This book was entertaining, but somewhat predictable. I did enjoy the fake relationship/meddling mother plot. Emily’s mother turns out to be my favorite character, while Mark’s father is my least favorite.

Cute rom-com but I felt annoyed by the MFC and felt the book dragged on for longer than necessary. Seemed like the author was extending the book with just filler and nothing meaningful.

This book was so cute. Emily was a very relatable character. Her wanting to set boundaries but also dealing with a very involved family was so relatable. I loved her character and how headstrong she was. I also really loved Mark's character and I'm glad we got his point of view. He was such a cute book boyfriend I’ve added to my list of favorite book boys. The writing was enjoyable and the story had a good flow. Definitely a book I loved and want to pick up more by Jackie Lau.

After reading about a quarter of Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie, by Jackie Lau, I just could not continue. The story staggered, and the main character, Emily seemed whiny and unlikeable.

Despite this, thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

This was a cute romcom, the start was stalling a bit but overall it was a nice read. I enjoyed the descriptions of the city and the character angst of Emily. I would have loved if Mark had a bit more depth and a more fleshed out personality but regardless it was a swoony story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for this ARC in exchange of my honest opinion

Emily and Mark need a vacation fr

Are anyone’s parents this meddlesome in real life? I would have entered witness protection.

I can so, so relate to the aimless and yet very targeted energy Emily has. She knows what she wants but also feels like she’s spinning her wheels in more ways than one. And though her family obviously wants what’s best for her (for the most part), they also fail to take into consideration HER feelings on the matter.

And poor Mark is just along for the ride 😂 he is such a sweetheart and doesn’t even argue when Emily is mean to him, he’s just like “okay if that’s how you feel”. He’s so earnest and supportive and I love how he’s just willing to do whatever as long as he gets to spend time with her. 10/10 man no notes.

This was a fun (if occasionally frustrating because I wanted to shake her whole family) read and covered a lot of very real late-20s-into-30s emotions really well without giving the whole forced midlife crisis vibe.

Good. I generally prefer when contemporary romance novels have a dual POV, because it ensures that both main characters/love interests are fleshed out and interesting, complete beings. This didn't quite hit that mark, unfortunately.

ARC Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Emily Hung is tired of others feeling bad that she is in her thirties and unmarried. Unable to convince her family that she is happy, she agrees to go on a date approved by her meddling mother. But when she doesn’t hit it off with Mark Chan, she can’t imagine being set up on more dates. In an effort to outsmart her matchmaking mother she persuades Mark to enter a fake relationship. Will the couple be able to fool others, or will their acting lead to something real?

Love, Lies and Cherry Pie served as my introduction to Jackie Lau’s writing. I was impressed with how Lau was able to address some of the issues she has with outdated customs her culture has perpetuated, while still being respectful. In addition, her exploration of the complicated mother/ daughter and sister/sister dynamics was perfectly executed!

Features:
-meddling mother
-fake dating
-slow burn
-unexpected romance
-dual POVs
*this is an open door romance

Special thanks to Netgalley, Atria Books, and Jackie Lau for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I picked up Jackie Lau's "Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie" hoping for a light and entertaining rom-com, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. The premise of fake dating to get out of family pressure is a solid one, yet the execution was lacking.

Pros:
- The idea of a fake relationship to avoid parental matchmaking has a lot of comedic potential.
- The book includes some well-integrated cultural references which add depth to the setting.

Cons:
- Emily’s character struggles to move beyond constant complaining, which makes her less relatable and her journey less compelling.
- The interactions between Emily and Mark were unconvincing. There was a significant absence of the spark that's crucial for a romance to feel real.
- The story often felt slow and struggled to keep my interest. It needed more dynamic moments to truly engage.

While the book has its moments, they are too few to make up for its shortcomings. Lau usually delivers engaging stories, but this one might only be suitable for those with plenty of patience or fans of her other works looking for a quick read.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing an ARC. This is an honest review based on my experience of the book.

this was such a cute forced proximity type romance. I've never read a book by jackie lau but now i want to read all of them! this was adorable.

