She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva

She’s So Money is the story of a Thai teenage girl named Maya living in Michigan. She’s the nerdy smart girl who tutors for extra money. She’s the girl who waitresses at her parents’ Thai restaurant for tips which go into the college fund. She’s also the girl who’s never been kissed, wants to go to Stanford, pisses off one unhappy vegan customer, and now has to come up with $10,000 in fines to pay the Health Department.

That’s right; the one time Maya’s parents leave Maya is charge of the restaurant, nearly everything that can go wrong does. The angry vegan customer threatens to call the Health Department, and at first Maya doesn’t take her seriously. Unfortunately, she and her brother also decide to save cleaning up the restaurant for the next day. That leads to the large fine. Maya is too ashamed to tell her parents, her brother, or her friends. All that’s left to do is come up with the money to pay the debt. The only problem is how. Maya then makes the decision to do other people’s homework for money.

When I first saw this book, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical because the cover was a little over the top. But, I tried not to judge and started reading. I was very impressed. Cherry Cheva does a fantastic job of portraying the strict Asian parents of the geeky Asian girl (and I would know). Some of the characters were stereotyped, such as the nerdy Asian kid and the ditzy popular girls. There were a couple slightly unexpected twists, but the plot was overall straightforward. It seemed a little unrealistic that the popular guy Camden fell for Maya in the end, because things like those almost never happen in real life, but it was cute anyway.

I definitely recommend this novel to all people interested in accurate representations and stories of high school. The novel is very funny, and readers who liked The Squad series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes will especially appreciate the humor. I also think readers who liked How Not to be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler will also find She’s So Money a fun read.

Rating: 4.0

Review copy from author Cherry Cheva