Lyla Lee’s “The Cuffing Game” is a sparkling YA remix of lPride and Prejudice” set on a college campus with a reality dating show twist and a heroine who’s both fierce and vulnerable behind the camera lens. I believe this is definitely going to be a book teenagers will be begging for.

We have Mia, our fmc whose dream is to escape to film school. And then our mmc, Noah, who is the brooding bachelor she’d rather ignore. Naturally, fate (and her crush) have other plans to intertwine them together.

This book is filled with so much fun of the occasional K-drama flair, banter, secondhand embarrassment, that although embarrassing- will still make you laugh. However, underneath the chaos is a heartfelt story about ambition, identity, and the risks of being truly seen. Which I’m sure most college students, and teenagers will find themselves relating to.

A swoon retelling filled with cute moments, banter, angst, and the occasional life lessons one will find themselves wrapped in!

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Being a GenX mom of teenagers, reading this young adult romance hits differently. So much has changed and yet a lot remains the same. No matter the decade, the pining, the yearning and the excitement of a crush, along with the agony of watching a friend pursue your secret crush is soul crushing. The author makes you feel all the feels.

I appreciate the diverse representation and it was done well.

This was such a cute lighthearted quick read. Honestly I didn’t read what the book was about beforehand so I didn’t know what I was about to read. But I’m so glad I did. The cover is super cute! And the romance in it was the best. It’s a nice cute romance that I highly recommend to anyone to read when it comes out.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book before publication.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for granting my request to read this e-ARC and provide my honest opinions.

This was such a cheesy, feel-good love story between Mia and Noah! Honestly, I didn’t care much for the dating show setup—I came for the romance, and that’s exactly what I got!

Rivals to lovers, a little age-gap, and what truly endeared me was the certainty in their relationship. No "let's see how it goes"—both Mia and Noah were determined to make it work, even with school and big life changes. That kind of commitment felt so refreshing!

Overall, I adored the main characters, loved the side characters (who seriously need their own stories!), and I desperately need an epilogue!

Thank you once again for the e-ARC.

A fun, Pride & Prejudice-inspired read — not a full retelling, more like a modern remix. Set in a college film school with a reality show twist, it brings just enough P&P parallels to make you smile. The dual POV softens the Darcy character a bit, and Mia doesn't quite have Lizzy’s spark, but it’s still a quick, enjoyable read with lovable characters and cute nods to the original.

I enjoyed this read! The characters were very interesting and well developed. The story was well written and I enjoyed reading it. I would definitely recommend!

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the digital advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars

This was SO cute. We follow Mia Yoon, a film major, and her team as they create a reality dating show called 'The Cuffing Game', where people get the chance to confess their crushes and maybe find love. The twist? Mia’s own crush, Noah Cho, is one of the leading men on the show.

Cue all the adorable, flustered chaos.

Minor fun fact about me: I’m a longtime fan of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and pretty much any reality dating show you throw at me. Sue me, they're entertaining! So, when I saw that this book was about a contestant falling for someone on the crew—and featured two Korean characters as the main couple—I added it to my TBR instantly.

And it absolutely delivered. Mia and Noah were SO precious. I caught echoes of the beloved 2005 Pride and Prejudice film adaptation (yes, the hand flex scene makes an appearance, and yes, I cheered a little).

The supporting cast also deserves a shoutout. They were fun, lovable, and refreshingly diverse. I would 100 percent read spinoffs about ANY of the other couples. I won’t spoil anything...but just know they’re worth rooting for.

Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good reality dating show, a dash of fluff, and a whole lot of cuteness.

This is the perfect YA romance book! It dives into the emotional aspects of the characters while staying light hearted and inclusive. I am in love with this author’s writing and I really really hope this book is well received because everyone deserves to read this book!!

Lyla Lee's *The Cuffing Game* is an upcoming young adult romance novel that reimagines Jane Austen's *Pride and Prejudice* within the framework of a contemporary, LGBTQ-friendly reality dating show. The story centers on Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy as they navigate the complexities of love and identity on a show reminiscent of *Love Island*.

Lee, known for her commitment to diverse representation, continues this trend by featuring Korean American protagonists and exploring themes of ambition and self-discovery.

