BJHS Media Center

• BOOK REVIEW •

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Well, well, well, brace yourselves for the rollercoaster ride that is This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang, where fake relationships and viral essays collide in a whirlwind of teenage drama and deception.

Let’s start with our protagonist, Eliza Lin, the mastermind behind the viral essay that catapults her into the limelight. She’s your typical teenager with a not-so-typical problem: she’s never been in love.

Enter Caz Song, the enigmatic heartthrob with a secret (because of course he has a secret). He agrees to play the part of Eliza’s dreamy boyfriend in exchange for some college application ghostwriting. Talk about a match made in teenage heaven.

What ensues is a whirlwind of fake dates, handwritten notes passed in class (seriously, do people still do that?), and motorcycle rides to snack stalls (because apparently, that’s what passes for romance these days).

But hold onto your seats, because as Eliza’s web of lies grows ever more tangled, she starts to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there’s a kernel of truth buried beneath all the fake relationship shenanigans. Cue the teenage angst and existential crises.

I’m not usually a fan of the fake dating trope, but this one seems to work.

Eliza’s character is pretty relatable - the classic lonely girl with zero self-confidence who overthinks everything. Caz was the stereotypical hot teen actor who hides his true self from the public. However, the tension between the two and their insecurities were the hook that kept me reading straight through to the end.

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