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betweentheshelves's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
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? No
4.5
Thanks to NetGalley and Underlined for an advanced copy of Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee to review! Being pitched as Crazy Rich Asians meets Heartstopper, I knew I had to read it. I will say, didn’t quite see the Heartstopper connection, but definitely the connection to Crazy Rich Asians. If you love rom-coms with fake dating, centered around baking/cooking, this is definitely the book for you!
This book has a lot of the classic rom-com tropes, and honestly, I loved it. Dylan and Theo are adorable together; from the first moment they meet, you can tell they have chemistry. Fake dating? You know that someone is going to develop feelings. If not both. They had an easy kind of relationship. Plus, food! We get to see a lot of Chinese culture through Dylan, especially with food, and it just makes the book even better in my opinion.
Outside of Dylan and Theo, there are some fantastic secondary characters as well. Especially Dylan’s family. They are so supportive of Theo and his dreams, and we love to see it. We also get to see the contrast in Theo and Dylan’s relationships with their families, even with somewhat similar backgrounds. Honestly, it’s part of the reason they feel so connected.
There’s cuteness, there’s the fluffiness you expect from a rom-com, and it will make a great spring read when it comes out in May!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Car accident
Minor: Addiction, Racism, and Dementia
trippyotter's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I adore everything about Fake Dates and Mooncakes!
Through a chance encounter, Theo is determined to make things right with Drew for his best friends theatrics.
Theo finds himself smitten with Drew and his family, but things get a little awkward when Theo "secretly" helps, which leaves Drew feeling obligated to return the favor.
Despite the differences in their social classes and family drama, Theo and Drew bond over their shared grief and cultural history.
For a debut novel, this is everything I needed and so much more, from the fake-boyfriend ploy to the culinary references and everything in between.
I can't wait to read more from Sher!
Through a chance encounter, Theo is determined to make things right with Drew for his best friends theatrics.
Theo finds himself smitten with Drew and his family, but things get a little awkward when Theo "secretly" helps, which leaves Drew feeling obligated to return the favor.
Despite the differences in their social classes and family drama, Theo and Drew bond over their shared grief and cultural history.
For a debut novel, this is everything I needed and so much more, from the fake-boyfriend ploy to the culinary references and everything in between.
I can't wait to read more from Sher!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent
ramunepocky's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
A beautifully written book that made me laugh, cry and cycle through all kinds of emotions.
I really loved our protagonist and his journey as he sets out to honour his recently deceased mother's memory by entering the Mooncakes contest that she wanted to. This book is very much about family, about the lengths we go to for the ones we love, and how, even in the face of devastation, family keeps us going. I really loved Dylan's family and how much they supported him, but also everything he was willing to sacrifice and all the effort he puts in to support them too. I also really loved all the references to Singaporean culture and how much of the food was intigrated into the whole story too.
Fake dating is my all time favourite trope, its always so much fun and I love the barely concealed pining, and I feel like this book did it okay, but it fell a little flat in places. It felt a little rushed and glossed over and like the two protagonists barely discussed the parameters of their fake dating to make it convincing to Theo's family and Theo did just throw Dylan in the deep end by not telling him a single thing about his family and the current legal situation with his Aunt and Father, or his motivations behind wanting to fake date him until it had become a problem™, a problem that could have been avoided if he'd just communicated with Dylan.
I liked the romance, I do think it was sweet, even if it was a tad bit rushed, there were so many sweet moments between the two of them that I absolutely adored.
The last part of the book, primarily the Mooncakes contest and the parts after made me sob uncontrollably until the end. I just thought the whole rembrance and memorial of Dylan's mother was absolutely beautiful, and its so sweet after to see things FINALLY go Aunt Jade's way after all her hard work and all the hardships that had befallen her
I really loved our protagonist and his journey as he sets out to honour his recently deceased mother's memory by entering the Mooncakes contest that she wanted to. This book is very much about family, about the lengths we go to for the ones we love, and how, even in the face of devastation, family keeps us going. I really loved Dylan's family and how much they supported him, but also everything he was willing to sacrifice and all the effort he puts in to support them too. I also really loved all the references to Singaporean culture and how much of the food was intigrated into the whole story too.
Fake dating is my all time favourite trope, its always so much fun and I love the barely concealed pining, and I feel like this book did it okay, but it fell a little flat in places. It felt a little rushed and glossed over and like the two protagonists barely discussed the parameters of their fake dating to make it convincing to Theo's family and Theo did just throw Dylan in the deep end by not telling him a single thing about his family and the current legal situation with his Aunt and Father, or his motivations behind wanting to fake date him until it had become a problem™, a problem that could have been avoided if he'd just communicated with Dylan.
I liked the romance, I do think it was sweet, even if it was a tad bit rushed, there were so many sweet moments between the two of them that I absolutely adored.
The last part of the book, primarily the Mooncakes contest and the parts after made me sob uncontrollably until the end. I just thought the whole rembrance and memorial of Dylan's mother was absolutely beautiful, and its so sweet after to see things FINALLY go Aunt Jade's way after all her hard work and all the hardships that had befallen her
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Car accident
dinipandareads's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
TL;DR: Fake Dates and Mooncakes was high up on my list of anticipated YA contemporary romances this year and I was beyond thrilled to get a digital ARC! Sadly though, for various reasons, this book really didn't work out for me. I loved the cultural and food aspects of the story and Dylan's family was great as well. That said, the romance was instantaneous and I didn't really feel their romantic connection. The writing also read on the younger end of YA, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not sure that's what the author intended and it also clashed with the more sexually suggestive overtones between Dylan and Theo. I wanted to see more of the mooncake competition but that played a woefully small part in the story. Overall, I'm sad that this didn't end up being what I expected because I was genuinely looking forward to loving it!
