This book is so creepy. He flies her to France via private jet for their first date, but he can't make it so she flies there alone. I looked it up, from Cali to France is an almost 12 hour flight. WTF. Who wants to make that flight alone? And then he's there for work. Why would you make a date with someone for a time you knew you need to be in another country? And it's not like it was a last minute thing - he's the keynote speaker and on several panels. So her dream is to see Paris. She takes 2 days off work, hops on a 12 hour flight (alone) to hang out at this industry conference entirely outside her interests, to fly 12 hours home...

"I'm nervous he's too fancy for me." Gay BFF advice - Google all about him! Huh?

Almost all of Nate's dialogue is some variation of telling Claire "You're so hot." That's it. She's the most important thing to him, and she's so hot. It's like the worst bits of Christian Gray and Edward Cullen mixed together into this "hero."

There's one point where Nate is supposed to be back in town in the morning. He texts her the evening before to say he's been delayed and won't be home for at least another day, then shows up 5 minutes later to surprise her. Just showing up early would have been enough of a surprise - why text her and make her feel let down first? But it's described as being "so romantic." Puke, no.

A cute mix of Filipino heritage, standing up for your dreams and letting go of self doubts. When I first saw the title I thought I was in for a fairy-tale retelling but instead found myself cheering on Claire as she struggles to find footing in her changing life.

Claire is a bit of a mess that I think most people with large families who have high expectations can appreciate. On the one hand she wants to live up to the demands of her family and their desires to see her work a financially stable job and marry. Then there is her creative side that adores the cookies she makes and wants to open her own business. Unfortunately for Claire, she never says no or stands up for her dreams when it comes to her family. This took me a little getting used to. I struggled with the almost pushover side of Claire's personality. Yet at the same time I found myself reflecting on all the ways in life I am like Claire as my dreams pass me by and I bend to the will of everyone but myself. It really does make you stop and think as you're reading. I love a book that makes you reflect like that.

Then there is the romance side. Her prince charming, Nate, who she crashes into (literally...with a car), whisks her off her feet into his mega-money lifestyle. Though I absolutely adored these two I struggled with how fast the connection was made and how quickly life decisions occurred. He says all the right things and does all the right things and yet some of her reasonings and standoffish attitude didn't fit the insta-love vibe that was taking lead. The steamy scenes though...phew.. grab yourself a fan ladies!

There is a lot going on in this novel. There is filler and branches that I felt could have been left out but then there is the depth and familial aspects that I found myself connecting with the most. The bond she has with her grandmother and the way Alzheimer's affected the family members in different ways was well done and heartbreakingly sentimental. The bond of sisters was realistic and heartwarming by the end too. I know this is a romance novel but my biggest take away revolved around balancing dreams, love and family all while living and cherishing life's moments.

I found this to be a cute Own Voices novel. There's a mixture of pros and cons but I think most readers will find the overall message endearing and reflective. Thank you Entangled Publishing for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Claire and Nate. In a modern fairytale story. Cute romance. Cute cover. Amazing plot! Need I say more to convince you?
This book was really enjoyable to read. I adored Claire's quirkyness and how much of a bookworm she is. We LOVE to read books about books.
I did love all the Filippino background on her family and however cute the romance was, I felt like it needed some more sparkle!
This was a cute, flowy read and I really recommend it!

I really liked the description of this book and excited that it was an #ourownvoices story for a culture I haven’t read a lot about Filipino. I did think the main protagonist’s cultural descriptions seemed good and I did like her family descriptions and dynamics. Otherwise the characters in this one fell flat for me. I can deal with instant love but this took it a little far and I didn’t think it was a healthy relationship. I didn’t feel that the characters ever really communicated which may have been part of what made it seem in genuine and hard to root for. I also didn’t really like the ending. I understood the fight that led to the inevitable temporary break up but I didn’t think the issues were truly resolved. I found Nate to be manipulative and I saw numerous red flags that kept me from wanting the couple to have success.

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for this advanced copy. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Summary:
Claire Ventura, the middle child of a Filipino American family, is the people-pleaser trying to make sure differences are dealt with and disagreements are kept to a minimum.... sometimes at her own expense. She works in a bookstore, but dreams of opening her own cookie decorating business (rather than just having it as a side hustle). Claire spends her days decorating cookies, visiting her Lola (grandmother) in the memory ward of the local nursing home, and working at the bookstore. So, when she almost runs over a man while parking her car, she's shocked when he wants to spend more time with her. She is even more surprised to find that he is local tech billionaire Nate Noruta.

