Chinoy Rom-Coms and Meddling Aunties: Chloe and the Kaishao Boys Book Review
When one hears “Filipino rom-com,” it is natural that one’s mind immediately goes to movies starring love teams and small pocket-sized books with the ever-present “bad boy meets nerd girl” trope. Every once in a while, we’ll stumble into a fun one, a new trope, a unique setting, but these books are hard to find in mainstream romantic comedies.
Written by Chinese-Filipino author Mae Coyiuto, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys is a charming contemporary young-adult (YA) novel published in 2023, and it has all the makings of a great rom-com! The book revolves around Chloe Liang, a seventeen year-old girl who had just graduated from her all-girls Chinese high school. Recently accepted off the waitlist to study animation at the University of Southern California, Chloe faces the tough choices and decisions that come with this transitional period in her life.
And as if that weren’t enough,her father and her aunt complicate matters further by presenting her with a list of boys to date in the form of kaishao, which is a term in Chinese culture that refers to being set up on a date, typically arranged by family or friends.
“Are they trying to kaishao me? In church?!?” – Chloe Liang
The first thing that stood out to me while reading was the language. In recent years, we have seen a slow but steady rise in media that is unabashedly Chinese-Filipino. Though only a handful of words in Hokkien appear, the way the characters speak in English and Taglish pays homage to the very localized Chinese-Filipino youth born and raised in Manila.
Even more than that, the entire setting reads like the biography of many of my friends. If you’re a young Chinoy who attended a certain all-girls Chinese school in a gated community, then Chloe Liang’s house might as well have been yours. Is this stereotyping? Probably. But I’m also quite certain I’ve got it spot on—and so did Mae Coyiuto.
As someone who has read one-too-many rom-coms in her life (though, let’s be real, there’s no such thing as too many rom-coms), I feel qualified to say that Chloe is one of the most relatable main characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. She is funny, practical, and insightful, but more importantly, she is as realistic as it gets! Chloe is an ordinary girl in the most extraordinary way, and I love how established her character is. She knows who she is, yet she recognizes that there is plenty of room for her to grow.
Chloe dreams of becoming an animator in America where her mother lives, but she struggles with the guilt of leaving her father and their booming family business behind in the Philippines. This is the story of the ages– the Chinoy creative torn between the path of business and stability or the unpredictable journey of the ever-changing creative world. Adding depth to this narrative are her father’s conflicting feelings: on one hand, he supports her artistic aspirations, but on the other, he wishes for her to stay in Manila and take over the family business.
Though it is a rom-com, Chloe and the Kaishao Boys is also a quintessential coming-of-age story. Although the book is riddled with cute kilig moments, the dates with the boys almost take a backseat to Chloe’s personal growth.What truly gives the story its warm and heartfelt vibe is how her relationships—with her family, friends, and the three boys kaishao’d to her—all contribute to her character development.
“His advice was to do my best to ‘paint a picture of the poverty in the Philippines’… and how I was seeking a better life in America. But that was his story about my country, not mine.” – Chloe Liang
It is impressive how much the book was able to tackle, considering its genre and length. Not only did Mae Coyiuto address the career-choice conflicts of young Chinoys, but she also included well-thought-out dialogues discussing other issues that are ever-present in the Chinoy community. Topics such as the struggle with cultural identity, sexual identity, the so-called “Great Wall,” and racism all find their place in this story.
I have always advocated for addressing issues head-on rather than skirting around them. Unfortunately, this is not something the Chinoy community—particularly its more conservative spaces—is accustomed to. For example, the “Great Wall” and the casual racism underpinning it are rarely discussed openly. The book even mentions the term huan-a. While Coyiuto softened its blow by defining it as “used for foreigners” rather than its harsher connotation of “barbarian,” the problematic use of the term in everyday conversation was thoughtfully acknowledged and challenged.
The thing is, I wish it could be said that these issues were purely fictional and written solely for the plot. However, the reality is that they affect real people within the community, and their inclusion in the book resonates authentically with the characters’ experiences.
It is even more impressive that the author was able to weave such sensitive topics into the story while maintaining the book’s lighthearted tone. At the same time, she acknowledged the gravity of these situations—something many rom-com novelists struggle to achieve. Moreover, to see controversial subjects such as these being so openly discussed and disputed in mainstream media is essential to opening up these discussions in real, mundane spaces.
“You’re going to be drawing everyone else for the rest of your life. I figured that someone should draw you too.” – One of Chloe’s dates. No, I won’t tell you which one. You’ll have to read the book.
Circling back to its romantic-comedy roots, the first thing I want to say is that I cannot believe this hasn’t been done before! The concept felt instantly perfect the moment I heard about the book’s premise. Being set up by meddling relatives just before your eighteenth birthday is the ideal comedic setup for a chaotic whirlwind romance to blossom—and the execution was exactly as entertaining as I’d imagined.
Not to mention, the fusion of kaishao and the Filipino debut is the epitome of blending Chinese and Filipino customs in the most hilariously chaotic way possible.
I would even go so far as to say that Chloe and the Kaishao Boys isn’t just a Chinese-Filipino story—it might also set a new standard for reviving unique narratives and genuinely funny characters in the Filipino rom-com genre.
If you’re a fan of books like Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties, or Abigail Hing Wen’s Loveboat, Taipei, this should absolutely be your next read. And even if you’re not an avid YA romance reader, I’d still urge you to pick up this book. It’s the perfect introduction to the fun, quirky world of rom-coms.
