Not Your Valentine is a slice of buttered toast of a book: It is consistent, universally likable, and calming. It fulfills the hunger for a nice, steady romance while being light enough for an anytime snack. And actually, the book is full of food, so don’t plan to read it while hungry.
I overall enjoyed this book, a friends-to-lovers romance. Unlike many romances, the tone and levity stayed constant, and I appreciated how the conflict stayed just the right size, leaving the mood happy and carefree even when there were issues for the characters. The main character, Helen, endured a public breakup on Valentine’s Day, and, a year later, feels pressure from friends and family to move on. To dodge questions about her relationship status, she enters into a mutually agreed upon fake relationship with one of her old friends from high school. From the very beginning, it’s clear that Taylor, her fake boyfriend, is the good guy of the story, and that they have feelings for one another. With main events that revolve around Valentine’s Day, the holiday was present, but didn’t overpower the plot, and frequent mentions of heart-shaped cake kept just enough sweetness throughout.
Younger readers may have an easier time relating to Helen- I found her lack of self-confidence and self-knowledge over the top, but can see how at a different point in my life, I may have related more, and if you have negative social media experiences, you may find it more warranted.
I also wanted more Lunar New Year! It was nice to see another holiday included, but I wanted more!

3.5/5 stars
~I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my goodness, this one was so incredibly cute! This was such a sweet, quick, spicy romance. So much so that I devoured it in one sitting. Their romance was so wholesome and swoon-worthy, and I was definitely craving chocolate cake after finishing it. 10/10 recommend it for this Valentine's Day!

I had just finished Jackie Lau's The Standup Groomsman when this one became available as read now. Obviously it was meant to be and I grabbed it immediately!

I was surprised to find this one was only 125 pages, however, that was more then enough to bring Helen and Taylor's complicated family life and romance to life. This is a friends to lovers as well as fake dating trope, fast paced, and some open door action!

Highly recommend

Thank you Net Galley for a copy of this book.

Fantastic choice for a quick read about fake dating. Helen was pressured into dating to get family and friends to stop asking about her dating life. Cue high school boyfriend who appears to save the day, but had already fallen for Helen. I wish the book was longer and took a deeper dive into Taylor’s story, but overall I’d recommend this book and give it 4 stars.

I also look forward to checking out more books from Jackie Lau!

I loved the characters of the book - both Helen and Taylor were characters I was really rooting for. Taylor is such a good, nice, pure guy in such a great way. He’s definitely one of my top heroes.

Helen is super relatable. Feeling unloveable is common and its nice to watch her work through it.

The steamy scenes were so well written.

The only thing that could have improved is that the communication was what was keeping them apart which always frustrates me a bit. HOWEVER, it resolves quickly (in a wonderful way) so I can forgive it.

The grand gesture is great. It made me smile so much.

I did receive this novel as a free arc for my opinion.

Did not finish book @ 16%

I'm trying to do better at stopping reading what isn't working for me in 2023 so I stopped this book.
I found the writing to be overly repetitive, especially Helen's concerns about not dating again and fixating on her ex who dumped her 8 months ago. I think it would have worked better had she had a more recent breakup or focused less on the past and more on moving forward/jumping into the fake dating plotline. I can't see how a full fake dating ARC can happen in the next 100 pages because this is not a full length romance but a novella.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kobo for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Super fast read. Fun slow burn rom com of friends to romance through a fake relationship and viral social media mayhem. Introvert female scientist lead brushing in anti Asian racism and imposter syndrome. Set in a Toronto winter with yummy food, good friends and loving family.

I’ve only really just discovered hidden gem, Canadian author Jackie Lau, and I adore her! This is my second of her works and I’m definitely going to work my way through her back catalogue quickly. Not only is she a great writer, she’s quirky, fun, steamy and she throws in so many Canadianisms, that I just love it!! Stops at Timmy’s, mentioning places you might only know if you’re from the area, colloquialisms. Some really Canadian terms. It’s true Canadian perfection! I’m a big Canadian fan! Though I’m from the west, my Dad is from the area she writes about so we got all the stories growing up. I completely relate.

This particular one is just a super-short (~125 page) novella, but she really packed in a lot of emotions. Helen and Taylor are best friends and have been since grade school. Helen was rather publicly (horribly, awfully) dumped last Valentine’s and it was caught on video and posted everywhere… this year, and to stop everyone (friends and especially her parents) from asking if she’s ok and when she’s going to date again, she asks Bestie Taylor to fake-date until after Valentines just so she can get through it. He immediately agrees and they start going out and spending all their time together… and doing absolutely everything a couple would do. Yeah, even that. And yep - that too. Once the feelings get involved, she tries to break it off, but is it too late for their 20 year friendship to survive?

