David Yoon

From the bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a contemporary YA rom-com where a case of mistaken identity kicks off a string of (fake) events that just may lead to (real) love.

Super Fake Love Song

Praise for Frankly in Love: A New York Times Bestseller and #1 Indie Bestseller An Amazon.com Best Book of the Year Five Starred Reviews "Extraordinary . . a beautifully layered novel about first love, tribalism and that brief, magical period when kids have one foot in high school, one foot out the door. . . Yoon explores themes of racism, forgiveness and acceptance without getting earnest or preachy or letting anyone off the hook. And there's a universality to the story that cuts across cultures." -New York Times From bestselling author David Yoon comes an inventive new romantic comedy about identity, perception, and how hard it can sometimes feel to simply be yourself. When Sunny Dae - self-proclaimed total nerd - meets Cirrus Soh, he can't believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny's older brother Gray's bedroom - with its collection of electric guitars and rock posters - for Sunny's own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he's the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray's rock and roll castoffs. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he's cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp. Now, there's only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it. Sunny goes all-in on the lie, and pretty soon, the strangest things start happening. People are noticing him in the hallways, and he's going to football games and parties for the first time. He's feeling more confident, in every aspect of his life, and especially with Cirrus, who's started to become not just his dream girl but also the real deal. Sunny is falling in love. He's having fun. He's even becoming a rocker, for real. But it's only a matter of time before Sunny's house of cards starts tumbling down. As his lies begin to catch up with him, Sunny Dae is forced to wonder whether it was all worth it - and if it's possible to ever truly change. Frankly in Love: "With echoes of John Green and To All the Boys I've Loved Before, it's poised to be the biggest YA debut of the year." -Entertainment Weekly "Yoon's fresh and nuanced approach to Frank's struggle to navigate cultural tensions amplifies both the vulnerabilities and the strengths that can come with being a child of immigrants. . . Yoon underscores the value of honoring both who you are and where you come from." -TIME Magazine "Yoon's stellar debut expertly and authentically tackles racism, privilege, and characters who are trying to navigate their Korean-American identity." -BuzzFeed

selma

i liked cirrus, the other characters were not really that interesting. most of the interactions between the characters made close to no sense. definitely not the worst book i’ve read, but i don’t really recommend it 

i am a little bit incoherent. but that's ok.

- finally some good fucking food (korean american rep where the mc's parents don't give a "we came to america to give u a good life so go to college and become a doctor and stop doing whatever makes u happy" speech multiple times in the book)
- also sunny and gray doing music and it wasn't all about kpop
    - (which is kind of funny to me bc the song gray writes is supposed to have like 7 genres in it yeah that's just igab but rock)
- speaking of which... who names their kids gray and sunny dae lmfao
- i didn't feel as connected to these characters as i did with frankly in love
    - i think that's bc i spent the first 15% of the book experiencing extreme second hand embarrassment watching sunny dig himself deeper and deeper into a hole when he first met cirrus
- (back to character names) cirrus like the cloud... ok...
- she's a little bit boring i don't rly remember anything about her except she moves a lot and she's also a nerd
- the whole nerd dnd culture was a pretty big part of this book and that's not me so i think that's probably also why i didn't rly vibe with the book
    - (view spoiler)[ gunner actually had the most fascinating character arc what with starting off as a bully and football jock but then u learn he's only doing that bc his father makes him and he also wants to dnd  (hide spoiler)]
- overall though it was rly fast and easy to read once u get over all the second hand embarrassment

laura

* I got this book for review from the publisher*

I really enjoyed this book and it just was such a fun read. It is so rare that you get YA contempory told from a male POV. I also loved how this book was unique look on asian experience. I really also loved Sunny as a character and the side elements of this story. I grew to love the romance but it was def not the main draw for me in this read. I also liked how music and brother relationships was at the heart of the this story. It was such a fast pace read, i will def check out more reads by this author in the future.

Jelke Lenaerts

This book has a content warning for racism.

I had so much fun with this book. It just made me happy and I loved how nerdy this book was. It was just so much fun. I do have some small complaints about it. There were moments were the main charater was just super judgemental and pretentious and that just rubbed me the wrong way. It also only happened around the love interest and never when he was alone or with friends so yeah. It just didn't work for me. I'm overall very happy with the ending but there's a small element in it that I wish was a bit different from what I would have liked. But yeah, I liked the fact that this book was mostly a coming of age one instead of being really romance focussed. It was mostly about the main character's journey of accepting himself and finding out who he is. On top of that we also have some great friendships and a very complicated relationship between the main character and his brother. All of that just adds up to a book I'm meant to love, which I did. David Yoon has quickly become a favourite author and I can't wait to read more by him in the future.

Hope Brockway

I picked this book up on a whim. I had read Frankly in Love, David Yoon's previous book, last year, and unexpectedly enjoyed it. But I didn't really have plans on reading this book. That changed when I actually flipped open the first page. I was hooked. 

I was a bit surprised when I finished it and loved it so much. See, I don't usually like plotlines that revolve around a misunderstanding. I berate the characters for simply not telling the truth or clearing up the situation in a level-headed manner. I was also concerned that after Sunny decided to impress Cirrus with his charade, that the lie would be too easy and he would both get the girl and change himself so much in the process. I was quite relieved when my suspicions and fears weren't correct. 

One of the things I loved about this book is that Sunny's journey revolved around gaining confidence. Yes, Cirrus was kind of the agent of that change, but she didn't give him confidence. Sunny found that for himself. During his charade, he realized how he limits himself and he changes. And I really liked that. 

I also liked the theme of family and friendship, which I think David Yoon executes wonderfully. I enjoyed seeing characters unexpectedly become friends. I loved characters not fitting into "typical high school" stereotypes (the jock, nerd, etc.). In fact, that was a bit of what this book was about. Breaking down stereotypes. 

And the ending was so satisfying. Sunny changed, yes, but he was also confident in expressing himself fully. Honestly, what a fantastic ending. 

I really enjoyed this experience. It was a bit introspective, which I greatly enjoyed, yet still maintained that light, fun feeling. There was a bit of cussing and dialogue that I would never want to hear in real life, but, other than that, it was fairly clean.

When Sunny Dae, self-proclaimed total nerd, meets Cirrus Soh, he can't believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny's older brother Gray's bedroom, with its collection of electric guitars and rock posters, for Sunny's own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he's the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray's rock and roll castoffs. But there's no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he's cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp.Now, there's only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.Sunny goes all-in on the lie, and pretty soon, the strangest things start happening. People are noticing him in the hallways, and he's going to football games and parties for the first time. He's feeling more confident, in every aspect of his life, and especially with Cirrus, who's started to become not just his dream girl but also the real deal. Sunny is falling in love. He's having fun. He's even becoming a rocker, for real. But as his lies begin to catch up with him, Sunny Dae is forced to wonder whether it was all worth it and if it's possible to ever truly change.

Joke Duprez

samar 

Wiktoria

Erika Schmitz

Shan

An NPR Book Concierge Pick of the Year “The fun of this engrossing read is that underneath the slapstick lies a finely nuanced meditation on how we perform as ourselves.” —New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a moving young adult novel about friendship, identity, and acceptance. Perfect for fans of John Green and To All the Boys I've Love Before. When Sunny meets Cirrus, he can't believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakenly thinks Sunny plays guitar, he accidentally winds up telling her he's the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He gets his best friends to form a fake band with him and starts dressing like a rock star. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he's cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp. Now there's only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.