Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie is the most recent book by Canadian author Jackie Lau. Published by Atria Books on May 7, 2024, it features a meddling mother and some fake dating. Emily is tired of feeling like a disappointment to her mother and of hearing how perfect Mark Chan is as a future husband. To stop her mom, Emily and Mark agree to a fake relationship. Will they succeed in fooling her family? Or will they prove her mom correct?
I want to thank Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie. All opinions presented here are my own.
Synopsis from Goodreads
Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.
Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.
But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married, and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly: convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.
Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…
Positives
- It’s a fun read featuring fake dating.
- A quick and easy read.
- Features realistic and believable characters.
Negatives
- We don’t get Mark’s POV until around the book’s halfway point.
My Opinion
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie was a fun read. It is chockful of realistic characters with their own personality quirks. Emily is a writer who works as a barista to help pay the bills while waiting for her big break in the publishing world. Her roommate Paige hates her job and vents her frustrations at the gym. Mark is a quiet person who prefers keeping to himself in a city of millions.
The first half of the book is told from Emily’s POV, but the story then switches between her and Mark. There were times when I was reading the first half when I wanted to know more about Mark and what he was thinking and feeling. When we only have Emily’s POV, she knows everything and everyone’s motives. But as the relationship changes, we learn that maybe she’s scared of what she doesn’t know.
The story’s spice level is non-existent through the first half of the book. But as the relationship changes, so does the spice level. It doesn’t become super spicy, but there are some on-the-page intimacy scenes.
While the characters have their quirks and flaws, they all grow and change. One may say that they mature, but it’s more that they open up to each other and realize maybe they didn’t know the whole story like they initially believed.
Who do I believe should read Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie? Answer a couple of questions for me first. Do you enjoy reading romance books that feature fake dating? What about romance books with family drama? Or that places importance on the characters’ cultural identities? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should read Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie!
Are you looking for some more books to read? Check out my bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.
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Sounds like a cute book! Though I do get annoyed when there’s a dual POV book and we don’t get the second POV until the book is already half over. (Unless there’s a really good reason for that.)