Lily ChuBesprekingen

This was a cute listen, though at times the plot felt comfortable and predictable (especially the email part). I would have liked to see more of Ari’s relationship growth with her father and sister. I would have also liked to see Ari stick it to her coworkers. Phillipa Soo was amazing, as always.

Ariadne (Ari) Hui is a lawyer whose primary focus, right now, is making partner at her firm. She works hard, tries to do all the right things, and does her best not to stick out any more than she already does by being visibly Asian. It's not a job that makes her happy, but that doesn't really matter.

Then she comes home one evening to find some random stranger in the apartment she shares with her friend Hana. His name is Choi Jihoon, and it turns out that he's Hana's cousin. He's come from Seoul to Toronto for a few weeks in order to get over a bad breakup - Hana's on a work trip and forgot to mention him. Ari tries to simultaneously be a good hostess and not let him upset her routine and her work. However, he's ridiculously good-looking, and there's a steadily growing attraction between them. Ari finds herself drawn to him and enjoying his company even as she worries he might still be hung up on his ex. Plus, he's leaving soon and she has her career to worry about.

Then Jihoon's secrets blow up in both their faces, and Ari finds herself faced with complications and decisions she never expected. Both Jihoon and Ari have to figure out who they are when they're not doing their jobs, and what they really want enough to fight for.

The publisher had some choices to make here, and they opted to spoil something on the back cover description that isn't fully revealed in the text until about 150 pages in, although I suppose there are enough hints that it isn't too hard to guess. The back cover spoiler helped underscore one of the draws of this book but, at the same time, I think it made the pacing seem worse than it actually was. It seemed to take ages for Ari to finally learn what was really going on with Jihoon, who'd only told her that he worked in the music industry and that he was having some writer's block with his newest lyrics.

While I liked Chu's The Stand-in, I felt that the growing friendship between Gracie and Fangli was stronger than the romance between Gracie and Sam. This time, however, she got the balance right. Ari and Jihoon got plenty of time to get to know each other and become more comfortable with each other - Ari's passion was planning excursions and trips for people based on what she knew about them, and the walks she planned for Jihoon were fun and interesting. I think Ari noted this herself, but when they went out on walks together it was almost like they were going on dates without actually dating.

At the same time, Ari's relationships with her family and best friend still got enough room to breathe. Chu writes some great, complex minor characters, especially women.

Professionally and family-wise, it was pretty obvious from the outside what Ari needed to do, although it took her a while to get to a point where she could see it and then get the courage to do it. Things were more complicated when it came to Jihoon. There was a moment that was an absolute gut punch, and I was glad that Chu gave Ari (and me!) time to process it and how she felt about it before nudging her towards the HEA.

All in all, I enjoyed this and am looking forward to reading Chu's next release.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Romance which includes but lightly traverses issues of mental health, multi-racial identity and self-worth, the last being the one bearing the most weight. Fun and well paced with some satisfactory glam wardrobe moments.½

Loved it. Well written and cute story. I figured it out part way through but written so well that I kept reading. Where is the planner app? I need that planner in my life!

Gracie is trying to get her mother, who has Alzheimer's, into a better nursing home, but the one she wants for her is more expensive and has a huge waiting list. Gracie's job is a nightmare - she's being subtly harassed by her boss but doesn't feel she can do anything about it because 1) no evidence and 2) she really needs the money. Then she receives a nerve-wracking offer she can't really refuse: get paid handsomely to act as the double of famous Chinese actress Wei Fangli. This puts Gracie in frequent contact with Fangli's best friend, the gorgeous and equally famous actor Sam Yao, who disapproves of this plan but will do whatever is necessary to help Fangli.

The scenes with Fangli and Gracie were wonderful - I loved reading about those two becoming friends. Unfortunately, the romance between Gracie and Sam wasn't as good. In the midst of everything else, it didn't have enough room to breathe. Sam was pretty emotionally walled off - he took on the bulk of teaching Gracie to be Fangli, and one of the most important lessons he had to teach was that everyone watched literally everything he and Fangli did when they were out in public, and every word, gesture, and action had to take that into account.

