Lexa Thomas, a fitness trainer in New York City, is Taiwanese American and grew up aware of her differences within her white family. Her Taiwanese birth father was part of her life from age eight to her mid-teens, but there has been no contact with her Taiwanese family after a rupture several years ago during her last summer visit. Now in her thirties, Lexa is close to her mom, stepfather, and sister, and has a satisfying job, but she has a persistent sense of not belonging fully anywhere. Then her parents' marriage breaks apart, and Hsu Sing, her sister in Taiwan, calls with news of her father's death and of the complicated legacy of her Uncle Pong. Butler offers a fast-moving, easy-to-read story that almost belies the depth of her thematic preoccupations as she recounts funny dating episodes and other diverting strands. The martial-arts story line is empowering, as are the glimpses into the reality of growing up biracial and the enormous pressures of cultural expectations. The interesting array of characters and energetic plot will please readers.

Butler's riveting debut follows a half-white personal trainer who reconnects with her Taiwanese family after her biological father's death. Thirty-something New Yorker Lexa Thomas learns from her half sister, Hsu-Ling, that their father, Jing Tao, died in an accident. Hsu-Ling tells Lexa that just before the accident, Jing Tao visited his best friend, Pong, on his death bed (Pong was dying from cancer), and that Pong made an apology and confession to Jing Tao involving his role in previous unfair treatment of Lexa by Hsu-Ling's mother, Pin-Yen. Pong then leaves his estate to Lexa under the condition that she returns to Taiwan--and her estranged family--to claim it. While Lexa decides what to do, she and her American half sister contend with their mother's decision to leave their father for another woman, and a series of flashbacks unpack Lexa's fraught relationship with Pin-Yen, who, during Lexa's previous visits to Taiwan, schemed to ensure she wouldn't return. Butler weaves in convincing descriptions of Lexa's navigating of the dating scene and the fetishizing of Asian women, and depicts a fascinatingly complex antagonist in Pin-Yen, who by the end must contend with the effect of her past actions. Butler breathes zesty new life into women's fiction. Agent: Rachel Brooks, BookEnds Literary Agency. (July)

Butler's debut novel delves into a biracial Taiwanese American woman's complicated family relations. Protagonist Lexa, a 30-something physical trainer in New York City, is building her client list and looking for love at the novel's start. She's estranged from her biological father in Taiwan, and the White side of her family has fallen into conflict. Her White American mother has left Lexa's stepfather for a woman, and Lexa's bigoted sister is acting out. Then Lexa discovers her father, Jing Tao, has died, and her Taiwanese half sister, Hsu-Ling, is flying to New York to hand-deliver an important letter about her inheritance. Melodramatic plot twists pile on with lightning speed, but a dinner scene in which Lexa and her two half sisters confront a White man with "yellow fever," intent on objectifying Asian women, is hilarious. Other plot points suffer from a reliance on stereotypes. The central mystery of the novel, the cause of Lexa's estrangement from her biological father, is unfortunately predicated on a misogynist and racist caricature. Jing Tao's wife, Pin-Yen, is literally referred to as a Tiger Mom and is characterized in broad strokes: She forces piano lessons on her own daughter and pushes for academic success. Pin-Yen commits truly egregious acts of cruelty against the 14-year-old Lexa, but her cartoonish villainy undermines the book. If Jing Tao is truly the enlightened, loving man the reader is told he is, what would have sustained his marriage to a woman so monstrous? Why can't he and his wife communicate with each other like adults? That Jing Tao never noticed his wife's manipulations is a convenient plot device that reveals how underwritten he is as a character. The novel is trying for a breezy, sometimes-comical, sometimes-sentimental depiction of family and heritage, but such paper-thin characterizations undermine its own good intention. Family drama cannot transcend soap-operatic plot twists and too-easy resolutions. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.