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BOOKWORM REVIEW: Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
SPICE: 🔥🔥.5

A break-up gone viral has built a thick wall of ice around Helen Tsang's heart. It's been almost a year since her ex ceremoniously dumped her with a spectacular sound byte taken out of context, and many people, including her friends and family, cannot seem to stop talking about it as its anniversary creeps closer.

Fed up, she concocts a plan to recruit her friend Taylor Li to be her fake boyfriend to get everyone off her back. Much to her surprise, Taylor agrees without hesitation, and when his sunny disposition starts to melt that wall of ice, she finds herself in a dilemma: Should she continue with the sham or come clean with Taylor?

This book had a slow start as we get the background on Helen and her infamous breakup. The book does start picking up when Taylor buys into their fake relationship, and that romance train is full speed ahead. 

Helen's grumpy attitude was relatable; when the world bears witness to one of the lowest points of your life, I can only imagine developing a little bit of hermit living. I absolutely love that she has friends and family who want the best for her and keep her from fully shutting down the world.

Taylor was just adorable. There is a predictability to his motives, but he is too darn cute that I will gladly ignore it. He had me at considerate and thoughtful, but he solidifies book boyfriend status by knowing the fun but unpretentious foodie spots. My heart broke for his backstory. As the Asian parent of a mixed-race child, I just wanted to give him the biggest hug for the heartache he had to deal with from his family.

As much as I loved Helen and Taylor, Helen's mom definitely stole the show for me. Her sayings made me laugh so hard I cried, and her infallible love for Helen and her family just made my heart sing. Especially since her love language -- food -- speaks to me. (NOTE: This book may make you hungry.)

This is a quick read that will breeze by once you get past the background chapters. It is a standalone, and if you love best-friends-to-lovers like I do, this is a fun read to pick up for Lunar New Year/Valentine's Day.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Jackie Lau, Kobo Books, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

Helen Tsang is tired of the pitying looks. From her parents, her friends, and even the bubble tea shop guy, who recognized her from the video. Almost one year ago, some loser couldn’t mind their own damn business and filmed an unsuspecting Helen's very public break-up during what was supposed to be a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. A video of her ex-boyfriend saying, "It's not me, it's you. You're holding me back" went viral.

Desperate to give everyone something else to talk about and with Valentine’s Day approaching once again, she asks her long-time friend Taylor Li to be her fake boyfriend, just to prove that she's moved on and hasn’t sworn off love. (Spoiler alert: She's totally sworn off love.) Taylor is the perfect option—single for once, and for some godforsaken reason, he loves Valentine’s Day.

But Helen didn't expect was how easy it would be to get Taylor on board, fitting right into the boyfriend-shaped hole in her life. All she wanted was a couple sickeningly sweet dates to fill her social feeds, not corny text messages of silly heart-shaped cakes, and bouquets of flowers that harbor hidden meanings. Wanting to be around his sunshine attitude and delicious forearms all the time? That definitely wasn't expected.

With February 14 quickly approaching, it's getting increasingly difficult to ignore her feelings, especially when she starts wishing it wasn’t all an act.

Oh God. What has she done?

MEET JACKIE LAU

Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between penning “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. She is now the author of over twenty books.

Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet donuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining.

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