Review:
I could relate to Claire, as someone who is not comfortable in the spotlight or the ability to jump away from a steady job into the potential unknown. The story sucked me in to see what might happen next. There were so many internal struggles of the characters. I really enjoyed learning a little about the Filipino American immigrant story, and I loved the interaction between Claire and her two sisters. It seemed completely real and relatable. Nate and Claire struggle in their new, whirlwind relationship to find a way to integrate their completely different lives. Nate lives in the spotlight, with paparazzi and social media, while Claire lives in her normal, everyday world. Nate travels around the world regularly on business, while Claire usually stays close to home. I read late into the night in order to see how Claire and Nate would end up with their (absolutely necessary) happily ever after.

I read How to Survive a Modern Day Fairy Tale over the weekend. It was a pretty quick, enjoyable read. I liked the writing and the characters. It’s single POV. I would have rather had dual. It would have been nice to spend some time in the heroes head. Alas, it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. I always love when food is a big piece of the story. I did get hungry reading this. Family is a big theme. It’s always interesting to see how those relationships affect everything. I would totally read more from Elle Cruz.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

The main reason why I read this is book because I'm a Filipina. I'm glad that many Filipino traits are being showcased here especially the close family ties, especially with her lola.

Now, the thing here is I really do not like the love at first sight trope. Yes, the rich guy liking an average girl is nice for me but it did not work wonders for me.

Still, I did enjoy it at times but I think I was expecting more.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Elle Cruz and Entangled Publishing for an e-ARC.

This was a sweet, fun romance from a new-to-me-author. I was initially intrigued by the cover, but the premise in the blurb was what ultimately won me over. I was curious to see how the author would navigate the differences between Claire, "the quirky, people-pleasing bookworm" and Nate, the self-made billionaire celebrity that graced the gossip magazines.

Claire and Nate were great characters to get to know and even though their romance read more "insta-lovey" that I usually like, I found that they had great camaraderie and complemented each other very nicely. Their flirty banter and candid moments were some of my favorites in the story, since it highlighted their new-found connection. I did think that their connection could have benefited with a bit more development, but most of their dialogue was fun and engaging which ultimately sold me on their romance.

Although I found Claire and Nate's story both entertaining and engaging, I also found that it wasn't at all that unique. Some aspects of the story were a bit too cliched and predictable, which made the story not as unique as I thought it would be. I also thought that what little tid-bits about her family heritage and expectations were brought to the page weren't delved into very deeply. However, I did enjoy reading about it in regards to how it affected Claire's journey throughout the story and made Claire more relatable to me.

I DNFed this book. Claire and Nate have very little connection. At one point she says "he's so normal" and all I could think was "how does she know this? they've barely had a conversation." IMO the scene where he comes to her apartment and brings pizza needed a lot more. We know nothing about Nate other than his job - and neither does Claire.

How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale is a charming #ownvoice debut novel that held my interest until the end. It was an insta love tale that follows Claire, a family oriented people pleaser and Nate, a tech billionaire, who had an unusual yet adorable meet-cute and I liked both characters right away. I was rooting for these two throughout the story and I loved how supportive Nate was towards Claire. He was a workaholic but I loved seeing how he always made time for her. I loved Claire's best friend Todd and Nate’s assistant Craig, I loved Claire's devotion to her grandmother and I enjoyed the inclusion of certain aspects of the Filipino culture in the story.
However there were some things I didn't like in the story, Clare is from a large family which resulted in quite a bit of family dynamics as Claire kept putting everyone first, but what frustrated me the most was how Claire let her insecurities get in the way of her feelings for Nate. Additionally I felt the story ended a bit abruptly and I would have liked a bit more time with Claire and Nate.
This was a fast paced chick lit and a good read for a debut novel. I will read this author again.

I had high hopes for this as it seems to have all the elements I usually love: A gorgeous cover, #ownvoices debut, a Cinderella retelling as a "fun, flirty romcom".

Unfortunately, this book was not to my liking at all due to numerous issues and red flags.

🙅 1. The writing and protagonist's voice was not my cup of tea. The entire book read more like a Wattpad or fanfiction story. I was actually shocked to learn that Claire is 30 years old because I felt like I was reading tweenage fiction (not even YA).

🙅 2. There is hardly any ownvoices or Cinderella element. Just a huge family including some annoying aunties and two sisters, all of whom are one-dimensional with no backstory. There were just some fleeting mentions of Filipino food but that's about it.

