Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho
(2022) 374 pages

Lucie Yi is Not A Romantic is a heart-wrenching novel that incorporates Asian stigma, shame, and love all into an incredibly charming and witty novel. Lucie Yi is an extremely successful consultant at a high-end firm doing business in New York away from her home, Singapore. The novel begins with Lucie Yi, the protagonist, shopping for baby items for her best friend Weina who had just recently given birth to triplets. She breaks down inside the store selling baby items as it reminds her about her past relationship with Mark and their miscarried daughter. Lonely in a new area, she regularly calls her best friends Suzie and Weina. After her little meltdown, Suzie and Weina go on call with her to console her. Knowing how much Lucie wants children of her own, Suzie and Weina suggest an unconventional way of getting pregnant through a co-parenting website. Desperate and with her biological time running out, Lucie Yi decides to commit to finding a suitable partner on the website. Despite knowing the shame and drama it would bring to the family’s name, Lucie Yi takes a leap of faith and manages to find a suitable match. Collin Read was willing to move to Singapore after Lucie Yi’s business is done in New York, has a sense of humor, is honest, and ready to be a father. In New York, Lucie and Collin meet up, discuss arrangements and logistics, and spend more time getting to know each other. In no time, Lucie is pregnant and things are going smoothly between the pair. That is, until they move to Singapore. In Singapore, parents, coworkers, and other people get involved. Most importantly, Mark comes back into the picture. Lucie and Mark cross paths once again and Mark is determined to reverse his past actions and make Lucie fall in love with him once more. Lucie and Collin must maneuver their way through the watchful eyes of their parents as well as the unwanted opinions of other Singaporeans at their unconventional situation. Throughout the whole novel, Lucie faces tough decisions and learns more about what she truly wants in her life. Lucie Yi is Not A Romantic is a lighthearted romance novel that is bound to make your heart leap. The book never gets dull and once you pick it up to read, it is hard to stop. It was heart-wrenching in all the right moments and funny as well. Ho perfectly encapsulates heavy issues like stigma and shame with light-hearted puns and sweet romantic moments. This book starts off slow to set the scene but as you keep reading, the plot thickens and becomes very interesting.