Loveboat, Taipei

Loveboat, Taipei is a 2020 young adult romance novel by American author Abigail Hing Wen first published by HarperCollins and released on January 7, 2020. Wen captures the journey of self-discovery in her debut novel which was inspired by her time in Love Boat to learn Mandarin and more about her heritage. The novel was followed by two sequels, Loveboat Reunion, released on January 25, 2022, and Loveboat Forever, released on November 7, 2023.

Loveboat, Taipei

Author	Abigail Hing Wen
Cover artist	Janice Sung and Jennet Liaw
Language	English
Genre	Young adult
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	January 7, 2020
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback, paperback)
Pages	432
ISBN	978-1-4711-9285-2
Followed by	Loveboat Reunion

A film adaptation of the book, retitled Love in Taipei was released on Paramount+ on August 10, 2023.

Plot

Ever Wong, a senior in high school, has only been accepted to Northwestern’s medical program and no other school. However, when she gets an acceptance letter from Tisch School of the Arts (NYU), which she applied to without telling her parents, for dance, she wants to go. Unfortunately for her, her parents have other plans and are sending her to Taiwan for the summer.

In Taiwan her parents both hope she’ll garner a love for her culture, and make lasting connections. Ever is forced to decline Tisch as her parents, particularly her mum, do not see dance as a viable career. Upon arrival in Taiwan, Ever meets Rick Woo, Sophie Ha, and Xavier Yeh. Ever immediately dislikes Rick, since he was a national prodigy child her parents always compared her to. Sophie and Ever hit it off and Sophie sets her eyes on Xavier, a play boy who seems dangerous. The first night they go to a club, and Ever gets super drunk and dances with Xavier.

The next day she finds a sketch of her dancing. Thus begins the search for the mysterious artist. Sophie and Ever break a lot of rules with Ever being dedicated to doing so after being constrained her whole life. She goes with Sophie to a photography studio to do glamour shots, and does one shot mostly naked. Ever joins a dance studio and pushes herself in the art form she likes the most.

Ever finds out that Xavier is the artist, and begins to like Rick a lot more. Rick treats her like his little sister and she agrees to help him. Rick and Sophie are cousins, and their family hates Rick’s girlfriend. When Xavier, Ever, Rick, and Sophie go to Rick’s aunt’s house, Ever poses as his new girlfriend to appease his family. Rick's family adores her and her love for dance. However, that night, Xavier and Ever kiss. Sophie freaks out and Rick disappears after admitting his fault. Jenna, Rick's real girlfriend, found out and he needs to patch it up with her.

Ever hurries to her dance audition for Swan Lake with the studio to see that Sophie sabotaged it by handing out her nude photo. Ever returns to the campus of her exchange program, and sees the head counselor has one as do many of the boys. Ever calls Sophie out on it and starts to get her pictures back. Under the impression she has one day left, Ever sleeps with Xavier. She then finds out she has to stay the rest of summer. Ever and Xavier dance around each other and Ever realizes she likes Rick.

Rick returns and talks about how unintentionally manipulative Jenna has been, and that he broke up with her. Under her new rules, Ever begins to rediscover herself and with a bunch of her friends, she choreographs a dance for the end of summer talent show. Sophie and Ever patch it up, and Rick joins the talent show dance.

Rick and Ever sleep together. A tragedy strikes which drastically affects the life of one of their nicer counselors. So the teenagers at Love boat decide to make the show a fund raiser for relief. Ever and Sophie convince Xavier to sell his art to contribute and though he didn't think it was worth much, it makes them a surprisingly large sum. Before Ever performs, she saves her dad, who was there to take her home, from a car accident, forcing her to dance with a bad ankle and a formerly dislocated shoulder. The talent show is still a success and Ever has figured out what and who she wants to be. She goes home, does not go to college and plans to try to get into dance schools for the next fall. Her and Rick are now dating. The school she rejected accepts Jenna who was on the waitlist (she defers to work on her mental health). Xavier decides to work at a theatre.

Reception

In 2019, Wen's debut novel, Loveboat, Taipei, sold in a multi-house auction to HarperCollins, for a two-book deal. It debuted at #9 on the New York Times Bestseller List where it remained for multiple weeks. Loveboat, Taipei was published on January 7, 2020, by HarperTeen. The story is inspired by Wen's experience on the Love Boat program. Wen and Loveboat, Taipei have been featured in NBC Bay Area Show, World Journal, the South China Morning Post, Cosmopolitan, and People en Español. The novel appeared on a number of Most Anticipated lists including The Boston Globe, Book Riot, Bustle, BuzzFeed, The UK Evening Standard, The Nerd Daily, Seventeen, and She Reads. Loveboat, Taipei was selected as a Barnes & Noble Young Adult Book Club Pick and it appeared at number 1 on Cosmopolitan's 25 Best Audiobooks of 2020 list.

The book additionally received reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Common Sense Media, and Asian Pacific American Librarians Association.