Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau is a cute rom-com to read around Valentine's Day. Helen is as grumpy as you can get. She basically seems to hate everything and everyone, especially after getting dumped by her boyfriend on Valentine's Day because he said she was holding her back. The worst part was that someone had taken a video and it had gone viral, so she swore off romance. After a year, she felt like everyone was still pitying her, and she comes up with this brilliant plan to ask her good friend from high school, Taylor, to be her fake boyfriend to get everyone off her back and stop the pitying looks.

I thought this was a cute short read, even though at times I found it really hard to like Helen. She was just too grumpy and pessimistic for my liking. Taylor you could tell was just the sweetest guy and it felt like he was being taken advantage of and hated that she was so obsessed with posting everything on the internet for everyone to see. This was a quick read and a good Valentine's book but it wasn't anything special.

This book is the perfect short rom-com read! Fake dating your longest friend? What could go wrong. I immediately fell in love with Helen & related to her on so many levels. I adored how supportive her friends and family were to her. I would love to see spin-off books for the entire friend group! And Taylor…don’t even get me started on him! He is the sweetest person, friend & fake boyfriend. Such a fun book & I’ll definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

I enjoyed this book, I liked how their relationship came about but there was certain parts that I just wasn’t so sure about. But overall I really liked Helene and Taylor’s relationship though🫶🏽💕

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick, fun, enjoyable book.

I enjoyed Helen and Taylor! It was a great fake dating romance. If I had to complain, I wanted more of these two! I think the book could have been a little bit slower with a slightly longer build, but if that’s my complaint, clearly something is going right! This was a fun, lighthearted book and very easy to dive into. I finished it in one sitting, and I’m thankful I got to review this through NetGalley.


*also reviewed on Kobo but they are reviewing submission before posting so no link available*

This is another book that published last month but I wanted to post it on Valentine’s Day because that just made sense. This was a quick and short read, clocking in at under 140 pages but it felt like a full length read. Helen Tsang absolutely dreads Valentine’s Day as last year on that day a very public break up happened. To make it worse it was recorded and then it went viral. During what was supposed to be a romantic dinner he says, “It’s not me, it’s you. You’re holding me back” First she is mortified then the anger sets in. When her mother and even the boba tea shop owner bug her about a boyfriend, she’s just had enough. Enter her long-time friend Taylor Li. He’s a friendly guy and will do just about anything for Helen even pretend to be her boyfriend just to stop the pitying looks Helen is getting. Over dinners, casual times and talks Helen decides and it seems Taylor is in on it too this fake boyfriend thing just isn’t working out. Nope! What was once fake dating has now become the real thing, not able to stop think about each other and the possibilities of what’s to come. I liked the story; it was a fun romance. The drawback for me was the frequent f bombs that were dropped. This is my first read by this author but if her other books have the same wording it’ll be a no go for me. In my opinion they add nothing of value to the story.

I enjoyed the novella, but I felt not much had happened out of the ordinary. It had all the elements of writing romance, but nothing stood out. The story itself almost felt mundane, although it was cute at times, a common thing between friends to lovers is miscommunication where the love interest is unaware of the other person's feelings for many years. It may be a personal preference where I do not enjoy the miscommunication. I would want a bit more background for Helen, overall, this was okay, not bad nor good.

While I’m not overly obsessed with Hearts Day, I enjoy the vibe it creates in malls and stores - but in limited quantities. The MC of this book, Helen, is repulsed by anything to do with Valentine’s Day owing to the very public, and viral break up she had.

I was excited when I was approved for this ARC, and thought it would be a perfect read for this time. When I started the book, I was even more excited when I found out it was set in Toronto! That said, it fell a little short of my expectations.

While I understood Helen’s trepidation about love, her internal dialogue didn’t always make sense, and I found her to be quite immature. None of the characters made an impact on me, and everything was painfully predictable. The steam was pretty good in some parts, which was the saving grace. Overall, if this is on your list, I’d say you don’t need to rush to read it 😕

Thank you to NetGalley and Kobo Books for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My first book from Jackie Lau was Donut Fall in Love and I’ve followed her writing since.

