Mika in Real Life: A Good Morning America Book Club Pick

From Emiko Jean, the author of the New York Times bestselling young adult novels Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming, comes 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. Mika Suzuki´s life is a mess. Fired from a dead-end job, she shares a home with her best friend, who just might be a hoarder if all the unopened deliveries are a sign. Her last relationship--to a burnout named Leif--ended in flames. And she´s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents, especially to her mother, who keeps presenting her with dating prospects found in church. Then she receives the surprise of her life--a phone call from Penny, the baby she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Now a headstrong teenager, Penny is eager to learn all about Mika, who she is and what her dreams are. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Penny´s adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky relationship with him slowly blossoms into friendship and, just maybe, something more. Faced with her own insecurities, Mika at first embellishes the facts about her life. But Penny´s love revives so many of the dreams she once had, especially those about being an artist and making a difference in the world... ultimately forcing her to answer the question, Just who is Mika in real life?