Loveboat Forever (Loveboat, Taipei #3)
Abigail Hing Wen
HarperCollins
Published November 7, 2023
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About Loveboat Forever
Return to the sparkling world of Loveboat, this time with Pearl Wong, on an entirely new, romantic, whirlwind adventure from Abigail Hing Wen, New York Times bestselling author of Loveboat, Taipei!
Pearl was ready for a worldwide stage. Instead, she needs to stage a comeback.
Seventeen-year-old music prodigy Pearl Wong had the summer of her dreams planned—until a fall from grace leaves her in need of new plans…and a new image.
Where better to revamp her “brand” than at Chien Tan, the Taipei summer program for elite students that rocketed her older sister, Ever, on a path to romance and self-fulfillment years ago.
But as the alumni know, Chien Tan is actually Loveboat—the extravagant world where prodigies party till dawn—and there’s more awaiting Pearl there than she could have ever imagined, like a scandalous party in the dark, a romantic entanglement with a mysterious suitor…and a summer that will change her forever.
Sweeping, glamorous, and deeply soulful, this companion to the New York Times bestselling novel Loveboat, Taipei and Loveboat Reunion will reunite readers with their favorite characters, in a thrilling new journey of romance, self-discovery, and empowerment. Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen.
My Review
I really enjoyed Loveboat, Taipei, but this book is truly something special. Pearl, who appears as a minor character in the first book, takes the lead in this story. She’s a musician, so lots of the ways she describes things have a connection to music. She also plays the piano in several scenes and learns a new instrument called a pipa, or a Chinese lute.
True to Loveboat form, Pearl has a summer romance and finds herself drawn to two different boys for very different reasons. One is open and friendly and interested in the kind of music she’s trained so hard to play. The other is surly and frank and doesn’t seem interested in her until he teaches her to play the pipa.
But as she gets to know both boys and learns more about her own family history, she discovers that there’s more to her than being a classical pianist, and she wants to explore these things. She begins examining her feelings about music (her preference for Western composers, for example) and what it means to be a Chinese American musician.
At one point, she meets her mom’s extended family while trying to track down proof of her connection to her great-grandmother, a professional pipa musician. I loved those scenes and how they changed her path forward in the book.
Conclusion
Honestly, this has to be my favorite book in the series so far, and I absolutely need to read more of Abigail Hing Wen’s work. This story has layers for days. From the romance to the explorations about a musician’s identity to how we treat Chinese American artists to the power and strength of community, this book has so much to offer.
If you haven’t read the other books in the series, you could still start with this one, but it will spoil the endings of the other books. If you plan to read all three, start with Loveboat, Taipei first.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 13 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Few instances of profanity.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and brief touching under a shirt.
Spiritual Content
Pearl’s family is Christian. She references her family history and her grandfather’s conversion to Christianity and her questions about the context of that conversion after she visits a place where he lived and worked.
Violent Content
Pearl’s social media post goes viral, labeling her photos racist. At first, she is furious, but as she learns more about how racist tropes have harmed Chinese people, she realizes why she triggered some hurt with her images.
Drug Content
References to drinking alcohol, smoking, and vague references to drugs. It’s legal for eighteen-year-olds to drink alcohol in Taipei, so some do, mostly off-scene. No drug use happens on-scene. A tabloid magazine reports drugs were used at a party, but it’s unclear whether that happened or is a rumor.
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