In this newer book, Not Your Valentine, Helen is our MC and she had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad public Valentine’s Day the year before courtesy of a cringey ex boyfriend.

This year she’s officially tired of everyone sympathetically checking on her because of her valentines trauma and decides to ask her good friend Taylor to be her fake boyfriend…

For my romance readers, we all know that an HEA is in sight by the end, but it’s up to the author to take you on a journey to get there.

Did I like a grumpy Helen to Taylor’s sunshine? Yes.
Did I like Taylor being an inch taller than Helen and all the smooth make out sessions that it supported? Yes.
Did I like Lau’s spicy scenes sprinkled throughout the end of the book? Yessss

As in her other books, I love how Lau brings in a range of dimension creating male characters with serious backstories that add depth to the highs of her romance books. In this romance I even found myself appreciating him more than our girl Helen.

I also like how Lau has traditionally published books and indie books that she drives online. Looking forward to reading more from her. Thanks to @netgalley and @jackielaubooks with @kobobooks for this contemporary romance.

Let me know what you think when you read it y’all!!

#spicybooks #romancebooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bipocauthors #notyourvalentine

Hannah had a bad breakup, it was recorded and went viral, and for that she's sworn off love. However, when her family, friends, and even her acquintances always asked about Hannah's love life, she finally felt she had had enough and took the initiative to find a fake boyfriend, then came Taylor. Taylor wass Hannah's friend, he's such a softie, I actually felt bad that he was in the charade.

I really like when Taylor always sends pictures of heart cakes regularly to hannah. It was so cute! But I still feel the romance plot is still a bit rushed and too sudden, I think if it's a little longer it will be even better. Nevertheless this had been a quick and fun read and perfect for welcoming the valentine's day.

Thank you Netgalley and Kobo Originals for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute book, with lots of warm fuzzy feelings. Fake dating is a trope I enjoy and it made for a fun quick read.

This was a really cute book and perfect for this time of year.

Helen hates Valentine's Day. And who can blame her. A year ago her boyfriend broke up with her ON Valentine's Day, and it was recorded and went viral. Only making a bad situation worse.

Helen's friends and family prod her to start dating again. She really doesn't want to, so she convinces her long time friend Taylor to pretend they are dating. This will get everyone to leave her alone. And he's her friend, so waht could go wrong?

A fun, quick Valentine read!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kobo originals for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

i was unfortunately not a fan of this one. i really didn't like the reason why she wanted to have a fake boyfriend, and i felt that she really was taking advantage of this nice wholesome guy so the whole book just didn't sit well with me and i was very uninterested.

A year after her disastrous break, Helen Tsang is still living with the repercussions of being dumped in public on Valentine’s Day and having the video go viral on the internet. As Valentine’s Day approaches this year and feeling the pressure from her friends and family to give love another shot which she absolutely has no intention of doing, she asks her friend Taylor Li to be her fake boyfriend to get everyone off her back. What was only meant to be a couple of dates and pictures for Instagram to prove she was open to love again, quickly starts to feel like something else as Helen discovers the more she’s with Taylor, the more she wants to be with him for real.

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This was such a cute opposites attract, fake dating, friends to lover’s romance! We have our female MC Helen who is grumpy and has a zero fluffy romance tolerance with our Male MC Taylor who LOVES Valentine’s Day and is just a big ray of sunshine. I loved Helen’s character development in this one and this one was a STEAMY one. This was a quick and fast paced romance perfect for the Valentine’s Days season and it made me laugh, swoon and endlessly root for our two MC’s. I also loved Helen’s friends Jasmeet, Esther, and Whitney; they are the girl squad that we all need in our lives. This was my first book by the author and I can’t wait to read some more of her work, I really enjoyed her writing style and was entertained from beginning to end. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This title is now available to purchase!

I had a problem getting into this book. Maybe it was when I read it, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters. I really wanted to like it. But personally it was just one I was trying to get through. I do see it being a book that a lot of people love, and definitely read it and give it a try. It just wasn’t for me!!!! I do think the authors writing itself was cute too!

