I usually love Liang’s books, but both the plot and the characters felt less well-crafted than others I’ve enjoyed (I Hope This Doesn’t Find You and I Am Not Jessica Chen being my favorites). I suspect this is in part due to the lighter tone of this story than the others, as I feel that more serious stories show off her poetic turns of phrase, artist’s eye, and the deep emotional wells with which she develops her characters. Of course, part of this could also be because I’m not usually a fan of fake dating as a trope, but I find Liang’s writing to be so poetic and emotionally articulate that I had to give this one a try regardless of that preference. I also felt that the pacing was a bit off, with the buildup being too long and the denouement being too short. Without knowing more about the emotional journey of the male MC, the payoff at the climax of the plot isn’t as rich as it could have been.