Cute, predictable, boy/girl next door romance with a cross-cultural spin. Asian girl, Jewish guy, high school rituals met with meddling moms. All essentials met for a quick, fun, happy ending read worthy of K-drama standards.

Thanks for the ARC! I really enjoyed Nguyen's "The Way to Game the Walk of Shame", and this was another fun, sweet example of the YA contemporary "fake dating" trope.

This book was fine, but ultimately not particularly memorable. I have a feeling that in a few days, I'd struggle to tell you the names of the two main characters, let alone any of the supporting staff. An optional purchase in libraries where contemporary fiction/romance titles for teens are very popular.

This book reads like if The Kissing Booth and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before got together and had a baby.

It contains some of my favorite rom-com tropes of all time, including hate to love, fake dating, and a reverse parent trap years in the making.

But this in no way reads like some sort of amalgamation of the two I compared it to. This truly stands on its own.

The MCs, Mia and Jake, are nice people. Except to each other. You can understand why when their BFF moms have forced them to endure every life stage together. I imagine it would be hard not to resent someone when you don’t really like them and yet they’ve seen you at your very worst and know the kind of things about you that you would only ever divulge to your closest, most trusted friends.

Now that Mia and Jake are teens, their mothers’ thoughts have shifted to what a cute couple the two of them would make, and despite their children’s protestations, some epic scheming ensues, ending with Mia and Jake spending just about every waking hour together.

To get their moms off their backs, they decide to just give in to their matchmaking and fake date. This is a romance, so obviously they catch feelings for each other.

What I loved about this book was how realistically it portrayed the evolution of said feelings. They truly think they can’t stand each other at first, and only when they have to pretend to like each other do they realize…they actually might.

Another big enjoyment factor for me is that this is told through dual first person PoVs. Mia and Jake’s voices are each unique, and they read like actual teens.

I especially appreciated the chapters from Mia’s perspective, because while she’s quirky and spazy, she doesn’t come across like a manic pixie dream girl, but like an actual teenager. At 34, I sometimes forget what those crazy, uncontrolled years of my life were like, but Mia reminded me of a lot of the highs and lows. The toughness paired with crippling insecurity. The desire to want to be suave and put together but being borderline out of control 24/7.

Jake is a wonderful character too. I cannot rave enough about how he lifts Mia up so much. That he has no ego when it comes to her. That he revels in the fact that she can stand up for herself and brags about how she could kick his ass both in video games and IRL.

Jake also has a girl named Rose for a bestie, and friends, lemme tell you about how happy their relationship made me. I have been SEARCHING for one like theirs literally for years. Because guess what? Neither one of them is gay. Neither one at any point catches feelings for each other. Neither one tries to stand in the way of each other’s happiness because of some weird abandonment issues.

THIS IS JUST A GUY AND A GIRL BEING FRIENDS. FULL STOP.

More of this please. I’m over all the other portrayals. Where men and women can’t coexist together in a platonic way without one of them being queer or secretly in love with the other.

So, because Mia and Jake have been forced together their whole lives, they know all of each other’s dirt, which means that when the eventual misunderstandings unfold, they know how to cut each other deep. This made the conflict seem all the more believable. The good thing is that since they’re basically good people, they recognize their own bad behavior and want to make amends for it.

My only scruples with this are Jake’s stubbornness toward the end paired with a little too much cheesiness for my tastes, but honestly, this is a fluffy teen rom-com, so I wouldn’t expect anything less.

I definitely recommend this one for anyone looking for a quick, super-cute, hilarious young adult romance that will leave you smiling for days afterward.

Disclaimer: This review MAY contain spoilers. I received an Advance Reader Copy at no cost from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions in my review are my own.

