I Leave It Up to You

A hilarious, heartwarming rom-com that proves that sometimes home is exactly where you belong.

Jack Jr woke up from a two-year coma with a sore neck, a brand new ex-fiancee, and the distinct feeling he’d missed something big. Like, global pandemic big. Reluctantly returning to New Jersey, and a kitchen job at the sushi restaurant his family runs, he finds himself suddenly dependent on his dysfunctional and very estranged Asian American family- headstrong fishmonger father, Jack Sr; his recovering alcoholic brother, James; and his rebellious teenage nephew, Juno. And then there’s Emil Cuddy, Jack Jr’s former nurse, who may offer a glimmer of hope, but who’s struggling with complicated feelings of his own …

Can Jack Jr navigate the family chaos, rebuild his life, and maybe even find love (or at least a decent date) in a world that’s moved on without him?

‘Maybe I’ve been waiting my whole life for a novel about a Korean sushi chef in Fort Lee, New Jersey? I Leave This to You is funny and tender, with characters whose lives are satisfyingly messy. Jinwoo Chong is a writer for those of us who exist between cultures and identities.’
-Gabrielle Zevin, New York Times bestselling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

‘Exuberant and emotional, hilarious and full of heart, Jinwoo Chong’s I Leave It Up to You is alive and boisterous and entirely profound. Chong’s prose is ambitious and emotional, rendering questions of love, family, queerness, and connection with empathy and delight. I Leave It Up to You is wise and surprising, irresistible and insightful, a riot and a tender exploration of (re)discovering your place in the world.’
-Bryan Washington, author of Family Meal

‘I Leave It Up to You is both a remarkable portrait of an American family and a moving examination of what it takes to remake a life … tender, compassionate, and beautifully told.’
-Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief