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Well, my friends, the day has finally arrived-today, you can watch the final movie installment of the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise, To All the Boys: Always and Forever. With the final chapter of the YA fake dating book turned movie, it is truly the end of an era.
Now that you’ve read all the books and watched all the movies, the question on everyone’s mind is this: how will we all fill that giant, empty void in our souls now that there’s no new Lara Jean and Peter K. content coming our way?
Luckily, I have an answer for you: read all the YA fake dating books! As you may recall, Lara Jean and Peter’s epic romance did, indeed, start out as a fake relationship, and although they are on their way to a happily ever after, there are PLENTY of other truly excellent fake dating fish in the sea!
So, read on for a collection of YA fake dating books that will make you giggle and gush, sigh and swoon, cry and crush (on fictional characters, that is). You’ve got your rom-coms, your more serious romances, and even one or two that don’t quite end in romance. Find everything from old stand-bys to new books out this year; there’s something for everyone in this list of YA fake dating books!
YA Fake DAting Books available right now
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon-This 3rd installment in Sandhya Menon’s Dimple & Rishi universe is possibly the most hilarious of them all. When social justice-minded Pinky and super organized Samir pose as a couple to get Pinky’s parents to stop bothering her about all her bad decisions, things aren’t exactly picture perfect-they argue their way through just about every situation, but sometimes opposites really do attract. (As a bonus, you get some hate to love action along with your fake dating in this one!)
Analee, in Real Life by Janelle Milanes-Analee spends most of her life in the virtual world rather than the real world-there she can be Kiri, a brave, strong, night elf hunter, or, basically everything she can’t be in real life. She even has a love interest in the game-Xolkar, aka Harris, someone Analee hasn’t met IRL. Then a popular boy at school, Seb, asks Analee to pretend to be his girlfriend to make an ex jealous, and Analee, surprisingly, agrees. But the more time they spend together, the more Analee doubts herself. Is this fake dating ploy a recipe for disaster?
Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson-This book combines fake dating with another of my favorite tropes, famous person and non-famous person fall in love! When Adam Jakes, big star/PR disaster, shows up in the tiny town of Little, California to film a movie, Carter Moon is just about the only person not swooning over him. Which of course, makes her the perfect person to “date” Adam and help him restore his reputation. Carter reluctantly agrees, due to the financial benefits, but as they get to know each other, it turns out Adam isn’t exactly who Carter thought he was, and the lines between what’s real and fake start to blur. Is this fake romance going to lead to a real Hollywood ending, or just heartbreak?
Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen-What do you do when your mom and her best friend are convinced that their kids, aka you and the guy you hate, would make the perfect couple? Well, you fake date each other in order to stage a brutal breakup and get them off your backs, of course. It’s the perfect plan…unless it turns out you don’t hate that guy so much after all. Another hate to love bonus to go along with fake dating in this one!
The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West-When Gia’s boyfriend dumps her minutes before prom, she has to find some way to salvage the situation. So she enlists the help of a random guy picking up his sister-he’ll be her fill-in boyfriend for a few hours, and then they’ll go their separate ways. But then she can’t stop thinking about him. And then she does him a favor by acting as a fill-in girlfriend at a graduation party. And then just as they’re starting to like each other, the dude who dumped her shows up again, threatening to ruin everything. Will these fill-ins be able to turn their lies into something real?
Frankly in Love by David Yoon-Frank Li’s parents have one rule for him when it comes to romance: date Korean. This is a problem, because the girl he likes is white. His friend Joy Song has a similar problem, so Frank and Joy decide that they will pretend to date each other to please their parents, while secretly dating their unacceptable non-Korean significant others. It’s the perfect plan…until complications arise, leaving Frank wondering about love, and friends, and identity. Just as a bit of a warning, this deals with some tough topics and has some very sad moments, so it’s a bit more intense than a lot of YA romance.
How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom by S.J. Goslee-Nolan’s never had a boyfriend, or even a kiss. His sister wants to change all that, so she creates an elaborate plan for him to ask his secret crush to prom-but this doesn’t go as planned. Suddenly, Nolan finds himself fake dating stereotypical bad boy Bern, which he thinks will get his sister to leave him alone so he can resume his normal life of tending to plants and cats. But as always, when it comes to fake dating, real feelings often start to creep in…
Jenna and Jonah’s Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin-Jenna and Jonah are perfectly in love on tv. In the real world, Charlie and Fielding, who play Jenna and Jonah, seem to be perfectly in love as well. Too bad their relationship is just a publicity stunt, and they secretly hate each other. And then the paparazzi figure this out and expose them, so they have to get off the grid for a while. Together. And who knows where that will lead…(again, fake dating AND hate to love! A bonus for romance lovers everywhere.)
Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao-Chloe’s parents are very traditional-so much so that they’re ready to arrange a marriage for her to what seems like the worst guy ever. To get around this, Chloe hires someone to play her boyfriend-if they see she’s already dating a great Asian guy, she won’t need their help, right? The problem is, Chloe actually starts to like her rented boyfriend-who, unlike the character he plays as a hired beau, is not a perfect, parent-approved Asian boyfriend. Now Chloe needs to figure out what she really wants before everything she’s carefully planned out falls to pieces.
The Upside of Falling by Alex Light-Becca and Brett are perfect for each other-she needs a guy to pretend to be the boyfriend she told her friends she had, and he needs a girl so people will stop bothering him about not dating anyone. Fake-dating for the win! But it’s pretty hard to be the perfect couple when you hardly know each other, and when you both have a bunch of baggage to bring to the relationship to boot. But as they learn more about each other, and find they have a lot more in common than they knew, their fake relationship might turn out to be pretty real after all.
The Way to Game the Walk of Shame by Jenn P. Nguyen-Taylor’s gone from one type of bad reputation to another-from the ever studious Ice Queen to the girl who gets drunk at a party and wakes up next to a guy with his own reputation. To quell the gossip and salvage her reputation, Taylor convinces said guy, bad boy surfer Evan, to pretend they’re dating. This is just a fake romance, of course, but everyone knows opposites attract, so it should come as no surprise when Taylor and Evan start to fall for each other…for real.
ya Fake Dating Books out later this year
Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan-Karina keeps her head down, obeys her parents, and follows all the rules-even though that means sacrificing what she wants. She figures this is the only way to get through high school and out on her own. And then everything starts to unravel when the boy she’s tutoring tells people she’s his girlfriend. Karina decides to play along with this while her parents are out of town, but as her fake boyfriend brings her treats and buys her books and charms her friends, it turns out she might actually like him. But he’s not Muslim, or Bangladeshi, or parent-approved. So what will happen when her parents come home, and everything has to go back to normal? (Side note: I had a chance to read this one early, and it is DELIGHTFUL. I would definitely preorder!) Expected publication May 4, 2021.
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar-Hani has always been popular and had few problems, while Ishu is an overachiever obsessed with becoming head girl. When Hani tells her friends she’s bisexual, they say she can’t be because she’s only dated guys-so she pretends she’s dating Ishu, who her friends hate. Ishu agrees to go along with Hani’s plan, as long as Hani helps her become more popular at school. Despite their fake-dating pact, real feelings start to occur…and there are plenty of obstacles around to stop their happily ever after. Expected publication May 25, 2021.
Like a Love Song by Gabriela Martins-Natalie’s career as a pop star is soaring. Then, she has to endure a breakup on live tv-which is not only super embarrassing, but could also stop her career in its tracks. So her PR team comes up with a plan-a fake boyfriend! Said fake bf is a British movie star who is surprisingly sweet and incredibly attractive. And Natalie might just be developing super real feelings for him… Expected publication August 3, 2021.
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura-Nozomi wants a picture perfect summer romance, and she’s found the perfect girl for it. But Willow is only looking for a fake relationship, in order to make her ex girlfriend jealous. Nozomi agrees, but she has a plan: to figure out a way to turn their fake romance into a real one. As Nozomi tries to scheme her way into her perfect romance, she might be missing out on a real relationship she didn’t create a plan for. Expected publication June 8th, 2021.
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee-Noah’s been writing happily ever afters for trans kids on his blog for a while now-but they’re all fictional. When someone starts making claims that all of the stories are made up, Noah starts fake dating Drew as a way to save the Meet Cute Diary. But it turns out Drew might not be the knight in shining armor after all, and someone else may be deserving of Noah’s feelings, and a happily ever after. Expected publication May 4th, 2021.
Well, there you have it, my friends: all the YA fake dating romances you could need to fill that To All the Boys-related void. Tell me-which of these do you want to pick up first?!
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