There's no getting around it: the beginning of this book was rough. The writing was not what I expected as it read on the young end of YA but it also read very stilted and awkward with a lot of "telling" and no "showing". It felt like the story only skimmed the surface of these characters and their stories, which certainly made for 'easy reading' but left me wanting more in terms of depth and emotional connection. It was easy to see which parts the author felt the most comfortable and confident writing about because those were the parts that had the most detail. I really appreciated the food and cultural aspects of this story—it honestly made me so hungry while reading!—and they were one of the best things about it, but this could've been a cultural/culinary book because of how detailed the author gets about the recipes and their cultural significance. While I liked it, it only left me wishing that the other parts of the story could've received just as much attention (and it probably should've)!
The premise of this book was really interesting but it was the follow-through that was lacking. The reasons why Dylan and Theo got together were ultimately flimsy and felt disingenuous because there was so little interaction between them, to begin with, that the jump to more felt unrealistic. Dylan was an okay character but what I enjoyed most was his relationship with his aunt and cousins. I appreciated how much respect he had for his culture and how he carried the memories, language, and love for food with him, but I also wished that he had been less of a pushover when it came to Theo; though perhaps I'm biased though because I didn't like him. He lacked personality and every interaction with him felt bland and emotionless. There were things he said and did that left me feeling grossed out and made it harder to care about his character. If you're not a fan of instalove then you probably will feel the same way as I did about their romance. I didn't feel their connection because they go from strangers to "falling in love" very quickly and what made it harder for me to believe their chemistry is that I didn't really believe that Dylan actually liked Theo as a person either, he simply found him overwhelmingly hot.
Overall, it was just a big miss for me. While I know that as an adult I'm not the intended audience for this book. but I do read a lot of YA, although admittedly less in the contemporary/romance sphere these days. That said, if I'm being honest, I don't think I would recommend this to the young readers in my life if I were asked either. This had a promising premise and the potential for more was there, but the execution fell flat.
Special thanks to the author and Underlined for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
There's no getting around it: the beginning of this book was rough. The writing was not what I expected as it read on the young end of YA but it also read very stilted and awkward with a lot of "telling" and no "showing". It felt like the story only skimmed the surface of these characters and their stories, which certainly made for 'easy reading' but left me wanting more in terms of depth and emotional connection. It was easy to see which parts the author felt the most comfortable and confident writing about because those were the parts that had the most detail. I really appreciated the food and cultural aspects of this story—it honestly made me so hungry while reading!—and they were one of the best things about it, but this could've been a cultural/culinary book because of how detailed the author gets about the recipes and their cultural significance. While I liked it, it only left me wishing that the other parts of the story could've received just as much attention (and it probably should've)!
The premise of this book was really interesting but it was the follow-through that was lacking. The reasons why Dylan and Theo got together were ultimately flimsy and felt disingenuous because there was so little interaction between them, to begin with, that the jump to more felt unrealistic. Dylan was an okay character but what I enjoyed most was his relationship with his aunt and cousins. I appreciated how much respect he had for his culture and how he carried the memories, language, and love for food with him, but I also wished that he had been less of a pushover when it came to Theo; though perhaps I'm biased though because I didn't like him. He lacked personality and every interaction with him felt bland and emotionless. There were things he said and did that left me feeling grossed out and made it harder to care about his character. If you're not a fan of instalove then you probably will feel the same way as I did about their romance. I didn't feel their connection because they go from strangers to "falling in love" very quickly and what made it harder for me to believe their chemistry is that I didn't really believe that Dylan actually liked Theo as a person either, he simply found him overwhelmingly hot.
Overall, it was just a big miss for me. While I know that as an adult I'm not the intended audience for this book. but I do read a lot of YA, although admittedly less in the contemporary/romance sphere these days. That said, if I'm being honest, I don't think I would recommend this to the young readers in my life if I were asked either. This had a promising premise and the potential for more was there, but the execution fell flat.
Special thanks to the author and Underlined for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Car accident
lqvekanej's review against another edition
lighthearted
3.75
Thank you to Random House Children’s for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of ‘FAKE DATES AND MOONCAKES”.
While I felt that the pacing could have been a bit better, I absolutely fell in love with Dylan and Theo — both on their own and together. They were such fantastically well written characters, and it was so easy to root for them!! I loved the author’s writing style, and the descriptions of the settings really made me feel like I was there in the moment. I would absolutely recommend putting this book on your TBR for when it releases on May 16, 2023!
While I felt that the pacing could have been a bit better, I absolutely fell in love with Dylan and Theo — both on their own and together. They were such fantastically well written characters, and it was so easy to root for them!! I loved the author’s writing style, and the descriptions of the settings really made me feel like I was there in the moment. I would absolutely recommend putting this book on your TBR for when it releases on May 16, 2023!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol
bookswithca's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
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