cover image Midori by Moonlight

Midori by Moonlight

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga. St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-312-37261-3

Aspiring Cinderella Midori Saito does not heed her mother's warning-""Running off with a foreigner will bring you nothing but trouble""-in Tokunaga's delectably frothy debut. Trouble is exactly what Midori finds after following English teacher Kevin Newbury from her native Japan to San Francisco, where Prince Charming quickly becomes Prince Alarming after a nightmarish engagement party. After Kevin dumps her to return to his ex-girlfriend, Midori doesn't want to tell her parents or return to Japan, although with little savings, no green card and only a temporary visa, she may have to. Fortunately, Kevin's old friend Shinji Nishimura, who met Midori at the ill-fated party, offers Midori refuge while she figures out her next moves-she's a talented baker-and Shinji ponders his. Tokunaga, author of the self-published No Kidding, depicts Midori's determination to create her own version of the American dream with exuberance.