Lauren Ho's Last Tang Standing is marketed as Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones's Diary, and that is in fact correct, dear readers!

And so 33 year-old, corporate lawyer vying for partnership, Andrea, MUST find a man and MUST give her mom a grandchild soon, lest she might be the Last (single lady) Tang Standing and risk possible disownment. Andrea Tang comes from an upcoming and upscale family who were born and raised in Malaysia but later on studied abroad and eventually settles in Singapore to be a very successful lawyer. As an Asian myself, this book conforms the truth of Asian households. Family will always come first especially the expectations of parents, that a slight mistake may just make you a disappointment and you truly have to fight for what you love. The romance between the characters is so slow burn it will make you pull your hair sometimes but is so damn realistic and cute, you either wish this to happen to you or just wait until he appear in front of you. After all, we’ve survived dial-up internet, ’90 s television, and the days when shoulder pads were acceptable. We can overcome anything.” Andrea’s mom is impervious to her daughter’s pleas to let her focus on her career. Their mother-daughter dynamic helped me sympathize with Andrea, because exasperation with parents is my love language. The more unreasonable Mom became, the more entertained I was:But let’s talk about something I do appreciate: desperately-seeking-grandchildren Mama Tang, my favorite character in the book. Her scenes were the only time I laughed out loud, especially when she shows up for an unexpected visit. Andrea complains in her diary: Usually I hate those X meets Y-type blurbs but CRAZY RICH ASIANS meets BRIDGET JONES is pretty on the mark for LAST TANG STANDING. LTS is about Andrea Tang, a lawyer who's gunning for partner and basically has it all made... except for a boyfriend. Painfully single and well into her 30s, she's officially the last woman in her family to be in a long-term relationship and man is she feeling the family pressure.

Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones's Diary in this funny and irresistible debut novel about the pursuit of happiness, surviving one's 30s intact, and opening oneself up to love. Eric was offering to free me from being a slave to the system, but was what he was offering real freedom? And how could I consider myself a feminist if I did that? But was being a feminist as important as being free to live the life I’ve always aspired to have, i.e., quit a job I hate and have enough money to buy whatever I wanted? I’m also just deciding that Bridget Jones Diarytype of content just isn’t for me. Every book I’ve read that references Bridget Jones is full of insufferable adult children who behave like they’re 14 years old. I can tolerate it from young adult books, but not things meant to showcase women in their 30s. There is also some low-key alcoholism here that was uncomfortable to read. Sure the characters are flawed, spoiled, materialistic, and dramatic. They are also likable and multi-dimensional. I really enjoyed Andrea and Linda: Their closeness, messiness, no-bullshit approach to friendship, and their individual growth. I cheered for them, I hoped for better for them, even when they spiraled and made some not-so-great decisions. I’m sure many of us have spiraled when feeling exhausted of trying to be good enough for others and for ourselves.

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I don’t tend to 1-star books I can’t finish. But this one? Good grief. In hindsight, I should have listened to the alarm bells that went off at the paedophile joke in chapter one. The book focuses on Andrea's desire to progress in her career, the fact she hates her job and felt like she didn't have a choice outside of law and medicine. There's also her love life, where she's torn between Eric, a Chinese billionaire who her mother would approve of, and her colleague Suresh, who she thinks she's competing with for partner, and is the creator of a comic. She knows her mother would definitely not approve of Suresh.

She was supposed to be my fail-safe, the Last Tang Standing. Now there would be no one else to share the burden of deflecting criticism on being single from my relatives."

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At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: she has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore’s hottest clubs and restaurants. All she has to do is make partner at her law firm and she will have achieved everything she (and her mother) has ever worked for. So what if she’s poised to be the last unmarried member of her generation of the Tang clan? She doesn’t need a man to feel fulfilled, no matter what her meddling relatives have to say about it. At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: She has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore's hottest clubs. All she has to do is make law partner, and her life will be perfect. And if she's about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan--a disappointment her meddling Chinese-Malaysian family won't let her forget--well, she doesn't need a man to complete her. year-old Andrea is a successful lawyer striving to make partner. She also has a nice condo and rich friends, but life isn’t perfect for her: She works too much, sleeps too little, and feels the crushing family pressure to find a man to marry so she isn’t the last single Tang of her generation. As it was stated in the synopsis, this book is exactly like Crazy Rich Asians meet Bridget Jones Diary. Its set in the glamorous side of Singapore, living in the limelight of blitz and upper side but still has elements of the everyday middle class struggles. The format of the book is written as Andrea's diary and it was very entertaining from beginning to end.

A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. Maybe this isn’t the book for me. I’m sure if someone is of East Asian descent living in Singapore, they’d enjoy it, but I have a difficult time relating to or feeling sorry for this character.The heroine is HILARIOUS. That voice! And what I liked about Andrea is how flawed but how endearingly so she is. She's smart and tough, even as she's unsure of herself at times. That's believable I'm Asian and I can 100% identify with her struggles to please her family, even though I'm a man and British. This book was a lot of fun to read - and the description of Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones' Diary is absolutely perfect. Andrea is a rising star in the lawyer world. She's aiming to make partner at her firm this year. Unfortunately, she's Chinese, 33, and not married, having split up with her boyfriend of 8 years. The book is very relatable even from an Indian’s point of view. In Suresh, we see a character who is inherently Indian and faces the issues that any Indian adult would face with their family. We also see just how similar (read nosy and interfering) Indian and Chinese families can be when it comes to the life choices of their children. The plot at first is slow pacing for those who DNF'd a little earlier just wait until after chapter 7 (You won't regret it) and then is so fast pacing you won't stop reading. I loved the way the author shows how society, culture and family can influence in every decision you make, how Andrea struggles so much with herself and everything she had been taught just to be herself and doing what she thought was right. Believe it or not, I still have plenty to say about this terrible, terrible novel. Full review to follow.