Fake Dates and Mooncakes

I shrug. "He lives in a huge mansion and drives a Ferrari. I ride a boke with a squeaky front wheel. Our worlds are as far apart as the sun and moon."
"They align every now and then," Aunt Jade points out. "Eclipses are pretty memorable."
But they are over before you know it, I don't add.

This book was exactly the kind of cute, tropey romcom it wanted to be. It read like a fanfiction, and I mean that as the highest compliment: you know exactly what will happen and it's enjoyable every step of the way.
Dylan wants to win a baking contest so his aunt's takeout gets some good publicity. Theo is rich and lonely and needs a date for his family drama wedding. They fall in love, obviously.

The writing style was easy and fun to read, and I liked the show more emphasis on how money can't, and won't, bridge any gaps. I also really liked how querness was not an issue. These characters have 99 problems but homophobia isn't one of them. It feels very refreshing among the many queer romcoms that deal with the outside world's opinion.
The characters and their struggles felt a bit cliche at times, but I didn't mind that. This is a lighthearted romance, not a deep character driven novel, and it was absolutely adorable.

I read an ARC of this book so the published version might differ from what I've read. show less

This is a cute romance set in the Singaporean Chinese community of New York. Dylan lives with his aunt and cousins and helps with the family's take out restaurant. They are struggling to make ends meet, so Dylan decides to take part in a mooncake contest to generate publicity for the restaurant. However, when he meets Theo, a good-looking and incredibly rich customer, it is hard to concentrate on making mooncakes...

I really enjoyed this romance, but it has its flaws. On the one hand, I couldn't believe that Dylan and Theo got on so well and without any friction or conflict despite their totally opposite backgrounds. I think that at least a little bit of adjusting would have made it a bit more realistic. On the other hand, while I found show more them cute, it wasn't really clear why they loved each other so much, apart from physical attraction. I would have especially liked to learn why Theo fell in love with Dylan.

Despite these flaws, I liked the story and rooted for the couple. It was easy to relate to Dylan, who is the narrator of the novel. There is quite a lot of information about Singaporean Chinese culture, but it fits the story and enhances it, and I enjoyed learning about this.
I'd certainly read more books by this author. show less

This was a very sweet, if, at times, a little straining of credibility. Frankly, I don't care; I actually enjoy seeing gay romances set in a "real world" in which homophobia isn't really a thing every once in a while. Not everything needs to be about coming out drama and emotional pain. Also, I am more than willing to handwave away exactly how much money a teenager would need in order to fly around the world at the drop of a hat on a romantic whim, just because it made my heart melt thinking about it.

Dylan, the main character, was a little on the dramatic side, inclined to react before talking, but that was well balanced with a love interest who was quick-witted enough to figure out what was happening before things got too out of hand, show more as well as being level-headed enough to respond instead of reacting. Theo was probably too perfect, in truth, but as I said above, I don't care. I'll also overlook the scene that was just a bit beyond what could be described as an "homage" to a certain scene in Red, White, and Royal Blue. I liked both books, and it's a good premise.

I really want mooncakes now.s show less

A year ago, Dylan had hoped to enter a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making contest with his mother. Then she got sick. Now that she's gone, Dylan lives with his aunt and cousin and helps out at his aunt's Chinese takeout place, Wok Warriors. He still wants to enter the mooncake-making contest in his mother's memory, but another benefit of the contest would be the possibility of getting Wok Warriors some desperately needed publicity. His aunt does her best to hide it, but Dylan's painfully aware she can barely make ends meet.

One evening, Dylan fills in for their delivery guy and gets yelled at by a customer for bringing an incorrect order. The one bright spot was that he got an eyeful of the guy's rich and hot boyfriend, Theo. It show more surprises Dylan when Theo stops by to apologize for his friend Adrian's behavior. The two of them get to talking, and Dylan happens to mention Wok Warriors' money issues...only for Dylan's aunt to later get a surprise "small business grant" for exactly the amount Dylan mentioned. Dylan doesn't feel comfortable accepting the money, so Theo tells him he can be his fake date to an upcoming family wedding if that will make him feel better about it.

The first part of this, with the wedding, reminded me strongly of Crazy Rich Asians, and if I remember right there were even a couple references to it. Theo's family had lots of underlying drama that he didn't bother to inform Dylan about beforehand. It seemed like every guy in Theo's family sucked in some way.

The part with the mooncake-making contest had some really predictable elements (I knew how things were going to go with that one special ingredient the instant it was mentioned), but I still enjoyed it and wished I could try one of Dylan's mooncakes.

All in all, this was a sweet and enjoyable read despite a few irksome minor characters. Dylan was a sweetie, and I liked seeing how things worked out between him and Theo.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I got this book as a ARC from Netgalley and I was super excited to read it because it looked adorable.

Dylan works with his aunt at her Chinese takeout restaurant named Wok Warriors in Brooklyn. When his mother passed last year Dylan’s aunt took him in. Before his mom died, she and Dylan talked about entering a local mooncake making contest together. Wok Warriors is struggling financially and Dylan knows that the prize money that could come with winning that competition would both help the takeout stay afloat and be a great way to honor the memory of his mom.

Then Dylan meets Theo Sommers, a gorgeous guy his age born into massive wealth. After a mixup with some takeout Theo convinces Dylan to be his fake date to a fancy party in the show more Hamptons and Dylan nervously agrees to go with him. Dylan has to keep reminding himself that none of this is real, but the way Theo acts the date feels very real sometimes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, had some actual FEELS moments while reading it and seeing Dylan and Theo working together to overcome obstacles in their way. Some of it does feel a LITTLE far fetched, but honestly, it’s a sweet little romance story and I’m willing to just go with it as long as it doesn’t go too far crazy. And this one doesn’t. I think they did a good job balancing the rich kid wants to buy the poor kid everything and the poor kid says OMG NO, I pay my own way.

SpoilerWhen Theo showed up at the competition with the exact right sugar AND the flowers from Dylan's grandmother's garden, I CRIED happy tears. I didn't care one bit that it was so over the top. I love that kind of big romantic gesture (IN FICTION, in reality I would probably be a bit o.O).

My only real critique was that the conflict between Theo and his dad seemed like it worked out WAY too quickly and kind of came out of nowhere, I wish that had been a little more developed.

This story had funny dialog and I liked seeing Dylan and Theo growing together. I learned some neat things about Chinese/Singaporean traditions and that was awesome too. 4 stars of 5. show less

This was a pretty cute, tropey romance. It was one of your classic working-class-hero-enjoys-attention-of-the-wealthy fantasies, which is huge in adult romance, but is an uncommon one for the YA audience. It's not my favorite sort of trope personally (eat the rich) but this story had enough interesting details (cute leads; romance developing from cultural connection; family ties; competitions; food!) to get away with it.

this was technically a dnf because I gave up and skimmed the last 30 pages but I'm counting it damn it. This book just felt boring and the conflict felt artificially high stakes. Also the fake dating thing was POINTLESS. For me fake dating tropes need to have a really good reason to exist and this just didn't. There was no reason they couldn't have been real dating the whole time. It just was not for me, though I did appreciate learning a bit about Chinese culture and cuisine.