I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Publication date: April 15, 2025
Emery Hooper is beginning her first year at the elite Derrymore Academy. It’s a boarding school for the wealthy and successful, full of legacy students and kids used to getting everything they want, the moment they want it. Emery is used to this crowd and fits in to it in almost every aspect. The one thing that sets her apart is that Emery is Korean-born, adopted by a Caucasian American family.
Emery and her friends look down on girls like Lilah Chang. Lilah is American-Taiwanese, the daughter of immigrants, a scholarship student who works hard to maintain her place at Derrymore. Her family is comfortably middle-class but nowhere near the level of most at the school and Lilah struggles to fit in, both culturally and economically.
As these two girls navigate their four years at Derrymore, their paths intersect with friendship growing, developing, and falling apart. Both will have to find their place, not just in the school, but in a broader world and each will have to work out how their Asian heritage affects that place.
The over-the-top wealth of the world of Derrymore is reminiscent of teen dramas like The O.C. and Gossip Girl and there is something fun about the obscene opulence of it all. Several of the side characters come across more like caricatures than real people but the central characters of Emery and Lilah have more depth. I would have liked to see more layers to Emery’s family but the time spent with Lilah’s is well-drawn.
What sets To Have and Have More apart from those cheesy teen dramas is the racial aspect and setting up Emery and Lilah as two opposing perspectives is cleverly done. Emery has always lived in this world of wealth and, at the beginning of the book, doesn’t question her place there. But she is still a visible minority and this begins to affect her more as she gets older and as she gets to know Lilah. Lilah, on the other hand, has always been an outsider. A child of immigrants, she straddles the line between two cultures and deals with the pressure of parents’ hopes and expectations.
Overall, this does have a YA vibe to it and I think will appeal to a lot of mid-to-late teen readers. But as someone far from that age, I still enjoyed the combo here of escapism and thoughtfulness.
Karissa Reads Books 
I’ve read a couple of Amy Tan’s books, and she always writes about that child-of-immigrants struggle. It seems like adult children don’t want to make their parents upset for fear of being ostracized, but in many cases, I see no love between those parents and children, just duty. What makes people feel so duty bound that they willingly remain an outsider forever? Is that why this character is an outsider?
There’s a great line in this book that states how Emery is at the school to step into an existing legacy while Lilah is there to start one. I feel like that’s the pressure of immigrant children. Their parents have often struggled so much and have an expectation of it being worthwhile if their children can begin this new legacy. Whether the child wants that or not. There is love here between the parents and children but it’s often not expressed in the way the child needs at that precise moment. As for being an outsider, it’s an interesting look because at the beginning, Emery feels like one of the group but as she grows up she feels more and more like an outsider. This is largely due to a number of small events that point out to her that she is Asian. Lilah is always aware of her outsider status and so struggles with it in a different way.
I like your comment about parents loving their children, but not in the way that the child needs it at that exact moment. That makes a lot of sense.
This does sound entertaining. I don’t mind when books have a YA vibe, as long as they still have some depth to them, which it sounds like this book does. Also, I loved Gossip Girl LOL
The YA vibe comes from the characters and setting but it still gave me plenty to ponder. I’ve actually never seen Gossip Girl but I feel like I get what it’s about!