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This week’s pick is a backlist title I’ve had sitting on my shelf for a while and I finally picked up the other day and devoured! If you like heartfelt family stories with social justice issues, then don’t sleep on this book!
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura
CJ isn’t really good at very many things, and she’s not the academic prodigy her mom hoped for. But she does love spending time in her family’s flower shop, learning about arranging flowers and the many meanings behind the plants her aunt sells. The flower shop is more than a safe haven — it is deeply meaningful to her family. Her grandfather was swindled out of the shop by the wealthy white MacAllister family when Japanese Americans were forced into prison camps during WWII, and CJ’s grandfather spent decades after the war saving to buy back the shop. So that’s why CJ is horrified when her mom, who disapproves of the shop, wants to sell to the McAllister descendants. CJ and her aunt leak this development to the news…and what comes next surprises even them.
I really enjoyed that this novel was about the tangible effects of the racist policy to imprison Japanese Americans in the 1940s, and that it goes beyond the story of imprisonment to show the longterm effects, even after the war. CJ is a very relatable character who doesn’t feel like she has found her thing or that she fully belongs in her family. She’s reckoning with a lot in her past — the absence of a father figure, her complicated family legacy, a sometimes contentious relationship between her mom and aunt, and her own romantic tribulations. But one thing she cares about is the flower shop and a sense of justice, and she can’t abide by the idea that her family business should end up back in the hands of those that cheated her grandfather. As the community rallies around her family, she learns that this fight is a lot bigger than just her family’s injustice, and she also has to navigate the sometimes fraught interpersonal politics that come with a group of very different people advocating for a cause together. CJ isn’t perfect, but she’s always sympathetic and her growth is gratifying to watch.
Definitely pick this book up if you want a well-written YA novel about friendships, family, and the importance of understanding history and correcting injustices in your community.
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Happy reading!
Tirzah
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