I think that I am in shock right now. There is really no other explanation for how stunned I feel at the moment. Okay, let me explain. Earlier this year I read Jenn P. Nguyen's The Way to Game the Walk of Shame and it blew my mind. It is one of the very best YA contemporary titles that I have EVER read. Like, EVER. The story had everything. A plot that was entertaining and took root inside you, characters that were completely real and grew as the story progressed, and all the feels a fangirl could want. So understandably, when I pick up this highly anticipated book by the same author and get none of those things...well, it kind of feels like getting lost at sea.

So before I tell you all of the reasons why I ended up adrift in this liferaft, let me just say that this book had a lot of potential. I think that a lot of the issues that I have with this book rest with the execution. I normally love the "childhood friends/neighbors to lovers" trope and I think that the concept of a girl and a boy whose mothers are trying to push them together had so much going for it. I think that with some fine tuning this could have very well been one of those books that wows me.

Unfortunately, the concept wasn't enough to save this one for me. It felt like the concept, a girl and boy whose mothers are pushing them together in hopes that they become a couple, was all that this story was about. Any good story has a lot more going on in the background that just the main trope. There were some things going on with these characters, but they didn't feel real or important. It seemed like the focus was mainly on the fact that their mothers were pushing them together. It felt like Mia's love of theater and Jake's love of music were just filler and had no real purpose.

Another thing that seemed to stick to the sidelines was Mia and Jake's friends. Mia has ONE other friend in this book, Aly, and Jake has two friends that are siblings, Rose and Greg. Their friends make appearances, but they are sparse throughout the first half of the book. We see a little more of them in the second half of the book, but their absence made the book feel very unrealistic. Teenagers are all about their friends and I found it hard to believe that they weren't attached at the hip. It almost felt like Mia and Jake had no other friends at the beginning of the book.

The characters had no real depth. I mentioned how their interests felt unimportant and that really made the characters themselves take a huge hit. I just could not connect with these characters in the slightest. I had no real sense of who they were. I mean, this is a book about high school and I couldn't even tell you which high school clique the two main characters would have run with. It was all up in the air. The only high school kids that they remotely interact with are theater kids that Mia works with. And the entire plot point concerning Jake's brother felt forced and unrealistic. Especially with the crappy explanation Finn gives Jake and their mother for abandoning them. I almost felt insulted. Like I had invested all this time reading this book and this is the big reveal? Really? I wanted to like these characters so much but they were so dreadfully dull and fell so flat.

Some of the dialogue in this book was cringe-worthy. I don't know how else to put it, but some of the dialogue was just terribly written. It wasn't natural at all and was almost painful to read.

While the romance between Mia and Jake wasn't swoon-worthy, it wasn't a lost cause either. There were some cute moments here and there. I did like how thoughtful Jake always was about Mia. Like, he always knew her eating habits and would order her extra food. Adorable. And the way that Mia could tell Jake's mood by the expression on his face.

Overall, this book just didn't do it for me. I admit that my expectations were pretty high on this one after reading The Way to Game the Walk of Shame. Maybe that was my downfall where this book was concerned? Either way, I will definitely consider picking up another book by this author in the future. I do think that this is a book that many YA contemporary fans will love.

This is such a fun, lighthearted romance! It’s a hate-to-love, fake dating story that feels fresh and modern.

I'm a sucker for a romantic comedy, so I enjoyed this even though it was predictable and a little melodramatic. The main source of melodrama was Jake's renunciation of his older brother Finn. It felt to me like Jake was overreacting to pretty understandable/forgivable behavior on Finn's part. And then overreacting to completely understandable/forgivable behavior on Mia's part. But romances need drama.

I was going to give it three stars, then just thinking about the ending made me smile so I'll bump it up to four. This is a good escape into a fun story with diverse characters.

This was a cute book about friendship and romance. I liked all the characters, but the mothers were not that complex and had a know-it-all trait to them. Luckily it only showed at the end, so I enjoyed the book!

A cute fluffy read that is perfect for fans of Kasie West and Jenny Han, "Fake It Till You Break It" is the story of Mia and Jake, next door neighbors who hate each other and whose mothers ship them. Hard. So after Mia's mom scares away yet another cute guy, Mia has had enough and proposes a deal with Jake: they fake date, stage a massive break-up, and never have to suffer another dinner, vacation, or dentist appointment together again. This goes well. Until the fake dating stops feeling like an act...

