Playing House is a contemporary romantic comedy by Ruby Lang. The sweet witty repartee is funny and s satisfying as we watch this budding romance flower. Oliver and Fay are urban planners who bond over their profession as the play house while touring architecturally interesting houses as if they were married. Oh and it is sexy too! I would recommend this novel to my patrons.

I really wanted to like this story, but it was way too simple to develop any sort of attachment to the characters.

The book does a poor job at building up everything. Not only did I feel like I was reading book 2 in a series or a flashback kind of novella. I felt like I already should’ve known the characters and their backstory. That’s how little the book explored them.

It was cute, don’t get me wrong but it was so short (like under 10 chapters short and the chapters are not full packed either) and that really took a lot from the story. I cannot pinpoint any characteristic, nor I can say I remember a lot of the plot.

It’s such a pity this ended up being this meh because I was very excited to read a cute and sexy contemporary romance.

There's honestly not a lot for me to say about this book. This is a short romance novella (which I didn't know before requesting the ARC but thankfully found out before I started reading) with two Chinese-American protagonists.

It is an enjoyable and fun little novella if you need something light for an afternoon read. Both characters are interesting and have a surprising amount of development in this small novella.

I liked their relationship a lot, even though you should definitely not go into this one expecting much of a fake relationship trope. It is there in the very beginning but it gets pretty real rather quickly, which I appreciated simply because of the length of this book. This didn't really have much time for a fake relationship if you want to build an actual relationship in only 100 pages but it was a fun start to the story.
And just a heads up for all the smut fans out there – this isn't a very smutty read. There's one small sex scene but it's not very explicit and fades to black after the oral sex.

As with most novellas, I just find it hard to be invested in the characters, if I don't already know them from another series or book, which is why I ultimately could not give this more than 3 stars. And in all honestly, had I known that this would only be a novella, I probably would not have requested the ARC in the first place.
In the end I enjoyed the reading experience but will probably not return to this series.

Oliver Huang is flabbergasted when acquaintance and fellow city planner Fay Liu plants a big smooch on him after he arrives at a home tour. Olive has always had a crush on Fay but he thought she was married. And he just submitted a resume to her team and she just may be his boss soon. Doesn't she know?

As it turns out Fay needed a fake boyfriend to stop the unwanted attention of a fellow tour attendee, and Oliver is more than happy to play the part. Plus, Fay is divorced and doesn't seem to know Oliver applied at her firm.

Fake dating for the day turns out to be way more fun then they expected, but when real feelings enter the mix, both Oliver and Fay will need to figure out which parts are real and which parts are simply play.

I adored this novella and gobbled it up in one sitting. I especially enjoyed the details about being a city planner, the different tracks that can take. and how different familial pressures can lead one to make choices, or not. I liked that Oliver wasn't a super high driven career guy; he is a hard-worker but needs to find his own path.

Also, major bonus points for showing Fay masturbating! Huzzah!

Thank you to the author for the advanced reading copy!

If you like realistic romances this is definitely the book for you. There was never a moment this was cheesy or rushed. This was a romance between two adults that takes place at a realistic pace. This is a short read and added to the how well it’s written and all that takes place it makes it one fast fun read. Highly recommend!!

This was a very lovely read about two people who revolved around each other professionally for years who end up falling in love! I loved Oliver and Fay, but I wish it was longer! I would absolutely read a full length novel about them. I feel like some parts were a little rushed and could have been fleshed out a little more.

Two Asian leads?!! Holy smokes, I think this is the first time I've read anything with two Asian leads from a traditional publisher. And I LOVE this. The way being an urban planner mixed with their relationship was so perfect and made me laugh. MORE ASIAN LEADS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

Cute story just way too short. This is definitely a novella. I think if it had been longer it would have worked. Thanks Netgalley for the Arc

I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review – thanks as always to Netgalley for sending me a copy!

