Allison Hong is not your typical fifteen-year-old Taiwanese girl. Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men’s will, she disobeys her father’s demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission—a decision for which her father disowns her.
After serving her mission in Taiwan, twenty-two-year-old Allison marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, Cameron Chastain. But sixteen months later, Allison returns home to their Texas apartment and is shocked to discover that, in her two-hour absence, Cameron has taken all the money, moved out, and filed for divorce. Desperate for love and acceptance, Allison moves to Utah and enlists in an imaginary, unforgiving dating war against the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where the rules don’t make sense—and winning isn’t what she thought it would be.
Industry Reviews
2024 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards Top Pick Winner
2023 Indies Today Awards Best Religious Winner
2023 Best Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards Winner in Excellence in Literature
2023 Donald L. Jordan Prize for Literary Excellence Shortlisted Finalist
2023 Readers' Choice Book Awards Best Adult Book Five-Star Finalist
2023 Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest "Oldie But Goldie" First Prize Winner
2023 Global Book Awards Gold Winner in Traveler & Explorer Biographies
2023 Donna Lynn Quille Award by Focus on Women Magazine
2023 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Awards Gold Medal Winner in Autobiography/Biography/Memoir
2023 Nonfiction Book Awards Gold Winner
2023 San Francisco Writers Conference Writing Contest Finalist in Adult Nonfiction
2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Best New Nonfiction
2023 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite in Memoir
2022 Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Awards Grand Prize Competition Winner
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards-Ranked #5 in the "Top 25 Nonfiction Books of the Year"
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards Grand-Prize 1st Place Winner of "Best Non-Fiction Book of Fall 2022"
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Autobiographies, Biographies, and Memoirs
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Audiobook
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Personal Growth
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Multicultural, Multi-Lingual, and Bilingual Books
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Women’s Non-Fiction & Women’s Issues
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards 1st Place Winner in Motivational and Inspirational Books (for Adults)
2022 Outstanding Creator Awards Honorable Mention in “Best Villain”
2022 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards Honorable Mention in Biography/Autobiography/Memoir (ebook)
2022 American Writing Awards Winner in Autobiography/Memoir
2022 PenCraft Book Awards Runner-Up Winner in Nonfiction (Memoir)
2022 LDSPMA Praiseworthy Awards Winner in Memoir
2022 Paris Book Festival Winner in Biography/Autobiography/Memoir
2022 NYC Big Book Awards Winner in Memoir
2022 Page Turner Book Awards Finalist
2022 Maincrest Media Book Awards Winner in Memoir
2022 U.S. Selfies Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir
2022 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Memoir
2022 Book Excellence Awards Winner in Memoir
2022 London Book Festival Winner in Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
2022 BookFest Book Awards First Place Winner in Non-Fiction: Memoirs
2022 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Book Awards Finalist
2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Grand Prize Short List
2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Honorable Mention
2022 Wishing Shelf Book Awards Finalist
2022 Feathered Quill Book Awards Silver Award in Memoir/Biography
2022 Reader Views Literary Awards Bronze Award Winner in Memoir/Autobiography/Biography
2021 CIBA Hearten Book Awards Finalist
2021 Eyelands Book Awards Short List
2021 AML Awards Finalist in Creative Nonfiction
2021 Book Viral Millennium Book Award Winner
2021 Literary Titan Book Awards Gold Winner
2021 IAN Book of the Year Awards Second Place Winner for Non-Fiction Book of the Year
2021 IAN Book of the Year Awards Winner in Outstanding Non-Fiction: Memoir
2021 International Impact Book Awards Winner
2021 Firebird Book Award Winner
2021 Readers' Favorite Book Awards Gold Medal in Non-Fiction - Memoir
2021 Zibby Awards Winner in Best Structure
“A surprising but compelling memoir of resilience and family.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“. . . [A] poignant and compelling memoir. . . . The viewpoint [Merrill] presented was uniquely centered in religion and ethnicity yet
