Mika in Real Life: A Novel

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From Emiko Jean, the bestselling author of young adult books, comes MIKA IN REAL LIFE, a witty, hilarious and tender novel about the reunion between 35-year-old Mika and the 16-year-old daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. Her phone rang again. Sometimes Hiromi called two, three times in a row, inducing panic. Last time Mika answered breathless, reaching for her keys, ready to head to the hospital. What's the matter?

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.

Author Emiko Jean, who penned the best-selling YA novels Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming , examines the sometimes fraught reality of mother-daughter relationships and how a delightful, lovable character learns to stop running away from the truth about herself. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this is a total joy of a read' HOLLY MILLER, author of The Sight of You Emiko Jean has a way of writing characters

Mika is a Japanese-American woman in her mid-30s who's life looks nothing like the one she had once imagined. Mike is a a low point when her daughter she had given up for adoption 16 years earlier, reaches out to her, hoping to connect. Shopping in Target one day, after losing her job and feeling like an utter failure, main character Mika gets a call out of the blue from Penny, the daughter she gave up when she was eighteen. Thus begins a relationship Mika wasn't sure would ever be possible. Unfortunately, Mika wants this to work so badly, she begins lying about parts of her life she wishes were better: her job, her living arrangements, her boyfriend and well...everything basically. In her mind, the Mika that she is portraying to Penny is her version of what Penny would want her to be. Jobless, single and living in a chaotic flat share, she can't bear her daughter knowing her life is a mess. So, when Penny gets in touch, Mika tells a few white lies, pretending to have it all - a career, partner and money. Her phone rang again. Sometimes Hiromi called two, three times in a row, inducing panic. Last time Mika answered breathless, reaching for her keys, ready to head to the hospital. What’s the matter?Without giving too much of the book away, let me just say that this story is filled with humor and insightful observations. Mika is a beautifully flawed character that you will root for from the start. The side characters are also well written and interesting. There is a trauma alluded to early on in the book which is slowly explored throughout the story. The effects caused Mika to halt her dreams. The toll that took on her life was captivated in the following line: Most things fade with time. Even the things you try desperately to hold on to. Maybe that's what makes you age. The weight of events drooped your shoulders, carved lines in your face...The mind may forget, but the body always remembers." Mika in Real Life is a beautiful and poignant story about parenthood, grief, and second chances. The writing is funny and sweet, while also being stunning and insightful. I loved it. 💜

Will do." Mika hung up and dropped her phone in her purse. A minute passed. Mika wandered. Her phone rang. Might be Hana again. Or her mother -- Hiromi had already left a message that morning. I just stopped by the church and met the new congregant. His name is Hayato, and he works for Nike. I gave him your number. A wonderful, life-affirming story about second chances, parenthood and love. By turns tender, funny, and deeply romantic, I was rooting for Mika, Penny and Thomas Lauren Ho, author of Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic and Last Tang StandingMika is a bit unmoored. The daughter of strict, traditional Japanese parents, she has never really lived up to anyone’s expectations, least of all her own. She has been single for a year, her last relationship ending in a fiery dispute with no solid resolution. She has a ride-or-die best friend, Hana, who she lives with, but their home is not tidy or cozy thanks to Hana’s late-night QVC binges. And she just got fired…again. Mika is drowning her sorrows in the brightly lit aisles of Target when her cell phone rings and changes everything. The voice on the other end is new to her but familiar to her heart: Penny, the daughter she gave up for adoption 16 years ago when she was only a freshman in college. Emiko Jean has been on my radar for awhile now - she’s local! But this is the first book of hers I’m actually reading, and it was a delight. Her world changes when Mika receives a phone call from Penny, the daughter she placed for adoption 16 years ago. Penny wants to start a relationship with Mika and Mika desperately wants to be someone Penny can be proud of. What begins as an embellishment of the truth becomes a full-blown fake reality -- one where Mika's alter-ego is put-together and successful at work and in her love life. Maybe that was the key to parenting: you couldn't keep your children from getting hurt, but you could give them a soft place to land." Bighearted, sometimes bawdy, and always brave, Mika in Real Life explores the inescapable bonds between mothers and daughters, the enduring families by friendship that we make, and the weight of secrets that keep us from creating ourselves. This hilarious, tender, and very real novel is for every human trying to figure it out-basically, all of us Nancy Jooyoun Kim, bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee