“Keep calm and make mooncakes”
I am a sucker for food and baking stories and i this one was cute and delicious. I loved the fake dating element but also how they couple grew together in the end. I also love how it highlighted some Chinese cultural history, stories, and food throughout it. Not only were Dylan and Theo a cute couple you could tell that cared about each other even when it seemed liked it was the end.

This was a fun YA romance, featuring my favorite trope, fake dating! It was well written, and the characters were great. Overall, I would definitely recommend to those who think it sounds good!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I unfortunately had a hard time connecting with this book and the characters.

It’s compared to Crazy Rich Asians, but I didn’t get the depth or humor, just the details about the rich items they had.

The discussion and making of the mooncakes was the best part.

Overall, this felt a little flat. The romance never worked for me.

Dylan and Theo are both just too cute for words! A familiar romance story taken to a new perspective.

a heartwarming story about remembrance and reunion. with a side of cute romance.

loved the writing and the characters. the romance part though was kind of undercooked, almost rushed, but still had quiet the effect on me. loved the information author shared through her characters regarding the Mid-Autumn festival. and yeah, this book had me craving for Chinese dishes until the very last chapter.

This is the cutest romcom about Dylan, who recently lost his mom to cancer and spends his time working in his family’s takeout restaurant in Brooklyn as they try to stay afloat financially. Early on in the story he meets Theo, who is hot and perfect and also super rich. He agrees to be Theo’s fake date at his cousin’s wedding in the Hamptons, despite having a real crush on him, and hilarity and cuteness ensues.
This was a lovely heartwarming story about food and family and finding love. I read it fast and would recommend it to anyone who wants a cute queer romance this summer.

Very charming book about a young teenage boy who uses baking to connect with his family and culture in order to save his family's restaurant. The romance aspects were also very nicely done. Overall 4.25/5

To put it simply this book was adorable! I have come to realize that if the book has anything to do with cooking/backing, cafe, competition, or whatever it may be; I have a weakness for it. A Mooncake competition was fun to read and learn about. Dylan and Theo are so characters who stole my heart right away. You can't help but swoon and want joy for these two. This is a insta love, but it's what I wanted in this book. With over-the-top cute moments and cheesy scenes, it's easy to get lost. Fast to read. It's one of those books you can enjoy on a summer afternoon and end the day with a smile. The food descriptions, holy, it's worth the read; I will be looking out for more by this author.
It's a sweet queer love story; from fake dating to a Mooncake cooking competition a dash of family drama and a scoop of charm.

Dylan wants to participate in a Mooncake contest in honor of his mother and to help his aunt out.

Theo is the complete opposite of Dylan. Rich, privileged and very charming.

Both of their worlds meet and Dylan finds himself to be Theo’s Fake Date on a wedding. However Dylan is starting to feel things for Theo and he definitely shouldn’t because Theo is just a distraction that he certainly doesn’t need!

I don’t even know where to start. This was such a great read and the story had it’s grip on me since the very beginning. “Fake Dates and Mooncakes” is for sure a very cute and fast-paced read. I would also go so far and say that it is a feel-good story even though we have the theme of grief in it.

I loved the immediate connection between the two boys and couldn’t stop laughing at some of the puns. The side characters, especially Dylan’s cousin (Megan) and aunt were so incredible and loveable. You just can’t get enough of them.

I binge-read “Fake Dates and Mooncakes” and my thoughts are so over the place. I can only say how much I loved this book and that everyone should read it.

Thank you Sher Lee for this amazing story! I can’t wait to read the next stories by the author.

While I thought there was a lot of good stuff here, I felt like it was too short to accomplish all it tried to. I feel like it needed another 100 pages to expand on everything and make it feel more meaningful. Would still recommend to teens who prefer shorter fiction!

I loved everything about this book, it was cute and fun and different. The contrast with characters made the love story so much more enticing. I would read this book over and over again.

I don’t say it often, but when publishers compare books to those with huge success that have already come out, I despise it. I despise it because it’s never accurate. And then my expectations end up through the roof and most times the book barely breaks a 3 star from me. But this book? THIS BOOK?! I totes got the Heartstopper and Crazy Rich Asian vibes. And it paired so well together. Definitely one of my top rom coms of the year!

Ok so first off let’s talk about the best part….. The food! There’s both savory and sweets in this one so don’t go reading this when you’re hungry. I can admit I definitely had to get some Chinese take-out after I read it because I was so invested. It also made me desperate to try a mooncake. I understand it probably won’t be like the one in the book because of the freaking special ingredients, but can we all admit that we were all drooling by the time they made it? No? Was that just me? Whatever. Everything they made sounded amazing and now thinking about it I want dumplings all over again.

The next thing was the romance and the tropes. Ok so I’m a HUGE fan of fake dating already, but it just hits different when it’s fake dating to a wedding. This specific trope is my absolute fave, so imagine my surprise when it popped up in the book. Y’all know I read the synopsis one time, like when I just find it, and I don’t even read it all the way through. Just the Nikki buzz words. So months later, I had no idea what this was even about. BUT on the flipside tho, it also had one of my least fave tropes, millionaire/billionaire boyfriend. Why is this my least fave? Because they be wanting to spoil their partner and their partner always does the same thing, acts like they can’t take it. WHY NOT?! I could never be a heroine lolol

The romance itself was very cute tho. It was like a really fast, instalove kind of deal tho. And contrary to what I normally think of instalove, I LOVED that part. Maybe I’ve just read too much adult romance lately, but they’ve all been like long drawn out slow burns. Idk, maybe you’ve heard me say this here before a time or two, but I HATE THEM. They never get together until like 70% left in the story and even then they still have a freaking third act break up. Thankfully this one didn’t have that. Their attraction was immediate, they had a really awkward meet cute, and they still prevailed.