Gracie learning to be Fangli was great, if anxiety-inducing. That said, the author went a bit easy on her, so situations that should have blown up in her face and ruined the whole plan ended up being much less disastrous than I expected. The story's internal logic occasionally had some issues, as well. For example, Gracie was acting as Fangli's double so that Fangli could rest while still projecting "Fangli is fine" to the world, but at one point Gracie used laryngitis as an excuse to avoid having to talk and there were no real consequences.

The cross-cultural mental health aspects were interesting. Also, I loved that each chapter started with an illustration of Gracie's latest stab at her productivity app (which, by the end of the book, I really wished I could try). I wish the romance storyline had been stronger, although I appreciated that this was a bit of a romance unicorn, with off-page sex (on-page was limited to kissing and hand-holding).

While I had some issues with this book, I still enjoyed it a lot and plan to try more of the author's works.

Extras:

Reading group guide, interview with the author, and blank templates of some of Gracie's various To Do list ideas.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)½

Audible

This was a fun diversion but maybe a little bit too long and some sections were awkward on audible - like when they were texting and emailing.

It’s a sweet romance between a famous person and a normal one with some elements of family drama woven in.

Examines the dysfunctional family dynamics of Asian families, a cross-cultural romance and being Asian in Canada. Delightful and fun holiday read

As I don't use audible, I didn't hear this in its first incarnation as an audiobook so I was pleased to find a physical copy at my local library (I'd also spotted it at Target, but as we know book acquisition and reading are two different hobbies and for the former I'm really evaluating whether or not I want to keep a copy on my shelf for rereads or lending).

This is a cute debut, very breezy for the most part (especially considering Gracie starts with a boss that sexually harasses her before she's fired- something that made me wonder if we were going to go into serious topic mode like a [a:Sonali Dev|7025918|Sonali Dev|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397764249p2/7025918.jpg] romance). The end is a little too neat (though it does explain how this situation could work) and reminds me of [b:The Joy Luck Club|7763|The Joy Luck Club|Amy Tan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304978653l/7763._SY75_.jpg|1955658]'s revelation that June has twin older sisters left behind in China.

I appreciated the specificity of Gracie's biracial identity and Toronto locations- feels like the author writing what she's familiar with.

Ariadne Hui arrives home from work to discover a strange man in her Toronto apartment. Jihoon turns out to be her roommate’s cousin from Korea, who needs somewhere to stay for a few weeks and once Ari gets to know him a little, she finds herself enjoying his company. She doesn’t recognise that Jihoon is a celebrity.

I enjoyed this a lot, even though it employs one of my least-favourite obstacles to the romance -- namely, problems which could have been avoided with a proper conversation. And unlike some stories which make communication problems thoughtful and complex, I did think these ones could have been convincingly avoided. Yet I actually wasn’t irritated? Note the question-mark of surprise. (Maybe that lack of irritation is partly due to being immersed in Ari’s perspective. I wonder if communication problems can seem more avoidable when I’ve got both sides of the story and therefore a clearer sense of how each would react in hypothetical situations…)

This is also interesting as a story about two people who are pushed to reconsider their respective demanding careers (Ari is a lawyer), especially in light of what they want from the other parts of their lives.

“Isn’t there a VIP terminal or something? Why do you need to go through the crowd?”
He gives me a crooked smile. “For the fans. Newlight wants us seen.”
It feels like they want to parade the captured general, but I sense this observation won’t be welcome and keep my mouth shut.

½

As an *ahem* older fan of kpop and kdramas, I enjoyed the realistic elements and fantasy. I also saw the truth in the portrayal... re: how much the artists (idols) have to sacrifice and the suffocating power the companies and fans have over them.

The progression of the story was perfect and the right amount of time was spent on the main and side characters. I walk away feeling like I had a clear view into Ariadne's world.

