Self-help ✦ Penny’s Take
The Jasmine Project
Meredith Ireland · 2021
75/100
👍 Worth It
The Bachelorette-style premise is fun and the Korean American adoptee identity thread gives the story genuine emotional stakes beyond the romantic comedy surface. Jasmine is a character worth spending time with, and the epistolary elements — podcast transcripts, family group chats — bring freshness to the contemporary YA format. The middle section loses momentum and the premise asks for a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, but warm, funny, and emotionally honest YA romcoms are hard to pull off, and Ireland mostly manages it.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety85
Substance / usefulness72
Craft & writing74
Originality76
Evidence & accuracy80
Hype vs delivers75
Age-fit82
👁 Human-eye gut-check76
Penny’s verdict75
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