I really enjoyed this book and being so short, it’s a quick, easy read. Perfect for everyone! Only thing is it’s Kobo exclusive so might be harder for Kindle readers to find.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Kobo Originals, and this is my honest feedback.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kobo Originals for providing me with a digital arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

rating: 4/5

This book is perfect if you’re looking for a quick cutesy and heartwarming rom-com to read in a few hours when you’re bored at home.

It wasn’t anything out of this world since it was pretty predictable and cliché, but you know what? That worked perfectly for this book, because after all, it revolves around one of the most cliché holidays of the year, Valentine’s Day, so it’s pretty fitting.

I’m overall I really like the characters and found most of them likable. They did fill a little flat to me sometimes, but considering that the books is so short I think that the author did a good job developing them in such a short time.

The romantic aspect of it was really cute and even though I don’t really like when relationships happen so quickly it felt right for this book, especially due to the fact that it was told that they had met each other a long time ago.

Also, the fact that this was a friends to lovers/fake dating romance made it even better.

(Ps: Now I want someone to gift me a heart-shaped chocolate cake for Valentine’s Day)

Jackie Lau’s books are always a warm hug and this one was no different! After being the victim of a breakup gone viral, Helen has sworn off love. But she’s feeling the pressure to be in a relationship so she turns to her oldest friend, Taylor. I love the realistic characters, and she always makes me want to visit Toronto!

Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

“But at your age, sometimes women get desperate. Don’t stay with him if he treats you poorly, just because you’re getting old.”

We love a mum who’s not afraid to tell us the hard truth 😂 This was the first rom com I’ve read by Jackie Lau and it was a lovely fast paced, and light-hearted romance. It was a fake-dating friends to lovers, and I loved how truly caring Taylor was towards Helen, both as friends and fake partners. After a rough break up the year earlier, it was definitely what Helen needed to ease herself back into the idea of falling in love.

The story itself was great but I found I kept losing immersion in the story due to the over explanation from the narrator (Helen). It felt like a lot of it was to show how unsure she was of herself, and how anxious she was around romance, but it got to a point very quickly where it was overly repetitive and she was constantly explaining away her actions - as if she was in denial. Again, I don’t know if that was a tactic the author used to show the characters nerves but I found it had me frustrated and cringing. It felt like the story was doing more telling than showing.

I still enjoyed reading the story but couldn’t justify giving 4 or 5 stars due to that.

Not Your Valentine By Jackie Lau
3 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

Thank you NETGALLEY and Jackie Lau for letting me read “Not Your Valentine” By Jackie Lau in exchange for my honest review.
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This was a short rom-com friends to lovers fake dating romance book! I loved how the author mentions lots of yummy sweet and savory foods. Heart shaped chocolate cakes and of course my fav wonton soup lol. A perfect book to set you in the mood for Valentine’s Day!! I loved both characters Helen and Taylor. This book gives me Jenny Han and The Spanish Love Deception vibes. Definitely pick it up if you’re in the mood for fake dating romance and a funny romcom! There is some spice in this book! I rate it a 3/5 🌶️😉💖🍫✨

I really appreciate the growing trend of romance novellas, they make the genre even more consumable. I appreciate Lau’s characters so I almost want this to be a full book, but its another solid outing

This was a book that almost made me like Valentine’s, just because of Taylor. It’s gooey and pretty low-angst and a cozy friends-to-lovers story, and it even had unsymmetrical labia rep - I don’t know why I’ve never read that before, but we need more of it! - I’m just not sure it was the story for me.

Even though it made narrative sense because it meant that they could “fake date” while having privacy and time with just the two of them to explore their feelings, there was a lot of taking pictures for social media of their dates, gifts, etc. I usually stay away from social media influencer books and I guess this was probably actually a pretty accurate portrayal of an average person’s relationship with Instagram but it was too much for me.

Since a lot of the progression of their relationship from friends to lovers was so easy, the “conflict” was that Helen didn’t know exactly how Taylor felt about her (nor, supposedly, did Taylor know how she felt about him). They were physically intimate but didn’t really talk about what it meant, and even though it seemed agreed that this wasn’t just casual or for the “fake” part of their relationship, it made me feel anxious on Taylor’s part because it seemed he’d had romantic feelings for Helen for longer than she’d felt that way for him and I wanted them to just talk to each other! So while most people would probably find the story low-angst, I felt a lot of personal angst over this unclear communication.