Fans of Lee's other novels and readers seeking inclusive, modern takes on classic literature will enjoy The Cuffing Game! With its unique premise and Lee's signature storytelling, the novel offers a fresh perspective on timeless themes.

The Cuffing Game was such a fun, cute read! I absolutely loved the Love Islandesque reality show vibes.

I requested The Cuffing Game on NetGalley because the cover was so adorably cozy and it was described as K-drama X Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to the expectations it layed out.

The concept was very cute and unique. Mia is a college student who makes a reality dating show, which was honestly quite intricate and impressive. This book is YA, which is a genre I enjoy, however there were various elements that were much more juvenile than I am used to with YA, especially considering they are college students. They use the word "crush" way too much in my opinion, when in reality that is not how young adults speak about someone they like. The dialogue was very difficult to get through. There is a reason books don't use dialogue exactly how someone would speak in real life, because it doesn't read well. There was too much casual filler language like "so umm, anyways..." and "umm yeah and...". While I do believe this is most likely how the characters would speak if they were real, there is a way to write young dialogue that is enjoyable to read. Ultimately I wasn't even sure why the characters liked each other! There wasn't clear chemistry or developed feelings that made sense.

I think this story has so much potential, but it's not giving what I want it to.

This book had a really good premise and so much potential. When I read the author’s letter, I imagined this book being one of the best reads of the year for me, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

I felt like this book lacked depth. The main character's relationship felt like it went from zero to a hundred, one minute Noah hated Mia and the next he liked her. I get it, it’s an enemies to lovers, but it didn’t feel natural, it felt forced and rushed.

Overall the book was okay, but I would’ve liked it a lot more if Mia and Noah had had more time together. I also would’ve liked the ending to be longer, like, an epilogue seeing them out of the show would’ve been great.

Something I did love about it was the representation of not just culture but also orientations. I think it’s important to have that because we don’t always get it in books.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for allowing me to read and review an ARC of this book.

This one had so much potential, and I really appreciated the diversity—both culturally and in terms of orientation. But the execution just didn’t land for me.

Mia and Noah lacked chemistry. I never fully bought into the idea that Mia had been secretly crushing on him, and the six-day game show setup (which was written with frustratingly little detail) didn’t feel like enough to realistically bring them together.

It’s a shame, because the premise was genuinely fun, and the representation was a highlight. This could have been great.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for sending me an ARC of this book.

This was a really cute romance in a college setting with a little bit of enemies to lovers. Well, they weren’t like hard-core enemies to lovers maybe kinda like a strong dislike towards each other. I will say it was a bit slow at the beginning for me, but then once we actually get into like the reality show, it picked up for me. Our main characters are Noah and Mia. Noah is a senior and Mia is a freshman. Mia is working on this kind of reality dating show that she wants to put together. It essentially gets shut down and she has to rework it. She ends up going to Noah because Noah is like very popular. He’s kind of social media famous, and her roommate has a crush on him. The new dating show gets called The Cuffing Game, which I thought was cute because it’s also the title of the book. People who have crushes are on the show and then their crushes get invited on the show. This takes place in the matter of like 5 to 6 days. They go on a little dates, they do games and at the end of the day, you have to cuff somebody in order to stay on the show. Mia has a crush on Noah, but he doesn’t know this. Noah is going on the show because he does want to find a genuine connection and feels it’ll be easier to do it on the show. Over the course of the show, Mia starts to see different sides of Noah that she never knew and that’s mainly because they were just arguing a lot. They never had real conversations and realized how much they have in common. I found myself smiling throughout the book!! It’s so cute and then all the people getting in like couples and cuffels was adorable!! They had a few different ones that I didn’t see coming, but they worked out in the end. I loved that there’s a little bit of drama and some twist happening as well.

This one, unfortunately, just wasn’t for me. I want to preface by saying my experience likely comes down to personal taste more than anything else—I’m simply not the target audience. As someone who doesn’t typically reach for YA, I found it difficult to connect with the characters and their journeys. The emotional beats and historical backdrop didn’t quite land for me in a meaningful way, and that made it hard to stay fully invested.