And OF COURSE I was trying to picture which Korean actor would play JiHoon...

I liked The Comeback, though a little less than I liked Lily Chu's previous novel, The Stand-In. Just as with the previous book, Chu does a good job of writing believable relationships and friendships, and the initial stages of the romance—between stuck-in-a-rut Toronto lawyer Ariadne and incognito K-pop star Jihoon—were sweet. However, this book also shares the first novel's weakness in that the relationship suffers from Chu's seeming belief that she's got to hit every beat of a particular trope/rigidly stick to the romance novel template of the third-act understanding, etc. It makes parts of The Comeback repetitive, and Ari and Jihoon's relationship something I was less inclined to root for.½

Ariadne Hui strives on routine. She's focused on her future climbing the corporate ladder at the law firm where it has been her dream (and her father's dream) to work. She doesn't have time for surprises or spontaneity. So when she comes home one day to a stranger sleeping on her couch, she is unprepared for the whirlwind he will bring into her life.

Choi Jihoon is Ari's roommate's cousin visiting from Seoul. He's going through a breakup and needed the time away to think - at least that's the story he's running with.

Over the course of a month Ari begins to welcome Jihoon's presence. He brings out the parts of her that she's felt she'd had to keep tampered down in order to come across as someone who is serious about her work. Ari begins to realize that maybe the plan she's set out for herself are not actually her dreams, but what she always thought she should do.

Then, Ari's carefully cultivated world is turned upside-down when a secret the Jihoon was keeping is exposed to the world: he's a very famous K-pop idol.

I wish that the book description didn't give away the "big reveal" about Jihoon. I wish that readers could feel as thrown as Ari did when learning who he really is. By knowing, I felt like there were times where the pacing was a bit slow as we worked our way up to the reveal, and then afterwards, there were places where Ari's ruminations about what it would mean to pursue a relationship with Jihoon seemed to drag on for a bit. I know it's slightly unfair because readers have the chance to acclimate themselves to the situation a bit before the characters do, I'm just typically of the mind that I like the surprises of experiencing things with the characters as the story unfolds.

Regardless, I really enjoyed delving into the world of K-pop. I, like Ari at the start of the book, have never explored K-pop before. I have friends and acquaintances who are fully invested in the various groups and idols, and I've seen their high regard for the music and the artists. So coming into the story with just that perspective, I really think that it opened my eyes to the whole K-pop culture. The hard work that can be for exacting and the fact that these groups are built up and their image is cultivated in such a certain way.

I think that this is one of the best stories that highlights the famous person/non-famous person romance trope. It really gives you the reality of celebrity. While I loved Jihoon and Ari together, I thought the obstacles in front of them were both valid and spoke a lot to real life. I was invested in seeing if/how they could make it work between them and appreciated that Lily Chu didn't make it easy and didn't make either scenario a foregone conclusion. It made me root for Ari and Jihoon together and as individuals.

Overall, a very worthwhile story about how oftentimes we're afraid to actually pursue our dreams, but also about how much happier we end up when we try.

The heroine comes home to find the hero residing inside it. The hero is cousin to the heroine's roommate and needs some time to recuperate from a broken heart. As the heroine and hero interact more with each other, they began to fall in love. Yet a jarring truth halts their relationship as it turns out that the hero is a famous person in South Korea. Will this truth be something that the heroine can overcome or will it be the obstacle that will keep the couple apart?

This is another standalone novel by Lily Chu. I liked the premise of this book, but there were definitely some parts that made the story a bit hard to enjoy reading. I liked how it showed a type of family dynamic that has its ups and downs, but it would have been nice to have a bit more details about it to give a better impression of how the heroine grew up and became the person that she is in this book. There were some facets of the hero that I liked, but the situation that he forced on the heroine was not likable in how he handled it. Again, some more details would have been appreciated in making the story flow smoothly. I did like the book cover, and it's a shame that I didn't enjoy this as much as the author's debut work.

** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **½

The Stand-In is such a pleasant surprise. It takes a well-worn trope (in this case, a Prisoner of Zenda-type set-up, where regular old Torontonian Gracie Reed finds out that she's a dead ringer for the famous Chinese actress Wei Fangli and is asked to be her secret stand-in) and deals it with in an unexpectedly thoughtful way through characters who feel like human beings. This is basically the kind of book that I always hope I'm picking up when I start a new romance novel!

Lucy Chu admirably resists the tendency of a lot of contemporary romcoms to overplay the shenanigans or the Capital Q Quirky side characters or the quippy conversations. She clearly spent a lot of time thinking about how someone might react in a situation like this—either having to pretend, like Gracie, or being co-opted into the pretense, like Fangli's friend and fellow movie star, Sam Yao. I could buy all of these people as people, and I really warmed to Gracie in particular. When the book begins, she's in a difficult spot—lonely, dealing with depression and anxiety and a toxic workplace, trying to do her best by her mother who has early onset Alzheimer's. Chu manages for the most part to deal with these issues and others thoughtfully and respectfully, while still keeping this a piece of light fiction—no mean feat!

There are some places where it shows that this is a first novel, though, particularly in the inevitable Third Act Conflict/Crisis. The book plays out here in ways that are a bit more tropey in the bad/undeveloped way, as if Chu couldn't quite plot her way out of it. But one part of it in particular rubbed me the wrong way. One of the themes of the book is Gracie and Sam grappling, in different ways, with ideas of authenticity and doing the right thing. Gracie, for instance, has ethical qualms about pretending to be Fangli, and those particularly surface in a scene where she interacts with a sick child who thinks he's getting to see one of his favourite actresses in person. There's a later scene where Sam interacts with Gracie's mother, who is confused and thinks he's her long-dead brother. Gracie asks Sam just to go with it; he refuses because his character arc is about learning to advocate more for himself and what he truly wants to do with his life. He doesn't want to lie or pretend to be something that he's not anymore.

Now on a thematic/mirroring level, I get what Chu was doing here! But it didn't work for me. Generally Chu shows a great deal of empathy towards Gracie's mom and her condition, and shows the good days and the bad days that are part and parcel of it. But I've lost a loved one to Alzheimer's, and while I know that the impulse that Sam feels here—and that Gracie goes with elsewhere in the book—to try to insist on who you are, etc., to an Alzheimer's sufferer is a strong one, it generally doesn't work and it just makes everyone feel more upset. It's a very human response, so I was rubbed the wrong way not so much by the fact that it happened as by the narrative framing of Sam as right on this particular issue. I feel like there had to be a more elegant way to hit the same character beat. That's a very personal issue for me though, and it may not strike other people the same way.

Overall though I really enjoyed The Stand-In, and I will definitely be looking out for future work by Lucy Chu.

After a photographer mistakes Gracie for a famous Chinese actress, who is in Toronto for a theatre production, Gracie is approached by Wei Fangli herself and asked to impersonate Fangli at a series of public appearances. The money Fangli is offering would pay for a better nursing home for Gracie’s mother, so Gracie agrees -- much to the annoyance of Fangli’s co-star Sam, who has to escort Gracie to each event.

This was just really enjoyable! Funny and fluffy in places, thoughtfully serious in others -- Gracie’s mother has dementia and Fangli has mental health struggles -- but still positive. There’s a romance but Gracie’s relationships with her mother and with Fangli are equally, if not more, important to the story. Very much recommended.½

The Comeback is Ariadne Hui's story. She is a young, Canadian woman who lives and works in Toronto. She starts dating her roommate's cousin and grows quite attached to him before discovering he's a pop star—actually a K-pop idol. This novel could be seen as two books in one, with the first half about Ariadne before she learns Jihoon's full story and the second about her dealing with the crazy fans of a famous person.

I don't know much about K-pop so I found this book fascinating. It delves into the problems for the musicians in those groups, not only the crazy fans but also the corporate control and the lack of respect from other musicians.

I enjoyed the multiple relationship problems that occurred throughout the story. Hannah (who is Ariadne's roommate) and Hannah's mother have some issues. Ariadne has issues with her sister, Phoebe, and both Phoebe and Ariadne have issues with their father. Throw those together with the problems of dating somebody famous and you've got a lot to work through.

When the book starts, Ariadne is a successful lawyer who wants to make partner in her firm but has to deal with racism and nepotism. It's fun to see how she handles her career while in a difficult relationship.

The Comeback is an audible only book, free to subscribers of audible.com. It's well worth picking up a copy.

Gracie Reed's life could be better: She was just fired from a job she desperately needs to afford a good nursing home for her mom, who suffers from Alzheimer's. Also, her former boss isn't just a massive douchebag, he also harrassed her.

In the middle of all this chaos, Chinese superstar Wei Fangli appears together with her rumored boyfriend Sam Yao and offers Gracie a deal. Since the two look very much alike, Fangli wants Gracie to pretend to be her at public events for the next 2 months. Gracie is wary at first, but for the 100.000$ that Fangli offers her as payment, she agrees to the deal.

Sam Yao is supposed to be Gracie's escort, and while he's definitely super hot, he is also pretty rude to Gracie. As you can probably guess, though, Sam and Gracie reach an agreement to be nicer to each other and eventually romance ensues.

I'll be honest, I was a bit sceptical during the first few chapters because the premise is incredibly unrealistic. However, if you see past that, "The Stand-In" is actually a pretty sweet love story.

And not only that: While I enjoyed reading about Gracie and Sam, it was also really interesting to learn more about Fangli. Gracie's relationship to her is very pure and they eventually become friends. I thought it was great, how openly Fangli's depression and exhaustion was dealt with, as well as all of the negative side effects that come with being an A-List movie star.

Gracie's love for her mom was also really sweet to read about. Aside from her mom, the side characters don't really get much depth, though.

Another bonus point for me was that most chapters were started with a different kind of to-do list that Gracie was working her way through during the story. None of those lists really fit for her, so she started developing her own, which I thought was pretty cool!

All in all, this was a cute story to read and if you can look past the improbability of this happening in real-life, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Gracie is minding her own business when she is mistaken for a beautiful Chinese actress, then asked to act as her for a couple of months for a staggering amount of money so said actress can rest up. Hmm, we should all have her problems, amirite? Not only that, she gets to parade around town with Sam, the gorgeous actor! Please, pick me next! But of course, there are a few mixups and misunderstandings but we all read these books because we're after a happily ever after, which we get. And this one comes across in spades, thanks to a couple of surprises you don't see coming! Unless you pay more attention than I did...
I listened to this delight, and the narrator was fabulous! She handled all the various personalities and accents so well and without my thinking, "Ugh, just stop, you can't do that", like I often think when women try to speak for men, or vice versa. The story was fun and just believable enough to keep going and poignant at times to remind me of my own family. Clear 4.5 stars. Would love to hear anything else by this author and/or narrator again.

Gracie Reed is doing just fine. Sure, she was fired by her overly "friendly" boss, and, yes, she still hasn’t gotten her mother into the nursing home of their dreams, but she’s healthy, she’s (somewhat) happy, and she’s (mostly) holding it all together.

But when a mysterious SUV pulls up beside her, revealing Chinese cinema's golden couple Wei Fangli and Sam Yao, Gracie’s world is turned on its head. The famous actress has a proposition: due to their uncanny resemblance, Fangli wants Gracie to be her stand-in. The catch? Gracie will have to be escorted by Sam, the most attractive—and infuriating—man Gracie’s ever met.

If it means getting the money she needs for her mother, Gracie’s in. Soon Gracie moves into a world of luxury she never knew existed. But resisting Sam, and playing the role of an elegant movie star, proves more difficult than she ever imagined—especially when she learns the real reason Fangli so desperately needs her help. In the end, all the lists in the world won’t be able to help Gracie keep up this elaborate ruse without losing herself...and her heart.