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This Time It's Real
ŷ Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fiction (2023)When seventeen-year-old Eliza Lin’s essay about meeting the love of her life unexpectedly goes viral, her entire life changes overnight. Now she has the approval of her classmates at her new international school in Beijing, a career-launching internship opportunity at her favorite magazine…and a massive secret to keep.
Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?
Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend -- he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.
But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?
Get ready to fall in love in this hilarious romcom about a girl who begins a fake relationship with the famous actor in her class, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.
Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?
Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend -- he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.
But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?
Get ready to fall in love in this hilarious romcom about a girl who begins a fake relationship with the famous actor in her class, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2023
945 people are currently reading
54.5k people want to read
About the author
Ann Liang
10books9,686followersAnn Liang is the New York Times and Indie bestselling author of the critically acclaimed YA novels This Time It’s Real, If You Could See the Sun, and I Hope This Doesn't Find You. Her books have sold into over twenty foreign territories. Born in Beijing, she grew up traveling back and forth between China and Australia, but somehow ended up with an American accent. She now lives in Melbourne, where she can be found making overambitious to do lists and having profound conversations with her pet labradoodle about who’s a good dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 5,796 reviews
March 5, 2024
5 stars
� spoiler-free review
reread: december 21st, 2023
this book is the definition of happiness. i've repeated this over and over againwhich has become very annoying to everyone i know. ann liang finds a way to create such comforting characters who have now become my entire personality <3 if i were to recommend a book to any reader who wants their mood to be lifted (yes, i mean you, go read it now), this time it's real is the one.
� the writing. i adore everything about this book, but there's one aspect of it that i cherish most of all, which is the way that love is portrayed. not just a romantic relationship, but a family, which in my opinion, is the hardest to write about. eliza's families and friendships are described in a manner that makes me feel like calling all my distant relatives, inviting them to an impromptu dinner and giving them a hug. it's the little details: visits to the park, nostalgia about a place she grew up in, long car drives with an annoying sibling. no one realizes that that's what you'll miss the most when you grow older. there's a fear of losing everyone you love, and i didn't expect to stumble upon these lessons while reading a romcom, but i think that's the magic of liang's writing: it makes you feel safe, and somehow, you fall in love without even knowing it.
THERE ARE SO MANY PERFECT SCENES. their love made me smile so much, from eliza writing compliments on every single paper crane that she made by hand for caz, her taking care of him when he was sick and had no one who cared about him, touring beijing and visiting a park, tutoring him and explaining the love of writing, they are actually perfection. i was screaming into my pillow half the time, elizacaz are both just the cutest people ever <3
eliza. she's very worried about her family throughout this entire book, and always seems to put everyone else before her. she's a professional overachiever and as caz helps her to realize that it's ok to have fun once in a while, i started to see myself in her more and more. her struggle about never fitting in even when she's in the place she grew up in is something that hits close to home. as a person who is asian-american, that feeling of inadequacy is written very emotionally, and it's something that is present the most in liang's work. eliza's a reminder of how capable we can become, and i love her with my whole heart.
caz. as time goes on and she gets to know him more, we slowly start to realize that caz is actually the definition of sarcasm.. but also manages to be the happiest and sweetest person alive. i just want to give him a big hug, he simply doesn't know his worth. there's a sense of relatability to him because unfortunately, some of us have grown up in situations where our family hasn't been there for us, so we feel the need to do everything by ourselves. there's no need to get help from others. his development was so interesting to read about, and i loved getting to see the growth that he went through when meeting someone like eliza. and he calls her my love?! (i'm sorry but i did have to add that, because that nickname is guaranteed to get me to buy any book you put in front of me, so now you have to buy it too!)
note: this was the most fun ever because i was reading it with bff irha. she's perfect and makes any 5-star read even better! i love talking/fighting for hours with her about who loves elizacaz morep.s: it's me. i'll upload her review when she's finished with it, which will quite obviously be the best piece of literature ever written <3
before, i buddy read this with adira, who is just the sweetest person ever and i read my first liang book with her! her review is amazing as always.
links:
irha's masterpiece of a review
bsf rina's review (because it's the prettiest thing i've ever set my eyes on)
sumi's review, coincidentally we read this at the same time, and she wrote everything i was thinking!
� bottom line: i can't write enough to describe how elizacaz makes me feel but i can say that this time it's real is the most wholesome romcom to have ever been written, and the characters feel like family.
� spoiler-free review
reread: december 21st, 2023
.ೃ➛ “i guess my point is that i do believe in love. really. i'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
this book is the definition of happiness. i've repeated this over and over again
� the writing. i adore everything about this book, but there's one aspect of it that i cherish most of all, which is the way that love is portrayed. not just a romantic relationship, but a family, which in my opinion, is the hardest to write about. eliza's families and friendships are described in a manner that makes me feel like calling all my distant relatives, inviting them to an impromptu dinner and giving them a hug. it's the little details: visits to the park, nostalgia about a place she grew up in, long car drives with an annoying sibling. no one realizes that that's what you'll miss the most when you grow older. there's a fear of losing everyone you love, and i didn't expect to stumble upon these lessons while reading a romcom, but i think that's the magic of liang's writing: it makes you feel safe, and somehow, you fall in love without even knowing it.
THERE ARE SO MANY PERFECT SCENES. their love made me smile so much, from eliza writing compliments on every single paper crane that she made by hand for caz, her taking care of him when he was sick and had no one who cared about him, touring beijing and visiting a park, tutoring him and explaining the love of writing, they are actually perfection. i was screaming into my pillow half the time, elizacaz are both just the cutest people ever <3
.ೃ➛ “and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don’t miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.�
eliza. she's very worried about her family throughout this entire book, and always seems to put everyone else before her. she's a professional overachiever and as caz helps her to realize that it's ok to have fun once in a while, i started to see myself in her more and more. her struggle about never fitting in even when she's in the place she grew up in is something that hits close to home. as a person who is asian-american, that feeling of inadequacy is written very emotionally, and it's something that is present the most in liang's work. eliza's a reminder of how capable we can become, and i love her with my whole heart.
.ೃ➛ “are you happy?�
“i am, are you?�
“i'm so unbelievably happy right now.�
caz. as time goes on and she gets to know him more, we slowly start to realize that caz is actually the definition of sarcasm.. but also manages to be the happiest and sweetest person alive. i just want to give him a big hug, he simply doesn't know his worth. there's a sense of relatability to him because unfortunately, some of us have grown up in situations where our family hasn't been there for us, so we feel the need to do everything by ourselves. there's no need to get help from others. his development was so interesting to read about, and i loved getting to see the growth that he went through when meeting someone like eliza. and he calls her my love?! (i'm sorry but i did have to add that, because that nickname is guaranteed to get me to buy any book you put in front of me, so now you have to buy it too!)
note: this was the most fun ever because i was reading it with bff irha. she's perfect and makes any 5-star read even better! i love talking/fighting for hours with her about who loves elizacaz more
before, i buddy read this with adira, who is just the sweetest person ever and i read my first liang book with her! her review is amazing as always.
links:
irha's masterpiece of a review
bsf rina's review (because it's the prettiest thing i've ever set my eyes on)
sumi's review, coincidentally we read this at the same time, and she wrote everything i was thinking!
� bottom line: i can't write enough to describe how elizacaz makes me feel but i can say that this time it's real is the most wholesome romcom to have ever been written, and the characters feel like family.
January 17, 2023
EVERY CDRAMA LOVERS DREAM😫 HOW DID ANN CAPTURE IT SO WELL. I WAS SCREAMING EVERY OTHER CHAPTER. real footage of me reading:
i have no idea how ann did it. but at times i would have to put the book down and squeal into my pillow because i simply could not contain myself😭 THEM ON THE MOTORCYCLE ??? "HOLD ON TIGHT"??? SCREAMINGGGG (i really am a simple gal, ok?). ALSO SO MANY MORE SCENES BUT HONESTLY I DON'T WANNA RUIN THE SURPRISE SO JUST READ IT.
okay BUT even though this book has fake dating, i don't want to boil it down to one trope. it was so much more. it was about friendships, family, first love, expectations, and what it means to belong
i also cried at the simplest things, not because this book was sad by any means, but because they just hit close to home. on one of their fake dates, Caz orders food for Eliza in Chinese and she gets weird looks from the cooks, even asked, "Are you even Chinese?" THAT SCENE AFTERWARDS HAD ME BAWLING BC FUCK YOU. the simplest of discussions of diaspora in books hurt me :D (ty ann)
one thing i wish we had more of was moments with them on page (the chemistry practice stuff) because i wasn't completely won over by Caz. luckily i was rooting for Eliza (she is ME, i've never read anyone more relatable) so much that it didn't matter if i wasn't entirely swooned by Caz. i wanted whatever she wanted, if she wanted Caz, i'm rooting for him too then😫
YES I RECOMMEND <3 READ ITTT
03/20/22: fake dating? beijing? motorcycles??? I'M SO EXCITED😭😭
i have no idea how ann did it. but at times i would have to put the book down and squeal into my pillow because i simply could not contain myself😭 THEM ON THE MOTORCYCLE ??? "HOLD ON TIGHT"??? SCREAMINGGGG (i really am a simple gal, ok?). ALSO SO MANY MORE SCENES BUT HONESTLY I DON'T WANNA RUIN THE SURPRISE SO JUST READ IT.
okay BUT even though this book has fake dating, i don't want to boil it down to one trope. it was so much more. it was about friendships, family, first love, expectations, and what it means to belong
i also cried at the simplest things, not because this book was sad by any means, but because they just hit close to home. on one of their fake dates, Caz orders food for Eliza in Chinese and she gets weird looks from the cooks, even asked, "Are you even Chinese?" THAT SCENE AFTERWARDS HAD ME BAWLING BC FUCK YOU. the simplest of discussions of diaspora in books hurt me :D (ty ann)
one thing i wish we had more of was moments with them on page (the chemistry practice stuff) because i wasn't completely won over by Caz. luckily i was rooting for Eliza (she is ME, i've never read anyone more relatable) so much that it didn't matter if i wasn't entirely swooned by Caz. i wanted whatever she wanted, if she wanted Caz, i'm rooting for him too then😫
YES I RECOMMEND <3 READ ITTT
03/20/22: fake dating? beijing? motorcycles??? I'M SO EXCITED😭😭
July 10, 2024
🧸₊� reread #1 . ann liang just never disappoints <3
‧•┈┈୨ˡ୧┈┈•ħ₊˚�
ˡ︎.ᐟજ⁶�5 stars 🩷💐
� for all the hopeless romantics, people-pleasers, and cdrama/kdrama lovers out there
� plot 🌷₊�
eliza has not experienced love herself before, so she makes up a love story for her english essay. however, when her essay goes viral, everyone is head over heels for her fake relationship and soon she finds herself getting help from caz song, a famous actor who goes to her new school, who agrees to be her fake boyfriend.
� eliza lin 💌₊�
i don't think i've ever related to or adored a main character more!! i feel like eliza was written for every anxious, awkward, hopeless romantic and over-achiever out there. she does so many kind actions to show her love for the people around her and she constantly tries to make others happy and be good enough. she made paper cranes filled with compliments for caz and spent hours looking for her friendship bracelet that had fallen off - how could you not love her ☹️💗 she also often feels left out and like she doesn't fit in, and she isn't sure why she can't seem to make people stay in her life which was so relatable. as a chinese-american and people pleaser myself, i felt so seen and i think eliza as a character was just already enough for me to absolutely adore this book.
� caz song 💛₊�
this man is straight out of a cdrama. caz is a famous actor who happens to be very popular at his school. however, he isn't prideful or mean as his image might entail. his whole "having to be perfect" character opens up to eliza which was the most adorable thing ever and he actually had a lot more depth to him which i loved.
more reasons why i love caz:
1) he has a great relationship with eliza's little sister
2) he rides a motorcycle
3) he teases and flirts with eliza but also understands her and reassures her
4) CALLS HER FOR HOURS AND JUST LISTENS AND LETS HER OPEN UP TO HIM
5) he has dimples
need i say more?? he is officially my favorite book bf 🥺💐 he IS the epitome of "in a world of boys he's a gentleman"
₊˚꒰🎥� elizacaz
i think these two have set my standard for love 😭🩷 their meet ups in the janitor closets with eliza's powerpoints, how eliza's family would watch movies with caz in them and fangirl over them without knowing they were "dating", how they ate tanghulu together, how they would stay on call for hours, and how caz carried her in the rain � I AM UNWELL. the way their love was just so adorable and kind, i miss them already <33 their whole relationship really did feel like being in a cdrama/kdrama and i think this is one of the rare instances where i loved both characters the same amount 💗💐
� overall, i love this book with all my heart!! you ever read a book that you just can't stop thinking about, and you just want to reread it a million times? that's this book for me. and if you are like me in any way, go read this right now because you will relate to eliza so much and you will fall in love with caz 🩷� safe to say i'm officially an ann liang fan now <3
‧•┈┈୨ˡ୧┈┈•ħ₊˚�
‧•┈┈୨ˡ୧┈┈•ħ₊˚�
ˡ︎.ᐟજ⁶�5 stars 🩷💐
� for all the hopeless romantics, people-pleasers, and cdrama/kdrama lovers out there
“You must know that’s not what I care about.�
“What- what do you care about, then?�
“You,� he says quietly. “I want you Eliza.�
� plot 🌷₊�
eliza has not experienced love herself before, so she makes up a love story for her english essay. however, when her essay goes viral, everyone is head over heels for her fake relationship and soon she finds herself getting help from caz song, a famous actor who goes to her new school, who agrees to be her fake boyfriend.
“What . . . what am I like around him?�
“H,� she says simply.
� eliza lin 💌₊�
i don't think i've ever related to or adored a main character more!! i feel like eliza was written for every anxious, awkward, hopeless romantic and over-achiever out there. she does so many kind actions to show her love for the people around her and she constantly tries to make others happy and be good enough. she made paper cranes filled with compliments for caz and spent hours looking for her friendship bracelet that had fallen off - how could you not love her ☹️💗 she also often feels left out and like she doesn't fit in, and she isn't sure why she can't seem to make people stay in her life which was so relatable. as a chinese-american and people pleaser myself, i felt so seen and i think eliza as a character was just already enough for me to absolutely adore this book.
“I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
“And this, I think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. Missing people who don’t miss me back. Clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. It takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.�
“And I don't know how to make people stay; I never have.�
� caz song 💛₊�
this man is straight out of a cdrama. caz is a famous actor who happens to be very popular at his school. however, he isn't prideful or mean as his image might entail. his whole "having to be perfect" character opens up to eliza which was the most adorable thing ever and he actually had a lot more depth to him which i loved.
more reasons why i love caz:
1) he has a great relationship with eliza's little sister
2) he rides a motorcycle
3) he teases and flirts with eliza but also understands her and reassures her
4) CALLS HER FOR HOURS AND JUST LISTENS AND LETS HER OPEN UP TO HIM
5) he has dimples
need i say more?? he is officially my favorite book bf 🥺💐 he IS the epitome of "in a world of boys he's a gentleman"
“Liar,� he whispers.
“You just seemed like you really wanted to kiss me. And who am I to deny you the pleasure?�
₊˚꒰🎥� elizacaz
i think these two have set my standard for love 😭🩷 their meet ups in the janitor closets with eliza's powerpoints, how eliza's family would watch movies with caz in them and fangirl over them without knowing they were "dating", how they ate tanghulu together, how they would stay on call for hours, and how caz carried her in the rain � I AM UNWELL. the way their love was just so adorable and kind, i miss them already <33 their whole relationship really did feel like being in a cdrama/kdrama and i think this is one of the rare instances where i loved both characters the same amount 💗💐
“That thing about� being there for me. I want to be that for you too.�
“Where are you going?� he asks.
“To clean up-�
“Stay,� he whispers.
"I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over."
� overall, i love this book with all my heart!! you ever read a book that you just can't stop thinking about, and you just want to reread it a million times? that's this book for me. and if you are like me in any way, go read this right now because you will relate to eliza so much and you will fall in love with caz 🩷� safe to say i'm officially an ann liang fan now <3
‧•┈┈୨ˡ୧┈┈•ħ₊˚�
February 23, 2023
my review can basically be summed up in the following statement:
if you have read and enjoyed any of these books - once upon a kprom , xoxo , seoulmates , or fireworks - then you will definitely want to pick this up.
although the other books listed are about korean idols, the premise and vibe of this story is very similar to the others. the fact that this one is set in beijing and explores chinese popdom instead adds a bit of freshness to a familiar type of story.
but like the others, this also has the perfect balance of cuteness, fun and growth. i do wish the ending wasnt as abrupt as it is, but its still a very entertainingly sweet story!
� 4 stars
if you have read and enjoyed any of these books - once upon a kprom , xoxo , seoulmates , or fireworks - then you will definitely want to pick this up.
although the other books listed are about korean idols, the premise and vibe of this story is very similar to the others. the fact that this one is set in beijing and explores chinese popdom instead adds a bit of freshness to a familiar type of story.
but like the others, this also has the perfect balance of cuteness, fun and growth. i do wish the ending wasnt as abrupt as it is, but its still a very entertainingly sweet story!
� 4 stars
February 9, 2023
-For the secret hopeless romantics
-For anyone who’s ever had a celebrity crush
-For swifties and bts army
-For those who are searching for their home
-If you love cdramas
-If you dream of reciprocated love but you’re terrified of vulnerability and rejection
-If you love the idea of high school strangers to allies to friends to lovers with fake dating between a loner writer girl and a handsome popular boy
-If you want to read the best romcom of the year <3
This Time it’s Real is full of hope, humour, vulnerability, emotion, fluff, tension, friendship, and true love. My heart was breaking and healing all at the same time❤️�. This is the most relatable book I have EVER read. Ann Liang has the ability to make her characters and setting feel so real. I felt like I was Eliza, going through her struggles and triumphs. We even think the same and have the same fears.
I’m not surprised Ann came through with this romcom after reading If You Could See the Sun. I resonate with her writing and characters in a way I never have before. I was worried about cheating on my man Henry Li (Henry if you’re reading this, you’ve still got my heart forever don’t worry🥹) but Caz Song. GAH DAMN. He is THE rizzler. In the cutest way possible🤭. You can’t not love the relationship between him and Eliza, it’s absolutely adorable. Will you feel extra alone while watching them fall in love? No comment🥰 because this just makes me so unbelievably happy (iykyk I literally wrote that in my notes before reading the final page🤯). This is what young love feels like. You know it’s real when you look at pictures of Jungkook 24/7 and still can’t get that one person off your mind. When you talk to them for hours before bed each night, about anything and everything. When you promise each other you’ll be the ones to stay, inconveniencing each other, everyday for the rest of time. When they feel like your home❤️�. THE QUOTES!! I was smiling, giggling, squealing, kicking my feet, blushing, crying, sliding down the back of a door (basically full emotional breakdowns). The perfect book to start my tabbing journey (it looks so pretty🤭). THIS TIME IT’S REAL IS THE DREAM BOOK. PLEASE GRAB YOURSELF A COPY ON FEBRUARY 7TH AND PREPARE FOR THE ULTIMATE HEART-WRENCHING WHOLESOME COMFORT COMBO. I also just wanted to add, Ann’s dedications >>>, her covers are exceptional and the smaller immaculate details🤌. The tweets, the added touch of rain to a scene, or even the mention of Keanu Reeves😏. Thank you again Scholastic Press for the arc🫶
INFINITY STARS❣️♾�!!! Rtc in the morning because at this very vulnerable moment I can’t even begin to describe what this book did to me. I have the tear stained glasses to prove it😎. It was flawless. Yet another life changing book by Ann. She really is my favourite author. I know I can be dramatic in my reviews but this time it’s real (😏). ABSOLUTE PERFECTION🙏🙏
—Ĕ�
Edit- I UNBOXED MY ARC TODAY (first ever arc😭) AND ANN JUST TOLD ME SHE HOPES I ENJOY?!?! I FEEL NAUSEOUS😫💞. SO BEYOND EXCITED AND GRATEFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY🫶�
BABES THERE'S A JUNGKOOK REFERENCE IN THIS??!!??!! Ann Liang, my hero🙏
-For anyone who’s ever had a celebrity crush
-For swifties and bts army
-For those who are searching for their home
-If you love cdramas
-If you dream of reciprocated love but you’re terrified of vulnerability and rejection
-If you love the idea of high school strangers to allies to friends to lovers with fake dating between a loner writer girl and a handsome popular boy
-If you want to read the best romcom of the year <3
This Time it’s Real is full of hope, humour, vulnerability, emotion, fluff, tension, friendship, and true love. My heart was breaking and healing all at the same time❤️�. This is the most relatable book I have EVER read. Ann Liang has the ability to make her characters and setting feel so real. I felt like I was Eliza, going through her struggles and triumphs. We even think the same and have the same fears.
I’m not surprised Ann came through with this romcom after reading If You Could See the Sun. I resonate with her writing and characters in a way I never have before. I was worried about cheating on my man Henry Li (Henry if you’re reading this, you’ve still got my heart forever don’t worry🥹) but Caz Song. GAH DAMN. He is THE rizzler. In the cutest way possible🤭. You can’t not love the relationship between him and Eliza, it’s absolutely adorable. Will you feel extra alone while watching them fall in love? No comment🥰 because this just makes me so unbelievably happy (iykyk I literally wrote that in my notes before reading the final page🤯). This is what young love feels like. You know it’s real when you look at pictures of Jungkook 24/7 and still can’t get that one person off your mind. When you talk to them for hours before bed each night, about anything and everything. When you promise each other you’ll be the ones to stay, inconveniencing each other, everyday for the rest of time. When they feel like your home❤️�. THE QUOTES!! I was smiling, giggling, squealing, kicking my feet, blushing, crying, sliding down the back of a door (basically full emotional breakdowns). The perfect book to start my tabbing journey (it looks so pretty🤭). THIS TIME IT’S REAL IS THE DREAM BOOK. PLEASE GRAB YOURSELF A COPY ON FEBRUARY 7TH AND PREPARE FOR THE ULTIMATE HEART-WRENCHING WHOLESOME COMFORT COMBO. I also just wanted to add, Ann’s dedications >>>, her covers are exceptional and the smaller immaculate details🤌. The tweets, the added touch of rain to a scene, or even the mention of Keanu Reeves😏. Thank you again Scholastic Press for the arc🫶
INFINITY STARS❣️♾�!!! Rtc in the morning because at this very vulnerable moment I can’t even begin to describe what this book did to me. I have the tear stained glasses to prove it😎. It was flawless. Yet another life changing book by Ann. She really is my favourite author. I know I can be dramatic in my reviews but this time it’s real (😏). ABSOLUTE PERFECTION🙏🙏
—Ĕ�
Edit- I UNBOXED MY ARC TODAY (first ever arc😭) AND ANN JUST TOLD ME SHE HOPES I ENJOY?!?! I FEEL NAUSEOUS😫💞. SO BEYOND EXCITED AND GRATEFUL FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY🫶�
BABES THERE'S A JUNGKOOK REFERENCE IN THIS??!!??!! Ann Liang, my hero🙏
February 26, 2023
"Are you happy?"
"I am. Are you?"
"I'm so unbelievably happy right now."
Look, I know I rated it 3 stars but oh how I binged it. It was in no way a bad read, I just had a lot of unrealistic expectations but it was decent and fun.
This was super cute and enjoyable. It's been a while since I read YA romance and this one gave me all the feels. It was funny, lighthearted and the romance as cute and swoon-worthy as a typical Cdrama.
✔️ Celebrity romance
✔️ Fake dating
✔️ High school romance
✔️ Classmates to lovers
So the plot is pretty simple- Eliza, our FMC moves a lot, finally coming back to China with her family is struggling to make friends at her school. But when she writes a fake essay on her love life, things change; everyone wants to know her and her boyfriend. Only complication is- it's not real, there's no boyfriend. Comes in Caz, MMC, a celebrity hot shot classmate and the two strike a deal.
It was fun to read but sadly couldn't create the magic for me cause of two main reasons- Eliza's stubborn personality, she never let herself loose. She seemed so rigid, at first it was okay but it never really changed. Secondly, the ending seemed really rushed. A few more chapters with them genuinely dating and a few more kisses would've been cherry on the top.
Although an enjoyable one time read, it's quite forgettable for me but am still glad I read it and enjoyed. The cute moments between the two and especially Caz was worth investing my money on.
"I am. Are you?"
"I'm so unbelievably happy right now."
Look, I know I rated it 3 stars but oh how I binged it. It was in no way a bad read, I just had a lot of unrealistic expectations but it was decent and fun.
This was super cute and enjoyable. It's been a while since I read YA romance and this one gave me all the feels. It was funny, lighthearted and the romance as cute and swoon-worthy as a typical Cdrama.
✔️ Celebrity romance
✔️ Fake dating
✔️ High school romance
✔️ Classmates to lovers
So the plot is pretty simple- Eliza, our FMC moves a lot, finally coming back to China with her family is struggling to make friends at her school. But when she writes a fake essay on her love life, things change; everyone wants to know her and her boyfriend. Only complication is- it's not real, there's no boyfriend. Comes in Caz, MMC, a celebrity hot shot classmate and the two strike a deal.
It was fun to read but sadly couldn't create the magic for me cause of two main reasons- Eliza's stubborn personality, she never let herself loose. She seemed so rigid, at first it was okay but it never really changed. Secondly, the ending seemed really rushed. A few more chapters with them genuinely dating and a few more kisses would've been cherry on the top.
Although an enjoyable one time read, it's quite forgettable for me but am still glad I read it and enjoyed. The cute moments between the two and especially Caz was worth investing my money on.
February 5, 2024
˗ˏˋ 3.25 � ˎˊ˗
(i don't think 3.25-star rating is a bad rating, but rather a modest rating)
reading ‘if you could see the sun� prior to this one really raised my expectations, and i think that’s why i ended up feeling unfulfilled (i'll talk about that later in the review).
the plot °˖�
to sum it up: eliza lin's life takes an unexpected turn when her essay about finding true love goes viral and suddenly, she becomes the talk of her new international school in beijing, gains an incredible internship opportunity at her favorite magazine, and yet, she harbors a colossal secret. in reality, eliza fabricated the entire essay. love and relationships have never been a part of her life. after all, isn't good writing all about weaving tales? determined to keep her secret hidden, eliza strikes a deal with caz song , the renowned actor in her class who exudes charm but remains distant. in exchange for helping him with his college applications, caz agrees to play the role of her boyfriend. caz becomes the perfect boyfriend, passing her handwritten notes during class, bringing laughter to her little sister, and taking her on exhilarating motorcycle rides to the city's finest snack stalls. however, as eliza's connection with caz deepens, her carefully constructed facade begins to crumble. will she be able to pursue her dreams without shattering her own heart in the process?
there were certainly some similarities between this book and the one i mentioned earlier, and i really enjoyed it. the setting in beijing and the exploration of identity struggles, as well as other topics like academics, solitude, and adjusting to a new place, were all present within the main romance plot. this book, in my humble opinion (and i initially expected it to be a lighthearted read) , goes beyond that. it resembles a cherished cozy blanket that you instinctively reach for during challenging times. it's like receiving an unexpected but much-needed hug - that's how meaningful this book is to me. it gave more like a glimpse into the life of a high schooler and their relatable struggles.
the writing °˖�
the writing style of this book was an absolute delight, filled with humor and charm that made every page a joy to read. the author's skillful craftsmanship was evident in every sentence, as she effortlessly weaved together words and phrases to create a truly captivating story. what truly set this book apart, however, were the vivid descriptions that brought each scene to life. the author's ability to paint a picture with words was truly remarkable. i could practically smell the aroma of street foods wafted through the air, tantalizing my senses, and feel the gentle touch of raindrops as i immersed myself in the world the author had created.
but it wasn't just the descriptions that made this book so incredible. it was the way the author brought each moment to life, making them feel so real and tangible. whether it was a heart-pounding action sequence or a tender moment between eliza and caz, i found myself completely engrossed in the story, unable to tear myself away.
it was a testament to the enduring magic of literature and a testament to why, time and time again, i will always choose books over movies. while films can certainly be visually stunning, there is something truly magical about the way a well-written book can transport you to another world entirely. the depth and richness of the characters, the intricacies of the plot, and the sheer power of the author's words all combine to create an experience that simply cannot be replicated on the big screen.
eliza lin °˖�
despite her occasional rigidity, eliza's character development was still remarkable. her journey from uncertainty to self-discovery was portrayed with such authenticity that it felt as though i was experiencing it alongside her. the way she navigated the complexities of friendships, relationships, and her own identity was both relatable and inspiring. her doubts and worries were not brushed aside or trivialized; instead, they were given the attention they deserved. her vulnerability in expressing her fears and insecurities allowed me to feel seen and understood, reminding me that it's okay to have moments of uncertainty.
what truly made eliza's character shine was her ability to capture the essence of adolescence. the rollercoaster of emotions she experienced, from the highs of newfound love and excitement to the lows of heartbreak and disappointment, mirrored the tumultuous nature of teenage years. her struggles with self-acceptance and the pressure to conform to societal expectations resonated deeply with me, as i too have grappled with these issues. in eliza, i found a kindred spirit, someone who understood the complexities of growing up and the challenges of finding one's place in the world. her authenticity and rawness made her feel like a real person (rather than just a fictional character), someone i could relate to on a profound level. i found solace in knowing that i wasn't alone.
caz song °˖�
my initial thoughts about him were that being a celebrity, he might be unapproachable and create unnecessary drama. however, to my pleasant surprise, he turned out to be the most enchanting and extraordinary person. not only does he possess immense talent, but he also possesses a humble and down-to-earth nature that is truly refreshing. and despite his status, he remains considerate of others and treats everyone with kindness and respect. he goes out of his way to make those around him feel comfortable and valued. whether it's his fans, colleagues, or even strangers, he takes the time to engage in conversations and show genuine interest in their lives. being in his presence, i'm sure feels like a breath of fresh air. he exudes positivity and radiates a genuine warmth that instantly puts those around him at ease. he has a way of making you feel seen and heard, as if your presence truly matters to him.
his remarkable quality lies in his unyielding belief that he can handle things independently. this belief is not fueled by any ill intentions or arrogance, but rather originates from his reluctance to burden others (i had to constantly remind myself that he is merely a young child). no one should feel this way, and it sincerely saddens me.
elizacaz °˖�
my qualms °˖�
i had high hopes that eliza would have been more forthcoming earlier, opening up about her thoughts and feelings. i longed for her to share her innermost desires and fears, to let caz in. but as i reflect on her behavior, i comprehend why she chose to keep her guard up. she simply needed more time to trust and feel comfortable. but thatsometimes most of the times made it impossible for me to tolerate her.
as the story reached its conclusion, i couldn't help but feel that it was a tad rushed. it left me yearning for more, for a deeper exploration of their relationship. if only we could have witnessed eliza and caz going on actual dates. and what about caz meeting her parents? that would have undoubtedly elevated the story to a five-star read for me, allowing me to fully immerse myself in their journey.
final thoughts °˖�
despite the rushed conclusion and missed opportunities, i'm still appreciative that i read it. it brought me moments of pleasure and for that, i'm grateful. i wish this book had been written during my younger years since there were instances when i attempted to relate to the characters, but couldn't completely immerse myself anymore.
nevertheless, that doesn't imply that older readers cannot find pleasure in this book. it stirred up a wave of nostalgia within me, and i wholeheartedly recommend it, albeit more suitable for a younger audience.
───── � ｡ﾟ�: *.� .* :☆ﾟ. ─────
rtc
pre- review: fake dating and celebrity romance? sign me up 💌
(i don't think 3.25-star rating is a bad rating, but rather a modest rating)
writing is a means of telling the truth. both the beautiful and the ugly.
reading ‘if you could see the sun� prior to this one really raised my expectations, and i think that’s why i ended up feeling unfulfilled (i'll talk about that later in the review).
the plot °˖�
to sum it up: eliza lin's life takes an unexpected turn when her essay about finding true love goes viral and suddenly, she becomes the talk of her new international school in beijing, gains an incredible internship opportunity at her favorite magazine, and yet, she harbors a colossal secret. in reality, eliza fabricated the entire essay. love and relationships have never been a part of her life. after all, isn't good writing all about weaving tales? determined to keep her secret hidden, eliza strikes a deal with caz song , the renowned actor in her class who exudes charm but remains distant. in exchange for helping him with his college applications, caz agrees to play the role of her boyfriend. caz becomes the perfect boyfriend, passing her handwritten notes during class, bringing laughter to her little sister, and taking her on exhilarating motorcycle rides to the city's finest snack stalls. however, as eliza's connection with caz deepens, her carefully constructed facade begins to crumble. will she be able to pursue her dreams without shattering her own heart in the process?
there were certainly some similarities between this book and the one i mentioned earlier, and i really enjoyed it. the setting in beijing and the exploration of identity struggles, as well as other topics like academics, solitude, and adjusting to a new place, were all present within the main romance plot. this book, in my humble opinion (and i initially expected it to be a lighthearted read) , goes beyond that. it resembles a cherished cozy blanket that you instinctively reach for during challenging times. it's like receiving an unexpected but much-needed hug - that's how meaningful this book is to me. it gave more like a glimpse into the life of a high schooler and their relatable struggles.
the writing °˖�
the writing style of this book was an absolute delight, filled with humor and charm that made every page a joy to read. the author's skillful craftsmanship was evident in every sentence, as she effortlessly weaved together words and phrases to create a truly captivating story. what truly set this book apart, however, were the vivid descriptions that brought each scene to life. the author's ability to paint a picture with words was truly remarkable. i could practically smell the aroma of street foods wafted through the air, tantalizing my senses, and feel the gentle touch of raindrops as i immersed myself in the world the author had created.
but it wasn't just the descriptions that made this book so incredible. it was the way the author brought each moment to life, making them feel so real and tangible. whether it was a heart-pounding action sequence or a tender moment between eliza and caz, i found myself completely engrossed in the story, unable to tear myself away.
it was a testament to the enduring magic of literature and a testament to why, time and time again, i will always choose books over movies. while films can certainly be visually stunning, there is something truly magical about the way a well-written book can transport you to another world entirely. the depth and richness of the characters, the intricacies of the plot, and the sheer power of the author's words all combine to create an experience that simply cannot be replicated on the big screen.
eliza lin °˖�
despite her occasional rigidity, eliza's character development was still remarkable. her journey from uncertainty to self-discovery was portrayed with such authenticity that it felt as though i was experiencing it alongside her. the way she navigated the complexities of friendships, relationships, and her own identity was both relatable and inspiring. her doubts and worries were not brushed aside or trivialized; instead, they were given the attention they deserved. her vulnerability in expressing her fears and insecurities allowed me to feel seen and understood, reminding me that it's okay to have moments of uncertainty.
� if awkwardness could be a fatal flaw, it would most definitely be mine. �
� my problem isn’t making friends, it’s keeping them. there’s no reason for that to change this time around. �
� i miss a lot of people. � and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don’t miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.
what truly made eliza's character shine was her ability to capture the essence of adolescence. the rollercoaster of emotions she experienced, from the highs of newfound love and excitement to the lows of heartbreak and disappointment, mirrored the tumultuous nature of teenage years. her struggles with self-acceptance and the pressure to conform to societal expectations resonated deeply with me, as i too have grappled with these issues. in eliza, i found a kindred spirit, someone who understood the complexities of growing up and the challenges of finding one's place in the world. her authenticity and rawness made her feel like a real person (rather than just a fictional character), someone i could relate to on a profound level. i found solace in knowing that i wasn't alone.
� you hold everything in here, ai-ai, � she (her mother) says sternly, pointing to her own heart. � for better or worse. but not everyone is going to guess at what you’re thinking like i do. no one is going to know how you feel if you don’t tell them. and until you do—you can never really know what’s going to happen. �
caz song °˖�
my initial thoughts about him were that being a celebrity, he might be unapproachable and create unnecessary drama. however, to my pleasant surprise, he turned out to be the most enchanting and extraordinary person. not only does he possess immense talent, but he also possesses a humble and down-to-earth nature that is truly refreshing. and despite his status, he remains considerate of others and treats everyone with kindness and respect. he goes out of his way to make those around him feel comfortable and valued. whether it's his fans, colleagues, or even strangers, he takes the time to engage in conversations and show genuine interest in their lives. being in his presence, i'm sure feels like a breath of fresh air. he exudes positivity and radiates a genuine warmth that instantly puts those around him at ease. he has a way of making you feel seen and heard, as if your presence truly matters to him.
� you know, for someone who claims to not be my fan, you sure know a lot about me. �
his remarkable quality lies in his unyielding belief that he can handle things independently. this belief is not fueled by any ill intentions or arrogance, but rather originates from his reluctance to burden others (i had to constantly remind myself that he is merely a young child). no one should feel this way, and it sincerely saddens me.
elizacaz °˖�
�
� i want to be the person you know you can turn to. the place where you feel safe. i want you to feel like you can just be—human, in front of me. like you don’t have to always show your best side. okay? �
� i’ve waited ten lifetimes for you, lost you ten times, fought my way through the underworld to retrieve your soul. you are my light, your highness; the only home i’ve ever known. i’d gladly die before i let you slip through my fingers again. �
� caz, i’d love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life. �
my qualms °˖�
i had high hopes that eliza would have been more forthcoming earlier, opening up about her thoughts and feelings. i longed for her to share her innermost desires and fears, to let caz in. but as i reflect on her behavior, i comprehend why she chose to keep her guard up. she simply needed more time to trust and feel comfortable. but that
as the story reached its conclusion, i couldn't help but feel that it was a tad rushed. it left me yearning for more, for a deeper exploration of their relationship. if only we could have witnessed eliza and caz going on actual dates. and what about caz meeting her parents? that would have undoubtedly elevated the story to a five-star read for me, allowing me to fully immerse myself in their journey.
final thoughts °˖�
despite the rushed conclusion and missed opportunities, i'm still appreciative that i read it. it brought me moments of pleasure and for that, i'm grateful. i wish this book had been written during my younger years since there were instances when i attempted to relate to the characters, but couldn't completely immerse myself anymore.
nevertheless, that doesn't imply that older readers cannot find pleasure in this book. it stirred up a wave of nostalgia within me, and i wholeheartedly recommend it, albeit more suitable for a younger audience.
