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Title details for Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen - Available

Sunshine Nails

by Mai Nguyen
Carolina Ðo
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A tender and funny debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family who will do whatever it takes to keep their no-frills nail salon afloat after a multimillion-dollar chain opens across the street.
Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have made a good life for themselves in Toronto, but their landlord has just jacked up the rent of their family-run nail salon, Sunshine Nails, and it's way more than they can afford. When Take Ten, a glamorous chain offering a more luxurious salon experience, moves into the neighborhood, the Tran family is terrified of losing their business—and the community they've built around them.

But daughter Jessica comes to their rescue. She's just moved back home after a messy breakup and an even messier firing. Together with her workaholic brother, Dustin, and recently immigrated cousin, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. But as the line between right and wrong gets blurred, relationships are put to the test, and Debbie and Phil must choose: Do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?

Full of memorable manicures and even more memorable characters, Sunshine Nails is a humorous and heartfelt novel about family, resilience, and what it means to start over.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 4, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781668025154
      • File size: 288243 KB
      • Duration: 10:00:30

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2023

      When the Toronto-based family nail salon of Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran is threatened by the fancy chain salon that pops up across the street, it's the younger generation to the rescue. Daughter Jessica returns home after mishaps in work and love and joins with hard-driving brother Dustin and recent immigrant cousin Thuy to find a way to undermine the competition. Eventually, the parents question whether this scheming is right and whether it's worth undermining the family to save the salon. Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 1, 2023
      Nguyen debuts with a glittering story of a family nail salon in Toronto. Matriarch Debbie Tran absentmindedly clicks on a one-star review of her business, Sunshine Nails, which sends her into a chaotic shame spiral about the quality of her English and of her own “unkempt” nails, both subjects of the unsatisfied customer’s blistering screed. Making matters worse, a slick salon chain named Take Ten opens a store across the street, riding a wave of gentrification in the neighborhood. Debbie, desperate to compete with the new salon, recruits her daughter, Jessica, who’s recently returned home after a breakup, to help turn Sunshine Nails around. Debbie also starts spying on Take Ten bigwig Savannah Shaw, paranoid that Savannah is sabotaging her. Meanwhile, Debbie’s husband, Phil, is up to his own shenanigans, securing a business loan from a sketchy associate, prompting readers to wonder how far the Trans will go to hold on to their legacy and whether they’ll tarnish it in the process. Nguyen imbues her characters with humanity and nuance, making hay from all their imperfections. Readers are in for a treat.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A full cast of narrators brings this family drama debut to life. Debbie and Phil Tran, Vietnamese refugees who run their own nail salon in Toronto, are barely breaking even. Things worsen when a new high-end salon opens across the street and rents surge in their gentrifying neighborhood. Desperate to save their family business, they recruit their children and niece to help them undermine the competition. The perspectives of the chapters move among the various flawed Tran family members. The narrators' performances ensure that the characters are easy to distinguish, although some characters are less developed. The nuanced deliveries capture complex family dynamics and generational differences as the story explores themes of gentrification, the immigrant experience, and racism. V.T.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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