{
    "id": 456860,
    "slug": "mika-in-real-life-emiko-jean",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "Mika in Real Life ",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "<p>One phone call changes everything. At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki\u0092s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She\u0092s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she\u0092s been fired from her latest dead-end job. Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny\u0097the 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 Mika\u0092s 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, Penny\u0092s 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 all\u0097love, her daughter, the life she\u0092s always wanted? Or will Mika\u0092s deceptions ultimately catch up to her? In the end, Mika must face the truth\u0097about herself, her family, and her past\u0097and answer the question, just who is Mika in real life?</p>",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 384,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2023-03-08",
    "publication_date_latest": "2023-03-08",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [],
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    "rating_average": null,
    "ratings_distribution": {
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    "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:54:46+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-28T00:37:46+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 5455,
        "slug": "william-morrow-company",
        "name": "William Morrow & Company",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:22:17+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T14:43:13+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [
        {
            "id": 281861,
            "slug": "",
            "key_names": "",
            "names_before_key": null,
            "prefix_to_key": null,
            "contributor_role": "A01",
            "readable_contributor_role": "Author"
        }
    ],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": []
}