One phone call changes everything. At thirty-five, Mika Suzukis life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. Shes a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, shes been fired from her latest dead-end job. Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Pennythe daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully-fledged fake life, one where Mika is mature, put-together, successful in love and her career. The details of Mikas life might be an illusion, but everything she shares with curious, headstrong Penny is real: her hopes, dreams, flaws, and Japanese heritage. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Pennys adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky, contentious relationship slowly blossoms into a friendship and, over time, something more. But can Mika really have it alllove, her daughter, the life shes always wanted? Or will Mikas deceptions ultimately catch up to her? In the end, Mika must face the truthabout herself, her family, and her pastand answer the question, just who is Mika in real life?
