Book Review: Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee is a contemporary romance. Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn. Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend, but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems. Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a romance that made me very hungry. Before I get to the characters- the food descriptions and information has me craving a whole variety of authentic Chinese food. I loved the exploration of the food and culture of Dylan's family, and how it was made clear how (just like any other culture) personal experiences, regions, dialects, and more have huge impacts on everything involved. I was glad to get a better understanding of one (fictional) family's world and how that fits into the larger whole. I loved Dylan and his family, and would gladly read more about them all. I do have to say that I could not connect as much with Theo Part of it was the family and money, which I could never relate to even though readers do get to see how far from perfect it all is. I think it was more because we rarely got a good look at the real Theo, his actual thoughts and feelings aside from a could big, important moments. I would love to have gotten a chapter or two from his perspective. However, that being said, I really enjoyed the read and look forward to devouring whatever the author cooks up next. 

Fake Dates and Mooncakes is a wonderful romance and I look forward to more from the author.