Love. Why is it so many are in pursuit of a thing that can cause so much pain? Heartache is a real thing, with real, physical, symptoms. Is it ever worth it?

Chryssy has dedicated her life to healing with an eastern, Chinese medicine, approach. She and her auntie's run a retreat center to help the lovesick heal their broken hearts. She has plenty of experience with them. Her whole family does, in fact, because the women of her family are cursed. Not a one of them has had a successful long-term relationship because one of their ancestors cursed them. She's come to accept it. So when a celebrity cellist comes along asking to strike up a deal for a publicity-relationship, she doesn't see any reason not to. When she starts catching feelings though...she's convinced they're doomed for heartache all over again.

This book has a lot of really cozy elements. Chryssy essentially makes people cups of custom tea for a living, after all. She listens well to people, hears between the lines what they may need, and prepares for them something to help. Reading about that process was very calming.

The structure was quite good as well: having Vin's brother be in need of Chryssy's family's services was an organic in for the fake dating element. For me, that trope is over-tired, but for this book it didn't make me roll my eyes, at least. There was enough meat in the plot to keep things interesting.

That being said, I was hoping for a little more steam in the romance. I liked both Vin and Chryssy, and while there were some sweet moments, I was left wanting a little bit more. I was missing the fireworks. The pop and sizzle of real, deep chemistry.

Luckily there was more to this book than just the romance. I really enjoyed learning about Chryssy's business and her knowledge of Chinese medicine. Her auntie's added some layered interest to the story. The B-Plot of the family curse didn't do a lot for me outside of it being the vehicle for Chryssy to do some soul-searching and self-examination of her own beliefs brought on by the curse-myth upheld by her family. I found this novel to be just as much about personal growth as it was about finding love.

I was granted an early listening copy of the title from netgalley and the publisher, and I really enjoyed the audio narration. I recommend it if you're able to get your hands on it.

This book and me did not jive. It’s overall very bland and there’s not much chemistry between the two mains. They seemed more like friendly acquaintances than in love. The scenes were also pretty disjointed and this made the book not flow very well for me.
I DNFd about halfway through because I was ultimately just really bored

I enjoyed learning about Chinese medicine in this book. It gave this romance a unique spin. I found the actual romance to be just okay as I was hoping for a bit more chemistry between the characters which I think would have helped. Loved the aunties who were in the background. The audiobook was narrated well, I just feel the story needed a bit more oomph.

Chryssy and Vin have their little meet-cute moment and the story unfolds. This fake-dating turned falling-in-love story was sweet. The characteristics of Chryssy, Vin, and the side characters were interesting. You will learn a lot about flowers and how they can help heal you. The story itself has a lot of unique elements to a familiar trope.

“Our hearts go through so much, stress, heartbreak, love, and still they keep us alive.”

I was instantly drawn to this cover… I mean how dang perfect! Yin Yang Love Song is about Chryssy a Chinese herbalist, who runs a healing retreat center and is launching a flower tea line with her meddling aunts on Whidbey Island. She finds herself on her 9th breakup and the rumors of a family curse in love to be true. Until she starts fake dating a celebrity rockstar cellist Vin, to improve his and his brother’s ticket sales, and in turn have him promote her business.

“It would be an honor to stand in your shadow.”

Fake dating + family curses… say no more! I was instantly pulled into this story. I loved the education shared about TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) finding balance and restore through acupuncture & herbal medicines. Another highlight for me was the PNW setting, I wish I could attend the retreat center Lauren so beautifully described. At the heart of it, it’s a book about taking chances and believing in love and healing. This book feels like a heartwarming cup of tea 🫖

A first for me by Lauren Kung Jessen and I will for sure be reading her backlist (I have Red Sting Theory on my shelf)

Thank you Hachette Audio | Forever

50 State Challenge/ WASHINGTON

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I loved this! The crossover of the heartbreak healer and the heartbreaker was so interesting. I loved learning about Chryssy’s cultural and medicinal practices. I loved the way that Chryssy and Vin’s story progressed from their initial agreement and grew deeper as the book went on. Their story unfolding amongst their past love and experiences with heartbreak was beautifully done. I listened to the audiobook of this one, and I especially liked the narration by Eunice Wong and Eric Yang. I was glad to listen to the story to hear the pronunciation of some unfamiliar terms. It read to me like an audio family history, reflective and romantic. I would definitely recommend this read and the audiobook!

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for this ARC!

This charming rom-com seamlessly blends cultural richness with the delightful tropes readers adore: fake dating, opposites attract, and a touch of magical realism through the Hua family's intriguing love curse.

Chryssy, a Chinese herbalist running a healing retreat for the broken-hearted, represents a fascinating blend of pragmatism and vulnerability. Her ninth breakup has left her skeptical about love, making her the perfect candidate for a strategic fake relationship.

Enter Vin Chao, a celebrity cellist whose bad-boy persona masks deeper complexities. Their arrangement - a mutually beneficial fake dating scheme that promises to boost his ticket sales and her business - sets the stage for unexpected emotional exploration. The novel brilliantly subverts expectations, transforming what seems like a calculated transaction into a genuine journey of connection.

The chemistry between Chryssy and Vin crackles with authenticity, challenging the very notion of performative love. Their relationship becomes a nuanced examination of healing, connection, and the thin line between calculated performance and genuine emotion.

I liked the audiobook and the narrators were fantastic too. However, I kept losing my interest in the characters. The beginning of the book is slow paced to my liking. The story has incredible potential however due to the pacing of the book, it got affected. Don't get me wrong, the author's writing is good, she knows where to steer and what to reveal, so there's no reason not to pick up this book. I guess my expectations were way too much.

I was given an audiobook for an honest review.

Hands down love this book and really enjoy reading from this author. i adore this author aince her.debut novel. So when i saw this cover and read that synopsis i was all in. Especially when it has a fake dating trouble with a celebrity trope with his my guilty pleasure. It was cute it was easy to follow along the narrators both did a great job bringing these characters to life.

Ianother sweet story from lauren! listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narrators, especially erik yang who played the mmc. learning more about Chinese traditions and medicine was fascinating and done well; you could tell lauren did her research. i appreciated the overall message of taking care of yourself and putting your health first!

thank you foreverpub for the ALC!

Herbalist Chryssy, plagued by bad luck in love, runs a healing retreat with her aunties. A deal with celebrity cellist Vin to fake-date boosts her business, but their unexpected chemistry threatens to unravel their plan and ignite real feelings.

This is a beautifully written novel. I enj0yed the plot and characters, as well as the audiobook narration. The romance arc was low-conflict, fueled mostly by the main characters’ beliefs that they weren’t destined for love.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the advanced audio book.

3.5 stars

When Chrysanthemum "Chryssy" Hua Williams (who helps run an herbal-based retreat with her aunts) encounters Vin Chao (one half of a famous cello group), she is living under the thumb of a decades long curse, where no women in the Hua family are able to keep love, and Vin is partly famous for being a heartbreaker. Since this is a rom-com, we know how it ends (HEA), but the way Kung Jessen got there was sweet and frictionless. If there's a sub genre of rom-coms that are cozy, that's what YIN YANG LOVE SONG is. The obstacles that Chryssy and Vin have to overcome don't feel all the big, in the grand scheme, but it doesn't matter, because they're such lovely characters to engage with; and Chryssy's aunts are a delightful jolt of humor.

Yin Yang Love Song is out January 28, 2025

i really enjoyed the audiobook. The actors did an amazing job. I just unfortunately didn’t love the story itself. It felt very love at first sight and I felt like the romance was lacking and I found myself loosing interest unfortunately. I did really love the authors writing style and she really did create incredible vibes. I loved the characters individually just felt their connection with one another didn’t click for me!

