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Love Makes Mochi
Our take
Lilyn travels abroad chasing a recommendation from a legendary, terrifying tailor that could get her into her dream fashion school, goth aesthetic and all. Her teacher's rebellious, tattooed daughter offers to help blend traditional local style into her designs, and cozy dates start happening alongside the sewing lessons. Third in a series of standalone romances set in different countries, it doesn't require reading the earlier two first. A sapphic romance built around fashion design as the actual plot engine, not just a hobby mentioned in passing, makes this stand out in contemporary YA.
Fashion design is the actual craft on display, not set dressing, with real specificity about pattern-making and mixing goth style with traditional dress. Art and cultural exchange run through the setting, treated with curiosity rather than tourism. It's a low-stakes summer romance structurally, more about creative growth than external conflict.
Publisher's description
“I felt like I was in Tokyo with Lilyn and Yua, and I never wanted to leave.” —Becky Albertalli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda A teen goth fashion designer travels to Tokyo, Japan, where she meets a tattoo artist apprentice who may just be the one to change her mind about love—part of the international Love in Translation series of standalone YA romances. Lilyn Jeong is living her best life—in Tokyo! She gets to learn from the legendary yet notoriously terrifying tailor Mrs. Matsumoto. Getting a glowing recommendation from her could be Lilyn’s ticket into her dream fashion school. So when Lilyn is tasked with designing an entire collection, panic sets in. She has only weeks to figure out how to mix her goth aesthetic with traditional Japanese style. Thankfully, Mrs. Matsumoto’s rebellious, tattooed, rainbow-haired daughter Yua offers to help. But going on cozy dates with this cute girl is way easier than sewing yukatas. Can Lilyn find a path forward in fashion and love? Or will she watch as everything falls apart at the seams? The swoony Love in Translation romances can be read together or separately: LOVE REQUIRES CHOCOLATE • LOVE CRAVES CARDAMOM • LOVE MAKES MOCHI
- First published
- 2026
- Series
- Love in Translation #3
Available formats
- Print — 320 pages · ISBN 9780593571620
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