To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this “entertaining and nuanced” (Kirkus Reviews) romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda. Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet … because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ‘Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.
Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ‘Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.
When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.
But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew–who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ‘rent-worthy–her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?
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Go and buy this book now! It’s been awhile since I’ve finished a book so fast! Chloe’s character is hilarious and her character build was amaing. Drew….where to begin, I feel like he’s every girls fantasy, smart, caring, handsome and funny. This love story is not like the typical cheesy Rom-Com, it feels more realistic but with a sprinkle of the cheesiness in the best way possible. Once you start you won’t be able to put it down!
I enjoyed Gloria Chao’s previous novel, Our Wayward Fate, and decided to pick up Rent A Boyfriend. I was especially excited to read it because it revolves around a fake dating trope, and that’s my kryptonite.
Our heroine, UChicago student Chloe “Jing-Jing” Wang hired Drew Chan to be her fake boyfriend for Thanksgiving via the Rent for Your ‘Rents app (according to the author’s note, hiring fake boyfriends is actually a real-life practice in some Asian countries). Chloe’s Taiwanese parents are trying to make her accept the marriage proposal from Hongbo, the son of their richest friends. But Hongbo is the most disgusting, awful human being and Chloe wants nothing to do with him. So, Drew is going to play the most perfect boyfriend to divert her parents from their constant nagging about Hongbo. But, Chloe and Drew get closer and real feelings develop between them. What will happen when Chloe’s parents find out that Chloe hired Drew to be her fake boyfriend, and he’s actually not a pre-med student with rich parents, but a college drop-out who had cut off all ties to his family?
Rent A Boyfriend was a fun read, and very timely. It’s set between Thanksgiving (November) to Chinese New Year (February), so I was getting all the holiday feels and, personally, very relevant because as someone who is also Asian, I get what Chloe was feeling (though my situation isn’t as extreme as Chloe’s) and why she made the choices she did.
The scene stealer was Chloe’s mom. She was awful, and you’d love to hate her! I hated her, but I also found her to be hilarious. And strangely endearing even, at times. Like Chloe, I have complicated feelings for Mrs. Wang lol. We did get snippets of her past, so we see why she’s really pushing Chloe to accept Hongbo’s proposal but oh man she was frustrating! The whole time I was reading I was thanking heavens my parents aren’t like the Wangs, and my family doesn’t belong in that type of community where parents are constantly one-upping each other about their kids. Very maddening!
This book was told in alternating points of view between Chloe and Drew, but even though we’re partly in Drew’s POV I feel like I didn’t really get to know him like I did Chloe. Maybe because we were at home with Chloe and her parents and we really got to know her inside and out, but I didn’t connect to Drew. He was fine while I was reading the book, but he was forgettable. The romance between Chloe and Drew was cute though!
After reading Our Wayward Fate and now Rent A Boyfriend, what I really love about Gloria Chao’s books is how immersive they are in Taiwanese culture. The language (we get a glossary!), the food (except maybe the frankenbao lol), the traditions… I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrators did a great job with the Mandarin (I mean, I couldn’t tell if they butchered it because I don’t speak Mandarin, but it sounded legit to my ears lol)–I’m glad I was able to go back and forth between the physical book and the audiobook because otherwise I’d be stuck on trying to figure out the Mandarin. I highly recommend the audiobook!
Overall, I had a great time reading Rent A Boyfriend! I went in for the fake dating trope, and I came out of it with so much more. If you like complicated mother-daughter/parental relationships, immigrant stories, a cute romance set during the holidays, and/or Taiwanese culture, Rent A Boyfriend is for you!