───── � ｡ﾟ�: *.� .* :☆ﾟ. ─────
rtc
pre- review: fake dating and celebrity romance? sign me up 💌
November 17, 2023
Reviewing books makes me feel guilty sometimes, as if I’m supposed to convince myself into thinking, “Objectively, this has good things that are realistic, relatable, and probably something the author took from her own life. I shouldn’t be so harsh!� On the other hand, I’m not responsible for anyone’s feelings. I’ve been reading since I was a tiny gremlin, and I started reading romance at the young age of 11-years-young on this one orange app that starts with W and ends in D, so my attitude towards the genres I read has improved for the worst throughout the years. Although I'm a shy, sunshine introvert, I’ve become grumpy when analyzing books. I’m a metalhead, but my music taste contradicts the fluffy, cute vanilla books I read. I tend to become too analytical sometimes, taking things seriously, and sometimes people ask me if I even enjoy reading when I don’t enjoy that many books. I’ve read my fair share of popular, beloved, and hyped books that I didn’t find the same appeal. I’ve accepted I’ll be an outlier many times and that I’m more likely to not enjoy a book everyone else loved but also love a book everyone else despised.
Despite this, I prefer feeling something rather than nothing. The good thing is that the problems are not mine to deal with, although sometimes it feels very stressful because I’ll be reading on my Kindle and feel nothing but anger and rage that I want to throw against the wall. However, my Kindle does not deserve that treatment when it costs money. The good thing is that I borrow many books from my library, such as this one, so I don’t have to worry about the financial measures. Ranting is very liberating, and ŷ is a safe space to write a negative review about the book if that’s how I feel. So, I firmly believe in being able to express myself by complaining about a book if that’s what it takes to make me feel better. I recently had a comment in one of my negative reviews for a top-rated, very well-loved book where the user noted that I wrote 25 paragraphs for a book I did not enjoy. Thanks for counting, but I clearly don’t keep track nor care how many paragraphs I write to express how stupid, boring, angering, or unmemorable I found a book.
Another thing I do is that I tend to read negative reviews when I don’t like a book because, somehow, my feelings feel more validated. Call me selfish or whatever you want, but we can all agree that we feel validated and good when people agree. Whenever someone agrees that “This book was boring!�, I feel like I unconsciously and invisibly raise a fist into the air and yell Ԩ!� because someone else interpreted the book like I did. The same goes for positive reviews for books we both loved. There is comfort in finding people who agree with you, who see the book the same way you do, positively or not, because it makes you feel less guilty or alone. I sometimes feel guilty when reviewing books because there are things in the book that I KNOW are supposed to be serious. I found myself nodding my head quite a few times while reading this, being able to relate, even though the main character is seventeen and I’m not.
I know this is all irrelevant. I can see the appeal for this. I can see how and why this book can come off as relatable for many people, and that can severely impact the enjoyment of someone. It always happens to me, and I’m not complaining because I love relating to characters, even for sad reasons. However, unfortunately, I could not bring myself to feel a single ounce/pound/gram/cup/liter/quart or any other type of measurement of sympathy for what this book tried to be.
Tried to be. Because, in my eyes, this book tried to do this and show that, but it failed.
Generally, if a book starts on the wrong note for me 15% in, I still have hope it’ll pick up later on since there’s 85% left of the story and plenty of room for the enjoyment to kick in. But when I am 15% in, loving the book, and I start to notice it go downhill, I give up and become pessimistic.
That’s what happened with If This Is Real.
There are quite a few things I can appreciate and like:
For example, I liked the segments of Eliza’s struggles with identity and socialization. I don’t think you need to be an immigrant or a child of immigrants to understand this because it can happen a lot when you move to different places many different times. Eliza presents us with sorrowful feelings about distancing yourself from the people you grow close to, only to separate yourself because both parties realize it’s not worth putting in the effort. She reminded me a lot about myself and how I lost many friends and connections when I graduated from high school. So many close connections that I had before, and now it’s as if we’re strangers. I’ve gotten to the point where I accept some are no longer worth trying, because even if I try putting in the effort, I get ignored.
Every new post from an old friend serves as a painful reminder: This is their life now, without you. This is their group of best friends, their boyfriend they didn’t tell you about; this is them moving on completely. This is proof that when they said they’ll remember you, stay in touch with you, they were lying.
There is also discussion on Eliza’s Chinese identity. While Eliza accepts who she is, the author captures the difficulties of fitting in well. Despite being born in China, Eliza’s feelings about not feeling Chinese enough are palpable. Her emotions are vivid, clear, and intense, with enough emotion throughout her feelings. It’s easy to understand her when you can relate to her, but the author encapsulates this feeling well even if you can't. We see Eliza struggle through different moments–like when she’s at a restaurant with Caz and doesn’t speak and understand Mandarin the way he does, or how she isn’t part of any group/clique at school, or she’s the new girl without considerable worth. We also see how and why this happened, such as how she moved to different countries and locations many times or how she couldn’t connect with her roots the way others could. I sometimes felt for her because I could relate to her challenges.
I also really liked the brief (although very underdeveloped) dialogue about teenage struggles, not just fitting in but also mental health, vulnerabilities, the pressure of college and college applications, making family and friends proud, and many more, both for her and Caz. There’s some teenage angst, although not used to add depth to the story, instead to show the reality of teenage struggles in between the lightheartedness the author focuses on. Although most of the book highlights a sweet romance between two young teens, the writing has some heavier themes.
However, I can only recall that the first 15% of this story was enjoyable, and it all took a wrong turn after.
Most of my frustration stems from our main character, Eliza. While there are some qualities about her, Eliza’s character came off as too infuriating for my liking. If I were a teenager reading this for the first time, like when I first joined this site in 2016, I probably would have liked her. But now, at my more-developed age of 23, I only found her cynical. Her skepticism wouldn’t have been an issue had I believed there was a reason for her negative attitude; however, I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with her feelings one way or another. Some people state they can’t connect with a character because they can’t relate, but I disagree. Sometimes, you simply cannot relate to a character because you are not like them for different reasons–race, religion, childhood, environment, education, financial status, etc. So, with Eliza, my inability to connect with her has more to do with her lack of character development, which is a huge necessity in these types of stories.
Eliza is first introduced to us as someone who comes off as more introverted, with an over-thinker brain, somewhat reserved personality, and insecure character. She finds comfort in writing and maintains a close relationship with her best friend, who isn’t near her anymore due to being in different countries. While I don’t have an issue with characters like Eliza (I would be a hypocrite, considering I can relate to quite a few things), I don’t think Eliza ever acknowledged her subjective attitude. She comes off as strongly judgemental, somehow believing she’s the only one who can have problems and issues revolving around her life. She was incredibly frustrating and agitating, never really bothering to work on her troubles. I was waiting for the moment she would have some spark of character growth, but instead her wrongdoings seemed to be excused with more problems.
Another issue I had with Eliza was her inability to conform to her unrealistic fake dating scandal. For a romance (YA, but still romance) that is supposed to be built through the fake dating trope, I missed the fake dating that was supposed to take place. I like the fake dating trope because of the opportunity the author has to give the readers a push-and-pull mentality for their characters. Plus, I love seeing that transition from “This is fake. This isn’t real. This is for business purposes.� to “I don’t want to pretend. I like how this feels.� I missed the memo here, though.
Eliza came off as black and white. She had a push-and-pull relationship with Caz that did not work in my favor. One moment, she’s admitting she’s developing a crush on him, and the next, she’s pushing him away when he’s confessing his feelings for her. She constantly runs away from him, doesn’t clarify what she wants, and doesn’t appreciate his efforts. I was probably supposed to feel bad for her, but she was annoying. Caz tried to come off as her boyfriend, even if pretending (while secretly we know he loved it because we find out Caz is obsessed, so we were genuinely robbed from his POV). Meanwhile, Eliza would whine about this, which made no sense whatsoever. I get that Eliza didn’t want her real feelings to get involved, but that is the whole point of this and the trope. I was glad that Caz was actually into the role, even if ‘acting,� but Eliza’s role was so stiff. She never tried to play off as Caz’s girlfriend, and she would get upset when Caz made an effort. Like, girl, this was your idea to begin with! Why are you mad and upset when this was precisely your goal?
Plus, I could not understand how the plot of this book stems from fake dating, yet these two hardly had any fake dating done. I mean, it came a little easier for Caz, considering he’s an actor, and it was something he could quickly get into a role of, but Eliza, who is the one who PROPOSED this to Caz to begin with, seriously sucked at her part. She wanted to give the impression that she and Caz were dating, yet no impression was made. I could understand why she didn’t want their families to get involved, but if I were close to these two who were trying to sell me a story of them dating, I would not be able to believe their non-existent dating scenarios. Not only were there none, but everything felt so forced. For example, they briefly go out, they don’t paint fake schemes of them dating, and Eliza is scared of holding his hand in school, at least, even though that is the place for her to get the most publicity. Eliza was also very awkward and super tense whenever she was around Caz. She needed to loosen up a little. She would often come off as judgemental and unpleasant, projecting her feelings onto Caz because of her embarrassing moments. I could only feel embarrassed for her sometimes. How will you get mad at Caz for not feeling anything when the relationship is fake, anyway?
*cue the eye roll*
I did not feel any tension between the two main leads. There was zero chemistry, so believing in the so-called relationship development was difficult when it felt like there wasn’t. I only liked the distinction between a crush and love because it felt more realistic. While Eliza could appreciate Caz's good-looking appearance, she admitted that the feelings she was growing for him were more of a crush than a feeling of love. I thought this was necessary, making it more realistic and believable. Too often, authors tend to jump straight to the phase of “I love you� even if they aren’t there yet. It was also easy to interpret Eliza’s crush on Caz because of what he did for her. However, the reason I didn’t feel any chemistry, despite this, was because I couldn’t understand what Caz himself saw in Eliza.
In addition, sometimes this reminded me a little of , where these two were forced into situations because of their friends or the people around them. In other words, it felt as if their moments were forced upon them instead of being created naturally. There is also a lot more telling than showing, so even though we are told and become aware of Eliza and Caz apparently getting to know each other, we don’t see this. I mean, they have been fake dating for months, yet every time they were together, there was no intimacy, and it felt like they had just agreed to pretend to date because of how awkward and tense it always felt. The dialogue was hardly ever amusing and came off as embarrassing and stilted instead. Very few moments they had conversations were more memorable and fun. Eliza’s sarcasm was on point sometimes, but other times, her character’s inner or external dialogue was humiliating and not funny.
It doesn’t matter if this is YA because YA is a palette cleanser for me and something I use when I’m tired of my usual reads. It is a different form of escapism, as if I’m escaping the repetitiveness of adult romances. I hardly ever pay attention to writing styles and do not consider myself a professional in that area, so I hardly comment on it. I highlighted many statements and quotes that I could relate to, so I wouldn’t say the writing in this was the worst. It wasn’t the most tedious and straightforward, but it wasn’t the most exciting either. Not too bland but also not too flashy.
Other issues I had had to do with how underdeveloped the story felt. As I mentioned above, Ann Liang incorporated important and vital themes, like those related to mental health, teenage struggles, and vulnerabilities. Caz’s character was much more complex than Eliza’s, and I also found myself being a fan of him. His struggles were apparent, although a little underdeveloped. I would have loved to learn more about him through his eyes and not just what Eliza was learning about him. Even though this isn’t a dual POV, I think it would have added more depth to the story because of how much more substance and character it would add. Still, even if the singular POV worked for me, Caz is a character with more layers to unfold. He appears confident and striking but is hiding his vulnerabilities. He has pressure from his mother, who I found selfish and arrogant. Eliza also makes it seem like Caz cannot possibly have issues because he’s a rising C-drama actor, so how could he possibly have any problems, RIGHT?! Anyway, there was a lot left to explore about his character. Unfortunately, Eliza only thinks about herself and her reputation, what it would mean about her future and current internship, and not about Caz’s life.
The ending was no better. It was rushed to an extreme, with the third act conflict presenting itself towards the end.
All in all, this story was a complete letdown. I didn’t find anything enjoyable, even if there were some things I could relate to and appreciate. The only reason I started this today was because I recently found out this author donated a complete book bundle and an ARC of her upcoming release to ‘Books for Palestine,� which immediately made me appreciate her more. I’m happy for those who enjoyed this, but unfortunately, Eliza was too cynical for my liking, there wasn’t any relationship development, and the author’s execution of balancing out some lighthearted themes and more brutal ones did not always work out.
Despite this, I prefer feeling something rather than nothing. The good thing is that the problems are not mine to deal with, although sometimes it feels very stressful because I’ll be reading on my Kindle and feel nothing but anger and rage that I want to throw against the wall. However, my Kindle does not deserve that treatment when it costs money. The good thing is that I borrow many books from my library, such as this one, so I don’t have to worry about the financial measures. Ranting is very liberating, and ŷ is a safe space to write a negative review about the book if that’s how I feel. So, I firmly believe in being able to express myself by complaining about a book if that’s what it takes to make me feel better. I recently had a comment in one of my negative reviews for a top-rated, very well-loved book where the user noted that I wrote 25 paragraphs for a book I did not enjoy. Thanks for counting, but I clearly don’t keep track nor care how many paragraphs I write to express how stupid, boring, angering, or unmemorable I found a book.
Another thing I do is that I tend to read negative reviews when I don’t like a book because, somehow, my feelings feel more validated. Call me selfish or whatever you want, but we can all agree that we feel validated and good when people agree. Whenever someone agrees that “This book was boring!�, I feel like I unconsciously and invisibly raise a fist into the air and yell Ԩ!� because someone else interpreted the book like I did. The same goes for positive reviews for books we both loved. There is comfort in finding people who agree with you, who see the book the same way you do, positively or not, because it makes you feel less guilty or alone. I sometimes feel guilty when reviewing books because there are things in the book that I KNOW are supposed to be serious. I found myself nodding my head quite a few times while reading this, being able to relate, even though the main character is seventeen and I’m not.
I know this is all irrelevant. I can see the appeal for this. I can see how and why this book can come off as relatable for many people, and that can severely impact the enjoyment of someone. It always happens to me, and I’m not complaining because I love relating to characters, even for sad reasons. However, unfortunately, I could not bring myself to feel a single ounce/pound/gram/cup/liter/quart or any other type of measurement of sympathy for what this book tried to be.
Tried to be. Because, in my eyes, this book tried to do this and show that, but it failed.
Generally, if a book starts on the wrong note for me 15% in, I still have hope it’ll pick up later on since there’s 85% left of the story and plenty of room for the enjoyment to kick in. But when I am 15% in, loving the book, and I start to notice it go downhill, I give up and become pessimistic.
That’s what happened with If This Is Real.
There are quite a few things I can appreciate and like:
For example, I liked the segments of Eliza’s struggles with identity and socialization. I don’t think you need to be an immigrant or a child of immigrants to understand this because it can happen a lot when you move to different places many different times. Eliza presents us with sorrowful feelings about distancing yourself from the people you grow close to, only to separate yourself because both parties realize it’s not worth putting in the effort. She reminded me a lot about myself and how I lost many friends and connections when I graduated from high school. So many close connections that I had before, and now it’s as if we’re strangers. I’ve gotten to the point where I accept some are no longer worth trying, because even if I try putting in the effort, I get ignored.
Every new post from an old friend serves as a painful reminder: This is their life now, without you. This is their group of best friends, their boyfriend they didn’t tell you about; this is them moving on completely. This is proof that when they said they’ll remember you, stay in touch with you, they were lying.
There is also discussion on Eliza’s Chinese identity. While Eliza accepts who she is, the author captures the difficulties of fitting in well. Despite being born in China, Eliza’s feelings about not feeling Chinese enough are palpable. Her emotions are vivid, clear, and intense, with enough emotion throughout her feelings. It’s easy to understand her when you can relate to her, but the author encapsulates this feeling well even if you can't. We see Eliza struggle through different moments–like when she’s at a restaurant with Caz and doesn’t speak and understand Mandarin the way he does, or how she isn’t part of any group/clique at school, or she’s the new girl without considerable worth. We also see how and why this happened, such as how she moved to different countries and locations many times or how she couldn’t connect with her roots the way others could. I sometimes felt for her because I could relate to her challenges.
I also really liked the brief (although very underdeveloped) dialogue about teenage struggles, not just fitting in but also mental health, vulnerabilities, the pressure of college and college applications, making family and friends proud, and many more, both for her and Caz. There’s some teenage angst, although not used to add depth to the story, instead to show the reality of teenage struggles in between the lightheartedness the author focuses on. Although most of the book highlights a sweet romance between two young teens, the writing has some heavier themes.
However, I can only recall that the first 15% of this story was enjoyable, and it all took a wrong turn after.
Most of my frustration stems from our main character, Eliza. While there are some qualities about her, Eliza’s character came off as too infuriating for my liking. If I were a teenager reading this for the first time, like when I first joined this site in 2016, I probably would have liked her. But now, at my more-developed age of 23, I only found her cynical. Her skepticism wouldn’t have been an issue had I believed there was a reason for her negative attitude; however, I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with her feelings one way or another. Some people state they can’t connect with a character because they can’t relate, but I disagree. Sometimes, you simply cannot relate to a character because you are not like them for different reasons–race, religion, childhood, environment, education, financial status, etc. So, with Eliza, my inability to connect with her has more to do with her lack of character development, which is a huge necessity in these types of stories.
Eliza is first introduced to us as someone who comes off as more introverted, with an over-thinker brain, somewhat reserved personality, and insecure character. She finds comfort in writing and maintains a close relationship with her best friend, who isn’t near her anymore due to being in different countries. While I don’t have an issue with characters like Eliza (I would be a hypocrite, considering I can relate to quite a few things), I don’t think Eliza ever acknowledged her subjective attitude. She comes off as strongly judgemental, somehow believing she’s the only one who can have problems and issues revolving around her life. She was incredibly frustrating and agitating, never really bothering to work on her troubles. I was waiting for the moment she would have some spark of character growth, but instead her wrongdoings seemed to be excused with more problems.
Another issue I had with Eliza was her inability to conform to her unrealistic fake dating scandal. For a romance (YA, but still romance) that is supposed to be built through the fake dating trope, I missed the fake dating that was supposed to take place. I like the fake dating trope because of the opportunity the author has to give the readers a push-and-pull mentality for their characters. Plus, I love seeing that transition from “This is fake. This isn’t real. This is for business purposes.� to “I don’t want to pretend. I like how this feels.� I missed the memo here, though.
Eliza came off as black and white. She had a push-and-pull relationship with Caz that did not work in my favor. One moment, she’s admitting she’s developing a crush on him, and the next, she’s pushing him away when he’s confessing his feelings for her. She constantly runs away from him, doesn’t clarify what she wants, and doesn’t appreciate his efforts. I was probably supposed to feel bad for her, but she was annoying. Caz tried to come off as her boyfriend, even if pretending (while secretly we know he loved it because we find out Caz is obsessed, so we were genuinely robbed from his POV). Meanwhile, Eliza would whine about this, which made no sense whatsoever. I get that Eliza didn’t want her real feelings to get involved, but that is the whole point of this and the trope. I was glad that Caz was actually into the role, even if ‘acting,� but Eliza’s role was so stiff. She never tried to play off as Caz’s girlfriend, and she would get upset when Caz made an effort. Like, girl, this was your idea to begin with! Why are you mad and upset when this was precisely your goal?
