Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC! Perfect for fans of This Time It’s Real and Dungeons and Drama comes Susan Lee’s fake dating romance novel coming out on May 13, 2025. 

I can honestly tell when a millennial tries to write about Gen Z, so I stayed purely for the vibes and because Aiden is actually cute and was looking forward to Irene’s character development. It’s a light and fluffy read, with just the right amount of drama and heartfelt Korean-American representation that I adored. 

To be honest, there’s not much to work with in this novel. It felt like scrolling through ao3 in the middle of the night because the author decided to lump together 10+ romance tropes. It turned out to be cringe, and I don’t think anyone else my age would actually find this enjoyable. However, I think if I were still at the cusp of my teen years, I would’ve 100% ate this up. The characters clearly had tension along the lines of ‘he fell first and harder’, but this book could’ve done without too many generic romance tropes in the narrative. As a book reviewer, I could relate to Irene, but her obsession with romance novels just isn’t my cup of tea. Why on earth would anyone even add omegaverse references and force an enemies to lovers type of tension in contemporary teen fiction romance? They’re college students LOL. Overall, I recommend this if you’re looking for a fast read and are very much yearning in the middle of a life crisis where you think you’re going to die alone. But otherwise, it is truly up to you!