I liked the premise, but I felt that Jake was a much more developed character than Mia, and would have liked to see Mia shine in the same way Jake did. Otherwise, it's a very cute story about finding love in what should be all the wrong places.

This book was really cute and used one of my favorite tropes of fake dating.

Mia and Jake are neighbors whose mothers are best friends and have basically been shipping their children since birth. Mia and Jake are totally over it though, so they come up with the plan to fake date for two weeks and then have a horrendous break up to show their moms how wrong they are. Of course feelings develop and what was once fake starts to turn very real causing Mia and Jake to question everything they thought they knew.

I liked both characters well enough as I was reading, but in the end they're both mostly forgettable. There wasn't much in either's personality that really made them stand out. The slice of life storyline was enjoyable, but nothing overly special.

This is a great book in terms of representation and diversity, as Mia is of Asian heritage and there's a glimpse into her culture and family. It's also really fast paced and easy to read. Overall, very enjoyable, and maybe someone else might get more out of it or connect to it better than I did.

*Thank you to Swoon Reads and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Thank you Netgalley for early access to an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Okay I love love LOVE enemies to lovers romances, so I was excited to get early access to this one!

I loved the characters and their relationship, but it felt like everything outside of those aspects were...neglected? Like her dreams of Broadway and performing-did she ever perform and how did it go? Background characters were 2D, and there were times when the author described things and I was genuinely confused who was talking and what was going on. Overall, I enjoyed this book but it wasn’t one of my favorites so far this year. I’d definitely recommend it to teens looking for light romance, and I’m pretty sure my library will be adding it to our collection!

The only reason I read this was because if I had set it aside this would have been the third book in a row. And I felt bad for doing that so I tortured myself into reading this cliche. This story was ridiculous. Mia and Jake's moms acted like gossipy and giggly middle school girls who wanted their kids to date and fall in love. They even shipped their kids with a name: Jakia. This was another level of crazy.

Everything was predictable. Jake and Mia hate each other since their mothers have labeled them as soulmates and made them do everything together since they were infants. They decide to pretend to date to get their mom's off their backs but after spending time with one another they magically discover they're secretly in love. Drama ensues with Mia crushing on another guy but secretly conflicted with her feelings for Jake. She also meddles into Jake's life and causes problems which temporarily halts their hot of the charts love life. Then they get back together. The End.

Also, everyone snorted. A lot.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a really cute book, but unfortunately for me it didn't really go beyond that. The romance was cute and I liked both of the characters but the plot seemed to be completely driven by the romance dynamic. There was a minor subplot involving Jake and his estranged brother, but that's about it. In fact, most of the minor plot points and conflicts had to do with Jake and his feelings toward his brother and music.

That being said, this is basically a perfect fluffy romance. It's mostly predictable, has a lot of cute and funny banter, and is a quick read. There were multiple times I found myself smiling and laughing during the book because of the characters' quirkiness and their interactions with one another. I would have liked to explore more of the friendships in the book but it mostly focused on Mia and Jake, which I'm not too mad about all things considered. I think a lot could have been removed and added to the story to make it more "deep" and comprehensive but the story is still sweet and fun to read the way it is.

I don't know what I expected from this title. I admit that I never read Jenn P. Nguyen's other titles (I've only seen the Netflix movie...*hangs head in shame*). So, I thought that this would be a good trial run of the author and to see if I wanted to venture into the other books. Unfortunately, this one just didn't impress me as much as I wanted it to.

