Book Review: "Jade" by Marilynn Griffith


Green is my second favorite color

Lily Chau is the next member in the Garments of Praise team that we get to meet. She's in her late thirties, taking care of her sick mother, trying to get her foot into the fashion industry and trying to figure out her relationship with her boyfriend. She gets invited to compete in a Project Runway-like reality show with the help of a famous designer. Little does she know that the designer is the mysterious stranger that she keeps running into and finding a growing attraction with. Lily has to decide how she will manage her mother, her fashion, her boyfriends, and her life.

This is one of the first Christian fiction novels where there is an Asian American female lead character. AND she happens to not be an immigrant or someone living in the 1800s . There aren't many Asian Americans portrayed without any sort of stereotypes in books in general so this was a welcome relief. I felt that Lily's character was very real. I understand her insistence of taking care of her mother. Family is very important in Asian culture. Like in Pink, I enjoyed seeing the going ons behind the fashion industry. And I also loved that while Lily is slightly bothered at being almost 40 and still not married, she's still managed to create a name for herself and not be bothered too much by it. I liked the contrast in Doug and Ken. Lily's mom's story with her dad was very moving and sad.
The only thing I didn't get was when Lily and Doug first met. The way it was written, Doug looked like a homeless person and Lily falls head over heels for him like that. Now maybe I'm just being paranoid, but if I was alone on a street and a stranger looking like that came up to me, I'd be a little scared. Lily just seemed like she had let her guard down completely which is not a safe thing to do in a city at night.

I really enjoyed this book. The series is great as it focuses on different ethnicities. I'm really looking forward to reading Tangerine.

Jade by Marilynn Griffith is published by Revell (2006)

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