The Friday 56: American Panda by Gloria Chao

The Friday 56 is a weekly blog meme hosted by Freda’s Voice. Join us every Friday and share an excerpt from a book you’ve been reading.

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post here in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It’s that simple.

**Be sure to leave a link to your Friday 56 post in the comments!**

      ‘Outside the door, Dr. Chang fumbled in her pocket with her free hand. Unable to locate a pen, she jiggled the urine sample toward me, still only protected by a flimsy paper towel. “Can you hold this for a sec?”‘

Today I am sharing an excerpt from my current read, Gloria Chao’s American Panda. Mei is a freshman at MIT, trying to discover who she really is and what she really wants in this new environment. Her parents have a set plan for her to become a doctor, but Mei’s interests lie elsewhere. I’m really enjoying Mei’s voice and am especially invested in her relationship with her brother. Also swooning over her scenes with the adorable Darren. Cover is linked to Goodreads.

From the Goodreads Synopsis:

      “At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
    With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.
      But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?”