This was a heartfelt fake dating romance featuring Chryssy, a traditional Chinese herbalist who strikes a deal with cellist Vin to pose as his girlfriend to promote his new album, let him break up with her and in exchange he'll help promote her family's heartbreak healing retreat. With a family love curse, family secrets and great chemistry, this book taught me a lot about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the ways it can benefit burnout and stress/anxiety. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Roselle Lim. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a slow-burn fake dating rom-com. For fans of spice, you won't find it here. This was a good story, and I liked the cultural aspects of the traditional Chinese medicine that the main character practices. I liked the characters, and the romantic buildup was good. There were some parts that kind of read like a PSA for self care. For fans of the genre, you'll like it.

This book is utterly delightful. It is definitely a Jessen book-hopeful, sweet, tender, and warm. Romantic and magical. The narrators were not my favorite. They were okay, but felt mostly one dimensional. However nothing could stop me from falling in love with Lauren’s words.

I loved this one! thank you so much Forever. It made me feel seen as a half Chinese woman. I hope for more beautiful stories. A sweet healing novel in this one

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever, and Hachette Audio for this advanced copy! You can pick up Yin Yang Love Song on January 28, 2025.

I love how Lauren Kung Jessen tapped into a quieter and softer love story with Yin Yang Love Song. Rather than focusing on specific tropes and caricatures of characters, we see fleshed out protagonists with complicated lives and motivations. Chryssy is closed off to love because of her family's traumatic history with breakups and love lives ending (due to a familial "curse"). Vin is a workaholic musician who never slows down and never invests true time and energy into a relationship, earning him the moniker "heartbreaker."

When their paths cross, Chryssy and Vin enter a fake dating relationship that they believe will be mutually beneficial (okay so there's at least one big trope). But Lauren Kung Jessen spends a significant portion of the book showcasing the wonders of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and how slowing down can benefit our lives in the longterm. Through Chryssy and Vin, we see so much of our own lives and relationships reflected back at us, our own insecurities and worries spelled out before us. It felt almost soothing to read this book as Chryssy explained the benefits of different herbs and blends and plants to Vin as they grew closer and closer. It was relatable when Vin talked about burnout and how much his body felt effected by it.

Chryssy's relationship with her aunties was also beautifully depicted and showed how this was as much a story about familial love as romantic love. Generations of women were tied together by one curse, but together they found a way to move forward and not let it control their destinies.

While I loved the messages behind this story and how the romance played out, I do have to say that there were a few too many flower and music metaphors or analogies for my taste. At first, it made sense to incorporate them, but after a while, it became a bit heavy-handed and veered into therapist talk (there's nothing wrong with that, but I did have to break up my reading a bit so it wasn't overwhelming).

If you're looking for a softer romance with soothing messages and reminders about the wonders of natural healing and remedies, this is the book for you!

This was my first read from LKJ and ugh immediately added Lunar Love and Red String Theory to my tbr! This rom-com was the perfect cute and lighthearted read to bring life to my romance yearning soul.

The story is about Chryssy Hua Williams, a Chinese herbalist, who runs a healing center with her aunt and Vin Chao, celebrity cellist, who has built his whole identity as a heartbreaker. In order to promote her healing business, Chryssy enters a FAKE DATING agreement Vin to 1. use his fame to promote his business and 2. Vin gets to use the break up from this stunt to help sell his concert tickets. Fake dating things happen and well… Vin and Chryssy easily became one of my favorite couples!

I absolutely loved the nod to family dynamics in this story! The aunties in this story added such a fun humor element and the focus on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) stigma opened up an entertaining and interesting points to the plot. As someone who studied Health Communication in college, I appreciated how Lauren communicated the importance and foundations of TCM highlighting the uses of acupuncture and herbal remedies. Truly a book that does it all, breaking down barriers!

Vin and Chryssy were such a well written pair. The flirty banter between the two had me squealing in the middle of the night. I loved how the plot progressed naturally and each moment was pure romcom deliciousness. Vin was such a charmer (and HE KNOWS IT UGH) and the exploration to his back story had me relating a lot with and wishing for a Chryssy in my life. I also loved the little details from the book like the recipes the author added into the story!

Huge thank you to Forever for giving me an early chance to review! I am forever grateful to you guys!