Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc for my honest feedback.
The Stand-In just look at this lovely cover and the premise sounded so good. A famous actress has a proposition: due to their uncanny resemblance, Fangli wants Gracie to be her stand-in. Added bones that the super hot actor Sam Yao will be her escort. This story was unexpected and tackled serious issues like depression, sexual harassment, self esteem & worth. All important topics that need a voice. However I was expecting a lighthearted rom-com and got a much more serious and depressing story. I think my expectations for this book skewed my enjoyment of it. I didn't love it for those reasons. However it was still a 3 star read and had I gone into it with different expectations I would have enjoyed it much more.

I wanted to read this book because the pretty cover and loved the premise. It started and jumped into the plot FAST. I enjoyed the character development and the main characters interactions with one another. The boss is a JERK and the way that ended, let me down. The ending to the book itself was great! I fell in love with Gracie and Sam. Loved the deep story underlining with depression and wanting to just live your life to the fullest. Was a beautifully written story. Look forward to reading more books by Lily Chu!

I received this book (in book format) to review from the publishers and NetGalley. All comments above are solely my true opinion after reading this book.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a contemporary romance that involved a celebrity look alike filling in. This wasn't a stand out to me but it was a cute quick read. Love the genetic twist at the end.

Gracie Reed is down in her luck. Her boss sexually harasses her and she ends up getting fired for skipping work while consulting a lawyer to handle the issue. She also has her mother who has dementia and lives in a private nursing home. Gracie needs the money to transfer her mother to a better home. So when superstar Fangli asks her to be a stand-in because they look so alike, Gracie is compelled to agree. The only thing is it isn’t so easy and Gracie has to learn how to be Fangli. It doesn’t help that Fangli’s costar Sam is opposes to the plan.

The premise of this book was what drew me in and although I liked the set up, i felt the execution fell flat. The plot didn’t offer much excitement and there was no chemistry between Sam and Gracie. Other people may like this book though but ultimately it wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced reading copy.

I initially heard the audiobook back in January and now here I am again! Gracie is just so real and relatable, right down to her overthinking and ‘trash goblin’ levels of energy and looks.

As much as a fairy tale that this was, it had to enable tremendous vicarious living too. Not only is Gracie a famous a Chinese actress for a while, but she also finds love along the way. What else could anyone ask for, right?

"Problems don’t go away because you ignore them." Great best friend advice, Anjali!

Oh and also, "Wine is for sipping, not guzzling." Good to know, Sam, good to know!

P.S., Thank you for all those negative H-words, that was ‘handy’ to say the least! 😉

I was so excited when I got my wish granted on Netgalley for this book! The cover immediately drew me in – I knew I was going to be in for tropes-galore and I was not wrong. There were enemies-to-lovers (with like a small middle ground of friendship), forced proximity, fake dating, and found family. Basically, this is the story of Gracie Reed being mistaken for global icon Wei Fangli. They conspire to use the mistaken identity to their advantage for the sake of Fangli’s mental health … not even mentioning the added benefit that Fangli is escorted everywhere by none other than the world’s sexiest man Sam Yao.
I loved the mental health representation and advocacy in this book. The two main characters struggle with depression and anxiety, and one encourages the other to seek professional help while still being incredibly respectful and open about their own journey. It was also laugh-out-loud funny as you read from Gracie’s first-person perspective of how she balances her professional and personal responsibilities. And the organisation tool/planner she creates throughout – a woman after my own heart; I wish Eppy existed in real life!
There’s a distinct possibility that I was too excited and read the last third of the book too fast BUT it did feel like the ending was rushed. After a slow start, with phenomenal character building, there was a lot to fit in the end. And I really wish there was an epilogue so we could see how the characters make it work in the long run, particularly what happens to Gracie’s mum. I will say as well, Sam went from hating the situation to being best friends with everyone within a chapter – this could have been drawn out more too and been mirrored in Gracie’s confidence as that grows throughout the book. This book has little to no spice, but the mental health aspects are very real – I would say this book sits in the Young/New Adult contemporary fiction and romance categories.

This book took me a couple chapters to get into, but after that I was hooked! I adored this book so much. I am glad that its main focus wasn't just romance. I loved the themes of friendship, mental health, and family being included and being one of the main focus of the book. I am giving it 5 stars because I adored it that much, but I do wish that the miss communication trope wasn't used. Though it really didn't take anything away from the book, but it just felt a little out of character for Gracie especially after she spent the whole book learning to be more confident of herself

A sweet rom-com read, that also hits on some hard hitting topics surrounding mental health. An enjoyable trope, an adventurous romance and wow, the book cover is gorgeous.

Thank you to the publisher for an early copy of this wonderful book!

I want to start this by saying that I am a hard person to please when it comes to Romantic Comedies. It has to, of course, end with a Happily Ever After, but the drama and the problems that come up during the book have to be realistic to me. Yes, a lot of these books are literally less believable than some fantasies books (which is why they are so entertaining), BUT I still need the obstacles to be relatable. Does that make sense?

ANYWAY, this book was such a wild ride, I really enjoyed it! I don't think the situation of someone famous coming up to me asking me to be their body double for fantasy events will ever happen, BUT what played out totally would happen and I fell in love with all three of the main characters in this. I feel like I loved Wei Fangli, the famous, super-star who needs a body double, the most. Her struggle with her mental health was so relatable. I won't say anything more, but she must be protected at all cost.

Sam Yao was fantastically wonderful. I honestly have nothing bad to say about him or our main character, Gracie Reed. Gracie was SO FUNNY. Not like campy funny, but witty funny. And the twist at the end? HERE FOR IT. It's like a telenovela.

It's perfect.

Please read this.