Now that the Valentine's Day is approaching near, this I found the perfect time to review this book.
Not Your Valentine is a book which mainly portrayed on second chances, miracles, friendship.

Helen is tired of the pitying looks she's getting from her parents, her friends, and the shop guy, who recognized her from the video. A break-up video a guy shooted of her ex-boyfriend saying, "It's not me, it's you. You're holding me back" went viral. So the romantic dinner on Valentine's Day turned into total disaster an year ago.

It's almost been a year now Helen is desperate to give everyone something else to talk so she asks her long-time friend Taylor to be her fake boyfriend, just to prove that she has moved on in her life and hasn't sworn off love.
Taylor is the perfect option-single for once, and for some godforsaken reason, he loves Valentine's Day. But Helen didn't expect was how easy it would be to get Taylor on board, fitting right into the boyfriend-shaped hole in her life. All she wanted was a couple sickeningly sweet dates to fill her social feeds, not corny text messages of silly heart-shaped cakes, and bouquets of flowers that harbor hidden meanings.
Wanting to be around his sunshine attitude and delicious forearms all the time? With February 14 quickly approaching, it's getting increasingly difficult to ignore her feelings, especially when she starts wishing it wasn't all an act.

I simply love Asian literature and the authors and she's no exception. I adore her writing now. So easy to understand and manageable. It was really a fast paced, light read filled with many aww moments that made me smile. The author did a great job when she transitioned Helen and Taylor's relationship from friends to lovers. I love how they are comfortable with each other; they can freely do and say anything they want. They have a connection where they know what the other wants and needs. I also love how thoughtful and caring Taylor is.
Helen is also a great character, apart from her stubbornness I appreciate her attentiveness and kindness toward Taylor.

Thank you @netgalley @kobobooks

Sweet Valentine's romcom with a reverse grumpy/sunshine - she's the grump, he's the sweet, warm one. Tender threads of self-doubt for both of them, and as per usual with Lau's writing, definitely some spice. Having just finished another book of hers told from dual perspectives, I definitely missed that this time, but a sweet way to spend some time.

Taylor is a sweetheart and the story is interesting, but the writing style made it really hard for me to enjoy reading it (and it brought me to sometimes skim and just read the dialogues because I couldn’t handle reading that).
Considering it's very short, it was well paced— until we got to the end, that is. The confession and the scene of them getting together for real sadly felt underwhelming and rushed.

Also, it’s in moments like these that I think I might be asexual because… what the hell were those CONSTANT sexual thoughts about Taylor 😭 like calm down girl.

One small detail that I loved:
I liked how her mother was casually supportive with the “there are many great men in the world, if you’re certain you only like men.” without making a big deal out of it. The main character is not bi, just straight, but it was nice to see casually supportive parents. That’s it lol.

Helen Tsang is a woman who has pretty much sworn off love. The only problem is it seems like everyone pities her for it. After growing weary of peoples comments, Helen enlists the help of her long time friend Taylor to be her fake boyfriend. When the fake relationship isn’t exactly as she predicted her view of love is re-examined as well as her view of Taylor.

This book was a cute contemporary romance. I liked the festive valentines atmosphere. The fake dating aspect added an interesting plot point. This novel is on the shorter side at under 150 pages. Due to that it felt like a fun, quick read. The more romantic scenes were not my favorite, unfortunately. The writing during those scenes was abrasive to me, however that is just for me personally. I found myself a little bored at times, but overall a sweet romance.

This is a short book, an Asian-Canadian romance. It was a sweet story, and zipped by quickly.

Helen and Taylor are high school friends, and Helen hates Valentine's Day, because her break up was live streamed on Valentines day last year. She asks Taylor to be in a fake relationship with her to be able to post some cute pictures to her social media. It doesn't take long for Helen to realize she has feelings for Taylor.

It is a novella, and so quite short. It felt kind of angsty and a bit flat in places, not as fun and light as I was hoping but it was a good quick read for this time of year.

Thanks to Net Gallery for the ARC.