Lauren Ho has done it again! I love Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic! Lauren Ho really knows how to write feisty women protagonists and I love that. Lucie has such go getter attitude and no-nonsense way of life, it's just so fun to live vicariously through her. At the same time, I love how this story addresses real life issues, like motherhood, unconventional families, defying family and societal expectations. I think Lauren Ho is a great writer because she expertly balances humor and romantic comedy with realistic relationship dynamics between the characters and their friends, family, and romantic relationships.

One word of caution, is that I found the man that Lucie does not end up with kind of triggering. He's a bit emotionally controlling/manipulative, and it gave me so much anxiety ahaha. But then again, that was part of the storyline and Lucie's growth, so I'm glad she grew from it!

I did not finish this book. I gave up somewhere around the 50% mark. It was dull and unrealistic. Her family was awful.

Lucie is a determined management consultant who has been unlucky in love. After her last relationship comes to a heartbreaking end, she finds a co-parenting website designed to help people like Lucie find a parenting partner. Lucie meets Colin, and the two move to Singapore to start a family. Love was never part of the plan, but things get complicated when Lucie's ex-fiance resurfaces as Lucie and Colin move in together and get ready to start a family. It's a modern romance that deals with some complicated issues in a thoughtful way. The Mark-Lucie-Colin love triangle was compelling (although I was, of course, rooting for Colin). I loved the dynamic with Lucie's friends. I'm adding Last Tang Standing to my reading list now!

⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for this eARC in exchange for an honest review! CWs for pregnancy, pregnancy loss, cheating
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Okay, the concept of this book is awesome. Platonic co-parents to lovers is something I’ve never heard of before and I really liked that premise, but I just don’t think it was executed greatly.
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We meet Lucie who is on her secondment (a word that is said far too many times in this book) in New York City. After a gnarly break-up with a fiancé after a miscarriage, Lucie now finds herself crying in a baby store while trying to buy gifts for her friend’s kids. It’s at this moment that she decides to take fate into her own hands and consults her friends about her desire to have a baby. They point her in the direction of a Tinder like website but for platonic co-parents, and thus she meets sweet Collin.
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Unrealistic point #1 - Collin & Lucie get pregnant the old fashioned way (in a fade to black scene - ugh) on the first try. Yep. One bang and there’s a baby… I know it CAN happen that way but it’s just so unlikely and really just feels fake.
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They move back to Singapore when Lucie’s secondment ends to have the baby and we meet Lucie’s friends and family. We also meet Collin’s dad.
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Unrealistic point #2 - her pregnancy is so easy. She has a better time pregnant than I do after Taco Bell. Her literal only symptom is that she’s horny. Again, I know it CAN be that way but it’s just not the norm and was so freaking boring to read about.
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Of course we have tons of family drama which resonated well but… drumroll please… unrealistic point #3 - THE DRAMA ALL COMES TO A HEAD WHILE SHE’S MID LABOR AND ABOUT TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY C-SECTION. WHAT?! This was so painful to read, felt so forced and inauthentic and I just about DNFed the book here.
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I just don’t think this is it, ya know?

Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic has it all! A heartfelt but funny romance, relatable characters, and realistic themes and struggles that many readers will understand. While I did find this one to be a tad bit more emotional than I was expecting that didn't deter me from loving this book overall. I highly recommend it,

Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho is fresh and invigorating-- a perfect spring read! Lucie's eventful journey to motherhood and love is riveting and relatable. Lauren Ho renders Lucie's roller coaster of emotions with nuance and depth. Both main characters, Lucie and Collin, gain dimension as their layers are exposed while their relationship builds. With its witty dialogue and well drawn characters, Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic is perfect for fans of Crazy Rich Asians and The Kiss Quotient.

Lucie Yi is not a romantic, nor is she your average independent woman. After a seemingly-out-of-the-blue breakdown in a baby store while shopping for her friend, Lucie decides to take matters into her own hands and find a partner with whom she would raise a child—completely platonically, of course. Enter Collin. He’s not perfect, but he checks just about every box Lucie has. After a few weeks, the couple decides that this is it, and start the process to parenthood. Shortly after Lucie falls pregnant, they move back to Singapore to be closer to each of their respective families. Naturally, life throws a few twists and turns.

