The Donut Trap - Julie Tieu

Book Synopsis: Jasmine Tran has landed herself behind bars—maple bars that is. With no boyfriend or job prospects, Jasmine returns home to work at her parents’ donut shop. Jasmine quickly loses herself in a cyclical routine of donuts, Netflix, and sleep. She wants to break free from her daily grind, but when a hike in rent threatens the survival of their shop, her parents rely on her more than ever.

Help comes in the form of an old college crush, Alex Lai. Not only is he successful and easy on the eyes, to her parents’ delight, he’s also Chinese. He’s everything she should wish for, until a disastrous dinner reveals Alex isn’t as perfect as she thinks. Worse, he doesn’t think she’s perfect either.

With both sets of parents against their relationship, a family legacy about to shut down, and the reappearance of an old high school flame, Jasmine must scheme to find a solution that satisfies her family’s expectations and can get her out of the donut trap once and for all.

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I'm not going to lie, I definitely picked this book up, purely by looking at the cover, not only is there an endorsement by Meg Cabot to read it, the cover art is beautiful.

The message of this book resonated with me and I'm sure a lot of other people can feel the same way, especially if their parents own a business.

Jasmine wants to please her parents, at the same time, she wants to break free from the donut trap that is her parents' shop. When an opportunity presents itself for a job and a chance at love she's willing to take the risk. Alex and Jasmine are so cute together, from their text conversations to their dates, it was just so fun to read. It was great to see the character development and growth in Jasmine, she was able to stand up for herself.

There were a few things that I didn't like about this book, but not enough to lower my rating - Owen's obvious alcohol issue, Linh deserved a better boyfriend, and the old high school flame (unnecessary in my opinion)...

This book did mention a lot of pop culture references, such as Taylor Swift, BTS, Justin Bieber, etc. If you like a love story and donuts, then this is the book for you. Reading this was a sweet treat.

Rating: 5/5 Stars ★★★★★