FAKE DATES AND MOONCAKES hits all the right spots! The rich love interest with family drama, the scrappy teen striving to save the only family he has left, fake dating schemes, reconnecting with your roots, blackmail, life threatening situations, BAKING CONTESTS?! It has everything! This is an adorable YA romance, about following your dreams, being true to yourself and remembering those we love.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee was an absolute blast to devour.

I loved everything about this fun YA rom-com.
This book was so charming and such a delightful story.
I really loved the writing style, the story, the romance and the characters I fell so in love with the main characters.
Dylan and Thea’s story will warm your heart as they navigate relationships with friends, family and most importantly each other.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You Netgalley and Underlined for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a fluffy YA queer romance from author Sher Lee!

This feel good story features working-class Dylan, who meets the super rich and charming Theo. I loved their relationship, they were goofy and sweet and really got to know each other over the course of the book. This story is pure fluff, and all the problems were nicely resolved by the end of the story- which totally works for a rom-com.

This book was cheesy in a good way, and a good, quick, queer YA read.

How sweet!!! This does feel like a YA version of Crazy Rich Asians (which I love). The drama and antics of rich people always entertains me, and it’s perfectly balanced with Dylan’s humble and resilient family. While I do think there could have been a bit more depth with some of the topics that came up (the loss of Dylan’s mom, the unacceptable from Theo’s dad, whatever was going on with Adrian, etc.), I still find this to be a very strong read. I also really appreciated how much Chinese/Singaporean culture and history were mixed in. And all the food. Omg. Mouthwatering.

In short, this is a book for you if you want a light, sweet queer romance that makes you gush—It’s out May 16th so add it to your list now!

4⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

I’ve been excited for this book for quite some time so I was really happy when I received my arc copy! This book follows Dylan as he meets Theo and basically the chaos that ensues. I really liked this romance but often felt a lack of chemistry between our mains. Other than that though this was a pretty solid read!

I always love a fun diverse novel and this definitely is one. There were a lot of shenanigans and well developed diverse characters which we love to see. Both Dylan and Theo are very realistic and I liked following both of them throughout the story. I definitely did feel that Dylan was much more developed which also sometimes disconnected me to the story.

Overall, I wasn’t the hugest fan of this but I did still enjoy the time I spent reading it. I expect many people to have a good time reading this as well. It’s a great story for young queer readers who want a simple and fun story full of baking and fake dating!

A solid YA romance with great incorporation of Chinese culture, specifically surrounding mooncakes and the Mid-Autumn festival. There's a lot to be entertained by, from the mooncake plot strung throughout the story, to the rich people's wedding drama. For the most part, it's filled with likable characters and many cheesy speeches.

Dylan Tang, a teenage boy with a passion and ambition for cooking, lives with his aunt and cousins and runs a small takeout restaurant with them. He's a pretty rational character, given how he's a teen thrown into pretty unexpected situations. With all the drama going on, he's surviving pretty well. Despite all of this, his determination to create his family's mooncake recipe for the competition is admirable. I enjoyed the competition (and the process/history of mooncakes)for the most part, except for the cheesy speeches. It wasn't bad, just not for me.

Honestly, I found the wedding part of the story to be the most interesting. It really gives Crazy Rich Asian vibes, a statement that even gets acknowledged in the book. We're just experiencing this new atmosphere through Dylan, and honestly, I'm here for it. Who doesn't want front-row seats to the drama that might end up in the newspaper?

The story itself was decently solid. It wasn't mind-blowing, by any means, but rather adorable, light, and heartwarming. It had great representation and interesting characters, though I found myself not really attached to any of them. The romance of the story started a bit too quickly for my liking, and the obstacles in the romance seemed petty and annoying. Although many of the conflicts in the story were frustrating to witness, I'm glad none of them get dragged on for long. We really don't need any more unnecessary drama.


Overall rating: 3.5/5

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!

I really loved this book. It was so sweet and funny at the same time. This book gives a lot of similar vibes that Crazy Rich Asians does. It felt a little extravagant at the beginning but once you really get to know the characters, you really fall in love. This book was so sweet and i did love the characters. The major conflict was done well and was so dramatic in the best way. I loved the "found family" in this book. this is one i will be preordering and reading again for sure!

Fake dating and Crazy Rich Asian vibes? I’m sold. This is such a fun, cute rom-com - the romance is adorable, and unlike so many YA novels that ignore the MC’s family entirely, the family dynamics in this one were equally heartwarming. (Even Dylan’s relationship with his dog got me up in my feels.) My FAVORITE thing is how the author skillfully weaves in so many cultural insights and thought-provoking Chinese sayings. These add such great and unique flavor, and as a bonus, I learned a lot!This book is compulsively readable and the prose is so clean, you’ll fly through it in a day.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Underlined & NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a rom-com written by Sher Lee and published by GetUnderlined. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

For me, this novel was not just a sweet romantic comedy, but so much more!
The love for traditions and cooking that Dylan has is tangible and very well described.
I loved the way the author shared with us a lot of cooking methods and recipes, as well as the fact that she shows a lot of love for her tradition and culture.