Plus, I could not understand how the plot of this book stems from fake dating, yet these two hardly had any fake dating done. I mean, it came a little easier for Caz, considering he’s an actor, and it was something he could quickly get into a role of, but Eliza, who is the one who PROPOSED this to Caz to begin with, seriously sucked at her part. She wanted to give the impression that she and Caz were dating, yet no impression was made. I could understand why she didn’t want their families to get involved, but if I were close to these two who were trying to sell me a story of them dating, I would not be able to believe their non-existent dating scenarios. Not only were there none, but everything felt so forced. For example, they briefly go out, they don’t paint fake schemes of them dating, and Eliza is scared of holding his hand in school, at least, even though that is the place for her to get the most publicity. Eliza was also very awkward and super tense whenever she was around Caz. She needed to loosen up a little. She would often come off as judgemental and unpleasant, projecting her feelings onto Caz because of her embarrassing moments. I could only feel embarrassed for her sometimes. How will you get mad at Caz for not feeling anything when the relationship is fake, anyway?
What the hell is he up to? We agreed to keep our families out of this, and I can’t imagine him benefiting from this situation in any way. Is he so committed to his role as the perfect fake boyfriend? Or is it just a habit for him by now, to constantly entertain, perform, impress?
*cue the eye roll*
I did not feel any tension between the two main leads. There was zero chemistry, so believing in the so-called relationship development was difficult when it felt like there wasn’t. I only liked the distinction between a crush and love because it felt more realistic. While Eliza could appreciate Caz's good-looking appearance, she admitted that the feelings she was growing for him were more of a crush than a feeling of love. I thought this was necessary, making it more realistic and believable. Too often, authors tend to jump straight to the phase of “I love you� even if they aren’t there yet. It was also easy to interpret Eliza’s crush on Caz because of what he did for her. However, the reason I didn’t feel any chemistry, despite this, was because I couldn’t understand what Caz himself saw in Eliza.
In addition, sometimes this reminded me a little of , where these two were forced into situations because of their friends or the people around them. In other words, it felt as if their moments were forced upon them instead of being created naturally. There is also a lot more telling than showing, so even though we are told and become aware of Eliza and Caz apparently getting to know each other, we don’t see this. I mean, they have been fake dating for months, yet every time they were together, there was no intimacy, and it felt like they had just agreed to pretend to date because of how awkward and tense it always felt. The dialogue was hardly ever amusing and came off as embarrassing and stilted instead. Very few moments they had conversations were more memorable and fun. Eliza’s sarcasm was on point sometimes, but other times, her character’s inner or external dialogue was humiliating and not funny.
It doesn’t matter if this is YA because YA is a palette cleanser for me and something I use when I’m tired of my usual reads. It is a different form of escapism, as if I’m escaping the repetitiveness of adult romances. I hardly ever pay attention to writing styles and do not consider myself a professional in that area, so I hardly comment on it. I highlighted many statements and quotes that I could relate to, so I wouldn’t say the writing in this was the worst. It wasn’t the most tedious and straightforward, but it wasn’t the most exciting either. Not too bland but also not too flashy.
Other issues I had had to do with how underdeveloped the story felt. As I mentioned above, Ann Liang incorporated important and vital themes, like those related to mental health, teenage struggles, and vulnerabilities. Caz’s character was much more complex than Eliza’s, and I also found myself being a fan of him. His struggles were apparent, although a little underdeveloped. I would have loved to learn more about him through his eyes and not just what Eliza was learning about him. Even though this isn’t a dual POV, I think it would have added more depth to the story because of how much more substance and character it would add. Still, even if the singular POV worked for me, Caz is a character with more layers to unfold. He appears confident and striking but is hiding his vulnerabilities. He has pressure from his mother, who I found selfish and arrogant. Eliza also makes it seem like Caz cannot possibly have issues because he’s a rising C-drama actor, so how could he possibly have any problems, RIGHT?! Anyway, there was a lot left to explore about his character. Unfortunately, Eliza only thinks about herself and her reputation, what it would mean about her future and current internship, and not about Caz’s life.
The ending was no better. It was rushed to an extreme, with the third act conflict presenting itself towards the end.
All in all, this story was a complete letdown. I didn’t find anything enjoyable, even if there were some things I could relate to and appreciate. The only reason I started this today was because I recently found out this author donated a complete book bundle and an ARC of her upcoming release to ‘Books for Palestine,� which immediately made me appreciate her more. I’m happy for those who enjoyed this, but unfortunately, Eliza was too cynical for my liking, there wasn’t any relationship development, and the author’s execution of balancing out some lighthearted themes and more brutal ones did not always work out.
March 25, 2023
SO FREAKING CUTE
March 9, 2024
ˏˋ°�*⁀� 5 stars �
� this book made me so unbelievably happy 💌
� � ˖ � for all the cynics who secretly still believe in love � ₊⊹
this is the happiest i've ever been while reading a book. eliza and caz, this whole book, officially owns my heart. i've had 5 star reads before this one, but this was an entirely different feeling. basically, this is one of my favorite books of all time now. it's only february, but my entire year has been made. all my problems have been solved, skin is clear, grass is greener, everything about this book is just perfection and i can't express my love for it enough. 🫶
� � ˖ � "are you happy?"
"i am, are you?"
"i'm so unbelievably happy." � ₊⊹
˚� · »-🩷� plot
eliza lin's life takes an unexpected turn when her essay about the love of her life goes viral. her story has charmed millions of people on the internet, including her classmates, has gained her a devoted following, and has given her the opportunity to be an intern at her favorite publisher. all is great for eliza, but there's only one problem; her entire essay is made up. eliza has never even been in love. but now the whole world is invested in her fake love story and her dream career is on the line. desperate to cover up the truth, eliza strikes a deal with her classmate, and famous actor, caz song (the loml). she'll help him with his college essays if he pretends to be her boyfriend.
i absolutely adored everything about this story. the essay, the fake dating, eliza and caz growing closer - all of it was so cute and gave everything i want and need in a romance. i was blushing and giggling the whole time and could not put this down. every scene in this book is adorable, it's fast paced, all the characters are lovable, the romance is beautiful, eliza is relatable, and caz is perfect. what's not to love?
� � ˖ � "what am i like around him?"
"happy." � ₊⊹
˚� · »-🩷� characters
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� eliza lin 🌸 ‧₊˚.
i know i previously said i've never related to a character more than alice sun, but that was before i knew eliza lin. i saw so much of myself in her and connected with her on so many levels. i just want to hug her and be her best friend. 🫂 and she's so awkward omg, i could not with her sometimes, but she's also so real for that. 😭 her character was written beautifully and i adored her development. her thoughts, fears, and insecurities were so realistic and i felt them on a personal level. losing friendships, the feeling that she can't make people stay, the fear of getting attached because she's scared of ruining things, it just resonated with me so deeply and i love her so much. 🩷
� � ˖ � "i guess my point is that i do believe in love. really. i'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me." � ₊⊹
� this is the realest thing i have ever read in my life
� � ˖ � "i've suspected there's something fundamentally unlovable about me. something that makes it easy for people to forget me the second i leave, to drift out of touch no matter how hard i try to keep them in my life. i've said before that my default setting is loneliness, but i was wrong. maybe it's really fear." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don't miss me back. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long to move on." � ₊⊹
� sigh
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� caz song 🎬 ‧₊˚.
i'm so in love with him guys, it's crazy. he quickly made his way up to my top 3 book bfs, and that's a list i take very seriously. he was so charming and perfect and the epitome of my type. i mean, first of all, he's beautiful, but that's not what drew me in. it definitely helped, but his humor, personality, the depth in his character - ann liang did a wonderful job at creatingthe love of my life caz song. he's flirty and playful and sweet and AHHHHHHHHHH i love him. what really broke my heart though was him not seeing his own self-worth and the fact that he doesn't let people see the real him and feels like he needs to keep up this facade all the time. sigh i was on the verge of tears a couple of times but i love him. 🩷
� � ˖ � "i don't want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you're the only one who's ever made me feel like i can just be...honest. myself. like i matter even when all the cameras are off." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "he might once have claimed to never beg anyone for anything, but his voice is painfully close to pleading when he says, 'i want this to be real.'" � ₊⊹
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� elizacaz 💐 ‧₊˚.
new favorite couple unlocked. ugh they're so perfect together, i can't handle their cuteness. every moment they had together was beautiful, flawless, adorable, everything.when is it my turn to be happy. she made him paper cranes with compliments in each one for his birthday. like if that's not the cutest thing ever. 😭 she even made him a cake despite not being good at baking. she took care of him while he was sick and no one was there for him, he carried her on his back in the rain, called her every night when he was away, took her around the city because she never had a chance to tour it. they are the definition of perfection and i dream of having a relationship like theirs. 😞🫶
� � ˖ � "i'm not going anywhere, i promise." � ₊⊹
� i'm literally in tears
� � ˖ � "what do you care about then?"
"you, i want you, eliza." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "caz, i'd love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life." � ₊⊹
� final thoughts: this easily became one of my favorite books ever and i could reread it over and over and never get tired of it. basically, if you haven't read this book already, please go read it!
� � ˖ � "i hope you remember to miss me when this is all over." � ₊⊹
happy reading!
love, hannah 💌
� this book made me so unbelievably happy 💌
� � ˖ � for all the cynics who secretly still believe in love � ₊⊹
this is the happiest i've ever been while reading a book. eliza and caz, this whole book, officially owns my heart. i've had 5 star reads before this one, but this was an entirely different feeling. basically, this is one of my favorite books of all time now. it's only february, but my entire year has been made. all my problems have been solved, skin is clear, grass is greener, everything about this book is just perfection and i can't express my love for it enough. 🫶
� � ˖ � "are you happy?"
"i am, are you?"
"i'm so unbelievably happy." � ₊⊹
˚� · »-🩷� plot
eliza lin's life takes an unexpected turn when her essay about the love of her life goes viral. her story has charmed millions of people on the internet, including her classmates, has gained her a devoted following, and has given her the opportunity to be an intern at her favorite publisher. all is great for eliza, but there's only one problem; her entire essay is made up. eliza has never even been in love. but now the whole world is invested in her fake love story and her dream career is on the line. desperate to cover up the truth, eliza strikes a deal with her classmate, and famous actor, caz song (the loml). she'll help him with his college essays if he pretends to be her boyfriend.
i absolutely adored everything about this story. the essay, the fake dating, eliza and caz growing closer - all of it was so cute and gave everything i want and need in a romance. i was blushing and giggling the whole time and could not put this down. every scene in this book is adorable, it's fast paced, all the characters are lovable, the romance is beautiful, eliza is relatable, and caz is perfect. what's not to love?
� � ˖ � "what am i like around him?"
"happy." � ₊⊹
˚� · »-🩷� characters
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� eliza lin 🌸 ‧₊˚.
i know i previously said i've never related to a character more than alice sun, but that was before i knew eliza lin. i saw so much of myself in her and connected with her on so many levels. i just want to hug her and be her best friend. 🫂 and she's so awkward omg, i could not with her sometimes, but she's also so real for that. 😭 her character was written beautifully and i adored her development. her thoughts, fears, and insecurities were so realistic and i felt them on a personal level. losing friendships, the feeling that she can't make people stay, the fear of getting attached because she's scared of ruining things, it just resonated with me so deeply and i love her so much. 🩷
� � ˖ � "i guess my point is that i do believe in love. really. i'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me." � ₊⊹
� this is the realest thing i have ever read in my life
� � ˖ � "i've suspected there's something fundamentally unlovable about me. something that makes it easy for people to forget me the second i leave, to drift out of touch no matter how hard i try to keep them in my life. i've said before that my default setting is loneliness, but i was wrong. maybe it's really fear." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don't miss me back. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long to move on." � ₊⊹
� sigh
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� caz song 🎬 ‧₊˚.
i'm so in love with him guys, it's crazy. he quickly made his way up to my top 3 book bfs, and that's a list i take very seriously. he was so charming and perfect and the epitome of my type. i mean, first of all, he's beautiful, but that's not what drew me in. it definitely helped, but his humor, personality, the depth in his character - ann liang did a wonderful job at creating
� � ˖ � "i don't want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you're the only one who's ever made me feel like i can just be...honest. myself. like i matter even when all the cameras are off." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "he might once have claimed to never beg anyone for anything, but his voice is painfully close to pleading when he says, 'i want this to be real.'" � ₊⊹
⋆⋅𓍢ִ� elizacaz 💐 ‧₊˚.
new favorite couple unlocked. ugh they're so perfect together, i can't handle their cuteness. every moment they had together was beautiful, flawless, adorable, everything.
� � ˖ � "i'm not going anywhere, i promise." � ₊⊹
� i'm literally in tears
� � ˖ � "what do you care about then?"
"you, i want you, eliza." � ₊⊹
� � ˖ � "caz, i'd love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life." � ₊⊹
� final thoughts: this easily became one of my favorite books ever and i could reread it over and over and never get tired of it. basically, if you haven't read this book already, please go read it!
� � ˖ � "i hope you remember to miss me when this is all over." � ₊⊹
happy reading!
love, hannah 💌
Read
April 5, 2025pre-review
i know you guys are tired of all the rtcs.. rtc lol
-
pre-read
the buddy reads are going crazy!! reading this with sarah !! NAT I'M GONNA GO BACK TO FINISH TAS SOON I'M SORRY TRUST!!
i know you guys are tired of all the rtcs.. rtc lol
-
pre-read
the buddy reads are going crazy!! reading this with sarah !! NAT I'M GONNA GO BACK TO FINISH TAS SOON I'M SORRY TRUST!!
February 9, 2024
ೃ⁀➷・❥・“� 𝓰𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓶𝔂 𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓭𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮. 𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂. 𝓘’� 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮.�・❥・ೃ⁶�
� 6 stars
� buddy read with ma gorg reem💌🫶🏻 I had the loveliest time reading this with you, ml!🥹🫶🏻
💫spoiler-free review with a bit of my rambling ofc💫
Where shall I begin with?! I seem to be lost for words to describe how much this book means to me. I've read so many characters throughout my life, but never once I could relate to them sm. But Eliza, my dear Eliza, she's a character I can so closely relate that to the point I hate that she relates so much to me❤️� Ann Liang what magic did you use to write this book?� It was like you've been watching me all my life to write this one👀👉🏻👈🏻
This book depicts all the important matters- relationships, academic pressure, career aspects, fear of loneliness, female friendship, struggles to adjust in a new place, and figuring out how to fit in the society🫶🏻� The people I loved once, only to drift apart from me without giving me any reason, to the point I felt there was something wrong with me. I felt every single thing Eliza was going through, shutting people out, bottling up your emotions, and reading more books, because, in the end, I knew books were my only companion❤️🩹❤️� That's how I came into reading😁 And this book did bring back all those memories much to my dislike🙂 Ngl, I cried when I read about Eliza's & Zoe's friendship because deep down I felt all the pain I've locked down for years seeing Eliza's pain, fear, and loneliness😭❤️�
Each person I've come across has been a lesson in my life🙇🏻♀� Not that I never found the right ones, I found them maybe a little late but worth the wait, and I'm so grateful for my two besties till this very day who pulled me through everything, who were there for me as shoulders to lean on, to rant about random things, to call whenever I need them no matter the time or distance that separates us as much as I would do for them in a heartbeat🥹❤️� Be it wishing happy birthday first, coming in the call when you need them the most at random times, cheering each other, making time for each other etc., it's the little things we do for each other from the heart that counts, not for any personal gains💗�Sorry for my ranting tho😅 And I wish everyone to get that kind of friendship where there is neither competition nor jealousy but genuine happiness for each other when one succeeds in their life🥹🥹🫶🏻🫶🏻
❥𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃� & 𝓒𝓪𝔃�:
� Eliza Lin � was so relatable to me in so many aspects- ambitious, losing friends, fear of getting your heart broken, and hunger for growth in academics as well as in career. She’s been through a lot and every time she gets attached to someone, they leave her🥺❤️� I adore Eliza soo freaking much<3😩🫶🏻 Her overnight fame due to one article going viral, with your not-so-best photo where you are in your school uniform getting published in newspapers, the no. of messages you get from people you used to know but now are strangers is kind of overwhelming and was all too familiar for me.
� Caz Song � was perfect. His personality, his humor, and his charming looks were everything😩💘 I won't blame anyone if they fall head over heels in love with him. I really wished there was a POV for him too so I could see how his handsome brain works🥺that sounds soo cringy😬
Him coming to trust Eliza was soo heartwarming tbh, opening up and showing her that he is not what others believe him to be. Item added to the nth no.of checklist on how my future partner should look like: Find Someone Observant Like Caz Freaking Song �
Their constant banters, bickering, and teasing- I ATE THAT UP!! THEY WERE SOO CUTE😭😭💘 Istg, my cheeks were hurting from grinning widely🤭
The following occurred irl with me:
� Emily Lin � I will fight tooth and nail if someone says they don't love her😏 She deserves a special place in my review too🥹🫶🏻 She was the smartest, the best, and most protective of her sister. I loved her even though she is really an eighty-year-old grandma trapped inside a nine-year-old’s tiny body🤭not my words, Eliza's
Overall this book was THE BEST YA NOVEL I've read so far, and I wish I could give this book all the infinity stars from the universe🥹🫶🏻 I will recommend this book over and over again if I have toI may or may not have forced my besties to read this now🤭
Also I wish there was a bonus chapter/epilogue or even Book 2- ElizaCaz deserves them sm😩💘💘🙌🏻
� Edit: CAN SOMEONE, ANYONE TELL ME HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RECOVER FROM THIS BOOK?!😭
❥𝓢𝓸𝓶� 𝓯𝓪𝓿 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼💌:
ೃ⁀➷・❥・𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌・❥・ೃ⁶�
💌01/22/24
RTC soon💘watchout for an emotional rambling review from me I really wish I could give this book more than 5 stars🥹🫶🏻 GR please consider my request to change the rating to 10 stars🙂
💌01/19/24
I'm going in with high expectations after seeing all of your amazing updates on this book😃This better be worth the hype😏 Doing my first ever BR on ŷ with the gorgeous reem🥰🫶🏻
Also, I just realized this is the first time I'm reading a book from this author, so THIS BETTER BE GOOD, hoping this really takes me out of the reading slump😌🤞🏻
: ̗̀�01/15/24
Guess what?! I just got my first ebook for 2024😍
Can't wait to read this🤩the kid in me is simping over the pretty cover
� 6 stars
� buddy read with ma gorg reem💌🫶🏻 I had the loveliest time reading this with you, ml!🥹🫶🏻
💫spoiler-free review with a bit of my rambling ofc💫
Where shall I begin with?! I seem to be lost for words to describe how much this book means to me. I've read so many characters throughout my life, but never once I could relate to them sm. But Eliza, my dear Eliza, she's a character I can so closely relate that to the point I hate that she relates so much to me❤️� Ann Liang what magic did you use to write this book?� It was like you've been watching me all my life to write this one👀👉🏻👈🏻
“And this, I think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. Missing people who don’t miss me back. It takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.�
This book depicts all the important matters- relationships, academic pressure, career aspects, fear of loneliness, female friendship, struggles to adjust in a new place, and figuring out how to fit in the society🫶🏻� The people I loved once, only to drift apart from me without giving me any reason, to the point I felt there was something wrong with me. I felt every single thing Eliza was going through, shutting people out, bottling up your emotions, and reading more books, because, in the end, I knew books were my only companion❤️🩹❤️� That's how I came into reading😁 And this book did bring back all those memories much to my dislike🙂 Ngl, I cried when I read about Eliza's & Zoe's friendship because deep down I felt all the pain I've locked down for years seeing Eliza's pain, fear, and loneliness😭❤️�
“We do need people. People who’ll laugh with us and cry with us and make the bad days bearable and the good days better; people who’ll remember what we forget and listen even when they don’t completely understand; people who’ll need us back. It has nothing to do with strength at all, and every-thing to do with being human.�
Each person I've come across has been a lesson in my life🙇🏻♀� Not that I never found the right ones, I found them maybe a little late but worth the wait, and I'm so grateful for my two besties till this very day who pulled me through everything, who were there for me as shoulders to lean on, to rant about random things, to call whenever I need them no matter the time or distance that separates us as much as I would do for them in a heartbeat🥹❤️� Be it wishing happy birthday first, coming in the call when you need them the most at random times, cheering each other, making time for each other etc., it's the little things we do for each other from the heart that counts, not for any personal gains💗�
❥𝓔𝓵𝓲𝔃� & 𝓒𝓪𝔃�:
� Eliza Lin � was so relatable to me in so many aspects- ambitious, losing friends, fear of getting your heart broken, and hunger for growth in academics as well as in career. She’s been through a lot and every time she gets attached to someone, they leave her🥺❤️� I adore Eliza soo freaking much<3😩🫶🏻 Her overnight fame due to one article going viral, with your not-so-best photo where you are in your school uniform getting published in newspapers, the no. of messages you get from people you used to know but now are strangers is kind of overwhelming and was all too familiar for me.
