A Banh Mi for Two

De: Trinity Nguyen

Narrado por: Carolina Do, VyVy Nguyen

"Narrators Carolina Do and VyVy Nguyen delight listeners as two foodie teens who fall in love in Vietnam in this sweet sapphic YA romance."—AudioFile

In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families' histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.

In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father, but has stopped updating since his passing.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely even talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.

When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2024 Trinity Nguyen (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“In A Bánh Mì for Two, Trinity Nguyen brings Sài Gòn to life on the page. The sights, the people, and, most importantly, the food, capture your heart just as much as the blossoming sapphic romance. A beautiful story of family, love, and home.” —Rachael Lippincott, New York Times–bestselling author of Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl

“Nguyen intricately weaves an exploration of Vietnamese American identity in this charming coming-of-age story. Readers will experience the exuberance of young love while taking a delicious trip through Sài Gòn.” —Julie Tieu, author of The Donut Trap

“A Bánh Mì for Two is a deliciously sweet read! I adored this emotional story about two girls finding love in each other and in the noisy city at the center of their families’ hearts.” —Trang Thanh Tran, New York Times-bestselling author of She Is a Haunting

A deeply developed story of two characters falling in love with one another and their complex, challenging lives.

This book was wonderfully written, addressing complex themes in a way that reveals the beauty that can coexist with painful, difficult circumstances. This book far exceeded my expectations. Definitely recommend.

Cute Story

I wasn’t sure to expect before listening to this story, but I love it! As an Asian American myself, I could relate to Vivi about wanting to know more about my parent’s history. I’m such a sucker for a good romance and I love it even more when it gets me to tear up just a little when reading. Overall, I think this is a great book and I would love to share this book to my niece when she’s old enough to read on her own.

The love of food

It was different and reminded me of home. That you never know who knows who

Awesome Reas!

Loved the portrayal of food and family in this story. Appreciated the author highlighting Vietnam's history and culture.

This book will have you drooling for Báhn Mì

I only found this because it was on the Goodreads Choice 2024 list. It’s a sapphic YA romance, but not angsty in the usual YA way. The drama here is driven by family secrets, and expectations and none in the ways I would have expected.

It’s really a love letter to Saigon. The street food, the people and their resiliency and strength. It’s beautifully written.

I had to have Báhn Mì yesterday, because the street food descriptions had me salivating.

I’m bumping Saigon up my list of places to visit.

I totally recommend this book for fans of food blogging, learning about cities through food and a good romance.

A sweet, heartwarming but slightly slow debut

A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen is the story of Lan, a food vendor who writes a popular street food blog on the side, and Vivi, an American student who is in Vietnam to find her roots.

I thought this story was sweet and heartwarming. Lan enters a contest to write an article for a food blogging contest run by a Southeast Asian magazine. The winner gets a cash prize, and Lan can really use the money to help pay for her mom's medicine, but she is falling out of love with writing. Meanwhile, Vivi is in Saigon in hopes that she can find out why her mom left her home country for the United States. Vivi's mom does not talk about Vietnam or her past, so it is up to Vivi to use what few clues she has from a small stack of pictures to uncover her mom's secret.

For anyone concerned about the spice level of a romance book, I would say that the pepper rating for this book is one. There is kissing and handholding but nothing beyond that.

The only caution I would give is that the characters read fairly young, late teens, early twenties. That's because this is a young adult book. and, for some reason, I did not research that before I started the book. That said. I still gave this book 4/5 stars, and I really rooted for both FMCs. The book is a low-key and little slow at times, but this book is beautifully written. Trinity Nguyen already has a gift for prose, and this is her debut. I look forward to reading what she writes next.

Beautiful

This resonated with me so much as a Vietnamese American and child of immigrants from Vietnam. I want to read everything by the author now. Bravo!

DNF

DNF

This book has so many things I generally love:

*Book with a foodie theme ✅
*Book set in or about Vietnam, Vietnamese culture (or any SE Asian culture) ✅
*Book set where I'm from (sorta, references to Little Saigon, Southern California) ✅
*Book with a travel storyline ✅

I am a food blogger by profession, so this book got an ✅ for that too.

However, I found this book to be unreadable/unlistenable.

Lan is an annoying character to start with. I found her unrealistic. She's a food blogger to help promote the street food in her area. For what purpose? ... to help their businesses. This actually happens. She has found an audience and as a result, tourist have gone to the places she suggests, including her own family restaurant.

But then she rails against said tourists, especially Americans. I am so tired of the ditzy American tourist trope. I find it incredibly unrealistic that the type of American Lan interacted with would have 1. found her blog. 2. sought out the locations in the blog 3. would even travel to Vietnam.

Vivi lied to her parents to where she is traveling to INTERNATIONALLY. C'mon.

Listening, I found that Lan pronouncing pho like FOE for several chapters grated on my nerves. Luckily around chapter 10 or 11, she pronounced it correctly. And why does she say ba so damn much and when she does, the volume gets louder. It almost sounds like a bleating sheep.

This was the point I had to stop. I am sad. It should have been a light and fluffy and somewhat delicious book, but it's not.