first book, but with this one she impressed me in a new way. She's living a dream a rare few get and rather than let that make her lazy, she uses it to only work harder. It can be easy to lose focus on what's important when you work too much though. This story uses the fake dating trope, but only in a minor way. Honestly, it's refreshing to see it not be the focus of the entire tale. Rather than completely change the tropes used in the first book, it just added a few to create new interesting plot twists. There were a few spots that felt a little uninteresting though. The primary focus in this story is about being true to yourself. While Izumi is willing to go to great lengths to make others happy, it also means she keeps giving up pieces of herself. Seeing her navigate all that and find a way to balance her responsibilities with her desire to be herself is an admirable one. It's something anyone can fall prey to, in their own way. A princess tale about being true to you. My rating: 4.5 out of 5