The story is a beautiful journey into Dylan’s world, a boy who, despite the distance, feels deeply connected to his own Country, which revives through his love for cooking.
In addition, we have the opportunity to dive into a sweet and romantic story with interesting and determined, but also very sympathetic characters. No joking but on more than one occasion I cried while reading about Dylan, his dreams, and his personal story. He's just a pure soul.
There is no lack of pain, the omnipresent pain that pricks like a pin, but that reminds us that we are alive, that we must go on despite everything. That was a beautiful lesson: to go forward always and in any case.

My “spider-sense” told me to not trust Theo at the beginning, but while reading I was really impressed by him.
The novel has a lot of good points, like character development, a lot of interesting facts about Singaporean culture, Megan and her really cool way to deal with other characters, and of course a sweet love story. The romantic scenes are absolutely stunning, the author manages to create a unique pathos... *blushes*

In my opinion, romcoms about cooking are the best. The reason? They combine two of the most beautiful things in the world: love and food. Let's be honest, we cannot live without them!
In the end: if you are looking for a fun, wholesome romantic comedy that will make your heart skip a beat, believe in your dreams, and think deeply about life, this book is for you!

This was such a fun, sweet, and enjoyable read that brings all the feelings in teenage love as well as the emotions faced during loss and grief. From the first page I was in love with Dylan and the rest of the Tang family! He does so much for his family, including the moon cake competition for his mom’s memory and his Aunt’s restaurant. His cooking and baking were so well written that I got incredibly hungry during reading. Dylan is funny, a great cook, and cares so much about the people he loves, including Theo. The two of them were great and had me kicking and screaming at their scenes together. Prior to the relationship, Dylan’s internal monologue was a great perspective of having a crush. And then we get them faking dating together at a fancy wedding! It was too much for my heart and I loved seeing them go from fake to real dating! However, this was such a quick read that I wish was a little longer and we got to see more of Dylan and Theo’s relationship.

Overall, this is a great ya romcom and I highly recommend you read it when it comes out!

Read if you like…
•fake dating
•baking competitions
•Crazy Rich Asians but YA
•corgis

So cute! I loved the characters and the plot is like a YA Hallmark rom com. This is a great read about growing up and finding out who you are, especially after loss and change.

When I first saw that this was being marketed as a Heartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians, I wanted to be all over this. Both of those titles are extraordinary and incredibly representative, but sadly I wasn't feeling this one as much.

I already know I don't read YA as much anymore because it just never clicks for me, so I don't dock anything since I go into YA books not liking them. That's no one's fault, I just don't mix with that genre anymore being that I'm a grown woman who exclusively reads mature books.

Fake Dates and Moon Cakes was adorable. Everything about it was so heartwarming, the family bonding and meddling, the delicious descriptions of food and desserts, and the corgi. Oh my gosh, Clover was SO cute. The writing style was easy enough to read too, I did enjoy it!

My only two issues with this title were that the romance within was sadly lackluster and the actual food contest was hardly ever mentioned. I think that it already had so many plot points to hit and not enough time was focused on the entire plot of the book. I hardly remember conversations about the contest other than the ending.

Theo was a little shallow at times, and so was Dylan, but they're teenagers. It's what they do best. They did not have any chemistry, I feel like a lot of their conversations and interactions were forced a little much, even for a YA novel. Without the chemistry or even a connection between these two characters, the majority of the novel was just very bland. It had a wow factor, which only goes so far for me in most books and it had an adorable corgi.

For a debut novel, this was a really light read and extremely educational. I love learning about and trying out new foods so some of these foods mentioned in the book are definitely high on my list of different foods to try, starting with mooncakes.

Thank you so much Random House Children's - Underlined for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review of my thoughts and opinions.

Oh this is such a delightful book. Makes me hungry just reading it. Not that I want to make my own mooncakes, but I definitely need to seek them out when they become available, and eat some, though I doubt I’ll find any as good as Dylan makes in this lovely rom-com young adult romance.

Dylan works at his aunt's take-out. One evening, he has to also make deliveries, because they are down one driver. He does a meet cute with, what he presumes, is the boyfriend of his customer, Theo, because he is in his underwear, and calls him Baby. (Turns out they are just good friends, and he has called him BB, his nickname.)

The customer is pissed, however, that they got the order wrong, and writes a horrid review, which brings their ratings down, so Theo comes to apologize for his friend's behavior. And so begins the fake dating, because Theo wants to pretend he has a boyfriend so he won’t be bugged to get one, and Dylan goes along because he has fallen in love with him, so he has to pretend to be his boyfriend, while all the time wishing he was.

It is all quite cute. The writing is lovely, and even though it is a little crazy, it all makes sense.
Oh, and the mooncakes? Dylan is trying to create his late mother’s mooncake recipe for a contest with a foodie show, so that he can get publicity for his aunt’s place.