� Caz Song � was perfect. His personality, his humor, and his charming looks were everything😩💘 I won't blame anyone if they fall head over heels in love with him. I really wished there was a POV for him too so I could see how his handsome brain works🥺
Him coming to trust Eliza was soo heartwarming tbh, opening up and showing her that he is not what others believe him to be. Item added to the nth no.of checklist on how my future partner should look like: Find Someone Observant Like Caz Freaking Song �
Their constant banters, bickering, and teasing- I ATE THAT UP!! THEY WERE SOO CUTE😭😭💘 Istg, my cheeks were hurting from grinning widely🤭
The following occurred irl with me:
“Mom: *stares at me* Why are you smiling? what are you looking at?
Me: Me?! Smiling? I'm studying not smiling Mom! *presses a hand on mouth to keep from smiling*�
� Emily Lin � I will fight tooth and nail if someone says they don't love her😏 She deserves a special place in my review too🥹🫶🏻 She was the smartest, the best, and most protective of her sister. I loved her even though she is really an eighty-year-old grandma trapped inside a nine-year-old’s tiny body🤭
Overall this book was THE BEST YA NOVEL I've read so far, and I wish I could give this book all the infinity stars from the universe🥹🫶🏻 I will recommend this book over and over again if I have to
Also I wish there was a bonus chapter/epilogue or even Book 2- ElizaCaz deserves them sm😩💘💘🙌🏻
� Edit: CAN SOMEONE, ANYONE TELL ME HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RECOVER FROM THIS BOOK?!😭
❥𝓢𝓸𝓶� 𝓯𝓪𝓿 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼💌:
“This is proof that when they said they’ll remember you, stay in touch with you, they were lying.�
“She’s the only one left in my life. The only one who’s stayed over the years. And the only one who’s messaged me with a completely unrestrained number of exclamation marks demanding an explanation.�
“I don’t want to fall off,�
“You won’t fall, I won’t let you.�
“You always look good. You know that. But if you ever use my words against me, I will personally cut all your hair off myself. Got it?�
“Whatever you say, my love.�
“It’d be more accurate, if you were to press your forehead to mine. Then you could properly compare the temperatures.�
“I don’t want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you’re the only one who’s ever made me feel like I can just be... honest. Myself. Like I matter even when all the cameras are off.�
“I want this to be real.�
“What . . . what am I like around him?�
“H,�
“I had always feared Caz Song would break my heart, but this� This is the kind of heartbreak you never recover from.�
“I’d love to be inconvenienced by you. I wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life.�
ೃ⁀➷・❥・𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌・❥・ೃ⁶�
💌01/22/24
RTC soon💘
💌01/19/24
I'm going in with high expectations after seeing all of your amazing updates on this book😃
Also, I just realized this is the first time I'm reading a book from this author, so THIS BETTER BE GOOD, hoping this really takes me out of the reading slump😌🤞🏻
: ̗̀�01/15/24
Guess what?! I just got my first ebook for 2024😍
Can't wait to read this🤩
March 13, 2024
ˑ 𖦹 ˖ 🎀 � 4.5 stars �
� spoilers marked - 10/12/2023
content tags┊꒰🏷� : #fakedating #yaromcom #asianrep, #standalone
—⟡�
i. overall thoughts:
SHUT UP this single-handedly made my entire year better.
i will genuinely never get over elizacaz 😭
SHE MADE HIM PAPER CRANES WITH A COMPLIMENT ON EACH ONE—i will never forget that scene. + them on a motorcycle, the little things like eliza taking care of caz when he's sick, caz buying eliza tanghulu, finding her lost bracelet, their relationship with her younger sister, CARRYING HER IN THE RAIN 😭😭 they make me so unbelievably happy.
pls read this book, it will make you believe in love <3
—⟡�
ii. annotations:
� � caz. i'd love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life. �
� "are you happy?"
"i am. are you?"
"i'm so unbelievably happy right now."
thank you to my bsf ella for reading this with me mwah 💋i jus know she was living for those bts mentions while i was living for the taylor mentions
� 📂 .� pre-review
i'm in the mood to smile and ann liang's fluffy romances r the cure to everything !!
� spoilers marked - 10/12/2023
content tags┊꒰🏷� : #fakedating #yaromcom #asianrep, #standalone
.𖥔 ݁ ˖ � � and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don’t miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on. � �
—⟡�
i. overall thoughts:
✦� � i hope you remember to miss me when all this is over. � ₊˚๑
SHUT UP this single-handedly made my entire year better.
i will genuinely never get over elizacaz 😭
SHE MADE HIM PAPER CRANES WITH A COMPLIMENT ON EACH ONE—i will never forget that scene. + them on a motorcycle, the little things like eliza taking care of caz when he's sick, caz buying eliza tanghulu, finding her lost bracelet, their relationship with her younger sister, CARRYING HER IN THE RAIN 😭😭 they make me so unbelievably happy.
pls read this book, it will make you believe in love <3
—⟡�
ii. annotations:
� � caz. i'd love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life. �
� "are you happy?"
"i am. are you?"
"i'm so unbelievably happy right now."
thank you to my bsf ella for reading this with me mwah 💋
� 📂 .� pre-review
i'm in the mood to smile and ann liang's fluffy romances r the cure to everything !!
August 6, 2024
3.75 stars ˚˖𓍢💐˚.�
� AGGHH THIS WAS ADORABLE. 💗💞💝💗💓 it got me feeling 10 different types of emotions and ughh elizacaz. 🥹🥹🥹
"You must know that's not what I care
about."
"What- what do you care about, then?"
"You," he says quietly. "I want you Eliza."
� eliza lin 🍡 : most relatable character ever, ugh love her so so much. she’s a girl who has never felt that home was one single place, she’s awkward, anxious, a people pleaser, and a hopeless romantic. she doesn’t feel like she’ll ever fit in and feels lonely. but she’s so sweet and kind and will do anything for the people she loves. she folded 80 paper cranes for caz filled with different compliments and always always wears her matching bracelet with zoe (her best friend). she might be my favorite ever fmc because i just feel so spoken for. she self sabotages, is a big overthinker, and has that older sister guilt. she’s a huge reason why i love this book so much and how it warmed my heart. 💘
- “I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
- “Sometimes I think loneliness is my default setting.�
- “And I don't know how to make people stay; I never have."
� caz song 🎬 : a huge green flag!! a really really famous c-drama actor that every girl is head over heels for. he teases and annoys eliza (on purpose! she secretly likes it💓), literally carries her in the pouring rain 🙌, rides a motorcycle, is good with kids, and is kind and reassuring. he is so CUTE. and omg him and eliza>>>>> 🫂☺️☺️
� the plot 🌸 : eliza writes a cute essay about her (non existent) boyfriend and it goes viral. caz song, a famous c-drama actor who goes to her new school, recently had a scandal so eliza comes up with a strategic, mutually beneficial and romantically oriented alliance to help further our respective careers!! but she soon starts falling for him, for real this time (which was not part of the plan!) 😚😚
"I'd love to be inconvenienced by you. I wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life."
� the main point 🧸 : okay so to summarize, basically you need to read this, don’t walk, RUN to your wallet and buy it rn. its so so so amazingly adorable and addictive!! (if you don’t like fluffy romances or perhaps a little unrealistic ones, then i can’t promise you’ll love it.. but i absolutely did🥹). definitely gonna read more of ann liang’s books💗💗
. ݁� � their playlist! ݁˖ . ݁
- the perfect pair - beabadoobee
- mess it up - gracie abrams
- invisible string - taylor swift
- fuck it i love you - lana del rey
- 4EVER - clairo
- there is a light that never goes out - the smiths
� AGGHH THIS WAS ADORABLE. 💗💞💝💗💓 it got me feeling 10 different types of emotions and ughh elizacaz. 🥹🥹🥹
"You must know that's not what I care
about."
"What- what do you care about, then?"
"You," he says quietly. "I want you Eliza."
� eliza lin 🍡 : most relatable character ever, ugh love her so so much. she’s a girl who has never felt that home was one single place, she’s awkward, anxious, a people pleaser, and a hopeless romantic. she doesn’t feel like she’ll ever fit in and feels lonely. but she’s so sweet and kind and will do anything for the people she loves. she folded 80 paper cranes for caz filled with different compliments and always always wears her matching bracelet with zoe (her best friend). she might be my favorite ever fmc because i just feel so spoken for. she self sabotages, is a big overthinker, and has that older sister guilt. she’s a huge reason why i love this book so much and how it warmed my heart. 💘
- “I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
- “Sometimes I think loneliness is my default setting.�
- “And I don't know how to make people stay; I never have."
� caz song 🎬 : a huge green flag!! a really really famous c-drama actor that every girl is head over heels for. he teases and annoys eliza (on purpose! she secretly likes it💓), literally carries her in the pouring rain 🙌, rides a motorcycle, is good with kids, and is kind and reassuring. he is so CUTE. and omg him and eliza>>>>> 🫂☺️☺️
� the plot 🌸 : eliza writes a cute essay about her (non existent) boyfriend and it goes viral. caz song, a famous c-drama actor who goes to her new school, recently had a scandal so eliza comes up with a strategic, mutually beneficial and romantically oriented alliance to help further our respective careers!! but she soon starts falling for him, for real this time (which was not part of the plan!) 😚😚
"I'd love to be inconvenienced by you. I wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life."
� the main point 🧸 : okay so to summarize, basically you need to read this, don’t walk, RUN to your wallet and buy it rn. its so so so amazingly adorable and addictive!! (if you don’t like fluffy romances or perhaps a little unrealistic ones, then i can’t promise you’ll love it.. but i absolutely did🥹). definitely gonna read more of ann liang’s books💗💗
. ݁� � their playlist! ݁˖ . ݁
- the perfect pair - beabadoobee
- mess it up - gracie abrams
- invisible string - taylor swift
- fuck it i love you - lana del rey
- 4EVER - clairo
- there is a light that never goes out - the smiths
January 26, 2024
� 3.75 stars�
� despite the slightly lower rating, this book still means the world to me ⊹₊ �
this was a br with my besties imene and georgia and it just made the experience so so so much better i love you guys sm �
imene’s obsession with the font of the book rather than the contents of it was literally my favourite thing ever I CANT 😭✋�
honestly though fr elizacaz own my HEART 🧸💌
they were so freaking cute and it was just overall an adorable book😪🫠 had me giggling and screaming all day
im not sure why I felt the urge to give it a 3.75 but idk I think the friendship lasted a teeny tiny bit too long for me yk!?! like I wanted ROMANCEEE but it was still so beautifully written and I will obviously be going to read ann liang’s other books 🤭🤭💝
ALSO CAZ!?!? he shocked me so so so much I did not expect to love him as much as I did!
PLUS HE LITERALLY OWNS A MOTORCYCLE AND HAS DIMPLES THAT MAN IS THE WHOLE STANDARD ‼️
in the wise words of cheska caz is an illegirl 🎶✨�
and eliza was so cute her internal monologue is literally me 24/7 fr
moving on to the traumaaa �
eliza it’s ok if no one else misses you bc I ALREADY DO😜and caz song duh but like me more 🙄
౨ৎ ˖ � “every new post from an old friend serves as a painful reminder: this is their life now, without you. this is their group of best friends, their boyfriend they didn’t tell you about; this is them moving on completely� ౨ৎ ˖ �
no but tell me why this HIT SO HARD!! ive been moving my whole life and never ever did I keep in touch with any of my old friends either. eliza is literally nothing if not relatable.
no cos why do i relate to almost every character i read about what 😭 and never in the good way
im so glad i read this book fr and im ready to fall into the ann liang rabbit hole 🫡 bring it on.
—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—Ĕ�
I feel like this review is so messy it was just a little rushed and im tired from school maybe I’ll adjust it later
—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—Ĕ�
⋆˙₊˚� � pre-read � ⋆˙₊˚�
my first ann liang book I am beyond excited 🤭🤭 all the gr girlies have been raving about this book i really really hope it lives up to my expectations pretty please 😣
botm read with my pookies imene and georgia 💘💘yes it’s literally the end of January but whatever.
� despite the slightly lower rating, this book still means the world to me ⊹₊ �
this was a br with my besties imene and georgia and it just made the experience so so so much better i love you guys sm �
imene’s obsession with the font of the book rather than the contents of it was literally my favourite thing ever I CANT 😭✋�
honestly though fr elizacaz own my HEART 🧸💌
they were so freaking cute and it was just overall an adorable book😪🫠 had me giggling and screaming all day
im not sure why I felt the urge to give it a 3.75 but idk I think the friendship lasted a teeny tiny bit too long for me yk!?! like I wanted ROMANCEEE but it was still so beautifully written and I will obviously be going to read ann liang’s other books 🤭🤭💝
ALSO CAZ!?!? he shocked me so so so much I did not expect to love him as much as I did!
PLUS HE LITERALLY OWNS A MOTORCYCLE AND HAS DIMPLES THAT MAN IS THE WHOLE STANDARD ‼️
in the wise words of cheska caz is an illegirl 🎶✨�
and eliza was so cute her internal monologue is literally me 24/7 fr
moving on to the traumaaa �
eliza it’s ok if no one else misses you bc I ALREADY DO😜
౨ৎ ˖ � “every new post from an old friend serves as a painful reminder: this is their life now, without you. this is their group of best friends, their boyfriend they didn’t tell you about; this is them moving on completely� ౨ৎ ˖ �
no but tell me why this HIT SO HARD!! ive been moving my whole life and never ever did I keep in touch with any of my old friends either. eliza is literally nothing if not relatable.
im so glad i read this book fr and im ready to fall into the ann liang rabbit hole 🫡 bring it on.
—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—Ĕ�
I feel like this review is so messy it was just a little rushed and im tired from school maybe I’ll adjust it later
—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—ĔĔ—Ĕ�
⋆˙₊˚� � pre-read � ⋆˙₊˚�
my first ann liang book I am beyond excited 🤭🤭 all the gr girlies have been raving about this book i really really hope it lives up to my expectations pretty please 😣
botm read with my pookies imene and georgia 💘💘
April 6, 2024
� 5 �!!
˚˖𓍢ִ͙֒✧˚.🎀
spoiler free.
now playing - delicate & feels like
for those hopeless romantics - don't you worry, its real🌷
okay, deep breath. where has this book been my whole life? i dont think i have words to describe how much i loved & adored this book. and im not giving this a 5 star because so many other people have.tho i can see why you did but because i related so hard. & ive been trying to put these emotions & experiences, that eliza was feeling, into words. ann liang did it with this book. and im so sad to let these characters go. fave people ever.
and - im super shocked too. this year, ive taken my 5-star reads so seriously and here's the third one! mind you - this is a YA contemporary romance. and five stars?! im impressed. sorry i can't get over this book. weaved with self-discovery, humor, beijing, & so much heart: go read this time its real
� plot: do you every wonder what happens behind the scenes of your favorite couple? how would you want the whole world watching your love story unravel. is it even real? THE WHOLE PREMISE OF THIS WASS 🤌 fake dating, beijing, international school, celebrity, c-dramas + more while liang also weaved some other topics & lessons: like self-discovery, being vulnerable, finding that person you can be yourself with. this book was so real. actually.
and that quote is why i adore this book so much, AND MORE. 😭
� overall experience: yeah, i very much enjoy this. but thats not the only reason! it had other relationships - like platonic, and what eliza was going through was just- she is so valid. i want to give her the biggest hug ever. caz too. but seriously, this was so mature for its genre! i wasn't cringing, and THERE WERE SO MANY MOMENTS, i had to stand up and walk around for a bit, because i just could not stop swooning and blushing 🤭 go read this right now, havent i said enough? nope!
everyone just stop. �.˚🦋༘⋆
˚₊‧꒰� character under-study ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
�eliza lin: shes me. shes so me. i am her. end of discussion. i dont think ive ever FULLY related to a character so hard, as much as i have with her. but i dont think i can put into words how much i love her. shes so inspiring. literally making me want to become a writer. her hopeless romantic self, ugh 🥹 wanna hug her rn. and oh, all the pain she was going thru with different relationships, being the oldest, always moving around, shes so strong. if she was real id cry of joy. THE PAPER CRANES. she def listens to folklore and emails i cant send
�caz song: just - wow. i love him so. much. i loved how we got to understand how he was feeling during the relationship. and caz finally opening up to someone, being vulnerable, & not fake, like you see on TV. the genuine hurt he had when she ran. I WAS SOBBING. and just his comebacks, i fully on squealed. this is why i adore fake dating. OH and when he drove her around beautiful beijing on his motorcycle, SWOON. im glad he has eliza, top book bf now.🐚
�zoe & emily FAVE SIDE CHARACTERS!! em is the cutest/maturest 9 yr old ever, i wanna give her a hug and some pocky 🥹 & lowkey a spin-off with zoe?! mwah love them <3
the characters in this book had such a big impact, and helped the book so much. i love them <3
˚₊‧꒰� quotes ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
ann knew EXACTLY what she was trying to say with these.
�“But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? Frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? yeah. 🎀
�Romantic breakups are romanticized constantly, talked about everywhere by everyone, but platonic breakups areswept to the side, suffered in secret, as if they’re somehow less important.� ive never cried harder. 🩰
�its actually funny, looking back at it, how writing has always been the string tying me to people. invisible string who?!🪞
�“And I don't know how to make people stay; I never have.�🦢
˚₊‧꒰� top songs ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
🠞 hits different
🠞 mess it up
🠞 all of the girls you loved before.
🠞 fearless
🠞 mine
🠞 i can see you
🠞 cornelia street
🠞 this is me trying
🠞 invisible string
🠞 you are in love
When I told you "I'm fine", you were lied to
How could I think that all that I gave you was enough?
'Cause every time I get too close, I just go mess it up
💌 - in conclusion, this book made me so happy, and i think you'll love it. but lowkey i needed an epilogue omg 😭 more elizacaz content? bonus chapter? please!! anyways, HIGHLY rec! start your ann liang journey tdy, ALL THE STARS! annotating this was the best thing ever 🎀
thank you to everyone for giving encouragment, and keeping up with the updates!! it was worth it <3 sorry this is so long lmao! and to those who loved this, i can see why 🥹 adore and love you all so much
୨୧・・・・୨୧
post - read
i am so unbelieveably happy rn i could cry. UGH, rtc later <3
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚preview!
ITS TIIMEE <3 im finally on my ann liang journey, does anyone know how long i've waited to read this?! ive never been more excitedactually. to mitra - who has solemnly convinced me to read ann liang. thank you so much 🥹 and to all my other girlies, who adore THIS one in particular and gave it that FIVE STARS,rachael, lila, hanna, hannah, sof, anna, & fadhee, iloveyou guys so much. i hope this is a 5 star, but there's no doubt in my mind it'll be lower than a 4, here's to the first read of april!! its still march
˚˖𓍢ִ͙֒✧˚.🎀
spoiler free.
“I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over�
now playing - delicate & feels like
for those hopeless romantics - don't you worry, its real🌷
okay, deep breath. where has this book been my whole life? i dont think i have words to describe how much i loved & adored this book. and im not giving this a 5 star because so many other people have.
and - im super shocked too. this year, ive taken my 5-star reads so seriously and here's the third one! mind you - this is a YA contemporary romance. and five stars?! im impressed. sorry i can't get over this book. weaved with self-discovery, humor, beijing, & so much heart: go read this time its real
� plot: do you every wonder what happens behind the scenes of your favorite couple? how would you want the whole world watching your love story unravel. is it even real? THE WHOLE PREMISE OF THIS WASS 🤌 fake dating, beijing, international school, celebrity, c-dramas + more while liang also weaved some other topics & lessons: like self-discovery, being vulnerable, finding that person you can be yourself with. this book was so real. actually.
“I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
and that quote is why i adore this book so much, AND MORE. 😭
� overall experience: yeah, i very much enjoy this. but thats not the only reason! it had other relationships - like platonic, and what eliza was going through was just- she is so valid. i want to give her the biggest hug ever. caz too. but seriously, this was so mature for its genre! i wasn't cringing, and THERE WERE SO MANY MOMENTS, i had to stand up and walk around for a bit, because i just could not stop swooning and blushing 🤭 go read this right now, havent i said enough? nope!
“And this, I think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. Missing people who don’t miss me back. Clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. It takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.�
everyone just stop. �.˚🦋༘⋆
˚₊‧꒰� character under-study ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
�eliza lin: shes me. shes so me. i am her. end of discussion. i dont think ive ever FULLY related to a character so hard, as much as i have with her. but i dont think i can put into words how much i love her. shes so inspiring. literally making me want to become a writer. her hopeless romantic self, ugh 🥹 wanna hug her rn. and oh, all the pain she was going thru with different relationships, being the oldest, always moving around, shes so strong. if she was real id cry of joy. THE PAPER CRANES. she def listens to folklore and emails i cant send
�caz song: just - wow. i love him so. much. i loved how we got to understand how he was feeling during the relationship. and caz finally opening up to someone, being vulnerable, & not fake, like you see on TV. the genuine hurt he had when she ran. I WAS SOBBING. and just his comebacks, i fully on squealed. this is why i adore fake dating. OH and when he drove her around beautiful beijing on his motorcycle, SWOON. im glad he has eliza, top book bf now.🐚
�zoe & emily FAVE SIDE CHARACTERS!! em is the cutest/maturest 9 yr old ever, i wanna give her a hug and some pocky 🥹 & lowkey a spin-off with zoe?! mwah love them <3
the characters in this book had such a big impact, and helped the book so much. i love them <3
˚₊‧꒰� quotes ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
ann knew EXACTLY what she was trying to say with these.
�“But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? Frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? yeah. 🎀
�Romantic breakups are romanticized constantly, talked about everywhere by everyone, but platonic breakups areswept to the side, suffered in secret, as if they’re somehow less important.� ive never cried harder. 🩰
�its actually funny, looking back at it, how writing has always been the string tying me to people. invisible string who?!🪞
�“And I don't know how to make people stay; I never have.�🦢
˚₊‧꒰� top songs ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
🠞 hits different
🠞 mess it up
🠞 all of the girls you loved before.
🠞 fearless
🠞 mine
🠞 i can see you
🠞 cornelia street
🠞 this is me trying
🠞 invisible string
🠞 you are in love
When I told you "I'm fine", you were lied to
How could I think that all that I gave you was enough?
'Cause every time I get too close, I just go mess it up
💌 - in conclusion, this book made me so happy, and i think you'll love it. but lowkey i needed an epilogue omg 😭 more elizacaz content? bonus chapter? please!! anyways, HIGHLY rec! start your ann liang journey tdy, ALL THE STARS! annotating this was the best thing ever 🎀
thank you to everyone for giving encouragment, and keeping up with the updates!! it was worth it <3 sorry this is so long lmao! and to those who loved this, i can see why 🥹 adore and love you all so much
୨୧・・・・୨୧
post - read
i am so unbelieveably happy rn i could cry. UGH, rtc later <3
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚preview!
ITS TIIMEE <3 im finally on my ann liang journey, does anyone know how long i've waited to read this?! ive never been more excited
January 6, 2024
6th january:
4.7 �
funny, heartfelt and adorable - this is the perfect book for rom-com lovers!! it was the best way to start the new year.
� plot
while it's mainly about romance (which I'll talk about in a few moments), the book is also about family, academic pressure, figuring out how to fit in and about losing friends. all these topics were dealt with in a wonderful way, not taking away the focus on the romance but still being present and important. it's the main reason for why I found the story realistic (I have never had a boyfriend so it's obviously a bit hard to relate to that lmao)!
I loved that it showed happy families instead of a broken one, it increased the happiness I felt while reading. both Eliza and Caz's families were so cute, I really enjoyed the moments I had together with them.
the focus on losing friends because of distance or simply because they grow apart was great. since I have experienced similar things, i always find it reassuring to see that even main characters in books struggle with this, it makes me see that I'm not alone with dealing with dealing with it.
� writing
I don't really know if my following point fits to this category, but I also don't know where else to put it, so: this book was so funny. and i don't mean a-little-silent-giggle-funny, I mean laugh-out-loud-funny. seriously, I could not get enough of the characters' humour, the funny incidents and just the jokes in general - it was awesome and made me so happy.
� characters
Eliza is a very relatable character. she has high expectations of herself and puts peoples' needs before her own, especially her family's because she adores and appreciates them so much, which was beautiful to read about and made me feel incredibly lucky to have the same kind of family dynamic. I was so happy for her when in the end she'd finally found a place that felt like home, since she'd struggled with that because of the constant moving. she really, really deserved it and I want to hug her so badly. she's so polite, super funny, caring and adorable, I loved seeing Beijing from her pov.
getting to know Caz was so much fun. while he hasn't got his own pov (which I would've LOVED by the way), I still feel like I know him because he went through a character development. he became much better at communicating and at understanding Eliza better, thereby givingme and Eliza the chance to connect with him on a deeper level than only with his actor-self. he is the sweetest and most considerate person to ever exist. his humour is hilariously sarcastic and I loved when he "fought" with Eliza, it was always so so funny. also, he's just so fine. I want my own cdrama actor boyfriend now, please.
side characters like Eliza's little sister or Caz's friends made the story even more perfect. I literally love them all??
� elizacaz
ADORABLE, SICKENING SWEET, PERFECT, WONDERFUL - do I need to say more?! well, if that description hasn't won you over, then maybe this will: they're the best example for why I love the fake-dating trope - the tension, the slowly falling in love with each other despite their relationship being a fake arrangement, the confusion resulting from those feelings, the love confessions (!!!!), EVERYTHING they do.
they're literally perfect together and complement each other beautifully. they remember the smallest details about the other one (Caz still knowing the name of their arrangement at the end??? I melted) and know exactly how to make the other one happy. their bickering was so funny. also when Eliza made the paper cranes for Caz and he was so happy to receive them??? omg.
they're it.
� conclusion
the only reason I didn't give it a full 5 stars was that I could've been a bit more obsessed with the characters and the story in general. i love the book, don't get me wrong, but it's more the feeling i had while reading it that i remember than something specific from the story.
still, i want all of you who haven't read it to absolutely read is as soon as possible!! it's so worth it and you'll have a great time.
-------------------
awww this was CUTE 😭
rtc probably tomorrow!
--------------------
I still don't have the update button on my website, so I'll just say it here:
starting 2024 with a book so many people seem to love and just looks super cute 🫶🏻
4.7 �
funny, heartfelt and adorable - this is the perfect book for rom-com lovers!! it was the best way to start the new year.
� plot
while it's mainly about romance (which I'll talk about in a few moments), the book is also about family, academic pressure, figuring out how to fit in and about losing friends. all these topics were dealt with in a wonderful way, not taking away the focus on the romance but still being present and important. it's the main reason for why I found the story realistic (I have never had a boyfriend so it's obviously a bit hard to relate to that lmao)!
I loved that it showed happy families instead of a broken one, it increased the happiness I felt while reading. both Eliza and Caz's families were so cute, I really enjoyed the moments I had together with them.
the focus on losing friends because of distance or simply because they grow apart was great. since I have experienced similar things, i always find it reassuring to see that even main characters in books struggle with this, it makes me see that I'm not alone with dealing with dealing with it.
� writing
I don't really know if my following point fits to this category, but I also don't know where else to put it, so: this book was so funny. and i don't mean a-little-silent-giggle-funny, I mean laugh-out-loud-funny. seriously, I could not get enough of the characters' humour, the funny incidents and just the jokes in general - it was awesome and made me so happy.
� characters
Eliza is a very relatable character. she has high expectations of herself and puts peoples' needs before her own, especially her family's because she adores and appreciates them so much, which was beautiful to read about and made me feel incredibly lucky to have the same kind of family dynamic. I was so happy for her when in the end she'd finally found a place that felt like home, since she'd struggled with that because of the constant moving. she really, really deserved it and I want to hug her so badly. she's so polite, super funny, caring and adorable, I loved seeing Beijing from her pov.
getting to know Caz was so much fun. while he hasn't got his own pov (which I would've LOVED by the way), I still feel like I know him because he went through a character development. he became much better at communicating and at understanding Eliza better, thereby giving
side characters like Eliza's little sister or Caz's friends made the story even more perfect. I literally love them all??
� elizacaz
ADORABLE, SICKENING SWEET, PERFECT, WONDERFUL - do I need to say more?! well, if that description hasn't won you over, then maybe this will: they're the best example for why I love the fake-dating trope - the tension, the slowly falling in love with each other despite their relationship being a fake arrangement, the confusion resulting from those feelings, the love confessions (!!!!), EVERYTHING they do.
they're literally perfect together and complement each other beautifully. they remember the smallest details about the other one (Caz still knowing the name of their arrangement at the end??? I melted) and know exactly how to make the other one happy. their bickering was so funny. also when Eliza made the paper cranes for Caz and he was so happy to receive them??? omg.
they're it.
� conclusion
the only reason I didn't give it a full 5 stars was that I could've been a bit more obsessed with the characters and the story in general. i love the book, don't get me wrong, but it's more the feeling i had while reading it that i remember than something specific from the story.
still, i want all of you who haven't read it to absolutely read is as soon as possible!! it's so worth it and you'll have a great time.
-------------------
awww this was CUTE 😭
rtc probably tomorrow!
--------------------
I still don't have the update button on my website, so I'll just say it here:
starting 2024 with a book so many people seem to love and just looks super cute 🫶🏻
October 8, 2023
u want to smile? read this. please. they are my favourite people ever
February 2, 2024
�5�
~spoilers !!
⤿buddy read with my lovely syd � i had so much fun reading this with u ml 😽 iloveyousomuch
first of all i want to thank syd for motivating to FINALLY write a review for this! i've been in a big review slump lately and it's killing me 😭 i am so sorry that it took so long but it's here now 🫶
my thoughts �
i'm dead. deceased. what does ann liang put in her books?? THE ROMANCE WAS SO GOOD. i was screaming into my pillowand spamming syd for the entirety of this book. elizacaz are utter perfection. flawless. incomparable. idyllic. indefectible. (watch me continue to name all the synonyms for perfect) GUYS. THE CRANES. eliza stayed up all night to fold like 80 paper cranes for caz (and there's me over here barely knowing how to fold one) and she put wishes on every single one 😭 if someone did that for me, i would marry them on the spot.
eliza ʦ
my girl. she deserves the absolute world. she was so achingly relatable and i really saw myself in her. eliza's character was written so exquisitely and with so much depth that it's so. hard. not to love her. i want to give her the biggest hug ever 🥹
caz 🎥
why can't he be real? caz is so kindhearted and understanding and the sweetest guy ever. he IS the standard. every time he opened his mouth i was swooning 🫠
if you take away one thing from this review, let it be that all i ask of you is to pleaseeee read this 🙏 i promise you're doing yourself a favor
quotes 💌
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚
pre-review
ann liang can do no wrong 😽
rtc !!
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚
pre-read review
before u guys say anything, yes i'm cr reading 4 books 😭
ANYWAYSS I'M SO EXCITED !! crossing my fingers that this will deliver 🤞
~spoilers !!
⤿buddy read with my lovely syd � i had so much fun reading this with u ml 😽 iloveyousomuch
🪷 ໋� 𖥻"i hope you remember to miss me when all this is over."
first of all i want to thank syd for motivating to FINALLY write a review for this! i've been in a big review slump lately and it's killing me 😭 i am so sorry that it took so long but it's here now 🫶
my thoughts �
i'm dead. deceased. what does ann liang put in her books?? THE ROMANCE WAS SO GOOD. i was screaming into my pillow
eliza ʦ
my girl. she deserves the absolute world. she was so achingly relatable and i really saw myself in her. eliza's character was written so exquisitely and with so much depth that it's so. hard. not to love her. i want to give her the biggest hug ever 🥹
🪷 ໋� 𖥻"i guess my point is that i do believe in love. really. i'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me."
caz 🎥
why can't he be real? caz is so kindhearted and understanding and the sweetest guy ever. he IS the standard. every time he opened his mouth i was swooning 🫠
🪷 ໋� 𖥻"i don't want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you're the only one who's ever made me feel like i can just be...honest. myself. like i matter even when all the cameras are off."
if you take away one thing from this review, let it be that all i ask of you is to pleaseeee read this 🙏 i promise you're doing yourself a favor
quotes 💌
"but aren't small things exactly what friendships are made of? frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? when you take those things away, what do you have left?"
"and i don't know how to make people stay; i never have."
"romantic breakups are romanticized constantly, talked about everywhere by everyone, but platonic breakups are swept to the side, suffered in secret, as if they're somehow less important."
"hope is not a weakness. it's oxygen, a crack in the window, the pale slash of moonlight across a dusty room. maybe i should start learning to invite it in."
"caz, i'd love to be inconvenienced by you. i wouldn't mind being inconvienced by you for the rest of my life."
“and this, i think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don’t miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn’t mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.�
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚
pre-review
ann liang can do no wrong 😽
rtc !!
�.˚ ᡣ� .𖥔˚
pre-read review
before u guys say anything, yes i'm cr reading 4 books 😭
ANYWAYSS I'M SO EXCITED !! crossing my fingers that this will deliver 🤞
December 18, 2024
thank you to inkyard press for the advanced reader copy!
this book is for the evermore and folklore girls, the writers who rely on academic validation, and the mirrorballs. i will read anything ann liang writes.
buddy read with annabella💌
this book is for the evermore and folklore girls, the writers who rely on academic validation, and the mirrorballs. i will read anything ann liang writes.
buddy read with annabella💌
September 5, 2024
2.75 stars ⭐️
� minor spoilers ahead!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
i hate to admit it but this book was underwhelming 😭
the whole fake dating thing was pretty unrealistic imo. don’t get me wrong, i did find them cute at times, but caz agreed to eliza’s plan way too easily, and they would’ve gotten way more hate about their fake relationship in the real world. but then again, it’s just a story and maybe i’m just being too unreasonable� 😖
it also took them FOREVERRR to reveal their true feelings for each other which was pretty frustrating.
i really wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me 🥲
� minor spoilers ahead!! ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ �
i hate to admit it but this book was underwhelming 😭
the whole fake dating thing was pretty unrealistic imo. don’t get me wrong, i did find them cute at times, but caz agreed to eliza’s plan way too easily, and they would’ve gotten way more hate about their fake relationship in the real world. but then again, it’s just a story and maybe i’m just being too unreasonable� 😖
it also took them FOREVERRR to reveal their true feelings for each other which was pretty frustrating.
i really wanted to love this book but it just wasn’t for me 🥲
November 25, 2024
3.5 stars
this review will contain no spoilers!
tropes:
� fake dating
☔┊𓏲 ࣪₊♡� plot & overall thoughts - this time it's real follows caz song and as they fake date after eliza's essay about her fake relationship blows up overnight. this book was super cute!! honestly, i wasn't that invested in caz and eliza's relationship. i feel like i paid more attention to zoe and eliza's relationship than the main couple, which isn't supposed to happen in a romance book. however, ann liang always has the cutest scenes ever and this book didn't break that cycle 🥹🥹.
🎬┊� ࣪₊♡� can we please give it up for caz?!? he's the definition of a perfect book boyfriend, a perfect boyfriend, everything. he was the sweetest and most caring man that i've ever read about. the way he carried her home in the pouring rain 🥹🥹?? need me a man to do that for me! i adore him so much 🫂🫂
🗒️┊𓏲 ࣪₊♡� i'm going to be honest and say that eliza annoyed me at times. sometimes she would just do or say some dumb things and then expect someone else to take the blame for it. sometimes she would also randomly get mad at caz or someone else that she's close with for no reason and it pissed me off 😭😭. she's the embodiment of "i'm not like other girls". i don't hate her, but she definitely isn't one of my favorite ann liang characters.
✈️┊� ࣪₊♡� some quotes!
ˏˋ°�*⁀� “sometimes i'm convinced i'll spend the rest of my life this way. alone. sometimes I think loneliness is my default setting."
ˏˋ°�*⁀� “hope is such a terrible thing. it’s like a bad habit you can’t shake off, a stray dog that keeps showing up outside your door for scraps, even when you have nothing left to give. every time you think you’re rid of it at last, it manages to sneak its way back in. take over.�
� thank you so much to chevs for buddy reading this with me, i love you so much my girl <3 💙
- this read was also dedicated to ells, love you so much angel 🥹💌
� sorry for this bestie 💔💔
this review will contain no spoilers!
tropes:
� fake dating
☔┊𓏲 ࣪₊♡� plot & overall thoughts - this time it's real follows caz song and as they fake date after eliza's essay about her fake relationship blows up overnight. this book was super cute!! honestly, i wasn't that invested in caz and eliza's relationship. i feel like i paid more attention to zoe and eliza's relationship than the main couple, which isn't supposed to happen in a romance book. however, ann liang always has the cutest scenes ever and this book didn't break that cycle 🥹🥹.
🎬┊� ࣪₊♡� can we please give it up for caz?!? he's the definition of a perfect book boyfriend, a perfect boyfriend, everything. he was the sweetest and most caring man that i've ever read about. the way he carried her home in the pouring rain 🥹🥹?? need me a man to do that for me! i adore him so much 🫂🫂
🗒️┊𓏲 ࣪₊♡� i'm going to be honest and say that eliza annoyed me at times. sometimes she would just do or say some dumb things and then expect someone else to take the blame for it. sometimes she would also randomly get mad at caz or someone else that she's close with for no reason and it pissed me off 😭😭. she's the embodiment of "i'm not like other girls". i don't hate her, but she definitely isn't one of my favorite ann liang characters.
✈️┊� ࣪₊♡� some quotes!
