Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Can I really turn this fake relationship into a real one?

Emily is now the only unmarried daughter in her family and at thirty-three, she's feeling the pressure from her mother. After going along with her mother's first disastrous matchmaking scheme, Emily wants nothing to do with her mother's latest pick, Mark Chan. Especially after feeling like he was judging her and wouldn't stay off his phone when she first meets him at her younger sister's wedding. However, Emily's mother is caring and devious, tricking Emily into a date with him and there, Emily comes up with a plan to fake date for three months to get her mother off her back, a plan Mark surprisingly goes along with.

But I concede— in my own mind, not out loud— that Mark has grown on me, and the juxtaposition of his neat clothes and cat named Ms. Muffins is weirdly delightful.

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie was a cute fake dating story where, oops, my mom was right and I do have chemistry with this guy, that had a lot of women's fiction/chik-lit to it but came in with a surprising second half (truly, I gasped) introducing some chapters with Mark's point-of-view. The first half is all from Emily's pov and focused on how she feels like her mother is disappointed in life choices and job of being a writer and her sisters all sneer at her “I don't have my life together because I don't have a husband, kids, and white picket fence”. If you're a writer and disillusioned by the publishing business, you'd probably do a lot of cathartic commiserating with Emily. I'm not in the business and as a reader, I liked how it gave some life to her character, filling out her make-up and world, but there was a lot repeated and bemoaned over and over, to the point it started to make me want to say, “No career is a picnic”'; but, again, not the target for this aspect.

Mark Chan is more than a little handsome.

I lean this more towards women's fiction/chik-lit because it did feel more like Emily's life and getting herself together, with a romance. Along with the job woes, there was also a lot of family dynamics and Emily being comfortable and standing up for herself. There did feel like some chip-on-the-shoulder misunderstanding from Emily, constantly saying/thinking her mother isn't proud of her when there is a good amount of evidence to the contrary and this also carried over to the beginning of the romance with Mark. When Emily first meets Mark, she constantly railroads over him and decides what he means or thinks instead of listening to him. It's a little before the midway point when Emily finally gets out of her own head and then apologizes to Mark for misconceptions and they start to date for real.

But how, exactly, does he feel about me?

As I said, the second half brings in Mark pov's, I had a misconception of my own and thought the whole second half was going to be from his take but we only got a few chapters through his eyes. It did help on the romance front some, though, because we see why he went along with Emily's fake dating scheme, and get some of his family dynamic, giving readers an insight into his character and why he's more a little straitlaced. I liked some of the chemistry that developed between the two when Mark got to teasing, taking Emily by surprise because of her thinking he's uptight. The few povs we got from Mark centered around physical attraction a bit more than I would have liked, giving more lust than emotional to me, but I did enjoy the open-door scenes we got (feeling a little forced at times with the du jour “good girl” vibes). So, while this had a stronger romance plot, I still felt it was more Emily's life/romance journey than Emily and Mark's romance genre story.

And then the unthinkable happens. Mark winks at me.

The ending had Emily talking things out with her mom and sister for some family resolution, which I liked but then hardly left any time for Emily and Mark to have their own, again, the romance getting a little shafted in favor of chik-lit, in my eyes, but the epilogue padded the HEA, which I enjoyed. Along with if you're a writer struggling in the business, if you're a more heavily online social media person, you'd probably enjoy the many, many references to various dramas and news stories (I feel like this is going to age the book very quickly??). I would have liked some of the writer's business and headline dramas taken out in favor of strengthening the romance but if you're a struggling writer bemoaning work, family issues, and misconstruing what a cute guy in a sweater is saying, this could be enjoyable (and eye-opening!) for you.