Highly recommended for those who love their rom-coms mixed up with cooking, and food, and delightful boys in love.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

My latest foray into Books That Will Leave You Starving™ was the absolutely adorable Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee. This debut rom com about two boys from totally different worlds who have the destiny to meet across a thousand miles was absolutely lovely in every way, and the very, very food centric story had me drooling from start to finish.

Dylan Tang is your average teenager, working at his Aunt Jade's struggling restaurant, Wok Warriors, and living with Aunt Jade and his two cousins after his mother's death. One fateful night, Dylan has a run-in with a super wealthy, very entitled customer who is, apparently, "ALLERGIC-TO-DUMBASSES" and goes out of his way to tank Wok Warriors' online reviews. When this douchebag's (very cute) friend Theo shows up at Wok Warriors to apologize with a $100 tip and it turns into an impromptu mini-date, Dylan begins to see that the ultra wealthy may not all be as bad as he'd thought. Through a series of adorable events, Dylan finds himself accompanying Theo to a weekend-long wedding in the Hamptons as Theo's fake date--to keep his family off his back and to keep any well-meaning matchmakers at bay. Are the feelings that Dylan begins to develop real, or is he far too deep in the charade? Even more important, will all of his and Aunt Jade's practice help them secure a win at the Mid Autumn Festival mooncake making competition, hosted by a celebrity chef that will surely bring the attention (and with it, money) that the restaurant desperately needs? Or will their shady landlord evict them before they get a chance to prove that Aunt Jade's place is special?

I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting--I just couldn't put it down! (Well, that's a lie, the one time I put it down was for the Rihanna concert formerly referred to as Super Bowl LVII.) Sher Lee does an excellent job of describing things as Dylan sees them, especially when he steps into the opulent world of the Somers family. You can really feel the lavishness of every portion of their daily life, and the stark contrast to Dylan's life living with 3 other people in a two bedroom flat above a Singaporean Chinese takeout. This was a fairly low-stakes rom com, but definitely held up in the drama department, because of course when a normal person befriends someone wealthy, they have to have ulterior motives, right? And please don't get me started on the food--my mouth will start to water just thinking about xiao long bao, dim sum, and snow-skin mooncakes. Oh, and I will not rest until I find and make a recipe for Hainanese pork chops--they sound absolutely heavenly.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes also deals with the feeling of displacement that many mixed-race people may feel. Theo's mother died tragically in a car accident when he was five, and with her, any tie to his Chinese heritage was gone; he wasn't taught any more about Chinese traditions, lore, and history. Where Dylan is fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese dialects of Chinese, Theo isn't able to speak or understand either, and discusses his internal struggle with feeling like he's lost the Chinese part of himself.

This book also handles grief well. Dylan has lost his mother recently, and Theo lost his at a young age, but in a tragic and "was-it-my-fault?" way. Both characters deal with their grief in their own ways, but the sense of understanding grief, and the differing family dynamics in this book was lovely to experience.

a very easy to read, fun, swoony and tropey romcom about with two Queer boys making and eating tons of food.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This was a sweet and fun YA romcom! I don't normally read YA romcoms but I do think this one was cute and done well. Dylan and Theo's romance was so sweet and their characters were super lovable. I also love a romance that includes food, it sounded so yummy! I also loved the sprinkles of knowledge on Chinese culture, it was super interesting! An easy read for sure!

It's a very sweet (pardon the pun) concept, but the actual writing wasn't quite active enough to move us forward in a gripping way, and it felt very YA (not a bad thing, but our usual readers are older or younger). It won't be a good fit for our libraries, but I do hope it does well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes was the perfect blend of a YA romcom. The budding love between Dylan and Theo was sweet and charming and the incorporation of food and dessert made me constantly hungry. Lee does a fantastic job at writing in tidbits of Chinese culture and the history behind mooncakes and the Mid Autumn Festival (I felt like I was always learning something new and I’m Chinese). I absolutely adored the side characters and the heart of the story being the importance of support and community was incredibly touching..

So so cute. I devoured this in one sitting! The romance was so sweet with a their meet-cute being less than ideal, Theo and Dylan's personalities jump off the page. I can't stop thinking about Mooncakes and how I want to try one!
I'm weak for a good fake dating scenario and this one delivers without pushing into the weird territory of lying to each other. Some books let the characters define all their firsts as a fake couple and this really let the characters define themselves and their relationship in spite of the circumstances surrounding their relationship. It made things very believable. The wealth gap is stark in this book but it's so well handled I can't fault it at all. In fact, I enjoyed all the discussion around their upbringings and lifestyles more than I expected. And the ways in which they compliment each other without bringing money into it are so wholesome even though money/power is a huge part of plot in this book.
Honestly, flawless. I wouldn't change a single thing. From pacing, to characters, plot, antagonists, writing style, this has it all and I can't wait to see more from this author in the future.
If you're looking for a delectable YA romance with enough meat on it's bones to withstand multiple reads, than this swoon worthy story is just what you've been waiting for.