I really enjoyed Lauren Ho’s previous novel, and the premise of this book had me requesting it quickly. The author does a great job of developing the characters in layers that are revealed throughout the story. I was able to relate to Lucie (especially with her love of em dashes!) even as I wanted to shake her for how she was acting. I struggled with empathizing the entire book as she was rather self-absorbed at the cost of her partner, her friends, and her family. She also may be a strong feminist outwardly, but inwardly she would let herself make excuses for how others treated her. I wanted her to be a bit more consistent, is what I’m trying to say. However, I think her situation, albeit outlandish, was relatable. There’s no easy way to go about life, and sometimes you’ll choose comfort over risk and sometimes you will be a little self-absorbed to be the best friend.

Overall, this book kept me engaged and I reached for it at every break I had. I enjoy this author’s writing and look forward to seeing what she has coming out next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to Netgalley & Penguin Group Putnam!

Lucie Yi is ready for a baby but she is done with dating. With some encouragement from her friends, Lucie signs up for a co-parenting website in hopes of finding the father of her not yet existent baby. She soon matches with Collin Read and they quickly jump into their journey to parenthood and all its complications.

This book is a realistic look at the concept of co-parenting and how single motherhood is perceived in different cultures. The author does a fantastic job showing the complexities of trying to have a baby at an “advanced age”. I appreciate that Lucie’s family and friends are given a wide range of responses to her pregnancy.

I enjoyed the author’s other book Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic did not disappoint. I really like Lauren Ho’s writing style and I look forward to reading more of her works in the future.

Triggers: Pregnancy loss, cheating

Such a fun book! I loved the exploration of alternative routes to having children. The different take on "marriage of convenience" was refreshing.

This was light and breezy with a unique premise, but I don’t know something was missing for me.

I think this will be well received, but I don’t know it just never clicked for me.

You know when you are reading a book, then you finish it, and wish you had not read it at all to begin with, JUST so you can go back and read it all brand new for the very first time again! That was this book. It was a friends to lovers co-parenting romance and it just worked so so beautifully.. To top it all off, this book an engaging style of writing, so yeah, guess I'm a fan girl now.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for providing me with an eARC.

We’ve seen every permutation of the dating app, but what if there was an app for finding a co-parent?

Lucie Yi’s clock is ticking. She’s a 37-year old successful management consultant on the partner track at her firm. Her last long-term, live-in boyfriend cheated on her after she had a miscarriage. With no partner on the horizon, she decides to take a less conventional approach to parenthood and enlists the help of a co-parenting app. After 2 yrs on assignment in the US, she’s headed back to Singapore. And the good news is, Collin, her co-parent, is up for the move. Neither is looking for romance as part of the package.

With Lucie Yi, Lauren Ho confronts cultural mores and laws surrounding children born to unmarried mothers in Singapore, and deftly balances it with humor about the ups and downs of pregnancy and prospective parenthood — physical, emotional, and financial. I appreciated that it also touched on being child-free and how that plays out in friend groups where everyone else is a parent or pregnant.

I loved Ho’s rom-com debut Last Tang Standing. And the voice and humor that made that story so distinctive is very much in Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic. So, do we call this a mom-com? (I kid. It’s contemporary fiction with romance in it). Still it’s dealing with heavier/more fraught topics than LTS, so check the CWs before diving in.

If you’ve had trouble conceiving or made the choice to be child-free, this book may not be for you. For me, it flips the script on the conventional route to the nuclear family. (And frankly, on the trope that makes kids the cherry-on-top of a romantic relationship).

The book does cut corners on the legal end of things. As an American reader, I had a lot of questions about what happens if things go sideways, especially with Singaporean law, despite the loose “agreement” Collin and Lucie put together. (Too much legal realism would probably make for boring reading, so I’ll give it a pass).

On the romantic end of things, ever practical Lucie ping-pongs back and forth as she tries to sort out what’s right for her and her baby. But it turns out, she is indeed a romantic.

CW: Miscarriage, cheating, death of a child from meningitis (little sister at a year old), grief group that discusses how other loved ones were lost.

