Mika in Real Life: A Novel
Written by Emiko Jean
Narrated by Sura Siu and Andi Arndt
4/5
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About this audiobook
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA and READ WITH MARIE CLAIRE BOOK CLUB PICK!
Named a best book by Glamour, Marie Claire, TIME, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and more!
From New York Times bestselling Emiko Jean, a whip-smart, laugh-out-loud funny, and utterly heartwarming novel about motherhood, daughterhood, and love—how we find it, keep it, and how it always returns.
One phone call changes everything.
At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job.
Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully-fledged fake life, one where Mika is mature, put-together, and successful in love and her career.
The details of Mika’s life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Penny’s adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky, contentious relationship slowly blossoms into a friendship and, over time, something more. But can Mika really have it all—love, her daughter, the life she’s always wanted? Or will Mika’s deceptions ultimately catch up to her? In the end, Mika must face the truth—about herself, her family, and her past—and answer the question, just who is Mika in real life?
Perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Jojo Moyes, Mika in Real Life is at once a heart-wrenching and uplifting novel that explores the weight of silence, the secrets we keep, and what it means to be a mother.
Editor's Note
Heart and humor…
Mika Suzuki’s life is falling to pieces, but when Penny, her birth daughter, reaches out after 16 years apart, Mika pretends to have it all together. The closer Mika and Penny become, the harder it is to maintain her imaginary life. Jean’s (“Tokyo Ever After”) novel is a wonderful blend of heart and humor while touching on heavier topics like interracial adoption and the weight of family expectations.
Emiko Jean
Emiko Jean is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult novels Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Ever After, a Reese Witherspoon/Hello Sunshine pick, as well as the novel Mika in Real Life, which was a Good Morning America Book Club pick. She lives in Washington with her husband and two kids.
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Reviews for Mika in Real Life
92 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely beautiful!! I enjoyed this story so much!! Very raw and interesting but also tells you just how deep someone’s heart runs.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this in one day. I laughed, I cried and I couldn't stop reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent!! Great look at motherhood, trauma and self love through and charming story with realistic characters.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sixteen years after giving her up for adoption, Mika’s daughter seeks her out for a relationship. Mika has to re-examine her life, her relationships, her past and her dreams. The second half dragged on a bit and I didn’t like the romance story line.