That being said, I can absolutely see how readers who enjoy YA or are closer to the intended demographic might find a lot to love here. There’s heart in this story, and I admire the effort and care that clearly went into writing it. Just because it didn’t resonate with me doesn’t mean it won’t hit home for someone else.

I won’t be sharing this review on social media or Goodreads because I don’t believe in discouraging others from discovering a book that simply wasn’t right for me. Every book has its audience—unfortunately, I just wasn’t part of this one.

Not only does Lee make this novel an approaching Pride & Prejudice retelling for those who many not be into reading 1800s fiction, but she does so with a vision of inclusion! I thoroughly enjoyed the representation of Asian American & LGBTQ+ characters in every single point in this book and thought the inclusion of these characters on a dating show was FANTASTIC!! We often don't see much representation of LGBTQ+ folks looking for love on mainstream dating shows due to a lack of interest by networks or agenda, but by god did this book set a good example of ways to further implement intersectionality and inclusion for teens in a way that feels right and beautiful and all the things.
God did I love this book. Like loved it loved it. Which I don't say about YA romance very often. But, in reading this ARC, I continually was reminded of my teen sister-who I know will love this book when it comes out later this year. And I for sure see us doing sister book club with it. Just because it is that good, but also because it brings about broader conversations of intersectionality and representation.
This book truly had me giggling and giddy for the MMC & FMC on every page. Lee's iteration of Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth were absolutely beautiful and on-point with a modern-day retelling of two young adults. The additional K-drama esc backdrop made it all the more realistic.
All in all, I LOVED this book and cannot wait to read it again with my sister and to share all about it with the book people in my life!!!

This book completely surpassed my expectations, and also kind of restored my hope for reality tv shows! Going in, I mostly requested this book because I love the author’s other young adult books, and although the premise sounded interesting, I did not have the highest hopes for it. However, I am so glad I was proven wrong, and this book turned out to be as great as it was.

I loved the whole rivals to kind of friends to lovers that this book had. And they actually both disliked each other at the start! Which is just so rare nowadays when books claim to be rivals to lovers, but there was a true dislike between these two at the start. The author did such a good job to gradually move these two through the stages of their relationship development, with late night conversations and forced proximity.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The publishers description, that this is a “deliciously fun, YA K-drama remix of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE if Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett were on a college run reality TV dating show” is absolutely spot on! I love the way we get the feel, the “vibe” of Jane Austen without a beat-for-beat reenactment of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a total sucker for a clever, beat-for-beat retelling, but the fact that this book gives a nod to the inspiration while fully embracing its own unique story makes it feel fresh and new. Even people who have never read, or watched, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE can enjoy and appreciate this story.

Mia (a film student) creates The Cuffing Game, a show where students with a secret crush have a chance to match with their crushes in a dating game/reality show, in order to try to forget her own secret crush on Noah, who snubbed her Mr. Darcy-style at the first party she attended in college. Unfortunately, one of the contestants. (Mia’s own roommate.!) names Noah as her crush, so Mia has to invite him to participate anyway. And the more time they spend together, the more Mia’s secret crush threatens to reveal itself.
I love the Will They Won’t They push and pull that’s very Darcy and Elizabeth without being too on the nose, allowing Mia and Noah to be fully realized characters and not just copies of Jane Austen.

The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee had a really cool premise—a college student creating her own dating reality show? That’s such a fun idea! I was excited to dive in, and parts of it were super entertaining. The behind-the-scenes chaos of filming a show, the drama between contestants, and the slow-burn romance with one of the guys had potential.

But… I just wish it went deeper. All in all, the romance felt rushed, and the reality show aspect didn’t get as much focus as I expected. The main character was likable, and her love interest was cute, but their connection didn’t totally convince me. Some of the side characters blended together, and the ending wrapped up a little too neatly.

It’s a quick, fun read with some cute moments, but I wanted more tension, more behind-the-scenes messiness, and a stronger emotional payoff. If you’re into light college romances, you might enjoy this, but don’t go in expecting The Bachelor levels of drama! Also did not get the Pride and Prejudice retelling that this was marketed as but still a cute YA read.

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers for this ARC.