by Ann Liang
First published 2023
Eliza Lin writes an essay about finding true love and watches it explode across social media. The seventeen-year-old suddenly has everything she wanted at her new Beijing international school: popular classmates who finally notice her and an internship at her dream magazine. She also has one enormous problem. She invented the entire love story. Eliza has never even had a boyfriend, much less experienced the romance she described so convincingly. She makes a deal with Caz Song, the famous actor in her class who needs help with college applications. He will pretend to be her boyfriend. She will write his essays. Caz plays the role perfectly, passing her notes during class and taking her on motorcycle rides through the city. He charms her little sister and shows her the best street food stalls in Beijing. The fake relationship starts feeling real to Eliza. She faces an impossible choice between the dreams she has always pursued and the love she never expected to find.
Genres: romance, contemporary, young-adult, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating, found-family
Setting: Beijing
Period: 21st-century
352 pages · Hardcover · Scholastic Press