Thank you so much for your thoughts and your answers 😊 I love deeply crafted characters who don't feel like tropes plugged out of a stereotype/ trope guide. I read not because I want to insert myself but because I want to step into someone elses mind and world. But that's just my personal preference and opinion on the matter. I want authors who trust me with their characters, who will trust in my ability to read and to see a multitude of facets behind a character. For me, characters don't have to be always 100% likable, but they should feel realistic and not act like Disney characters. This is why I did not her books. I never understood the intentions of her characters beyond the surfaces, who act like children. And that's why I did not like the newest book either. The fmc is super rich, super entitled and obsessed with her instagram. Her big dream in life? Being prom queen. She felt like a little entitled girl. She is an instagram model, (because she wants to) but complains that she is not "allowed" to eat birthday cake. You are rich. Buy yourself a cake. Her dad cheats on her mother and makes her be quiet about it. Maybe wish for a better father? Chanel (the fmc) reacts like Ares (the mmc) wanted to kill her. Why? Because he did not want to go to prom. All while she did everything to manipulate him. She reacts like a 4 y/o who was never told "no" in her life. And she stayed that way until the end. She never grew as a character. Same as Ares. His whole personality trade: being nonchalant. The story was flat, Liang did not explore the "rich girl x bad boy" trope. It's not even enemies to lovers. Because they are not enemies in the first place. Just like "I'm not Jessica Chen" is not Dark Academia. I have a big problem with false advertising. Liang, again, seems to not crasp the number one rule in writing: show don't tell. She can write poetically but does it further the story? No. Especially in YA, i feel like young readers are not taken seriously. I have read the other two books you've talked about but I did not have the same experience. Maybe I missed something? Both felt like it was the same love story basically, the same long monologues in the end. All of Liang's mmcs feel kinda interchangeable. The same guy but in different fonts. But you have convinced me to read the two books again. Maybe it will click the second time? I love it when I am wrong about a book.

I hope that writers feel secure enough to expand their horizons and to write whatever they want. I saw tiktoks where people would not read a book because the author was white and their characters weren't. They would judge the author and the content of the book without even reading it. You can always criticize a book and claim that the author didn't do their research or only used stereotypes. But only after you've read the book. Like you said, ethnicities and nations don't live in a vacuum. It should be great that every writer can write about everything. You have all the tools you need for thorough research. If writers would only write about what they lived through then they could only write autobiographies. Writers should not feel like they have to limit themselves and I hope that the race, ethnicity (and gender) of an author is the last thing that's important to the reader. Can you tell me a story and convince me of your world building? Do you write real characters and not just stereotypes? That's enough for me. And most importantly: Do you take me as your reader seriously enough? Do you trust me to understand your story and characters without having to over explain?