Sher LeeRezensionen

* I got this book for review*
I really adored this book. I picked it up on a win but it was so cute. It had so many elements that just worked for me! I loved the romance at the heart and the lgbtq . I also loved how there was both a "save the"element and also a fun cooking side plot. I also thought this was such a cute romance and it had some harder issues def dealing with greif throughout the read!!! Def would read more by this author in future def a new favorite romance!!

* I got this book for review*
I really adored this book. I picked it up on a win but it was so cute. It had so many elements that just worked for me! I loved the romance at the heart and the lgbtq . I also loved how there was both a "save the"element and also a fun cooking side plot. I also thought this was such a cute romance and it had some harder issues def dealing with greif throughout the read!!! Def would read more by this author in future def a new favorite romance!!

Synopsis: Dylan wants to enter a Mooncakes contest to save his aunt's restaurant. Rich kid Theo needs a fake date to his cousins wedding. Love ensues.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I had some mixed feeling about this book. I am an adult reader and this is a YA so technically this book wasn't made for me and I am not the intended audience. Please keep that in mind when weighing the usefulness of this review.

I really liked Dylan and his family. I thought he was an interesting and complex character who is trying to figure out who he is and what he wants in life. He is devoted to his aunt and cousins and they have this lovely family dynamics that contrasts with Theo's family who are contentious and distant. I did feel like some of Theo and his family fell into the typical poor little rich kid stereotypes and I felt like sometimes things with Dylan also felt like the stereotypes of the heroic poor we see so often in fiction. Sometimes, the stereotypes bordered on too much for me.

I really struggled with Theo as a character. We never get his point of view so, while I understood what Dylan saw in Theo I didn't really understand what was drawing Theo to Dylan. Also, Theo really annoyed me with his extravagant shows of wealth that he uses for and around Dylan throughout the book especially when it isn't actually his money. I feel like the author wanted it to come off as just super romantic but I really was put off by about half of it.

There were several plot things that happened that felt just thrown in to create roadblocks for the characters or to steer them in the direction the author wanted.

There is an antagonist character that I feel like we didn't get enough explanation on as well. He is Theo's friend but he seems to just exist to cause problems and isn't really showing up otherwise and I wanted to understand more about him and his relationship to Theo. Similarly, I didn't think we got enough info about Theo's family and situation with the exception of one of his cousins.

I think overall I felt like the book could have been longer and given me more character development. It felt like the plot was doing a lot of cool and fun things but I didn't get to really connect with Theo and his world and that made me less invested in the overall romance. I wanted Dylan to be happy and succeed but I wondered if Theo was really Mr. Right or if he was just Mr. Rich.

This was like a mix of Crazy Rich Asians and Over the Moon but made queer½

This was a pretty cute, tropey romance. It was one of your classic working-class-hero-enjoys-attention-of-the-wealthy fantasies, which is huge in adult romance, but is an uncommon one for the YA audience. It's not my favorite sort of trope personally (eat the rich) but this story had enough interesting details (cute leads; romance developing from cultural connection; family ties; competitions; food!) to get away with it.½

I shrug. "He lives in a huge mansion and drives a Ferrari. I ride a boke with a squeaky front wheel. Our worlds are as far apart as the sun and moon."
"They align every now and then," Aunt Jade points out. "Eclipses are pretty memorable."
But they are over before you know it, I don't add.

This book was exactly the kind of cute, tropey romcom it wanted to be. It read like a fanfiction, and I mean that as the highest compliment: you know exactly what will happen and it's enjoyable every step of the way.
Dylan wants to win a baking contest so his aunt's takeout gets some good publicity. Theo is rich and lonely and needs a date for his family drama wedding. They fall in love, obviously.

The writing style was easy and fun to read, and I liked the emphasis on how money can't, and won't, bridge any gaps. I also really liked how querness was not an issue. These characters have 99 problems but homophobia isn't one of them. It feels very refreshing among the many queer romcoms that deal with the outside world's opinion.
The characters and their struggles felt a bit cliche at times, but I didn't mind that. This is a lighthearted romance, not a deep character driven novel, and it was absolutely adorable.

I read an ARC of this book so the published version might differ from what I've read.