The only reason this wasn’t perfect was the pacing. Everything happened so fast. It was always like “BOOM BOOM BOOM!” And while I liked that for the instalove, the rest of everything else suffered. Everthing was resolved quickly so I didn’t feel like there was really a conflict and I never really knew the characters besides the ones that kept popping up.

The narrator was great. I never really had a complaint about them. I did check and they are an Own Voices narrator and I love that. They have really been a hit for me lately. Their inflections are right and there are no forced accents or dialects. And this narrator does that for Fake Dates.

I really enjoyed this book and I hope y’all will too! Not only is the cover cute, but so is the inside. And yes the corgi is definitely a character. I think the only thing that could have made this better would be if Lee gave the dog a chapter from it’s POV. Hopefully that’ll be something to look forward to lol

The Name! The Cover! The Corgi!!! This book has all the tooth-rotting fluff you think it should have. It gives Queer-Young-Adult-Crazy-Rich-Asian Vibes when Dylan Tang has a not-so-meet-cute with ultra-rich Theo Sommers. Right off the bat, Dylan knows he doesn’t fit into Theo’s glitzy world, but he’s trying to save his aunt’s struggling restaurant. So if Theo needs a fake date to take to the Hamptons, Dylan is ready to oblige!

One of my favorite aspects of the novel was the plot did not center around queer trauma, and as the reader we were able to experience a really heart-warming story about the young men. This book is the literal epitome of wholesome.

Sher Lee does a fabulous job of incorporating her culture, language and of course FOOD into this novel. I want to eat the mooncakes that Dylan makes so bad!!!

At times the pacing felt a bit off, but I enjoyed the writing nonetheless and really hope to read more from Sher Lee in the future! And I hope this book finds its way into the hands of all the young queer people out there!

-NYC/Hamptons
-Southeast Asian Rep.
-Queer Rep.
-Foodie
-Fake Dating
-Only One Bed
-Strong Family Dynamics
-A Bit Insta-Lovely

TW/CW: Death of Parent (Cancer & In Past), Elitism.

ARC provided by Random House Children's via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own

Uhg this was EXPERTLY done! I’ve been reading a lot of books that involve some element of class disparity in them lately, and this one handled class differences pretty well. I’ll admit, I did expect there to be an element of “Theo stop throwing money at things to try to fix my life” but I’m choosing to view this gap as an opportunity for a sequel ;) I loved the arc of this story and the emphasis on family and culture as the driving forces in this novel. Excellent work!

Representation: asian gay men, asian mother figure, white lesbian side character, Black lesbian side character, recovered alcoholic rep

spice level: none

This was cute! I will say that I struggled a little bit with the beginning with the ages of the children working in the restaurant. I understand that might be a cultural difference that I’m struggling with, but as someone who struggles with PTSD from a restaurant I cannot fathom putting children in such a brutal environment. I had a pretty hard time getting into the book after that, but the moon cakes contest, the sweet young romance, it was adorable and fun and almost everything I was anticipating walking into this story based on the cover. And speaking of the cover, it is so so cute! Overall I enjoyed the book. I just struggled with a couple of the restaurant related elements.

I want this to be a movie because it reads like the perfect romcom with the fast pace and tight plot against the vivid core of Singaporean Chinese culture and food represented in this novel. The tender exploration of grief was something I wasn't expecting, but it was really heartfelt, and I really appreciated the tentative way in which the romance developed. Besides the MC and the LI, each of the secondary characters also felt strong and unique, and I'm thoroughly impressed by this debut. I can't wait to see what Sher Lee comes up with next!

Also, Clover the corgi is a STAR.

This was a cute queer YA rom-com about two oblivious boys who are into each other fake dating because they can't admit they have feelings for each other. Maybe a bit contrived at times, but it was a cute, sweet story overall. And I really enjoyed all the cooking and baking.

This was a cute, quick romance that I was able to finish in a couple of days. I'm so happy to see more queer stories for teens and this is a great entry into the space. Thanks to Random House Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was an absolutely adorable book full of sweet romance and joy. I loved the underlying themes of family and standing up for oneself, and the ending had me in the happiest of happy tears. The mouth-watering descriptions of dishes and mooncakes definitely gave me some food cravings, in the best way! Highly recommended!

Sweet, heartwarming, and quirky cute, I loved my time with Dylan. He was such a sweetie pie lead, and his awkward bashful self who just wanted to do some good and help his family and maybe hold hands with his fake boyfriend warmed my little heart.

This was a mildly chaotic read with its 10k cuff links and fancy Ferraris and red eye round trips to Singapore. But I guess that’s what rich people do with all their money? Idk. I’m not sure how serious I was supposed to be while reading this but I was completely unserious the entire time. There were so many points where I chortled out of the sheer absurdity. Threatening to sue over green onions??? PLS!! THATS SO FUNNY!!

But in all seriousness I loved the familial love, the ode to tradition, and the shenanigans of first love. And the food????? I need it all in my belly, now.

3.5⭐️ rounding up even tho the insta love was a little too insta and the rich were just too rich, we had a good time

**thank you NetGalley for this eARC even though its been published already & I waited until pride month to read it🌈🫶🏼**