Double Happiness

In Eng’s dry debut, two New York City workaholics learn there’s more to life than their jobs. Mei Li, a senior director of brand marketing at Livin, an “experiential lifestyle company” offering long- and short-term rentals around the globe, works 70-hour weeks. She believes the grind will be worth it in the long term, hoping to become one of the only women or people of color in the C-suite. Her immature fiancé Joey DiGiacomo is likewise a long-term investment, as she arranges for him to study for and complete certifications in his IT career. Now, however, she’s facing burnout. Her sister’s brother-in-law, Alexandre Brodeur, knows a thing or two about burnout himself. He’s “starting from scratch” in a teaching position at SUNY New Paltz after 20 years researching zebrafish failed to earn him tenure at the University of Oregon. Mei and Alexandre struggle against mutual attraction, complicated by their familial relationships, Mei’s impending nuptials, and their conflicted feelings about the value of carving a new path or sticking to what they know. The frustratingly one-dimensional characters read like LinkedIn profiles, and while Eng makes an admirable attempt to tackle workplace racism, the novel doesn’t get much deeper than what might be found in HR compliance training. Readers will be disappointed. (May)