ˏˋ°�*⁀� “sometimes i'm convinced i'll spend the rest of my life this way. alone. sometimes I think loneliness is my default setting."
ˏˋ°�*⁀� “hope is such a terrible thing. it’s like a bad habit you can’t shake off, a stray dog that keeps showing up outside your door for scraps, even when you have nothing left to give. every time you think you’re rid of it at last, it manages to sneak its way back in. take over.�
� thank you so much to chevs for buddy reading this with me, i love you so much my girl <3 💙
- this read was also dedicated to ells, love you so much angel 🥹💌
� sorry for this bestie 💔💔
January 22, 2025
okay sooo i finished this months ago but i was too lazy to update it and write a review for it� hopefully i’ll write the review soon, so rtc 🫶🏻
༉ħ₊˚. pre-read:
my first ann liang book!! i’ve been wanting to read her books for a long time and i bought this yesterday 🥰 i hope i’ll love this 😽💗
༉ħ₊˚. pre-read:
my first ann liang book!! i’ve been wanting to read her books for a long time and i bought this yesterday 🥰 i hope i’ll love this 😽💗
February 5, 2025
╰� 5 stars!
⋆·� � *minor spoilers ahead!
this time it's real by ann liang is everything! i had no idea about this book, and i'm just so happy that it found me! i love everything about this book, and i enjoyed every bit of the time when i was reading this!!
౨ৎ eliza. i may not know her struggles personally, but the way it was written was so good that i feel as if i have been moving around places all my lifei haven’t moved anywhere since i was born i can’t imagine having to move around too much at such a young age where stability should really be prioritized because this is where we find ourselves looking for where we belong. we probably do it most of our life but i hope it makes sense. relationships such as friendships are built slowly by getting to interact with others. i completely see why it took a toll on her, especially that she isn’t just that good with change. she just wants to stop everything from getting too close to her just so she wouldn’t get hurt by other people. they just seem to drift away from her, so i totally get why eliza is overthinking about making it real with caz or with anyone. i hope i get to hug her and tell her that she is so lovable and some people are just meant to past by our lives, and it’s not her fault for why it happened.
౨ৎ caz. i can see his struggles with his mom. i genuinely don’t know if being academically excellent is really something that asian parents want, but that’s what his mom is. i know she wants the best for caz, but i also do know that caz knows it enough that he wants to have a great future, that’s why he’s torn. this man is living such a hard life, i can’t imagine how hard it is to always show up and make yourself likeable that it makes you second guess if the other parts of you that you don’t show to others are still worth wanting. moreover, i love how he decided to take the leap and do something that he actually wants.
their love story is so beautiful. it wasn’t rushed, it shows that ann liang took her time writing their love story to be this captivating. it really started as them as strangers without the tension they could feel in the air, it started with the awkward air that moved up to not dreading their chemistry training as much as she did the first time, and noticing the things he does. progressing to developing a crush, wanting more of each other’s worlds, wanting more than just fake dating, and finally making it real.
overall, i loved how this book managed to break but also heal my heart. i loved how it shows that maybe the potential of getting hurt by someone we love isn’t so bad. we’d rather spend the happy times with them because there are a lot of things lie on the side of fear. the fear of getting hurt or left alone will always be there, always creeping in, but we can always fight it if we put our minds that we can.
౨ৎ favorite lines/quotes:
"I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me."
"It feels like the closest thing I know to home."
"I don't know. Sometimes it just gets really exhausting having to explain your identity to everyone."
"Being here with Caz. Even if Beijing doesn't fully feel like mine yet, moments like this still give me hope that one day, it could be."
"I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over."
"It's almost too much—I want to believe the smile is real, that it's meant only for me."
"Be honest for once in my life."
"It makes me want to be braver too, to offer him something in return. Something real, for once."
"That thing about...being there for me. I want to be that for you too."
"I want you, Eliza."
"I want this to be real."
"God, he always makes these things sound so easy."
"But certain joys, I'm discovering, are worth the potential pain."
"The city rises up behind him, and if someone were to assign me an essay about home again, I know exactly what I'd write."
⋆·� � *minor spoilers ahead!
this time it's real by ann liang is everything! i had no idea about this book, and i'm just so happy that it found me! i love everything about this book, and i enjoyed every bit of the time when i was reading this!!
౨ৎ eliza. i may not know her struggles personally, but the way it was written was so good that i feel as if i have been moving around places all my life
౨ৎ caz. i can see his struggles with his mom. i genuinely don’t know if being academically excellent is really something that asian parents want, but that’s what his mom is. i know she wants the best for caz, but i also do know that caz knows it enough that he wants to have a great future, that’s why he’s torn. this man is living such a hard life, i can’t imagine how hard it is to always show up and make yourself likeable that it makes you second guess if the other parts of you that you don’t show to others are still worth wanting. moreover, i love how he decided to take the leap and do something that he actually wants.
their love story is so beautiful. it wasn’t rushed, it shows that ann liang took her time writing their love story to be this captivating. it really started as them as strangers without the tension they could feel in the air, it started with the awkward air that moved up to not dreading their chemistry training as much as she did the first time, and noticing the things he does. progressing to developing a crush, wanting more of each other’s worlds, wanting more than just fake dating, and finally making it real.
overall, i loved how this book managed to break but also heal my heart. i loved how it shows that maybe the potential of getting hurt by someone we love isn’t so bad. we’d rather spend the happy times with them because there are a lot of things lie on the side of fear. the fear of getting hurt or left alone will always be there, always creeping in, but we can always fight it if we put our minds that we can.
౨ৎ favorite lines/quotes:
"I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me."
"It feels like the closest thing I know to home."
"I don't know. Sometimes it just gets really exhausting having to explain your identity to everyone."
"Being here with Caz. Even if Beijing doesn't fully feel like mine yet, moments like this still give me hope that one day, it could be."
"I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over."
"It's almost too much—I want to believe the smile is real, that it's meant only for me."
"Be honest for once in my life."
"It makes me want to be braver too, to offer him something in return. Something real, for once."
"That thing about...being there for me. I want to be that for you too."
"I want you, Eliza."
"I want this to be real."
"God, he always makes these things sound so easy."
"But certain joys, I'm discovering, are worth the potential pain."
"The city rises up behind him, and if someone were to assign me an essay about home again, I know exactly what I'd write."
December 25, 2023
5 ☆‧₊˚ !
💌 “i hope you remember to miss me when all this is over.� 𖤐 ! ˚� . �
i haven’t read many romcoms but i can for sure say that this is one of the best ones i have ever read in my life. ann liang really outdid herself with this one. i personally think that fiction allows authors to explore many details of this world, big or small. it’s radically honest, it’s lyrical, and it’s ambiguous. when i sit down and read a book i expect to learn . learn the truth about love, society, and relationships. there’s a great power in storytelling and being able to harness that ability is an impressive talent. i think ann liang did just that.
¡¿ themes 💐 �. . . this time it’s real is more than just a mere piece of fiction, it’s a novel that delves into themes of different relationships. family, friends, and significant others. there are lots of moments between eliza and her family that i absolutely adored. her little sister was absolutely perfect and seeing little snippets of their relationship throughout the book was adorable. other than her family, eliza has one friend, her best friend � zoe. one of eliza’s big struggles is moving from country to country with her family. the constant change of moving schools and making new friends has been difficult, but zoe’s the one friend eliza has that’s managed to stay in contact with her as she’s been moving. seeing the ups and downs of their friendship was in some way relieving to see. it’s something that i know a lot of people, including me, can relate to and i found lots of comfort within it.
¡¿ genre/trope 💐 �. . . the romance in this book was done perfectly. the fake dating was executed in the best way possible. everything was just downright incredible. liang effortlessly blended the romance with every other theme in the book � allowing the reader to feel a greater depth of their emotions with every turn of the page. the writing had a flawless balance of passion and realism and it was unique . i feel like a lot of romance novels have cliché plots and tropes that you get tired of because they feel so similar, but this book was written SO well that it definitely stood out from the rest.
¡¿ elizacaz �. . . eliza and caz were oh so lovable. every little interaction between them had me giggling and kicking my feet. the small little gestures and acts of service ESPECIALLY had me going crazy. eliza taking her time to make paper cranes with handwritten notes for his birthday, taking care of him when he’s sick, their motorcycle rides and him stopping just to look for her bracelet. it was all so perfect and i adored every single moment of it. also the fact that eliza managed to pull an EXTREMELY good looking ACTOR??????? look at her go 🤭🤭
¡¿ eliza �. . . our fmc’s mother is a corporate crisis manager, and due to her work she’s been moving all over the place. she then finally ends up in beijing and although she’s chinese, she still doesn’t feel like she fits in. coming to grasps with her identity and who she really is becomes difficult and i think this is something a lot of people, again including me, can resonate with.
eliza’s fear of starting a new relationship is something i really felt. the fear of ruining anything you step into by just being you is what many, many people struggle with and having it shown in this book was oddly comforting for me to see. she’s a precious soul and i love her with every inch of my being 💝
¡¿ caz �. . . caz song is perfect. his humour, personality, and looks are so unbelievably enchanting i don’t blame anyone for falling head over heels for him. however, the way he sees himself to be worth close to nothing really breaks my heart. it’s sad to see how his family isn’t always there to support his decisions, but now that he has elizame and they we basically get married and have like three kids, his life is gonna be perfect 🤞 i just wanna protect him my husband from every single thing in this world.
overall, this time it’s real is the definition of a perfect romance and i highly, highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read this masterpiece yet. elizacaz are guaranteed to make everything in your life perfect 💝
🌷 ໋� 𖥻 note !! � i buddy read this with mitra and i had the best time. thank u for making ann liang’s books extra special 🤭 and by the way it’s me who loves elizacaz more 🙌
much love 💟💟
💌 “i hope you remember to miss me when all this is over.� 𖤐 ! ˚� . �
i haven’t read many romcoms but i can for sure say that this is one of the best ones i have ever read in my life. ann liang really outdid herself with this one. i personally think that fiction allows authors to explore many details of this world, big or small. it’s radically honest, it’s lyrical, and it’s ambiguous. when i sit down and read a book i expect to learn . learn the truth about love, society, and relationships. there’s a great power in storytelling and being able to harness that ability is an impressive talent. i think ann liang did just that.
¡¿ themes 💐 �. . . this time it’s real is more than just a mere piece of fiction, it’s a novel that delves into themes of different relationships. family, friends, and significant others. there are lots of moments between eliza and her family that i absolutely adored. her little sister was absolutely perfect and seeing little snippets of their relationship throughout the book was adorable. other than her family, eliza has one friend, her best friend � zoe. one of eliza’s big struggles is moving from country to country with her family. the constant change of moving schools and making new friends has been difficult, but zoe’s the one friend eliza has that’s managed to stay in contact with her as she’s been moving. seeing the ups and downs of their friendship was in some way relieving to see. it’s something that i know a lot of people, including me, can relate to and i found lots of comfort within it.
¡¿ genre/trope 💐 �. . . the romance in this book was done perfectly. the fake dating was executed in the best way possible. everything was just downright incredible. liang effortlessly blended the romance with every other theme in the book � allowing the reader to feel a greater depth of their emotions with every turn of the page. the writing had a flawless balance of passion and realism and it was unique . i feel like a lot of romance novels have cliché plots and tropes that you get tired of because they feel so similar, but this book was written SO well that it definitely stood out from the rest.
¡¿ elizacaz �. . . eliza and caz were oh so lovable. every little interaction between them had me giggling and kicking my feet. the small little gestures and acts of service ESPECIALLY had me going crazy. eliza taking her time to make paper cranes with handwritten notes for his birthday, taking care of him when he’s sick, their motorcycle rides and him stopping just to look for her bracelet. it was all so perfect and i adored every single moment of it. also the fact that eliza managed to pull an EXTREMELY good looking ACTOR??????? look at her go 🤭🤭
¡¿ eliza �. . . our fmc’s mother is a corporate crisis manager, and due to her work she’s been moving all over the place. she then finally ends up in beijing and although she’s chinese, she still doesn’t feel like she fits in. coming to grasps with her identity and who she really is becomes difficult and i think this is something a lot of people, again including me, can resonate with.
"we didn’t even have a fight or anything. it was just � we drifted apart. that’s what always happens when i’m involved, caz. every single fucking time."
eliza’s fear of starting a new relationship is something i really felt. the fear of ruining anything you step into by just being you is what many, many people struggle with and having it shown in this book was oddly comforting for me to see. she’s a precious soul and i love her with every inch of my being 💝
¡¿ caz �. . . caz song is perfect. his humour, personality, and looks are so unbelievably enchanting i don’t blame anyone for falling head over heels for him. however, the way he sees himself to be worth close to nothing really breaks my heart. it’s sad to see how his family isn’t always there to support his decisions, but now that he has eliza
overall, this time it’s real is the definition of a perfect romance and i highly, highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read this masterpiece yet. elizacaz are guaranteed to make everything in your life perfect 💝
🌷 ໋� 𖥻 note !! � i buddy read this with mitra and i had the best time. thank u for making ann liang’s books extra special 🤭 and by the way it’s me who loves elizacaz more 🙌
much love 💟💟
February 20, 2024
5 stars ೃ⁀�
� this is my first “pretty� review so it might be awful🤣
˚➶pdz
Basically Eliza (normal girl) and Caz (movie star) fake date, and she quickly starts to fall for him, but will NOT let him know. I swear I was so mad when she flat out rejected him😭😭😭 but like I GET IT. Shes just moved back to China after many years of living in other countries, and I love the home message she spreads
AND THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS HAD ME SCREAMING
˚➶cٱ
OMG STOP. ELIZA AND CAZ’S DYNAMIC- 😲. I LITERALLY NEED THIS BOY IN MY LIFE😭🤣😭. Eliza was such a relatable and sweet character, I loved all of her quotes like when she was talking about the makings of home
AND THEN HER TALKING ABOUT CAZ-
� I hope you remember to miss me when this is all over. �
And Caz was such a cutie patootie like im actually jealous haha
And EMILY. I LOVE HER —BEST LITTLE SISTER EVER!!!
˚� who would I recommend this to?
Ok, so there’s fake-dating and its a YA novel, and I personally enjoy both. It was comedic and romantic and I would rec this to anyone who’s into all the romancey stuff 🤣🩷
TY FOR READING ILYYY🫶🫶🫶
� this is my first “pretty� review so it might be awful🤣
˚➶pdz
Basically Eliza (normal girl) and Caz (movie star) fake date, and she quickly starts to fall for him, but will NOT let him know. I swear I was so mad when she flat out rejected him😭😭😭 but like I GET IT. Shes just moved back to China after many years of living in other countries, and I love the home message she spreads
AND THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS HAD ME SCREAMING
˚➶cٱ
OMG STOP. ELIZA AND CAZ’S DYNAMIC- 😲. I LITERALLY NEED THIS BOY IN MY LIFE😭🤣😭. Eliza was such a relatable and sweet character, I loved all of her quotes like when she was talking about the makings of home
AND THEN HER TALKING ABOUT CAZ-
� I hope you remember to miss me when this is all over. �
And Caz was such a cutie patootie like im actually jealous haha
And EMILY. I LOVE HER —BEST LITTLE SISTER EVER!!!
˚� who would I recommend this to?
Ok, so there’s fake-dating and its a YA novel, and I personally enjoy both. It was comedic and romantic and I would rec this to anyone who’s into all the romancey stuff 🤣🩷
TY FOR READING ILYYY🫶🫶🫶
August 4, 2024
"When you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced—you wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. that’s what love is. that’s all love really is.�
Our FMC Eliza has never known what love is like but when she has to write an essay for school, she writes about her current relationship. The relationship is simply perfect except for one issue; it's fake. To make matters worse the essay goes viral and now everyone is in love with Eliza's relationship and wants to know who her "mystery" boyfriend is. As Eliza is frantically trying to figure out what to do she over hears Caz, her classmate and a famous actor, talk about how he is struggling with his college essays. Eliza decides to make him an offer, fake date her for the sake of her future in writing, and she would help him with his essays.
❤️Fake Dating
❤️High School Romance
❤️Celebrity Romance
I really enjoyed "I hope this doesn't find you" so I decided to go ahead and listen to this one on audio as well. It was definitely cute and I enjoyed it but I didn't like it as much as her other work. I just wanted more from the characters and the storyline, and at times I felt the writing was rushed. The romance was really lacking in my eyes and even though the characters were supposed to be fake dating I felt the FMC was constantly pushing Caz away. My favorite moment in the book was when Caz got sick and Eliza went to take care of him making Caz lower his walls and to show he was human. I still love Ann Liang and her writing, and I will still continue to read her books, I just feel at the moment this is my least favorite one.
"But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? when you take those things away, what do you have left?�
"Because no matter what happens . . . we’re friends now, right? i want to be the person you know you can turn to. the place where you feel safe. i want you to feel like you can just be—human, in front of me. like you don’t have to always show your best side. okay? promise me.�
“If awkwardness could be a fatal flaw, it would most definitely be mine.�
"I guess my point is that i do believe in love. really. i'm just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.�
Pre-Read Review: I really enjoyed my first book by her so listening to this one on audio as well! ❤️�
July 29, 2024
⊹₊� 3.25 stars ⊹₊�
”for real, this time�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
12+ | spice free | spoiler free
[normal thing]
0:01 ──⚬──── 4:01
� ◃◃ ıı ▹▹ �
“it’s a normal thing to fall in love with movie stars� ⊹₊�
tropes ⋆˙⟡
� fake dating
� celebrity romance
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
the writing + my thoughts �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
to put it simply, I was underwhelmed. I went in expecting something mind blowing and super poetic, beautiful writing. it was not. that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy her writing, it was fun and easy, and there are some beautiful things that she’s written. however, I went in with such high expectations and I came out thinking I’ve read a million books like hers. the plot wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super original. the writing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t mind blowing. when you see people saying how much they love her writing and how incredible she is, your expectations will probably rise like mine did. I wish I didn’t because was super disappointed. I’m going to continue to read her books and I’m already reading another and I’m hoping that they’re better!
even though I said I didn’t love her writing, it is not bad at all! I definitely couldn’t write like her but it wasn’t my favorite.
moving on to the romance, I just don’t really feel strongly about it. they were super sweet together, though!
you may be thinking, I thought she rated this 3 stars? yes, I did. I really connected to both eliza and zoe (caz wasn’t my favorite but he wasn’t awful) and I’ll get more to them later. I enjoyed reading this while I was reading! as I’m writing this review I keep remembering how fun it was. I binged it and was excited to keep picking it up but the second I put it down I forgot everything. it was still a fun time!
the pacing is my favorite part. I really loved how she made months and months pass so their relationship could grow and it wasn’t insta-lovey. we didn’t have to read about the months that passed but it was clear how the characters had grown or how they hadn’t grown. they clearly got to know each other better and I loved it.
� I wanted to love it, I did, but the book just fell so flat
“hope is not weakness. it’s oxygen, a crack in the window, the pale slash of moonlight across a dusty room. maybe I should start learning to invite it in�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
main characters �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
eliza ⋆˙⟡
I related to eliza on a deep level. I appreciated how anne liang portrayed her. her struggles were real and vulnerable and I haven’t seen myself in many characters, but I saw myself in her. her friendships, her schoolwork, her worries, everything. however, there were also moments were she had so much fun, where she lived in the moment, where she just let herself feel okay. her character was 3 dimensional and SHE WAS JUST SO PERFECT. I can’t put into words how much I loved her.