I mostly enjoyed it and I was happy that these two got together because I really liked them and could tell they were such a good match, but the ambiguity just wasn’t for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Kobo Originals for the ARC of this book to review! I enjoyed this quick read right before Valentine’s day and Lunar New Year! I liked the main character even though she was quite grumpy the entire time. The spicy scenes were super spicy and there was nothing off-page about it. i do wish there was a bit more substance to the story but it was a short one so there needed to be a resolution quickly. it had a HEA and an epilogue and that always makes me happy.

I loved reading this book. The heroine is definitely the grumpy one and the hero is the sunshine one. It’s fake dating. A lot of fake dating books just haven’t done it for me lately, but this one felt believable. This book made me hungry. I smiled, laughed, and swooned a little bit. I definitely recommend it. Remember it’s a KOBO original.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

Some people seek the spotlight, some have it thrust upon them. Helen Tsang is among the latter. After her boyfriend broke up with her, blaming her, in a public place and it was videoed and made into a meme. It is almost a year later and she wants people to believe that she's moved on. She hasn't but she wants to get them off her back.
So, she taps her friend Taylor, to be her fake boyfriend. They've been friends since high school and he knows her well enough to be a believable partner.
This is a romance so the inevitable happens. Helen catches feelings. But how can Taylor even feel the same way?
Lau is an amazing writer and this book was a fast and fun read. It was just a little too fast for me. I wish we had seen more of Helen and Taylor and how they would function as a couple (not just faking it). I also wish we had seen a little bit more of Helen's friends as they feel like sequel-bait and it would be nice to get to know them a little better.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out January 24, 2023
ARC kindly provided by Kobo Originals and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Such a sweet romance book to read during the Valentine's season. It is a treat to everyone who loves the Trope Fake Relationship. I almost went inside the book as I related to each and every single character. Even the best friend of the heroine played a major role in this book by justifying how an actual friendship looks like.

HELEN - As much as she enjoys being alone in her apartment with a book and glass of wine she loves Taylor too. The past incident of her life made her fear the day most of us love in the whole year. The similar incident kept her from Taylor as well. The way she moved out of from her past and started a future was extremely fabulous to read.

Taylor - He's a perfectionist in my eyes. I don't know whether I'll meet anyone who can love unconditionally like he loved Helen. This man brought a new meaning to Valentine's day for Helen. "He smiles like he's really glad to see me...." I guess this is all enough to say how much he loves Helen. "The heart-shaped cakes are a special right now because Valentine’s Day is coming up. When I saw them, I thought of you." This just conveys to us how much time he spends about thinking about his girl. I literally kept waiting for him to confess his feelings.

A heart touching and feel good story which you shouldn't miss for this valentine's season. "Not your Valentine" Is entirely about being each other's forever valentine.

The only one scenario I expected in this book was Taylor opening up his heart and sharing some emotional conversation about his mom who abounded him. I somewhere felt incomplete throughout the end but still as this is a short story that is understandable. I guess my greedy heart just wanted to see more of Taylor and Helen. Can I help it? Definitely a NO because they both stole my heart.

Thank you for providing the ARC of this Funny and Cute book. @netgalley and @jackielaubooks

"Not Your Valentine" by Jackie Lau is a delightful romance novel about Helen and Taylor, two old friends who fall in love. The story takes place in Toronto, and Lau does a great job of capturing the city's charm and energy. There are multiple romance themes (friends to lovers, grumpy/sunshine with a twist, and fake boyfriend), and the chemistry between Helen and Taylor is palpable from the start. The characters of Helen and Taylor are relatable, with Helen being the grumpy and reserved one and Taylor being the sunny, optimistic cinnamon roll. The "fake boyfriend" subplot adds an extra layer of excitement and tension to the story. Overall, "Not Your Valentine" is a romantic and heartwarming read that will leave you rooting for Helen and Taylor to find their happily ever after.

The cover was perfect. 💕

My one stickler point is that the swearing seemed gratuitous and didn't fit well. Maybe one or two well-placed f-bombs?

I love all the Canadian authors that I've been finding lately! The Toronto setting was lovely, and I had my honeymoon in Toronto, so I loved it.

Thank you to Kobo and Net Galley for the advanced copy in exchange for my review.

Enjoyed this quick read by Jackie Lau. It’s my first time reading this author, and will certainly take a look at her other works. Felt there could have been a bit more build, both of the story and the characters - but enjoyed the book overall. Appreciated the acknowledgement of some struggles that may resonate with other persons of Asian decent, and found the message was delivered directly, but in a manner that could (hopefully?) be received by non-AAPI. Many thanks to Kobo Originals and the author for making this ARC available! “Not Your Valentine” definitely worked for this fan of Helen Hoang and Amy Lea.