I think this book just wasn't what I expected, and not really in a good way. I was hoping for a story I'd love as much as To All The Boys I've Loved Before and did the fake dating trope well. It honestly felt rushed and that took away from the story. It's a shame it didn't live up to my expectations entirely but overall it was pretty cute. I think individually the characters were super interesting and I liked to read from their perspective, however, they didn't make this book entirely enjoyable for me. They had pretty cute banter and scenes together but that was about it. I also couldn't help but feel, and I realize this is kind of the point, that the parents were just too involved in their love lives and getting them together. It felt like it crossed the line of harmless comments or hoping they'd get together and more of an obsession with making them date and constantly forcing them together. It honestly made me uncomfortable and took me away from the story. I understand that they had to act that way to warrant the fake dating but I think it could've been done in a way that didn't make the moms look like villains or weird. The romance was like a slow burn until like 70% of the way through when BAM they're in love and it felt very rushed. The end was pretty cute but not entirely a satisfying wrap up of the story. I just think that this book's premise was so promising and I'm disappointed it's not a new favorite.

Fake it Til You Break it is super cute. It has external conflict without being overly angsty, the parent/child relationships are healthy without being disgustingly perfect, and the leads are flawed without being unlikable. The only thing I would have wished for
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is that we'd gotten to see what Mia getting to live out her wish of being in the show looked like. We got to see how happy getting back into music made Jake and how it's affecting his possible choices down the road, but not Mia.
*****************************************************************END SPOILER ALERT******************************************************************
I also really enjoyed the fact that Jake having a female best friend did not adversely affect his feelings and pursuit of Mia as it often does in books. Rose was supportive, friendly, and a force to be reckoned with. I hope that she gets her own book at some point.

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It was just completely too adorable. I'll definitely be adding it to my shelf when it publishes! I loved the characters, I loved the adorable frenemies premise, it was just too cute. I was really excited to read about an Asian American MC, and I kinda liked how the MC was Asian, but that wasn't a main point of this book. The book was like, oh, she's Asian, and that's totally normal in today's lit world for MCs to be non-white so we're just going to get to the story! It was fantastic. The book was bright, funny, and a perfect fun contemporary romance for the spring/summer.

The moment I saw this book I knew I had to read it. Not only did I like Jenn's other book, The Way to Game the Walk of Shame, but I am a sucker for the fake dating trope. This book did not disappoint.

Almost immediately I loved both main characters. I found both Mia and Jake entertaining and funny to read, and I was always smiling whenever they interacted. The development of their actual relationship during their fake relationship was adorable and it didn't feel rushed at all.

Then there was probably my favorite part, which was their moms. While I will acknowledge that yes, they were probably over stepping their bounds a little with how much they were pushing Mia and Jake together, I quite liked it for my personal enjoyment. I liked learning the reason why Jake's mom did push so much, it was a really sweet scene. Also, I related to them very very much, every time they would do something like set up plans just to make sure Mia and Jake were spending time with each other because they are CLEARLY meant to be together because it is my exact thinking process every time I start to read a new OTP. It's basically the embodiment of the "there's only one bed so now they have to sleep next to each other" trope which I am a sucker for.

TLDR: I loved this book, it was adorable, and it made me want to reread The Way to Game the Walk of Shame while also just needing for books from Jenn in general.

My lips nearly fell off from smiling so wide, this entire book. Ohhhh my goodness. Is there any trope better than fake dating? It's actually quite difficult to pull off, but Nguyen nails it. It's such a delight to watch Jake and Mia go from hating each other (pfft) to admitting their feelings to figuring out their relationship. I love the little ways that Jake takes care of Mia, and I love that Mia was the one to do the big romantic gesture. Jake is so thoughtful and sweet, and Mia is so hilarious and bold. There were so many memorable scenes and laugh-out loud lines. I actually read this in just one day- I started reading it a little at the reference desk, and then I couldn't resist plunging back in during the evening. I just could not put it down. This is a must read for anyone who love adorable young adult romances. Jake and Mia is extremely easy to root for, and also loved their friend group. Definitely one of my favorites of the year so far, and I hope this gets a lot of buzz when it's published in June!!!

This YA romance trope has to be one of my all time favorites. I always love a good hate to love story and the execution of this one was so funny and heartwarming.