Upon initial reading, Jackie Lau’s Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie gave off “Bridget Jones’ Diary” vibes, with the parental matchmaking plot and a male lead also named “Mark.” However, that’s where the similarities end. Still, the romance between Emily and Mark was cute once we got around to it. I liked how the two didn’t dwell on things for too long before they tried dating for real. Furthermore, as someone from an Asian background, I appreciated how the cultural nuances were shown, especially when it came to being an adult and setting boundaries with your family. I particularly loved the surprising reveal of Emily’s mother’s true motivation, as it made her out to be more human and not the usual stereotype of an overbearing Asian mother who is obsessed with marrying off her daughters so they can give her grandchildren. Unfortunately, for a romance, Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie devotes too much time to things outside the relationships, like Emily’s work as a writer, the publishing industry, and even the insane housing situation in Toronto. While these are all nice and realistic additions that give readers more context, I could have done with a lot less monologuing and more interaction between Mark and Emily. However, I do appreciate that we eventually get some chapters from Mark’s perspective, as it was refreshing to get his side of the situation, and it made me root for their romance more. Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie is a satisfying story of family and love with characters well into their 30s, but only if you are patient and willing to shift through a significant amount of rambling to get it.

An absolute delight!

Jackie Lau's latest is a fake relationship--but wait, we need to make our fake relationship look a little more real, so we'll go on some real fake dates...hang on, this isn't feeling fake anymore, maybe it's real?--story.

Emily Hung's complicated relationship with her mother pretty much guarantees that she's going to feel a certain way about Mark Chan--the mother that she feels doesn't respect her chosen profession (novelist) and is constantly comparing her unfavorably to her sisters wants her to date this amazingly perfect guy? Yeah, thanks but no thanks--so their first meeting is an absolute disaster. But then they're manipulated into a date (Mrs. Hung can apparently be quite intimidating ;) ) and Emily comes up with the fake dating scheme. It's pretty out there, but Mark (eventually) agrees to go along with it, and...we all know what's going to happen, right?

EXCEPT...Ms Lau gives us some twisty turns along the way, and I think I was as surprised as Emily to find out what was really going on in her mother's head the whole time. (Plus, I may never recover from Ms Margaret Muffins. She absolutely steals every scene she's in being her own very aloof self and I was here for it) I also may have dreams about that cherry pie milkshake. And I'm not even that big a fan of cherry pie...

Be prepared for some ssslllllooooooow burn here--but yikes, that first kiss is everything (until Emily has a freakout) and once they get going they make up for lost time and then some. Emily's nieces were an absolute delight, and the "quotes" at the beginning of Emily's chapters were so much fun. The first half of the book is single POV--Emily's--which I enjoyed, but by the time I got to the second half I was absolutely dying to hear Mark's (because I was SURE her post-kiss freakout wasn't justified) and I really appreciated the switch to dual. I was pretty sure Emily's impressions of him hadn't been terribly accurate, so I appreciated that he finally got the chance to speak for himself. I mean, the guy consults with his cat for relationship advice, so clearly he's legit romance hero material. Who knows, he may even have me rethinking my stance on guys wearing sweater vests...

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

I adore Jackie Lau's books. This one does not disappoint. I love that she gave a nod to Pride and Prejudice while creating a unique story rather than just essentially rewriting P&P with new characters, as so many authors have done.

(Posted on BN but hasn't appeared yet)

This was unfortunately a dnf for me but I might go back and try reading again:/ it just wasn’t what I was looking for at the time I received it but thank you for the arc.

I received a copy of this audiobook from netGalley for a honest review.

I loved Emily's point of view and oppression with cherry pie. She really didn't want to like the Mark since her mom picked him out for her but as this is a romance he wins her over. I loved Emily's nieces and the relationship with her mom gets healed in a wonderfully touching way. I will definitely continue to read Jackie Lau books.

