This Time It's Real

December 15, 2022
High school senior Eliza Lin, who recently returned to Beijing with her family, is stunned when her school assignment goes viral. Eliza's English essay, published on the school blog, describes her relationship with her devoted boyfriend in vivid prose--and turns out to resonate with lovelorn readers worldwide. It even catches the attention of a staff member at Craneswift, a website known for jump-starting the careers of acclaimed writers. Craneswift offers Eliza a six-month paid internship during which she'll write weekly blog posts about her relationship and offer advice on romance. The internship is everything an aspiring writer could dream of, but its success rests upon a lie. Having grown up moving from country to country due to her mother's career, Eliza has difficulties forming friendships, much less romantic relationships. Her boyfriend might be imaginary, but the opportunity is too good to pass up. Eliza strikes a bargain with Chinese American classmate Caz Song, a television heartthrob, to participate in a fake dating scheme in return for her help with his college application essays. The relationship can also rehabilitate his reputation, battered after a recent scandal. Pragmatism soon gives way to soul-searching as Eliza finds herself falling for Caz, whose smooth public persona hides unexpected vulnerabilities. This compulsively readable story comments on identity, social pressures, and the demands of the entertainment industry while developing an angst-y, heartstring-tugging romance between two sympathetic leads. Irresistible fun with unexpected sincerity. (Romance. 13-18)

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Starred review from January 2, 2023
Constantly uprooted by her mother’s consulting career, 17-year-old Eliza Lin has lived in six countries and attended 12 elite schools. After years of impermanence, Eliza struggles to fit in anywhere, and feels that her senior year at Westbridge International School in Beijing is going to be her worst one yet. She speaks “mediocre” Chinese and has no friends, prompting her to bury herself in writing. Though she’s initially stumped by a homework assignment to detail a close relationship, she invents an imaginary boyfriend, and the resultant essay, posted online, goes viral. When a popular literary website reaches out to Eliza with an internship opportunity for which she’s expected to offer romantic advice based on her purported relationship, she approaches classmate and wildly popular actor Caz Song with “A Strategic, Mutually Beneficial and Romantically Oriented Alliance to Help Further Our Respective Careers.” Eliza is an enchanting, hilarious, and vulnerable heroine, while Caz proves the quintessential teasing, noble love interest; their cotton candy–sweet budding relationship and ensuing romance make for an irresistible tale by Liang (If You Could See the Sun). Main characters cue as Chinese. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary.

July 28, 2023

Gr 9 Up-Eliza Lin is a smart, quiet student who's just trying to blend in at her international school. She doesn't have many close friends, and it's hard to make new ones because her mom's job as a consultant for global companies means they uproot their lives every few years and move to a new country. She's only had one friendship really stick, and the only other constant besides her family is her writing. When her English essay about a made-up boyfriend goes viral online, Eliza panics and does the only thing she can think of: ask her classmate, famous starlet Caz Song, to be her pretend boyfriend as part of a mutually beneficial agreement. It could lead to an internship with her favorite magazine for her, and polished college essays for him. But what happens when Eliza starts to develop real feelings for this complicated, adorably frustrating drama star? All her other friendships from her moves have fallen apart, and she's worried this will, too. Liang has created a charming exploration of the "fake relationship" trope starring this lovable couple. The romance is full of tension and will have readers anticipating when the love interests will finally get together. The international school setting adds another intriguing layer. VERDICT A great choice for fans of romantic comedies.-Stacey Shapiro

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Starred review from February 15, 2023
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In Liang's contemporary YA romance, a viral essay leads to fake dating, leads to real love. When Eliza's essay about her boyfriend unexpectedly goes viral, there's just one problem: none of it happened. Not only is the whole story the essay is based on made up, but she doesn't even have a boyfriend. When Eliza gets both popularity and a once-in-a-lifetime internship offer based on her essay, she comes up with a solution: a mutually beneficial fake-dating arrangement with Chinese drama celebrity Caz Song, who also happens to go to her school. Caz agrees to go along with her story in exchange for help with his college applications, and so begins a fake romance that increasingly starts to become real. Eliza's family has moved around a lot, and she struggles with finding her place in her international school in Beijing. She also has difficulty trusting people enough to truly engage in a real relationship, especially with a teen idol like Caz. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy fake-dating and celebrity tropes, themes of belonging and identity, and a sweet and emotional love story.

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