THIS TIME IT’S REAL BY ANN LIANG: A MASTERCLASS IN ROM-COM STORYTELLING

What could’ve been a better way for a reader to spend Valentine’s Day than reading a cozy rom-com! After Anna Liang’s I Hope This Doesn’t Find You had me kicking my feet in the air with its swoonworthy moments, I couldn’t wait to read her next book, and This Time It’s Real was exactly the kind of rom-com I wanted to read after an intense enemies-to-lovers saga.

Forging meaningful connections has been a challenging task for 16-year-old Eliza Lin. Because of her mother’s job, her family never stayed in one country for more than 2–3 years; as a result, Eliza felt she never quite fit in anywhere. Now that she’s back in China, she decides to focus on her studies instead of making new friends to protect herself from hurt and platonic breakups in case her family decides to move again. But her plans to remain low-key change when her personal essay on her love life goes viral! As a result, she gets everything she ever wanted! The approval of her new classmate, an exciting internship opportunity and a dedicated fan following. But there is one problem- everything in Eliza’s essay is a lie. She never had a boyfriend, and her entire love story is fake. To cover up the truth and to secure an internship with a prestigious publication, Eliza cracks a deal with Caz Song, an emerging actor and school heartthrob. As part of the deal, Eliza offers to help Caz work on his college essays, while Caz pretends to be her boyfriend in front of the cameras. Everything goes well for some time, but after a while, the lines between acting and reality begin to blur when Eliza develops real feelings for Caz! Will Eliza break free from the fear of abandonment to embrace her burgeoning feelings for Caz, or push him away?

One thing I love about this book and Ann Liang’s writing in general is that her characters can be both incredibly charming and realistically flawed. Eliza and Caz could not be more different. While Caz has spent most of his life in the spotlight, fame is an unfamiliar territory for Eliza. But the fame she earns from the virality of her essay puts her in a precarious spot; she likes the attention, and it opens a door for romance and a prestigious internship opportunity, but she also fears that one day all of this might collapse when the truth comes out. She spends much of the narrative fearing not only the loss of a promising writing career but also the loss of her friendships. After losing friends in every country she has moved to, she becomes detached and struggles to pursue new connections in high school. This setup is really strong for the narrative, as Eliza slowly moves past this fear by confronting it head-on. Most love stories use love as a tool to fix a character, but I rarely find it romantic, because characters shouldn’t wait for someone to come into their lives to fix their flaws. But what I do find romantic is witnessing characters who put in the extra effort and step out of their comfort zones to embrace love. Ann Liang’s writing feels refreshing because she always uses this strategy to shape her characters’ journeys.

There is another problem I’ve often witnessed in the writing of male protagonists that this book thankfully doesn’t resort to. Male characters in rom-coms can either be written as complete red flags or green flags. But this binary can make characters in romance novels quite boring, particularly the ‘nice guys’. Fortunately, Caz Song isn’t written like that. He is a well-rounded character who is often vain and guarded to avoid displaying vulnerability. At the same time, he has all the charming characteristics and swoonworthy moments readers look for in a romantic lead. I also like how the story touched on the reality of working in the Chinese entertainment industry, including cancelled dramas after scandals, toxic fan culture, PR disasters, and the overall cultural impact of C-Dramas. As someone who started watching C-Dramas last year and enjoys keeping up with the industry’s celebrity gossip, this backdrop has been a treat for me.

I also love how supportive and wholesome the supporting characters are in this novel, including Caz and Eliza’s families, friends, and colleagues. As a result, there are no villains in the story to oppose Caz and Eliza’s romance, and most of the conflict stems directly from their decisions.

The only minor complaint I have about this story is that it doesn’t delve into Caz and Eliza’s dating era, which is a bit unfortunate because the narrative leans heavily into a slow burn to keep readers hooked until the last page. Still, I want to see their dating era 🫣.

Overall, this story has been quite an enjoyable read. I’d like to give this a rating of 5 out of 5.