After a video of her dramatic breakup went viral on valentine's day, Helen just wants nothing to do with love. She just doesn't want her heart to be broken again. But, the pressure from her friends and family is really getting on her nerves, and the only way to get rid of their pitying glances and questions about her non-existent love life is - right, you guessed it - get a fake boyfriend cuz, honestly why wouldn't you. It's not a terrible idea at all, and the chances of catching feelings and falling in love with your fake boyfriend are just pretty slim. Life isn't a rom-com after all.
Spoiler alert, Helen does catch felling, but more on that later.

So, she decides to choose Taylor to be her fake boyfriend. Taylor is her friend since high school. They have known each other for like fifteen years and he is just a nice guy, who instantly agrees to be in a fake relationship with Helen. I mean that's what friends are there for afterall. So, they decide to go out on a few dates, take pictures and post them to social media so that her friends and family could see that Helen has finally moved on and that she is love again. The plan goes well. Her friends and family like Taylor and everything is going according to plan.
But, things start to get messy when Helen starts to feel things towards Taylor that you don't typically feel towards your friends. And of course, those feelings are just part of the act, or are they?!!!!

Despite the fact that this was a good novella, I just couldn't get over the fact that Helen has known Taylor for about fifteen years, and the moment they start their so-called fake relationship, she starts to fall for him. Like, literally, they start the relationship, and boom, Taylor is just sexy and she can't stop thinking about him, and oh, this was just way too fake for me to handle.
Another cringy thing was the number of times she took pics of them to "document" their relationship. And, I just couldn't take it.


I received an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great read. Helen and Taylor start fake dating so she can get a break from people going on about her being single. But like many fake dating plans, will this one lead to real feelings?

I devoured this book in one sitting. The way this book was written was amazing. The only thought that was in my head the whole time I read this book was that I wanted a Taylor in my life. The length of this book was good, but I could easily have read 200 more pages! Would definitely recommend this book if you're looking for a cute romantic book from friends to lovers!

I will never look at heart-shaped cakes the same way!!!! I loved that this was a bit of a reverse grumpy/sunshine because I love that trope so much, but I love when the female main is the grumpy as I relate to that so much more. If fake dating is one of your favorite trope, this friends-to-lovers, fake dating novella is for you. A perfectly cute read for Valentine's day!

This book was a solid 4 star read for me. It's a reverse grumpy/sunshine novella, the heroine is against falling in love ever since her boyfriend broke up with publicly during Valentine's Day and the video went viral. To stop people from feeling sorry for her, she asks an old friend to pretend to be her boyfriend.
For me, the grumpy character can often be too grumpy, but Helen was the perfect balance of grumpy and funny. Taylor was an adorable sunshine guy. The book touched on heavier topics such as racism and Asian fetishization, but those were not the main focus of the book.
I enjoyed the natural growth of Helen and Taylor's relationship from friends to fake dating to real dating, though I did think the book dragged in parts and was repetitive with Helen's constant thoughts of her ex and reminding herself she didn't want to date.
This is my second book by Jackie Lau and the like the first one, this one also has Toronto representation and lots of mentions of delicious food which will make you hungry. Read this book with a snack!

If you're looking for a short, quick romance that's just the right level of sweet on the lead up to Valentine's Day, I think you'll like Not Your Valentine.

This was your typical Grumpy/Sunshine story, with the twist that the female main character was the rainy cloud. Honestly, I related and identified with Helen a little more than I probably would have liked. Her dry sense of humor, personality and delivery resonated with me, and I found her stubborn rejection of everything romance-related very funny. Girl was in denial central for a big chunk of the book, and I couldn't help thinking the lady doth protest too much: "I don't want love", "I don't want to date", "I don't like Taylor like that"... sure, Helen, sure.

Taylor was pretty much a golden retriever in human man form. Super sweet, attentive, considerate and caring. But I appreciated that Jackie gave him a bit of a gloomy backstory and childhood to give more meaning to his upbeat and generally happy disposition. It lent him a quiet strength that suited him well and rounded him out.

Still, I'll admit I would have liked to see his character further developed. Same with Helen's group of friends. They felt like little else than plot devices to offer a piece of advice and steer the main character in the right direction when needed—a literary MacGuffin, if you will.

Another element that didn't sit very well with me were the explicit sex scenes. I'm not quite sure why, but to me they felt a little out of place, as if this book had more of a closed door or fade to black vibe. I don't know that the steam mixed well with the otherwise playful sweetness of the story, but, et me say, they were super hot.

In any case, I ended up enjoying the book either way, so if you're in the mood for something cute and adorable, this book for sure fits that description.

Who doesn’t love grumpy sunshine! This was a quick read that was sweet as Valentine’s Day chocolate! If you need something quick and you are a fan of the grumpy sunshine troupe, ethnic representation and just a fun read, this is for you!

I really enjoyed this novella by Jackie Lau!

