The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: This Time it’s Real

Series: Standalone

Author: Ann Liang

Genre: Young Adult. Romance, Contemporary. Fake Dating

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

When Eliza’s essay about falling love goes viral, her life changes. She gets a prestigious internship, noticed by her classmates at her new international school in Beijing, and a big secret to keep. Because she made the whole thing up. Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza comes up with a plan with a famous actor in her class, Caz Song. Eliza will help him with college admission essays, and Caz will be Eliza’s fake boyfriend. Caz is the perfect fake boyfriend: he makes her little sister laugh, shows her around the city, and supports her writing. But when it starts to feel a little too real, Eliza’s plans are threatened. Can she follow her plans, even if it means her heart gets broken?

I really enjoyed this book, though I have noticed a problem. I keep reading I Hope This Doesn’t Find You and this book back-to-back. I have learned that whichever one I read first I like more. So, I read them in opposite order from last year this time, and I liked I Hope This Doesn’t Find You more, while last year I liked This Time It’s Real more. Oh, well. Both are wonderful books!

I really liked this book. It has a strong family aspect to it, which I enjoyed. The focus wasn’t on the family, but they were in it more than the other books.

I am also a sucker for fake dating. I really love that trope! The way this was done was really nice. While it was fake dating between a celebrity and a normal person- for lack of a better word- it featured how he was a celebrity, but the romance was still really sweet without getting caught up in it.

I really loved the main character. I am constantly saying that Ann Liang’s characters are amazing, and I shall keep repeating it. Eliza, though, may be my favorite. She is so dramatic, and I love it. I am also super dramatic, and the way that Eliza is dramatic is the same way I am dramatic, so it was just super entertaining to read.

I also loved Caz Song. He was fun and sweet, while also being a little awkward at times. I really loved him and Eliza together. In the last two books I read by Ann Liang, I loved the love interests, and they had issues, especially in I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, but it was kind of put on the back burner. However, this book Caz’s faults were apparent and discussed, which I really enjoyed.

I will say that I liked the familial aspects and the romance aspects, but I wanted more friendships. There were some parts that dealt with friends and friendship issues, but I feel like these storylines always take a back seat to the romantic plot.

This book had me laughing out loud and rooting for the main characters! I really enjoyed the storyline, romance, and the wonderful characters. I highly recommend reading This Time it’s Real!

Quotes

“We do need people. People who’ll laugh with us and cry with us and make the bad days bearable and the good days better; people who’ll remember what we forget and listen even when they don’t completely understand; people who’ll need us back. It has nothing to with strength at all, and everything to do with being human.”

“When you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced- you wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. That’s what love is. That’s all love really is.”