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sophieink's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
"For the first time, I didn't feel like I was changing skins as I left California and returned to Chicago. There was just one skin now; a Chinese American one that deserved to be wanted and was wanted. By herself. As is."
I honestly consider Gloria Chao one of my favourite YA contemporary writers.
My favourite contemporaries have...
- a mix of emotion/pain with sporadic parts of joy (tick)
- older, preferable collaged aged protagonist (tick)
- complex family relationships playing a pivotal role in the book (tick)
- humour (tick)
- fast paced (tick)
- sweet love interest (tick)
- themes of self-discovery/self-belief (tick)
So, I think I very much matched to her books. Although I would say I wouldn't want to read them all in a row as I feel like the themes would get slightly repetitive.
Anyway, what made this one good?
As the title so proudly states it involves fake dating. I think this is a well loved trope and I actually haven't read enough so I was very excited about this one. I really liked the premise of this one as it was more of a clinical fake dating as it was done as if a business transaction. Plus, it heavily involved family which I hadn't seen too much. I think this dynamic added a more emotional and changing landscape for the environment of fake dating which immediately enticed me.
Our main character is Chloe who has hired 'the boyfriend' so that her parents stop trying to force her onto Hongbo, the best match for her in their eyes but an utter monster in her eyes. So her new plan was hiring the 'perfect boyfriend' so that her parents would approve of him and stop their persistent, controlling match making.
The book literally starts on this very first meeting so I really loved how we were able to get straight into the story. Then as you can imagine the story unfolds as they have to deal with keeping up the act, faking feelings, getting to know each other, winning her parents over, discovering why the match with Hongbo is so important and getting to know each other more,
It is a story riddled with feelings and discovering truths. It is able to examine connection, communication and what discovering faith in yourself means.
Our main characters....
Chloe is full of complicated feelings and often feels alone. She was a character I could easily feel for as she dealt with her family and all the things they said/did to her. She feels the need to constantly help and please other people, even at her own cost. She is strong but I really enjoyed seeing her grow to value herself and what she wanted.
I liked her personality and her narration voice. She was funny and relatable....
Anyway, what made this one good?
As the title so proudly states it involves fake dating. I think this is a well loved trope and I actually haven't read enough so I was very excited about this one. I really liked the premise of this one as it was more of a clinical fake dating as it was done as if a business transaction. Plus, it heavily involved family which I hadn't seen too much. I think this dynamic added a more emotional and changing landscape for the environment of fake dating which immediately enticed me.
Our main character is Chloe who has hired 'the boyfriend' so that her parents stop trying to force her onto Hongbo, the best match for her in their eyes but an utter monster in her eyes. So her new plan was hiring the 'perfect boyfriend' so that her parents would approve of him and stop their persistent, controlling match making.
The book literally starts on this very first meeting so I really loved how we were able to get straight into the story. Then as you can imagine the story unfolds as they have to deal with keeping up the act, faking feelings, getting to know each other, winning her parents over, discovering why the match with Hongbo is so important and getting to know each other more,
It is a story riddled with feelings and discovering truths. It is able to examine connection, communication and what discovering faith in yourself means.
Our main characters....
Chloe is full of complicated feelings and often feels alone. She was a character I could easily feel for as she dealt with her family and all the things they said/did to her. She feels the need to constantly help and please other people, even at her own cost. She is strong but I really enjoyed seeing her grow to value herself and what she wanted.
I liked her personality and her narration voice. She was funny and relatable....
"I briefly considered abandoning my mission altogether, but.... pie."
Drew was an interesting character as he was thrust into the environment to do his job and act 'perfectly'. I liked how he was able to mirror a lot of Chloe's emotions through situations that had happened in the past. He also had his own feelings of loneliness that made the way that they drifted together feel very natural. I liked that he was very sweet and tentative. Plus he loved art (and didn't want anyone to see) so I really liked that detail too.
I love how her family was written to be complex. It was able to capture families whose meal times together can be full of a silence tailored by lack of communication and closeness. It in those little details that Chao can demonstrate a family who are can be closely involved in a day to day life but also can note the huge spaces between them. This complexity is written throughout the book to create a realistic, messy family which can heart breaking but compelling to read about. I, also, appreciate that we are able to take on a journey with the family as well.
"It was just stifling silence all the time, the constant urge to shove food, water, anything into my mouth just for something to fucking do."
"Were we all pretending, putting on a better face to fool everyone around us, even our family? I guess I'd been doing that my whole life. "
★★★★
Overall, a really good contemporary that lived up to my expectations from Chao. It was full of emotions around accepting yourself and dealing with complex feelings around your family. It was not without sweet, fun moments too. The writing itself is very engaging allowing me to literally fly through this 400 page book in a day. An excellent YA contemporary that delivered on many aspects for me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, and Vomit
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