I greatly enjoyed Lauren Ho's debut novel. Her follow up book, while interesting and full of humor and romance, is not nearly as good.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When I saw that the author of Last Tang Standing had a new book out, I knew that I needed to add it to my TBR right away! Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho is an absolutely amazing rom-com that defies traditional expectations. The story revolves around Lucie, who wants a baby. But, she's given up on love. Instead, she signs up for a co-parenting website. She finds Collin Read, who seems to be the perfect "co-parent." But he's not looking for marriage either. Will the pair become good co-parents without falling in love?

Here is a funny excerpt from Chapter 1, which introduces us to Lucie:

"THAT SATURDAY, LUCIE Yi headed to the pastel world of So Bébé, fully intending to purchase just a pair of lightweight summer booties and maybe a matching bobble hat for each of her best friend Weina Ling’s newly minted triplets. She was not extravagant.
Fall had arrived, bringing bone-stinging rain. It was still early, but in this stretch of Tribeca, the doors were already open, the shops warm with money. Lucie, wearing worn running sneakers, her hair in her usual low ponytail, swept past the cafés touting seasonal lattes and hot buttery things. She had a mission—So Bébé, which didn’t do anything as tacky as sales, ever, was having a special Fall-in-Love Fair. Fifteen percent off everything, no fine print. Hence the excitable queue even before the store had opened, and by the time Lucie was inside, So Bébé heaved with bargain hunters in DVF dresses scything through packed aisles, elbows like knives. The air stank of credit cards and cold ambition."

Overall, Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic is a wonderful #ownvoices rom-com that will appeal to everyone who loved Last Tang Standing. Although I liked Last Tang Standing, I absolutely loved this book. I think that the humor improved a lot, and I enjoyed it so much. One highlight is that this is an #ownvoices book. As a reader of Asian descent, I loved reading a book featuring Asian characters, which is pretty sure. I am so happy to support this author.. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of rom-coms, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in June!

I loved, loved, loved this book! I love how the main character Lucie went after whst she wanted. Have you ever watched a movie called Friends with Kids? I love that movie (SO good!) and this book made me think of that movie. Co-parenting a child with someone you're not married to or in a relationship with. Truly enjoyed this book! Thanks, NetGalley!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic.

Lucie is living short-term in NYC when she has a crying jag in a baby boutique. This sends her on a journey of discovery and co-parenting. She faces family scrutiny and her own uncertainty about what she really wants.

I was tuned in and attached to Lucie’s outcomes from the first chapter. This is a smart, all around pro-choice book. It’s light hearted at times and equally deep and reflective. I loved the banter between Collin and Lucie. The dialogue was authentic and well written. I had a strong sense of place from this vivid sometimes too detailed writing. I found Mark to be an annoying and necessary part of the arc. My main peeve with this book was that the parents were never confronted for calling their future grandchild illegitimate. Lucie’s parents were so toxic and their presence didn’t really add anything except a bit of drama, but no insight or reflection.

While not the fastest read, the story flows well and is immersive. I recommend it to anyone looking for a showcase of tender friendships and self exploration and acceptance.

I found Lucie’s character quite interesting from the very beginning, making me want to see how her story unfolded. She is very set in her ways, but does go after what she wants (a baby!). Lucie decides to take an unconventional approach to having a child by getting pregnant and choosing to raise a child with a platonic co-parent since she is not married or in a romantic relationship. This creates an ethnical conflict with her Asian culture. The story truly delves into female social and societal norms and parental relationships and expectations. The setting of Singapore is so lushly described, not to mention the food! Lucie even finds herself in a love triangle! With the help of her two best friends, Lucie must decide who and what truly matter to her most.

This one just didn’t click for me. The plot concept was interesting, but overall the romance seemed forced to me. Just couldn’t get into it.

A remarkably fun and insightful tale of a Singaporean young woman struggling to meet the expectations of her culture and deciding to embark on single parenthood while choosing someone to co-parent with.

The idea of coparenting is really, really interesting to me!
This was a quick and fun read that will definitely be well-received after publication!
Thank you to Netgalley for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review.