Reviews with content warning for Racism - Super Fake Love Song

This book is so much fun. The writing is super funny, the characters are complex but likeable, and I just had a ball reading it. Absolutely adding David Yoon books to my TBR. I felt like the book had the comfort and fun of a Hallmark movie, while also being messy and believable and showing some really beautiful moments of male friendship and complicated sibling relationships. The ONLY thing I didn't love was the line that "alcohol is for victims." Feels a little victim-blamey and took me out of my love affair.

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kayaj's review

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funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

First things first: I am by no means a contemporary lover. I basically live in an alternate reality full of wizards and magic at this point. However, this year, I’ve read contemporaries that I’ve genuinely enjoyed. And this happens to be one of them.

My “Actually Really Amazing” Contemporary Checklist:

Music. The emphasis on music, on loving music, on being passionate for music, or finding a passion? The snippets of finding the sheer magic of performance? Super Fake Love Song might be about a fake band but the love for music is real.
Relatable characters are what makes or breaks a contemporary for me, honestly. I’m a teenager. I need to read about real teenagers, and be able to relate in some form to their passions, ideals, thoughts, hopes, dreams, and whatever else is on the back of a college pamphlet. And David Yoon did very much accomplish that.
ROMANCE. Was I totally, 100%, Jude-and-Cardan invested in Cirrus and Sunny’s relationship? No. However, I liked it. It felt like a sweet, teenage romance. Albeit one built on lies.

ALRIGHT. I actually have more thoughts*! First of all, Sunny, Milo, and Jamal are the only three minority male students in their school, and that was something they’d bonded over. Jamal is Jamaican-American, Milo is Guatemalan-American, and Sunny is Korean-American. This is OwnVoices for the Korean-American rep, and I loved seeing all the hints of Korean culture the author dropped. All three are mega-nerds, and very heavily involved in DND, live action role-playing, and the like. It’s pretty awesome. I loved the fact that even as Sunny is faking being a rock star when he meets Cirrus, even as he gains popularity and confidence, he doesn’t want to let go of being a nerd. He loves what he loves, and he shouldn’t be ashamed of that. In a world crowded with media constantly telling people what to do, what to like, who to be, it was so refreshing to have a book that isn’t focused on the main character becoming “cooler”. The balance of Sunny discovering a new passion, yet yearning for his old one, is so well-done.

*me? with coherent thoughts? truly, contemporaries are an alternate reality

Sometimes, I was a little thrown off by the dialogue and writing style. It felt like it was trying almost too hard at times to mimic teenage conversations and inside jokes. At others, thought, it fit perfectly with the scene. I think the writing style is definitely an adjustment and won’t be for everyone, but I personally liked it.

Also, the relationship dynamics??? My heart??? I don’t even know what I liked best. The family dynamic of Sunny’s parents constantly working and his older brother Gray not wanting to hang out anymore, and the development of the brotherly bond? Or maybe Sunny finding friends in unexpected places*? Or his blossoming romance with Cirrus, knowing that it’s based off of a lie? The complexities of character arcs and relationships actually make this book feel so very genuine, despite all the fake pretenses surrounding it. I just…loved it.

that made it sound cheesy but i swear it’s not. i’m just trying to avoid spoilers.

I feel like there’s so much more to say, but at the same time I don’t want to ramble into oblivion and spiral into spoilers. I do feel like this book won’t be for everyone, but I really loved it. Sunny’s balancing game of fake/real was entertaining, the topics and themes discussed were thought-provoking, and it was semi-relatable

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leetriestowrite's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I wholeheartedly loved it. This book got me out of a three-month long reading slump and it was a great first book to kick off the New Year.

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cuppacora's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Review to come.

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spinesinaline's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

A cute romance, loved the nerding out. Thanks to Penguin Canada for an e-ARC! Check out spinesinaline.wordpress.com for my full review.

I haven’t read David Yoon’s debut yet but this book is solidly YA. I’ve certainly read hard-hitting young adult books before but Super Fake seemed to stick to the older template of simplifying big issues with hints at larger discussions and a neatly tied-up ending. That said, as I wrote in my notes as I read this book, “I think my rating comes down to more of a ‘me’ problem”, so if the “typical YA” rocks your boat, you’ll likely find lots to love about this one.

I did really like the characters and their humour for the most part. These kids are intense nerds and it’s wonderful to get immersed in their world of LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing). And I loved the overall message of the book — it’s not just about a nerdy kid who pretends to be cool and then wants to relish that high school fame. Instead, he finds that he truly enjoys being able to feel comfortable in his own skin, and has to come to terms with the shame he’s internalized about his nerdy hobbies which used to bring him so much joy.

In terms of drawbacks, it is quite a simplified story with very minimal consequences, more of a “let’s all get along” feeling. I also felt two plot points involving the ending were way too rushed (literally, because the author tells us how much time has passed); even in the magical land of fiction, there’s just no way those things were completed in that short a timespan. Some issues of race and wealth are brought up but I would’ve liked them to have been delved into further as they felt like really integral parts of this story and who these characters are. There was also some odd spoken dialogue from the MC that would throw me off, almost like the author did a keyboard smash. I understood that the author was trying to convey that Sunny was feeling awkward and stumbling over his words, but how am I supposed to interpret that as a human sound??

One funny thing though that’s not a big spoiler — completely believable that a teenager would borrow his brother’s clothes each day and then PUT THEM BACK IN THE CLOSET without washing them!! His poor parents.

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