This Time It's Real

I had been looking to read a story like this for years!!! Yes, there are plenty Kpop / Kdrama inspired stroies around, and finally this gem is set in C-drama context! Eliza Lin is a 'global Chinese' teenager (whose mom sounds like she works for a MBB consultancy) moves back to Beijing and goes to an international school where she has a rising C-Drama actor as her classmate. The 'boyfriend/girlfriend contract' trope unfolds at a good pace, and I love the setting in Beijing as it reminds me of my vacation there a couple of years ago. High recommend and I hope that Ann Liang writes more.

4⭐️ This was so cute and sweet🤍 Adorable YA romance

“I’d love to be inconvenienced by you. I wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life.”★★★★★ann liang’s style of writing YA stories absolutely works for me. second book of hers i’ve read in a row and i absolutely loved it. THIS TIME IT’S REAL is the loveliest story about first love, friendship, sisterhood and belonging, all packaged into a modern cdrama-like tale 🎐i personally relate so much to eliza and nearly everything she went through hit really close to home for me, so much so that i even teared up a couple times. from her struggles of a fizzling long distance friendship, to feeling protective over her sister, to her not feeling like she belongs anywhere, it all felt too familiar to me and had me rooting for her in every wayeliza and caz had such a sweet, tender romance. they were witty, funny, genuine and vulnerable. absolutely 100% recommend <3thank you to Scholastic Press and Colored Pages Tours for the e-arc!