I enjoy books about famous people, and this one had such a promising synopsis. I ended up enjoying it, but sadly not as much as I'd hoped. The book was off to a pretty rocky start for me - I didn't actually get into it until I was halfway through. I did really like the second half though. I only wish this book had dialed up the charm and fun that I'd expect based on the used tropes a little more.

This was a book that I enjoyed. At first, I was like, I don't like celebrities novels but this cover begged me to. Thank God, I read this. I loved this so so much.
Again, this cover is really beautiful. I can stare at it all day😍

*This is a review for the paperback copy*

TW/CW: sexual harassment, depression, adoption, dementia

One of my fave tropes is celeb look-alike switch places. There was a slight enemies to lovers romance over the course of the book. The book covered several topics from mental health issues to body image and cultural differences. I wish the author handled some of the topics with more sensitivity and depth. Some of the periphery characters deserved better characterization. I found Grace to be annoying when she repeatedly downed herself but her growth by the end made up for that part.

I really enjoyed reading this book and watching the character development. I would definitely recommend for those looking for a cute rom com!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for providing this in exchange for an honest review

This was so freaking cute but at the say thing educative about the one-child policy in China and the effects it would have had on parents around the country.

In this book we follow Gracie Reed who is doing everything to remain sane from her touchy and overly friendly boss to making out plans for her life. One day while she is at the coffee shop, a photographer takes a photo of her and she goes into a panic thinking about her meeting with her lawyer. That is, until Wei Fangli, a very popular Chinese actress proposes that Gracie be her stand-in. Apparently the photographer thought Gracie was Fangli because of how much they looked alike.

With Gracie trying to move her mother into a better care facility it is easy to see how she would accept to go along with this well payed sham. The only catch is that she will be escorted by Fangli's boyfriend Dam Yao. Sam is the most infuriating person that Gracie have ever met and most importantly she has a crush on the guy.

I will stop here because it is so cute and you just need to read it. I do loved how Lily Chu was able to explore the cultural differences between Gracie and Fangli, from cultural views of mental health conditions to language barriers. It was a very great read for me.

Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for making this book available to me via #Netgalley.

Gracie Reed is dealing with a lot in this story. I appreciated that she was a complex person who felt realistic if entirely overwhelmed. Her boss is gross and she can't find a way to get out from underneath him. She can't quit, she needs the money to pay for her mother with Alzheimer's home.

In walks a Chinese superstar and her gorgeous action star friend. Gracie is practically twins with her and after being fired she starts to genuinely entertain the idea of being her double. Unfortunately, that puts her in very close proximity with action star Sam who can't stand her.

Soon Gracie realizes how complicated Fangli's life is and as Gracie slips into her life she realizes it's even more complicated than she could've expected and sets out to make her own dreams of the perfect task managing app a reality.

I liked the characters in The Stand-In, but some things felt like they weren't fully developed. Gracie constantly puts off tasks that are hard or overwhelming which often has bad consequences, but near the end, everything falls into place without her trying and I would've loved more of her powering through and leaning on others to help her rather than just resolving on its own.

Sam and Fangli were very well done, but sometimes I felt like there was information about them just out of reach that isn't shared with us. Overall, Lily Chu does a fantastic job telling these characters' stories.

I absolutely loved everything about this book. The premise was what initially drew me in, but it was the characters and their relationships that kept me completely engaged. Gracie‘s character development was so spot on and it was just so awesome to see her empowered by her situation and by those around her. I loved the different plot tensions especially as they all contributed to making Gracie more confident in herself. I also really loved the romance between her and Sam. It was definitely an enemies to friends to lovers and I was rooting for them the entire time. I also really appreciated how the author decided to not make this yet another love triangle. Instead, it was all very supportive and loving between the female characters.

I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was like if The Princess Switch and The Lizzie McGuire Movie had a cute little RomCom book baby! In addition to a slight enemies to friends to lovers romance that built over the course of the book, it also shone a light on a lot of important topics, including the pressures for a woman in the public eye, sexual harassment in the workplace, mental health, and what it’s like to be a Chinese woman in the public eye.

I really liked this book a lot. It was easy to read and the story was unique and interesting and the love story was swoony and adorable. I really liked Gracie’s growth arc, and I liked seeing her go from a shrinking violet afraid of her own shadow to a confident and successful CEO. Some of the secondary plot points could’ve used a bit more development, but in general I really liked this story.

The premise of this is really unrealistic but sometimes you just have to suspend reality and enjoy a book. I definitely did that here. I originally listened to this book on audible last year. It was nice to re read it in text. I picked up a few things I missed the first time. It’s a really fun and sweet romance I would definitely recommend!

This book was such a fun take on the classic parent-trap style story! There were a few points where it dragged on and wasn’t too interesting which is why I gave it 3 stars. But overall, I enjoyed the storyline and the ending !

This was actually a lot of fun! I had a great time reading this. I loved the themes of this book, including family and the MC's Asian diaspora identity while living among other Asians born and raised in their home country, all combined with a swoonworthy romance. I related to and saw a lot of myself in Gracie even though she's several years older than I am and I really liked following her as a main character. I think the only reason I gave it 4 stars is that there could have been more action in the plot/more to the story in general, but I still really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to read Lily Chu's next novel!

I loved this book. It was wonderfully paced, delightful, and totally unputdownable.
I was hooked from the beginning because of the characters, and the story made it that much more amazing.
Gracie was such a great main character! I loved her personality and humor.
Even Sam is a wonderful addition. Loved him.
I enjoyed seeing Gracie in all her glitz and glam.
This was a fun batch of romance and Lily Chu's writing is happy, smart and fun.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Sourcebooks Casablanca,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.