“I guess my point is that I do believe in love. really. I’m just not convinced that love could ever happen to me�
� targeted. this is targeted.
caz ⋆˙⟡
I’ve read about boys exactly like him 50 times before. I was looking for something more original. of course he had no major flaws. of course he seems shallow but you get to know him and he’s actually much deeper than they originally thought. ok, ok, no he wasn’t that bad and yes I did smile at what he said and swoon over him and eliza, but I wanted to explain why he wasn’t my favorite.
“I notice that he has dimples. a useless discovery.�
OH AND HE HAS DIMPLES. WHO WOULDVE THOUGHT? HAVENT HEARD THAT BEFORE. stop giving every male in a book dimples, I’m begging
caz was such a fun love interest though. I really enjoyed his character for what it was. it was fun to read about him and his career was interesting to me! I definitely understand why people would die for caz but there are better characters to me
also his love confession was SO GOOD
� to conclude, I did like caz but I wish he was more original
”that thing about you…being there for me. I want to be that for you too.�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
caz + eliza ⋆˙⟡
the way caz treats eliza and what he says still makes me giggle and wish it was me. the romance was honestly very sweet and they work really well together. like I said, I don’t feel super strongly about them. however, their banter was one of my favorite parts and I’m a huge sucker for fake dating!
”’I don't want to wait for an excuse to kiss you only when there's a literal crisis going on and when half our school is standing around to watch. I don't want our whole relationship to be built around a lie’�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
side characters �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
zoe ⋆˙⟡
we have the same name, therefore I must love her. this was my thought when I started it but it came true as I ended it. I loved eliza and zoe’s friendship so much. it’s so real, and that’s another reason why I related to eliza. zoe was barely in it but I still loved her. definitely a highlight
“we spend the next hour chatting and catching up, and even though it's not exactly the same as it used to be- there are more pauses, and those small hints of awkwardness—I don't think I've lost her.�
emily ⋆˙⟡
people seem to love her but I didn’t care for her at all, lol
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
overall thoughts �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
this was fun! even though I was harsh, reading it was still a good experience and I enjoyed it. I still definitely recommend this and I understand why some people love this, it just wasn’t for me! hopefully I like her others more!
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
quotes �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
I don't want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you're the only one who's ever made me feel like I can just be ... honest. myself. like I matter even when all the cameras are off
"’Stay,� he whispers, the word falling so fast from his lips it could be instinct, a slip of the tongue, a mistake. he looks almost surprised himself, almost shy, though he doesn't take it back. doesn't run away, the way I would. and it's only when I see the tense, rolling motion in his throat that I realize just how hard it is for him to be witnessed in his current raw, weakened state. to ask for anything from anyone. it makes me want to be braver too, to offer him something in return. something real, for once�
“the corner of his mouth tugs up in that crooked smile I secretly love so much, dimples and straight white teeth flashing. it's almost too much—I want to believe the smile is real, that it's meant only for me. but I just witnessed seconds ago how good he is at acting �
”when you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced-you wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. that's what love is. that's all love really is."
“realizing as I do that it's getting harder and harder to turn my back on caz song�
“and this, I think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don't miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn't mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on�
“infuriating caz, who somehow keeps managing to surprise me. who agreed to my bizarre proposal, and is the only reason I've made it this far without getting caught in my lie. who's funnier than most people realize, and sweeter than I could've ever given him credit for. and despite my best intentions to hold him at arm's length, despite knowing all this will end in a matter of months, I can't help feeling... lucky�
“we do need people. people who'll laugh with us and cry with us and make the bad days bearable and the good days better; people who'll remember what we forget and listen even when they don't completely understand; people who'll need us back. it has nothing to do with strength at all, and everything to do with being human�
� this one is my favorite, I think it’s super important to remember
”I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over�
✩°｡⋆⸜⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜⋆⭒˚｡⋆
”for real, this time�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
12+ | spice free | spoiler free
[normal thing]
0:01 ──⚬──── 4:01
� ◃◃ ıı ▹▹ �
“it’s a normal thing to fall in love with movie stars� ⊹₊�
tropes ⋆˙⟡
� fake dating
� celebrity romance
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
the writing + my thoughts �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
to put it simply, I was underwhelmed. I went in expecting something mind blowing and super poetic, beautiful writing. it was not. that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy her writing, it was fun and easy, and there are some beautiful things that she’s written. however, I went in with such high expectations and I came out thinking I’ve read a million books like hers. the plot wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super original. the writing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t mind blowing. when you see people saying how much they love her writing and how incredible she is, your expectations will probably rise like mine did. I wish I didn’t because was super disappointed. I’m going to continue to read her books and I’m already reading another and I’m hoping that they’re better!
even though I said I didn’t love her writing, it is not bad at all! I definitely couldn’t write like her but it wasn’t my favorite.
moving on to the romance, I just don’t really feel strongly about it. they were super sweet together, though!
you may be thinking, I thought she rated this 3 stars? yes, I did. I really connected to both eliza and zoe (caz wasn’t my favorite but he wasn’t awful) and I’ll get more to them later. I enjoyed reading this while I was reading! as I’m writing this review I keep remembering how fun it was. I binged it and was excited to keep picking it up but the second I put it down I forgot everything. it was still a fun time!
the pacing is my favorite part. I really loved how she made months and months pass so their relationship could grow and it wasn’t insta-lovey. we didn’t have to read about the months that passed but it was clear how the characters had grown or how they hadn’t grown. they clearly got to know each other better and I loved it.
� I wanted to love it, I did, but the book just fell so flat
“hope is not weakness. it’s oxygen, a crack in the window, the pale slash of moonlight across a dusty room. maybe I should start learning to invite it in�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
main characters �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
eliza ⋆˙⟡
I related to eliza on a deep level. I appreciated how anne liang portrayed her. her struggles were real and vulnerable and I haven’t seen myself in many characters, but I saw myself in her. her friendships, her schoolwork, her worries, everything. however, there were also moments were she had so much fun, where she lived in the moment, where she just let herself feel okay. her character was 3 dimensional and SHE WAS JUST SO PERFECT. I can’t put into words how much I loved her.
“I guess my point is that I do believe in love. really. I’m just not convinced that love could ever happen to me�
� targeted. this is targeted.
caz ⋆˙⟡
I’ve read about boys exactly like him 50 times before. I was looking for something more original. of course he had no major flaws. of course he seems shallow but you get to know him and he’s actually much deeper than they originally thought. ok, ok, no he wasn’t that bad and yes I did smile at what he said and swoon over him and eliza, but I wanted to explain why he wasn’t my favorite.
“I notice that he has dimples. a useless discovery.�
OH AND HE HAS DIMPLES. WHO WOULDVE THOUGHT? HAVENT HEARD THAT BEFORE. stop giving every male in a book dimples, I’m begging
caz was such a fun love interest though. I really enjoyed his character for what it was. it was fun to read about him and his career was interesting to me! I definitely understand why people would die for caz but there are better characters to me
also his love confession was SO GOOD
� to conclude, I did like caz but I wish he was more original
”that thing about you…being there for me. I want to be that for you too.�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
caz + eliza ⋆˙⟡
the way caz treats eliza and what he says still makes me giggle and wish it was me. the romance was honestly very sweet and they work really well together. like I said, I don’t feel super strongly about them. however, their banter was one of my favorite parts and I’m a huge sucker for fake dating!
”’I don't want to wait for an excuse to kiss you only when there's a literal crisis going on and when half our school is standing around to watch. I don't want our whole relationship to be built around a lie’�
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
side characters �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
zoe ⋆˙⟡
we have the same name, therefore I must love her. this was my thought when I started it but it came true as I ended it. I loved eliza and zoe’s friendship so much. it’s so real, and that’s another reason why I related to eliza. zoe was barely in it but I still loved her. definitely a highlight
“we spend the next hour chatting and catching up, and even though it's not exactly the same as it used to be- there are more pauses, and those small hints of awkwardness—I don't think I've lost her.�
emily ⋆˙⟡
people seem to love her but I didn’t care for her at all, lol
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
overall thoughts �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
this was fun! even though I was harsh, reading it was still a good experience and I enjoyed it. I still definitely recommend this and I understand why some people love this, it just wasn’t for me! hopefully I like her others more!
✩°｡⋆⸜🎬⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎞� ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜🍿⋆⭒˚｡⋆
quotes �.˚𖦹⋆✮�.˚
I don't want to constantly keep my guard up around you when you're the only one who's ever made me feel like I can just be ... honest. myself. like I matter even when all the cameras are off
"’Stay,� he whispers, the word falling so fast from his lips it could be instinct, a slip of the tongue, a mistake. he looks almost surprised himself, almost shy, though he doesn't take it back. doesn't run away, the way I would. and it's only when I see the tense, rolling motion in his throat that I realize just how hard it is for him to be witnessed in his current raw, weakened state. to ask for anything from anyone. it makes me want to be braver too, to offer him something in return. something real, for once�
“the corner of his mouth tugs up in that crooked smile I secretly love so much, dimples and straight white teeth flashing. it's almost too much—I want to believe the smile is real, that it's meant only for me. but I just witnessed seconds ago how good he is at acting �
”when you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced-you wouldn't mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. that's what love is. that's all love really is."
“realizing as I do that it's getting harder and harder to turn my back on caz song�
“and this, I think, is my ultimate fatal flaw. missing people who don't miss me back. clinging on to strands of string that shouldn't mean half as much as they do. it takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on�
“infuriating caz, who somehow keeps managing to surprise me. who agreed to my bizarre proposal, and is the only reason I've made it this far without getting caught in my lie. who's funnier than most people realize, and sweeter than I could've ever given him credit for. and despite my best intentions to hold him at arm's length, despite knowing all this will end in a matter of months, I can't help feeling... lucky�
“we do need people. people who'll laugh with us and cry with us and make the bad days bearable and the good days better; people who'll remember what we forget and listen even when they don't completely understand; people who'll need us back. it has nothing to do with strength at all, and everything to do with being human�
� this one is my favorite, I think it’s super important to remember
”I hope you remember to miss me when all this is over�
✩°｡⋆⸜⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜ ⋆⭒˚｡⋆ ✩°｡⋆⸜⋆⭒˚｡⋆
April 5, 2023
"When you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced—you wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. That’s what love is. That’s all love really is."
This story and it's characters hits home. Once in a while you come across the books and characters that made you feel all kinds of emotions and you could relate to them truly and emotionally. It heals you and gives you hope all at the same time. This book was that book for me.
This book was purely beautiful. It is full of hope, humour, love, emotion, healing, friendship, family, vulnerability and so many fluff and cute adorable moments between Caz and Eliza. This was like super cute and enjoyable and the characters were so much relatable especially Eliza. I loved absolutely everything about this book. From fake dating concept to knowing the meaning of 'Home'. It was perfect. I never expected to like it this much.
Ann Liang perfectly shows the challenges of living in different countries while growing up and making your dreams a reality while going through so much in your life, and all the while finding a place and people that feels like home.
I liked Eliza's family dynamics and how her family always spend some time together by watching dramas and talking about each other's day and some random stuff. These kind of small moments and efforts are what makes a family. I also loved Eliza's relationship with her mother and her younger sister. How they always comforted each other with love and humour.
I love how Eliza and Caz slowly and steadily fell in love all while doing those "Chemistry Experiments". Eliza never believed in love but somehow Caz helped her to understand that she can also have a romantic relationship and she just needs to believe in herself. They both were so cute and are made for each other. They comforted each other and it was purely beautiful to watch them fell in love. And their banter was hilarious 😆
The writing was perfect and just simply beautiful. The pace was perfect and I never got bored. I also loved how Ann explored the 'Fake Dating trope' in this by letting Caz show Eliza Beijing and with their super cozy 'Chemistry Experiments'.
Eliza Lin
She is an introvert, a writer, who loves to be organised in all matters and overthinks every situation and decision she's ever made. She doesn't let herself loose in any situation and thinks she's hard to love. But I'm glad she has Caz, her family and Zoe in her life who made her feel loved and that she's worth staying for.
Caz Song
This boy is freaking perfect. He's just so adorable and thoughtful. He's the exact opposite of Eliza. He seems very confident and finds it hard to share his feelings with others. But with Eliza he always seems to show his true self to her. I loved all those small things he did for her. I was giggling and squealing because of how adorable they were 😭💗
The ending chapters had so many ups and down. But I loved how all the things ended and it all felt perfect and heartwarming.
—Favourite Quotes�
� "If I'm honest, though, it's in these moments- with the music filling the car and the wind whipping past the windows, the late-afternoon sun flashing gold through the trees and my family close behind me-that I feel... lucky, Really, truly lucky, despite all the moving and leaving and adjusting. Despite everything."
� "Right here. Thinking of all those rooms I walked through at eight, ten, fourteen years old and all the people I met in them... if maybe I left a piece of them with me too; isn't that what homes are made of? A collection of the things that shape you?"
� "You hold everything in here, Ai-Ai," she says sternly, pointing to her own heart. "For better or worse. But not everyone is going to guess at what you're thinking like I do. No one is going to know how you feel if you don't tell them. And until you do-- you can never really know what's going to happen."
� "Most sincere things feel at least a little embarrassing. It's part of our defense mechanisms. Our heart's way of protecting us from potential hurt."
� "But certain joys, I'm discovering, are worth the potential pain."
� "Because no matter what happens . . . we’re friends now, right? I want to be the person you know you can turn to. The place where you feel safe. I want you to feel like you can just be—human, in front of me. Like you don’t have to always show your best side. Okay? Promise me."
� "But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? Frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? When you take those things away, what do you have left?"
� "Hope is such a terrible thing. It’s like a bad habit you can’t shake off, a stray dog that keeps showing up outside your door for scraps, even when you have nothing left to give. Every time you think you’re rid of it at last, it manages to sneak its way back in. Take
over."
I highly recommend this book to everyone who is a hopeless romantic and love a sweet and heartwarming story with great characters.
This story and it's characters hits home. Once in a while you come across the books and characters that made you feel all kinds of emotions and you could relate to them truly and emotionally. It heals you and gives you hope all at the same time. This book was that book for me.
This book was purely beautiful. It is full of hope, humour, love, emotion, healing, friendship, family, vulnerability and so many fluff and cute adorable moments between Caz and Eliza. This was like super cute and enjoyable and the characters were so much relatable especially Eliza. I loved absolutely everything about this book. From fake dating concept to knowing the meaning of 'Home'. It was perfect. I never expected to like it this much.
Ann Liang perfectly shows the challenges of living in different countries while growing up and making your dreams a reality while going through so much in your life, and all the while finding a place and people that feels like home.
"Home for them was one piece, one place, not something scattered all around the globe, fragmented into something barely recognizable."
I liked Eliza's family dynamics and how her family always spend some time together by watching dramas and talking about each other's day and some random stuff. These kind of small moments and efforts are what makes a family. I also loved Eliza's relationship with her mother and her younger sister. How they always comforted each other with love and humour.
I love how Eliza and Caz slowly and steadily fell in love all while doing those "Chemistry Experiments". Eliza never believed in love but somehow Caz helped her to understand that she can also have a romantic relationship and she just needs to believe in herself. They both were so cute and are made for each other. They comforted each other and it was purely beautiful to watch them fell in love. And their banter was hilarious 😆
"You always look good. You know that. But if you ever use my words against me, I will personally cut all your hair off myself. Got it?� His smug, infuriating smile falters, but only for a second. he replies,
“Whatever you say, my love."
The writing was perfect and just simply beautiful. The pace was perfect and I never got bored. I also loved how Ann explored the 'Fake Dating trope' in this by letting Caz show Eliza Beijing and with their super cozy 'Chemistry Experiments'.
Eliza Lin
She is an introvert, a writer, who loves to be organised in all matters and overthinks every situation and decision she's ever made. She doesn't let herself loose in any situation and thinks she's hard to love. But I'm glad she has Caz, her family and Zoe in her life who made her feel loved and that she's worth staying for.
Caz Song
This boy is freaking perfect. He's just so adorable and thoughtful. He's the exact opposite of Eliza. He seems very confident and finds it hard to share his feelings with others. But with Eliza he always seems to show his true self to her. I loved all those small things he did for her. I was giggling and squealing because of how adorable they were 😭💗
The ending chapters had so many ups and down. But I loved how all the things ended and it all felt perfect and heartwarming.
—Favourite Quotes�
� "If I'm honest, though, it's in these moments- with the music filling the car and the wind whipping past the windows, the late-afternoon sun flashing gold through the trees and my family close behind me-that I feel... lucky, Really, truly lucky, despite all the moving and leaving and adjusting. Despite everything."
� "Right here. Thinking of all those rooms I walked through at eight, ten, fourteen years old and all the people I met in them... if maybe I left a piece of them with me too; isn't that what homes are made of? A collection of the things that shape you?"
� "You hold everything in here, Ai-Ai," she says sternly, pointing to her own heart. "For better or worse. But not everyone is going to guess at what you're thinking like I do. No one is going to know how you feel if you don't tell them. And until you do-- you can never really know what's going to happen."
� "Most sincere things feel at least a little embarrassing. It's part of our defense mechanisms. Our heart's way of protecting us from potential hurt."
� "But certain joys, I'm discovering, are worth the potential pain."
� "Because no matter what happens . . . we’re friends now, right? I want to be the person you know you can turn to. The place where you feel safe. I want you to feel like you can just be—human, in front of me. Like you don’t have to always show your best side. Okay? Promise me."
� "But aren’t small things exactly what friendships are made up of? Frayed string bracelets and late-night texts and compilations of your favorite songs? When you take those things away, what do you have left?"
� "Hope is such a terrible thing. It’s like a bad habit you can’t shake off, a stray dog that keeps showing up outside your door for scraps, even when you have nothing left to give. Every time you think you’re rid of it at last, it manages to sneak its way back in. Take
over."
I highly recommend this book to everyone who is a hopeless romantic and love a sweet and heartwarming story with great characters.
February 20, 2024
❥“� 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊 𝒅𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝒊’� 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.�
✯�.•�*¨`*� ꕤ�*`¨*`�.¸�
a big shout out & thank you to my girl mitra for recommending me this book! 🫶🏼
sometimes when i read ya-romance, i feel kinda old and out of place, but this book didn’t make me feel that way at all.
it’s so cute and the characters are very loveable! i could totally connect with eliza. 🥰
also, i just can’t be disappointed by the fake dating trope. 🥹
❥𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆�:
“but certain joys, i’m discovering, are worth the potential pain.�
“i’ve said before that my default setting is loneliness, but maybe i was wrong. maybe it's really fear.�
“you’re so weird sometimes," he says, and it somehow sounds more affectionate than i love you.�
✯�.•�*¨`*� ꕤ�*`¨*`�.¸�
✯�.•�*¨`*� ꕤ�*`¨*`�.¸�
a big shout out & thank you to my girl mitra for recommending me this book! 🫶🏼
sometimes when i read ya-romance, i feel kinda old and out of place, but this book didn’t make me feel that way at all.
it’s so cute and the characters are very loveable! i could totally connect with eliza. 🥰
also, i just can’t be disappointed by the fake dating trope. 🥹
❥𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆�:
“but certain joys, i’m discovering, are worth the potential pain.�
“i’ve said before that my default setting is loneliness, but maybe i was wrong. maybe it's really fear.�
“you’re so weird sometimes," he says, and it somehow sounds more affectionate than i love you.�
✯�.•�*¨`*� ꕤ�*`¨*`�.¸�
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