This Time It's Real

Starred review from January 2, 2023
Constantly uprooted by her mother’s consulting career, 17-year-old Eliza Lin has lived in six countries and attended 12 elite schools. After years of impermanence, Eliza struggles to fit in anywhere, and feels that her senior year at Westbridge International School in Beijing is going to be her worst one yet. She speaks “mediocre” Chinese and has no friends, prompting her to bury herself in writing. Though she’s initially stumped by a homework assignment to detail a close relationship, she invents an imaginary boyfriend, and the resultant essay, posted online, goes viral. When a popular literary website reaches out to Eliza with an internship opportunity for which she’s expected to offer romantic advice based on her purported relationship, she approaches classmate and wildly popular actor Caz Song with “A Strategic, Mutually Beneficial and Romantically Oriented Alliance to Help Further Our Respective Careers.” Eliza is an enchanting, hilarious, and vulnerable heroine, while Caz proves the quintessential teasing, noble love interest; their cotton candy–sweet budding relationship and ensuing romance make for an irresistible tale by Liang (If You Could See the Sun). Main characters cue as Chinese. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary.