Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

An NPR Book Concierge Pick of the Year “The fun of this engrossing read is that underneath the slapstick lies a finely nuanced meditation on how we perform as ourselves.” —New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a moving young adult novel about friendship, identity, and acceptance. Perfect for fans of John Green and To All the Boys I've Love Before. When Sunny meets Cirrus, he can't believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakenly thinks Sunny plays guitar, he accidentally winds up telling her he's the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He gets his best friends to form a fake band with him and starts dressing like a rock star. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he's cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp. Now there's only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.

John Hughes, but make it modern! That's how I'm pitching this. SUPER FAKE LOVE SONG by David Yoon surprised me, in a good way. Thank you Penguin Teen for the #gifted ARC. Out on Tuesday, 11/17 here in the U.S.

The premise: Boy meets girl. Girl mistakes boy's older brother's room as his. Boy says nothing and decides to fake it as a front man in a rock band to impress girl. Hijinks ensue.

It's certainly zany at times, but the plot is accompanied by smart and witty observations about identity, brotherhood, friendship, nerd life, and parental expectations.

I buddy read this with fellow bookstagrammers @theshriekingstack and @utopia.state.of.mind back in September, and one thing that has stuck with me is how multifaceted Sunny (the protagonist) comes across while Cirrus (the girl in question) is flat and rather one-dimensional.

Since the book is told completely from Sunny's point of view, it feels realistic in ways that a lot of fiction doesn't. We love fiction because it shows us many angles when we hold something up to the light, but we also need fiction that reminds us of our limited field of vision.

I actually like that Sunny, as a Korean American male protagonist, shines and gets to be the hero (and antihero) of his own story. But what are your thoughts? I'm curious if flatness in other characters would bug you or if it helps center the coming-of-age aspect for you.

Thanks again to Penguin Teen for sending this ARC and prioritizing Korean American #OwnVoices!

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews and I read them and thought “I'd probably feel the same” and Bob's your uncle, so I did. I decided to DNF around 9% as I didn't like the main character. Plus it's in first person pov and I didn't like the narration. I don't have anything to say about the plot because I stopped reading before basically anything happened.