Lisa and Matt have been really good friends since Matt completely friend-zoned Lisa two months ago. Now they have a deal to fake date for 3 weeks so that they could attract attention of their crushes. It seems though that their feelings may take a completely different direction. But it's not so easy to know what's real and what's pretended when you fake date. Will both Lisa and Matt see what they really mean to each other?
I know it's just a romance like many others but I always appreciate Chris Cannon's sense of humour and variety of plot twists. You know more less what will be end of the story but you can never guess how the characters will behave on the way to their perfect ever after.

This one had me at the Harry Potter references and nerd-girl comments. Great, quick, YA romance. Friends who decide to fake a relationship to make others jealous but what stands out to make this different from a lot of other stories that follow that plot line were the great pop culture references and the development of the relationship from friends to maybe more. Super fun read! Thanks netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

"99% Faking It" is a quick read that follows self-proclaimed nerd-girl, Lisa, and the guy who immediately friend-zoned her, Matt. Lisa lives with her mother, a family/relationship counselor; her father left her mother when she was pregnant and sent divorce papers from afar. Lisa has never met him, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel the echoes of his leaving. She has had a crush on Matt, but as she knows he has firmly placed her in the friend zone, she is intrigued by the new, cool guy, Trey, who is happy to flirt with her.

Matt has had a crush on his little sister's friend, Jane, who, before he could make a move, started dating someone else and seems really happy. When he notices his newly taken friend is getting hit on a lot, he starts thinking about the "wedding ring phenomenon" where people who are taken are considered more desirable. He proposes to Lisa that they fake date to attract Jane/Trey respectively. Lisa almost immediately declines, but ends up reluctantly agreeing.

As they spend more time together, they first have a lot of conflicts- Matt has some odd ideas about relationships and it's hard to decide where to draw the lines- e.g. kisses- with a fake relationship. Then, after Lisa needs some emotional support, they find themselves drawn together and spending more time alone. Matt starts to realize that Lisa is special and he might actually be attracted to her, but Lisa is tired of not feeling like a priority and likes that Trey liked her right off the bat without needing to be convinced that she is special.

Cannon is a great writer and always pulls you right into the story. I liked the characters and getting into their heads. However, I was concerned by all the extreme gendering/stereotyping of boys vs. girls. For instance, Matt's father says "Women go on and on about soul mates or finding that one person you can't live without. For guys it's not about finding someone you can't live without. It's more like you can't live with the idea of her with anyone else." I think this is more about people rather than men vs. women. Lots of women do not go on and on about soul mates. And I am not sure how I feel about someone only wanting to be with someone else just because they are territorial or don't want to let them be with anyone else (why not someone you can't live without?)- this seems pretty yucky and super stereotyped (also completely unnecessary in my opinion). Later, one of the friends says "teenage boys are a little slow when it comes to relationships." Except, not all teenage boys- even within the book- are so slow. There were a lot of these stereotyped statements in the book, and I found them unnecessary. I know that I am a little more sensitive to these things than others would be, but this, for me, tainted an overall sweet and cute friends turned more/fake relationship turned real story.

Overall, the writing, characters, and plot is fantastic, and I loved the development of the relationship. I wish there were less sweeping generalizations about women/girls vs. men/boys and stereotyping, which did not seem necessary for the story. Please note that I received a ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Another book loving girl romance from Chris Cannon. I just love these. Dogs and Harry Potter references and sweet romance. What more could you want?

Highly recommended, clean, contemporary YA romance.