🙅 3. There are steamy scenes but the dialogue is awful and cringeworthy:

e.g. "He was a big boy, indeed. Claire had seen several penises in real life, and all of them were perfunctory enough. But this was not a regular penis. This was a cock – long and thick and beautiful all at once. He had the kind of dick that belonged in porn, and Claire was certain her eyes were deceiving her." (34%)

🙅 4. This book made realise just how much I dislike the instalove trope. The romance was super fast-paced and bland, with no development or buildup. The characters do acknowledge this, which I appreciated. I tried to read the book like I would a fairytale (quick, fluffy, minimal conflict) but it just didn't work for me.

🙅 5. Claire and Nate are clearly incompatible.

Claire does not grow at all throughout the book and remains unchanged (and not in a good way). Nate is manipulative and a red-flag love interest who employs the 'love bombing' tactic in the guise of big romantic gestures.

The argument they had at 86% is SO problematic. Nate chides Claire for having 'bullshit insecurities" that she can't get past and which "get in the way". These are also classic lines of a manipulator:

e.g. 1: "You promised me you'd always tell me what was in your mind, and that you'd always be here. You said you'd never walk away, but you didn't mean it."

e.g. 2: "You'd better be fucking sure this is what you want. Because if you leave, I don't even want to see you again."

🙅 6. Claire spends bulk of the book talking about how much she loves baking. She repeatedly mentions her desire to set up her own business and spends a lot of time deliberating whether to take the leap. She repeatedly tells everyone that she wants her own career outside of her romantic relationship. She judges the wives of Nate's friends for giving up their careers to be housewives and says she doesn't want to be like them.

And yet she ends up choosing Nate over her career.

"Business opportunities would come and go. True love would not." (97%)

For all her so-called passion and professionalism, Claire ghosts her customer and walks off into the sunrise with Nate. It would have been preferable if the book decided to pull an unconventional twist and go against the fairytale stereotype by having Claire choose herself.

This is a delightful romance novel that I enjoyed once I suspended my disbelief. It’s a modern fairy tale, parts of which were far fetched, but fairy tales often are and we love them anyway.

Claire is a family oriented Filipina girl with a steady job. She wants to open her own custom decorated cookie business. Her grandmother whom she loves dearly is slipping into Alzheimer’s and it’s hard for Claire to watch.

She meets a young multi-billionaire businessman named Nate Noruta, and doesn’t recognize him (sort of like not recognizing Mark Zuckerberg?) Nate is a genuinely sweet guy, and it’s love at first sight for them both. He whisks her away to Paris on his jet after finding out she’s always wanted to go there, and gives her clothes and jewelry.
She’s overwhelmed but loves him, and he clearly would do anything to make her happy. Can Nate overcome Claire’s insecurities? Can Claire reconcile her family’s needs and expectations and believe that Nate is the one for her?

The interaction between the two was steamy and the other characters were fun, especially Claire’s gay best friend Todd and Nate’s assistant .
I had trouble believing that so much happens, involving such deep emotions, in such a short period of time, but I reminded myself that it’s a fairy tale. It was a quick, fun read. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a great Romance, that I would definitely recommend to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This was kind of a mixed bag for me. I really liked the genuineness and relatability to the story and to the female lead character, Claire. Plus, I thought Nate was a gold star Book Boyfriend that was supremely swoon worthy. And I thought the story itself was fun and enjoyable. So, what was the rub? Claire, herself and her evolution. I can totally understand being a people pleaser, after all I have a tendency to be one myself, but I really wish she had been spunkier and that the strengthening of her backbone had not seemed like a switch was flipped. Oh well, I still thought it was a pretty good read.

I really liked this one, it was easy to read and managed to grab my attention till the end. It's not a favorite but a solid book that I would recommend if the premise sounds like something you'd be interested in.

I liked Claire & Nate's story. It's kind of a retelling of Cinderella with Claire working at a book shop & trying to decide if she wants to pursue her dreams of making gorgeous cookies & Nate a self-made billionaire that's a bit of a workaholic. Sure they met & fell for each other pretty quickly, which can be hard for some people to take in a romance, but after all it is called How to Survive a Modern Day Fairy Tale. I like the diversity of the main characters & Claire's family is something else. Sometimes it was hard to read the way they treated her & how she reacted but it all seemed pretty normal in that size of a family, especially one that is very female dominated. Claire is a hard female lead to like at times because she can be very meek, but I like how she discovers her strength as the story unfolds.

Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Claire and CEO billionaire Nate have an adorable meet cute and her unassuming nature and the fact that she has no idea who he is charms him and he falls for her so fast.
I enjoyed this book! But of course I was reading others reviews and I know how y'all hate insta-love this was a fairytale type story and those are usually love at first sight whirlwind affairs, sooooo I assume that comes with the territory. I don't mind especially when there's insta steam Claire had a lot of family and her family had opinions on how she was living her life and her career and her relationships. So she kept her relationship a secret. Her sisters were all up in her business and that's a sister thing my sister would be all up in my business when I was single and when I was younger. She just wants to turn her fancy cookie making hobby into a business and that isn't good enough for anyone either cause it's not a stable job.
The other complaint was that Nate was too perfect. I don't think he was perfect I think he was a very high profile attractive nerd that wanted to finally find a real person not a fake person that wanted the money. He was very romantic and was trying so hard to woo and impress her, it was adorable.
But it was too much too fast for Claire so there was some Third Act growing pains damn that last part of the book always hurts. I thought this book was sweet and fun romance.
I did get frustrated with her family but as usual there are so many different types of families and a lot of MCs are side characters in their own stories as they let their families make decisions to make them happy. It's harder than speaking up sometimes. But then someone comes along with all the right words and their momentum carries you away and changes everything. 
Thank you entangledpub and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This is sort of a retelling of Cinderella. It's the story of Claire, who works at a book store but also had a side job/hobby of decorating cookies. She has a huge, close family, including two sisters (although not evil step sisters but they aren't angels either). One day, she almost hits a guy in a parking lot, who ends up begin tech billionaire Nate (similar to Mark Zuckerburg) and sparks instantly fly.

I enjoyed the multi-cultural aspect of it and I loved seeing the relationship between Claire and her Lola. However, the instant-love, billionaire trope didn't work for me. I also didn't care for Nate. He seemed sort of toxic and I didn't like the character development of Claire in regards to her relationship to him. Parts of this book were really sweet and I thought they did a good job describing what a patient with Alzheimer's is like towards the end. But there just wasn't enough banter or chemistry for me to enjoy the romance part of it.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

Elle makes you desire and fantasize about fairy tale life with this book.

The major thing that I loved about this book was Claire's dream of starting her own cookie decorating business; however, she runs into barriers, which include her critical and unsupportive family.

Claire and Nate are cute together. He’s such a Prince Charming. I would say he spoils her, but not so much with lavish material gifts but more with adventures in different cities or countries. And he enjoys doing it for her because he really cares for her.

I like Claire’s friend, Todd, especially when Todd and Claire’s sister, Ro, are together. They’re a fun duo to have by your side.

One of the things I didn’t enjoy was Claire’s auntie, Tita Chriss and how she criticizes Claire. I have some aunties like her, so I understand how Claire feels.

Because Nate’s a well-known billionaire, you could tell that there was going to be a problem with Claire accepting Nate’s celebrity lifestyle. The way Claire was affected by his lifestyle was predictable, and I understood it, but I also kind of wanted something different. When Claire broke down, it was upsetting because the hopeless romantic reader side of me wanted to slap her to make her realize that she has a good thing going and who cares about how long they’ve known each other. However, with understanding the character, I had to agree with Claire that their relationship is going too fast.

I think Elle did a good job bringing the reader into Claire and Nate's world.

It’s rare these days for me to find a contemporary romance rom com novel that I absolutely fall in love with and I feel deserves a five star rating. Most of them have lost their shine, have either too many characters or horrible/unnecessary subplots, and are more predictable than what my dog is going to do when he spots a squirrel in the yard. But that wasn’t the case with this book. This book truly surprised me with its wit, build-up, steam, strong sense of identity, strong character voices, and especially its fragile heart.

Like the protagonist, Claire, I grew up in a large family with two siblings (I’m the oldest, though) and a ton of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Although I’m not of the same ethnicity and therefore cannot identify with the same cultural customs of Claire’s family, I sure know what it’s like to feel drowned out and overwhelmed by such a large family. And how sometimes it feels like your own family doesn’t truly know you or thinks they know what’s better for your life than you do. With huge families, conflicting ideologies are bound to come up every so often, and it can cause large rifts. I especially identified with how Claire felt stuck between her two sisters and also feeling like neither one of them truly understood her, because when you have siblings you’re close to like that, sometimes it just seems there’s no good solution for any issue where no one gets hurt.

But the romance! Oh, the romance. Sure, we have a meet-cute. Sure, we have a rather unlikely “I don’t know this is a huge celebrity billionaire” time period. Pssh. I don’t care. I don’t care one bit. The chemistry. The build-up. The wit. The banter. The passion. Their voices. The way they fit together and interact. Their strong feelings but Claire’s fragile heart and strong will. It was all so intoxicating. It all just drew me in more and more until I just couldn’t stop reading. I read it through dinner. I read it while petting my dog.

I really loved it. It was amazing.