Emily and Mark fake their relationship to get Emily’s mom off her back about dating and getting married. When Emily starts developing real feelings for Mark, it surprises her. Emily and Mark are good characters and their chemistry okay, but I found it to be very slow moving and dull in places. It was highly predictable and could have been a better read if the book was slimmed down a bit.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like this book, it’s just… well it was tough to read. The title I feel like is a stretch in a food theme based on what actually happens in the book. The FMC is an author and the Asian daughter of her immigrant parents which provides some unique themes to explore — those I enjoyed. A good title could have been something like You’ve got a Match (unless that’s already been done) or Hung has met her Match, that would have been CUTE. Love, Lies fits, but again… the Cherry Pie is a stretch. The MMC easily goes along with the fake dating trope and I wish there would have been more resistance there. There were also several phrases used that got repetitive. Spicy scenes were good, but the author’s writing style left something to be desired. I wanted to enjoy this book, especially because I received it as an ARC copy and the publishing company put it on my shelf to read, but I couldn’t love it the way I have other popular romance novels lately. If there could have been a bit more polishing on the plot and the over all FMC voice as it was written I would have maybe given it a 3 star rating.

I wouldn’t guffaw if I saw someone reading this, but it doesn’t readily come to mind to recommend.

Emily Hung is happily single, but her mother won't let that stop her from trying to set her up with suitable men, often the sons of various family friends. Since Emily is now the only unmarried daughter, her mother's efforts are intensifying. At her sister's wedding, her mother makes sure Emily is paired with Mark Chan, who is an engineer and seems stuck-up and boring.

To make matters worse - even if they didn't seem to even like each other at Emily's sister's wedding, her mother lies to her to get her to go on a brunch date with Mark. It's at this point that Emily decides to persuade Mark Chen to be her fake boyfriend. If their parents think that they're already dating, they'll stop trying to throw them together.

Unfortunately, Emily's family and friends seem to be everywhere, and every time Emily comes up with a story about what she's been doing with Mark, someone seems to have been nearby and can't remember having seen them there. So what's a struggling writer with two jobs and a fake boyfriend going to have to do? Go on actual fake dates with him, of course, and document them on social media. As she spends more time with Mark, Emily is forced to realise that her first impressions may have been wrong. Could it be that her mother is actually right, and Mark Chen IS the perfect boyfriend for Emily? Surely not!

I've read a lot of Jackie Lau romances over the last few years, and this one is one of my absolute favourites. Fake dating isn't one of my favourite tropes, but it's done well here, and it's quite cute once Emily is forced to realise that perhaps her mother really isn't just desperate to get her coupled up, but has actually put thought and effort into finding a guy who might actually be a good and respectful partner to her child.

Another thing I really liked in this novel is that it starts out in single POV, where we only get Emily's take on things, but in the second half of the book, once Emily has started considering Mark as an actual romantic prospect, we get chapters from his POV as well. I always prefer the more complete picture that a dual POV romance gives, and this narrative touch, where it's introduced later in the story, was really well done.

As always, with Jackie Lau books, there's a lot of food being consumed and described. Do not read while hungry.

<b>Judging a book by its cover:</b> I think this cover is incredibly cute, and looking at it actually helps me remember some of the story (which is certainly not always the case). Obviously, I read a digital copy of this, but if I saw this book in a store, the bright and cheery cover would easily catch my attention.

The main character is insufferable. She’s a complainer, conceited, and annoying. How am I supposed to root for her and her relationship if I can’t stand her? And the leading male has no personality whatsoever. He seems to like her despite her being rude and annoying. And don’t get me started with her family being the most ridiculous meddling bunch of people to ever exist. No wonder this girl turned out this way.

They didn’t seem to have any chemistry. The situations they put themselves in felt forced. Every character was annoying. This wasn’t enjoyable for me at all.

✨ Thank you @atriabooks for my #gifted copy. I’m sorry this one didn’t work out for me.

A fun read of a meddling mothers attempts to find her daughter a husband and the complications that follow. Enjoyed this story and all the relationships.