I've been part of Sher Lee's street team for this book since the beginning and it has been an absolute blast. Seeing behind the scenes of the publishing industry has been so fascinating and Sher was so upfront and friendly with all of us! I had very high expectations for this book when I finally started reading it and I can happily say that they were met and then some!

FDAM is the story of Dylan, who is an aspiring chef and decides to participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival, both in memory of his Mum and to also bring some publicity to his aunt's struggling take away. Enter Theo Somers, charming, handsome and VERY rich. Oh, and he may need a date to a family wedding...

I'm really struggling with what to write for this review. All I want to put is READ THIS IT'S ADORABLE but I'm not sure that's convincing enough 😂 Dylan and Theo were such a sweet pair, endlessly supportive of one another and always helping each other out. Also a huge shout out to Dylan's family who I want to be adopted by. The warmth and kindness they exuded was just so cute 😩 I loved learning about the culture Dylan grew up in and ALSO the food descriptions. Yum.

This was such a quick and easy read filled with heart, food and adorably sweet boys, if you ever need something to make you smile I highly recommend picking this one up.

My many thanks to the publishers and Sher Lee for gifting me a copy of the book ❤️

This book is just adorable. While I think the pacing of the relationship between Dylan and Theo was a bit off (they could have used more time for it to grow), it still warmed my heart. The book is a super quick read and asks questions about identity, family, and culture. It has tons of drama, which is fun to read.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes was so fun and now I want to try a snow skin mooncake so bad!!

After the loss of his mom, Dylan lives with his cousins and his aunt, who owns a takeout restaurant. They get by, barely. One night Dylan delivers food to two guys, one of which acts super entitled and bratty. The other one comes into the takeout a few days later to make up for it.

His name’s Theo, he’s confident and charming, and he’s LOADED!!! Through a turn of events, Dylan finds himself agreeing to be Theo’s fake date to a wedding.

It’s campy and fun, and the Crazy Rich Asians comparison is spot on. Dylan’s narrative voice is so lively, and his younger cousin is so funny (I was actually laughing out loud when she suggested Dylan and Theo should Netflix and chill, then corrected herself and said they should IMAX and climax omg)

The cultural aspect came through strong as Dylan tried to rebuild mooncakes from a lost family recipe. Theo never had that tie to their culture, so he learns through Dylan and his family. 🥹

For this book to come in at under 300 pages, I’m so happy with how much is fit into it and fit well! A fairly large cast of realized characters, a sweet budding romance, a save-the-small-business scheme that involves a cooking contest, grief & remembrance… it’s just sweet and fun and worth the read if you need a pick me up :)

Good but not my most favourite YA romance. I did very much like both of the main characters, Dylan and Theo. As well, I really loved Dylan's family and would love to read another book just about them. I didn't really like a lot of the road blocks in the romance and a second act break up will always make me mad. The writing could be a little all over the place, at times it was really really great but then it jumped around without context and I didn't know what was going on. I do love fake dating though so that was a big point from me.

This was a highly anticipated book for me and I think it fell slightly short. I loved all the focus on food and flavors, it made me so hungry. I also felt like Dylan and Theo had a very cute relationship. Where the book lacked for me was the relationship struggles. I could not for the life of me figure out why Theo's dad was SO apposed to their relationship. Like he tried to bribe Dylan to stay away from Theo. That part felt so unrealistic to me for a silly high school relationship and it kinda took me out of the book.

This was really sweet and delightful. Basically everything I was looking for in a fluffy contemporary queer romance.

Really enjoyed this one! I thought the main characters had a bit of "insta-love" going on and would have liked to have seen their relationship build a bit more realistically. Nevertheless, it was a cute, rom-com style story that I enjoyed.

3/5 stars! So... I really liked the premise of this story and Theor and Dylan had some really cute moments together. I think it worked as a YA story, but some of the cliques "mean best friend" etc were over the top and kind of turned me off. Definitely wouldn't put it in the same realm as Heartstopper, but a good quick queer YA romcom read.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

Really enjoyed this! The cover is super cute and so is the story. It's one of those reads where you need to have a snack nearby as a foodie the food descriptions sounded so good. It was a quick read its cute mostly but also angsty and has its sad moments. I really loved the family aspects and togetherness. Its a light and quick read! Highly Rec!!

this is a contender for prettiest cover ever - just gorge!

overall this was a fast read with some major highs and some pretty low lows, so i feel like it’s probably a 2.5 (which makes me sad!!!!!! the potential was potential-ing!)

i loved the foodie elements of this one and the family storyline. however, the romance did not work for me entirely :( this was a severe case of insta-love, that turned into immediate oversharing and angst. i’m an insta-love hater because it always brings the chemistry down for me, but if that’s not the case for you, proceed!

there were plenty of cute moments and the characters were mostly likeable, but the pacing just bugged me so much! theo especially deserved more time to develop because everything we got of him i super loved.

would recommend if you’re an insta-love advocate looking for some ya fluff that will make you soooo hungry!

thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the early e-arc of this one!