Playing House is a super-sweet novella about two Chinese-American urban planners – a profession I personally wasn’t familiar with, but it makes sense that this is a thing! I always enjoy it when characters in books have professions outside of the norm, it’s nice to learn something as you read. We follow Oliver and Fay, two people who’ve been running in the same circles for a while due to their profession, in which everyone seems to know everyone. When Fay is accosted by a guy at a house viewing who is determined to date her and won’t take no for an answer, she spots Oliver and improvises, pretending he’s her boyfriend in order to escape this stranger’s advances. The two of them then decide to continue the charade and they start having a great time running around Harlem pretending to be a newly-wed couple looking for a house, when really they’re just a couple of nosy parkers (in the best way!)

To be up-front, this book is very short and I feel like that was to its detriment. If Playing House had been developed into a full-length novel, I feel like we could have really leaned into all the things it was doing well – the fake dating aspect, for example, was kind of neglected after the initial incident, and since that was my primary motivation for picking up the book (fake dating is a god-tier trope, fight me) I felt a little let down. The characters were great, the concept was cute, their relationship was solid and I felt they had fantastic chemistry, but ultimately it felt like fast-forwarding a movie. There simply wasn’t enough room to develop this story to its full potential, and that led to things like slightly choppy time-jumps, a surprisingly fast-developing relationship and some instances of showing instead of telling, where events were being summarised instead of shown to us.

Don’t get me wrong, this book was fun and cute and it had some special moments – the characters’ first sexual altercation springs to mind, I felt that was perfect and I really believed in their connection during that scene – but ultimately I would have preferred it as a full-length in order to help it achieve its true potential.

This book flew right by. It was short and sweet. Cute characters with a fun career path. Interesting conflict of interest when the characters reconnected. Fun plotline with them posing as a couple for a week or two. It went by a little bit TOO fast for me, but I knew it was short going into it so I wasn't taken aback by this. Definitely a cute little feel-good story!!

My first read by Ruby Lang. I really enjoyed this book, it had all the elements I look for in a great read. I planned on reading a few chapters then stop, but I found myself unable to stop reading. Great job!!

2.5 stars
For the first few pages I was like “this is going to be awesome!” And then it started to lose me when there were no directives in the dialogues. And then everything started happening really quickly. Which is when I figured out that this is somewhere between a short story and a novella. Probably only about a hundred pages. And by then I was feeling like way too much time was being spent on the description of the houses they were visiting. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good HGTV remodeling show as much as the next person, but I don’t want to read about one.

I loved that the cast of characters was so diverse. You have asian leads, gay siblings, ethnic coworkers, it was great. A realistic mix of people. But that was kind of the shining moment for me. Unfortunately, at times it felt like this had been some sort of writing exercise.

Some books feel like they were written for you, as if an author is eavesdropping on what you want in a book and what you like in books, and part of me wants to accuse Ruby Lang of bugging my house. Playing House is charming and almost breezily free of plot. It’s two messy people going through big changes in their lives and finding each other at the right time.

When I say it’s free of plot, that isn’t exactly true, but there is no driving external plot, so the story focuses on these two people who are trying to decide how to say what they want and also figure out what that is. Fay is coming off of a divorce that has left her a bit insecure in personal relationships, while Oliver is dealing with unemployment and freelancing (or really having his own consultancy) and the fear of being too like the father who abandoned him.

Here’s the secret to why Lang’s books work for me: the easy and playful conversations.* The rhythm is fun, comfortable, and welcoming. These two people know enough about each other to know how to joke and tease and be themselves. And in a way, Playing House is about two people figuring out how to be themselves again. It might also be just a very over-30 romance in that you’ve made choices in your life and some mistakes, and maybe you lost yourself for a few years because of expectations, and then you hit some magical age (35 for me) and you start realizing that what others see isn’t as important as being able to exist as yourself.

So, the biggest threat to their relationship is the fact that Oliver has applied for a job at Fay’s firm. And he spends a significant amount of time thinking about the fact that he hasn’t told her that he sent his resume to her firm before they met at the first house tour. Even though I kept screaming at him to just tell her and we’d all escape some hurt, I have to admit that this is something I would do because pretending that you didn’t try for something is harder than admitting you did try and failed. It’s that messy human thing where we make mistakes because of all the things that inform who we are.

My only complaint, as ever with novellas, is that I could have spent more time with these two. Except, I also sort of loved the abruptness of the ending.