Tropes in this book:
Fake dating
Friends to lovers
Grump sunshine

Coincidentally everything I love about romcoms!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really cute Valentine’s Day novella! Helen was dumped very publicly the previous Valentine’s, and is now generally grumping when it comes to relationships and love. To get her family and friends off her back, she asks an old friend, Taylor, to be in a fake relationship with her. He’s so sweet and seems like he genuinely wants the best for her, so he of course agrees.

Fake dating isn’t typically favorite trope, so the only times this dragged slightly was during the fake-dating logistics. But as things heated up, I just loved the relationship between these two.

I also appreciated how deep it got within a short time frame. We’re able to see the real reasons Helen struggles with intimacy, and she and Taylor have conversations about being Asian and dating, and thus occasionally dealing with racism and fetishization.

More than anything, though, their love felt real and comfortable and genuine in the best way. This was just super sweet and I really enjoyed it.

Short, Sweet, and Delightful!

Jackie brings her trademark voice to fake dating. Helen and Taylor- a cinnamon roll, my favorite!!- had me rooting for them from page 1. I related to Helen and her rationale for wanting the fake date in the first place. Jackie not only brought us smoking hot sex and big feelings, she also tacked discrimination in a thoughtful way.

Great work!

This was a short sweet grumpy-sunshine romance. Helen's break up on Valentine's Day last year went viral so she has decided to swear off love. It's New Year's and she's tired of still getting pitying looks and her friends worriedly glancing at each other behind her back. So to move past all of this, she decides to find a fake break boyfriend and she thinks her high school best friend, Taylor, would be perfect. After agreeing, Taylor and Helen agree to fake dates and the wildfire quickly spreads. What neither of them expected was for the feelings to be real. Eventually Taylor and Helen move past their hiccups and end up together. It was a great short read.

-fake dating, friends to lovers, opposites attract
-loved the Chinese and Toronto representation!! 🥹
-so wholesome and had me smiling the whole time. Taylor is just the cutest thing ❤️
-4 heart shaped chocolate cakes out of 5 for this sweet read!! 🍫
-got this read through NetGalley!

Fun valentines read, I enjoyed the real friendship between the characters and slightly more meat than a typical romcom. I did feel like it was fairly predictable and found the ending wrapped up a bit too quickly for my tastes. Could also use some additional copy editing to tie together parts of the plot

This is a quick and easy read. I liked the writing and the romance. Taylor was a really great love-interest. I kind of wish it could have been longer to get more backstory into both of the characters lives. I'm definitely interested in reading more by this author.

This was short and sweet! Loved it. The characters were interesting and it was a fun read if you wanted something you can read in a day.

3.8

Thanks so much to Kobo and Netgalley for an ARC of this title! Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau is a fake-dating romance (between two people who are entirely too old to be fake dating imo) about Helen who’s coming up on the year anniversary of her viral breakup and her high school friend Taylor who steps in to be her fake boyfriend leading up to the holiday.

Pros:
- Short & sweet: the book didn’t overstay its welcome and left me feeling refreshed at the end with it being just under 250 pages

- Fun narrative voice: I found Helen to be a surprisingly funny protagonist, with her worries about her body being entirely relatable

Cons:
- Boring ML: Taylor was definitely… a character in the book! For the majority of the book I found him to be quite boring and lacking in chemistry with Helen, which was quite odd because fake dating romances tend to have tons of chemistry between both leads. I found the book severely lacking in this department.

This was a cute fake dating romance book. This book makes you laugh and fall for the characters. For me I really wanted more. When it was over I was not ready to say goodbye to these characters. This was a first read by Jackie Lau and I will be reading more of her books. If you want a sweet rom com and spice, then this book is definitely for you!!

Thanks NetGalley and Kobo Originals for allowing me to read this ARC in advanced.

Helen is not a fan of Valentine’s Day, especially after her boyfriend broke up with her in a viral video last year on the holiday. This year she has sworn off love, but she can’t stand the pitying looks from her friends and family. Enter Taylor - her friend since high school - who would make the perfect fake boyfriend.

This was a short and sweet romcom. There’s not a lot of depth to the story, but it’s perfect if you just want a little taste of romance in between longer reads. I didn’t feel overly connected to the characters, but I did enjoy seeing how their relationship developed.

Thank you to NetGalley for my free copy in exchange for my honest review!

First thought: This cover is adorable!
The story was really good too. It was a predictable, fake-dating, tale as old as time, and I enjoyed every minute of it! @jackielaubooks even manages to make bowling and bowling shoes sexy 😍
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (A couple pretty steamy scenes and sexual thoughts and dreams throughout the book)
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

helen tsang is a lovely grump who prefers talking to her fish lucifer than to other people and enjoys nothing more than binge-watching television at home. she gained notoriety in her community the previous year as a result of a livestreamed, terrible public split on valentine's day. one year later, under pressure from her closest friends, family members, and even the owner of the neighborhood bubble tea shop, she finally admits she is dating her oldest friend, taylor li. this is a fun, quick read with a heroine who is authentically herself. helen and taylor were both incredibly compelling characters with unique personalities and realistic difficulties of their own. an incredibly comforting read.

thank you to the author and netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.