I love a romcom where food is a main character, and this one was super charming and fun. I’m always a fan of fake dating and the family dynamics were delightful.

Really sweet story with great representation. The comparisons to Crazy Rich Asians and Heartstopper are perfect and would highly recommend to fans of those two novels

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee was absolutely adorable, an utter delight of a debut, and I highly recommend it!

I really loved this book and it’s depiction of non-euro American queer romance. The added language and cultural details just really help solidify the book in real life. I enjoyed learning about the customs around moon cakes as much as the overall love story.

The only reason this book isn’t getting five stars is because it does steer into so standard romance tropes such as insta-love that make it feel a little formulaic. That said, I will be looking for more from this author in the future.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee is a contemporary romance. Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn. Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend, but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems. Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a romance that made me very hungry. Before I get to the characters- the food descriptions and information has me craving a whole variety of authentic Chinese food. I loved the exploration of the food and culture of Dylan's family, and how it was made clear how (just like any other culture) personal experiences, regions, dialects, and more have huge impacts on everything involved. I was glad to get a better understanding of one (fictional) family's world and how that fits into the larger whole. I loved Dylan and his family, and would gladly read more about them all. I do have to say that I could not connect as much with Theo Part of it was the family and money, which I could never relate to even though readers do get to see how far from perfect it all is. I think it was more because we rarely got a good look at the real Theo, his actual thoughts and feelings aside from a could big, important moments. I would love to have gotten a chapter or two from his perspective. However, that being said, I really enjoyed the read and look forward to devouring whatever the author cooks up next.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a wonderful romance and I look forward to more from the author.

As a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher (Underlined part of Penguin Random House) I shall provide this review of Sher Lee’s debut YA rom-com novel Fake Dates and Mooncakes. To start off I enjoyed this novel and the emotional experience it gave me. It hit all the right areas that I enjoy in romance novels ex. Fake dating, single bed circumstances, Cinderella story elements and total escapism in love at first sight. The novel's central plot follows Dylan Tang, and his family’s struggling Chinese takeout restaurant in Brooklyn. Dylan is an aspiring chef in his own right and recently has lost his mother. Dylan hopes to keep her memory alive by joining a Mid-Autumn Festival moon cake-making competition. The only issue in this is the recipe in question is lost to his memory and becomes an on-going thread throughout the novel. As Dylan meets his romantic interest Theo Somers, does the plot thicken including Dylan becoming his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. Will Dylan develop feelings for Theo ? Yes. But you knew that already, ha! It is the journey my friends that makes this story that much more enjoyable and to take it in small chunks. The romance, the plot and characters made this enjoyable for me . This is one I shall definitely have on my bookshelf. This is one author whose books I shall anticipate as must reads. I recommend the audiobook as I followed along with my e-ARC. The audiobook is narrated by Joshua Chang, and highly suggest you listen to it asap. It is on Libby if you have access to that. Thank you SF public library! Overall I gave this novel a strong five out of five stars on goodreads and cannot recommend it enough.

This was a cute and sweet romance! I think it was just generally too much in too short a book. I wish the scenes had been longer and more descriptive overall, as well as included more dialogue. There was a lot of explaining and not just immersing me, showing me the scene. Cute romance, but I really wanted more overall.

This book was SO cute! It was somewhat predictable, but I loved watching Dylan and Theo's relationship evolve over the story. I loved the New York setting, the fake dating and I'm a sucker for a grand gesture. I also loved the relationship Dylan had with his family and how easily Theo fit into it.

Oh my gosh I’m so glad I read this through NetGalley! Thank you so much NetGalley for letting me read this!

I was so close to finishing this book but then the deadline hit. I wish I had the ability to read fast because I wanted to know what the ending was. I feel so robbed not knowing what happens at the end. I need this book in my life asap.

If you are debating on reading this, do it! The writer’s way with words pulls you in instantly and soon you’re rooting for these characters to become an actual couple. (Something about this trope is just endearing to me for some reason lol.)

This book had me squealing at all the cute moments that happened. I almost wanted the pacing in the beginning of the book to slow down a bit, but I’m glad the author kept a certain set pace for the rest of the book.

I cannot stress enough how much I love this book. Read it!

Thank you NetGalley and author for this ARC!


I loved everything about this book, it was cute and fun. The characters made the love story so enticing. I would read this book multiple time! Thanks again!