One more note, this isn’t really a fake dating romance - it still is, just not in a typical way. The fake dating (or really marriage) is all done for the ease of viewing real estate and because people assume it of the characters.




*As a good editor, Suzanne will want me to say “banter,” but I refuse for reasons.

[Editor's Note: I have kept her original phrasing only because this is funny.]




Content Warnings: crappy father, divorce, unemployment




Margrethe received a digital copy of this book from the publisher for review via NetGalley.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Oliver and Fay are urban planners and are acquaintances who have known each other for about 10 years. She sees him at a tour of old property and pretends he’s her BF to shake off a creep who apparently doesn’t know what the word no means.

Even though Fay just got divorced, she’s honest about not wanting a fling and wanting something serious. That’s where Oliver comes in. They both have a lot in common including the same job.

Cute novella and I ultimately wish it was longer. But I definitely recommend this as a cozy romance and a lovely afternoon read.

The urban planning community is small, so Oliver isn't too terribly surprised to see Fay on a house tour in a historic New York neighborhood. What does surprise him? Her running up to him and kissing him. He plays along, pretending to be her boyfriend to get rid of a sketchy guy hitting on her. Fake-dating for the rest of the tour, Oliver can't help but realize how natural it feels, and how much he enjoys being around Fay.

Fay is getting her life back in order after her divorce, and finds herself enjoying her time with Oliver... even if they keep getting mistaken for being newlyweds. Passionate about her career and ready to get back into dating, she can't stop thinking about Oliver and how easy it is to spend time with him. Geeking out over architecture, chatting comfortably about anything and everything... and then, of course, there's the fact that he is really easy on the eyes.

A really short and sweet love story, "Playing House" is the first in a new series that is sure to delight with it's heart, passion, laughter, and finding happiness, love, and yourself.

I was really excited about this book because of the fauxmance aspect of it, but I didn't like the chemistry or the insta-lust between the two main characters. I also didn't like reading al the urban planning details, and found that boring. I love architecture and interiors, but this book read like a travel guidebook more than a contemporary romance. There was so tension, no swoons, no real romance. No development of the characters or their stories. As such, I DNFed at 60% and will not be posting an official review online.

this was so stinking cute!! i really enjoyed it. it was adorable. i love love love loved the characters. the only problem was that i had no idea it was so short and i wasn't prepared for that! i definitely feel like it could have been fleshed out a bit more and been a bit longer, i have nothing against novellas but it did feel like things were missing from this one sometimes. but, that's a small quibble, and overall i thought it was adorable and sexy and i would absolutely read more from this author!

Fay Liu and Oliver Huang are old acquaintances that have a chance encounter at an open house and pretend to be a couple, only to realize their feelings for each other are more real than they ever expected. The problem? City planner Oliver is out of work and trying to get a job at Fay's up and coming firm, although he can't seem to find the right time to tell Fay. I loved this premise (looking at you Hallmark Movie Channel!) and the characters were lovely: funny, vulnerable and I especially loved Fay's willingness to just say what she means and wants. Although a bit light on conflict, it was an enjoyable, quick read (more novella than novel) perfect for anyone who loves real estate, city planning, or just escaping for a few hours. Note: I read an advanced copy courtesy of NetGalley. Opinions are my own.

Playing House is told from both Fay and Oliver's perspectives - two urban planners/acquaintances who meet up again at a NYC house tour. Their romance develops quickly as they navigate life, work ambitions and family. Lang's writing is refreshing and fun. The only downside to Playing House was the fact it was too short. I wanted more of Fay and Oliver - more character development and more romance. Thankfully, it seems a sequel is in the future.

Playing House by Ruby Lang is a short novella about two Chinese American urban planners fake dating and yeah you can guess it falling for each other. I didn't know that this would be a novella and it definitely felt way too short and just breezing through a bunch of topics. Which can really go both ways. It reads fast and easy. I wasn't familiar with this author writing style but I have to say I like it. I liked side characters especially brother Nate and hopefully, the author will write about him in the future. I feel like with more detail and depth this could be much more of an amazing novel. Too light, short and underdeveloped for me to take it seriously.
Still worth the read. The perfect read for a beach.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.