“the stand-in” by lily chu – ARC review

goodreads

how to upend your life:

–get fired by gross, handsy boss

–fail to do laundry (again)

–be mistaken for famous chinese actress

–fall head-first into glitzy new world

gracie reed is doing just fine. sure, she was fired by her overly “friendly” boss, and yes, she still hasn’t gotten her mother into the nursing home of their dreams, but she’s healthy, she’s (somewhat) happy, and she’s (mostly) holding it all together.

but when a mysterious suv pulls up beside her, revealing chinese cinema’s golden couple wei fangli and sam yao, gracie’s world is turned on its head. the famous actress has a proposition: due to their uncanny resemblance, fangli wants gracie to be her stand-in. the catch? gracie will have to be escorted by sam, the most attractive—and infuriating—man gracie’s ever met.

if it means getting the money she needs for her mother, gracie’s in. soon gracie moves into a world of luxury she never knew existed. but resisting sam, and playing the role of an elegant movie star, proves more difficult than she ever imagined—especially when she learns the real reason fangli so desperately needs her help. in the end, all the lists in the world won’t be able to help gracie keep up this elaborate ruse without losing herself… and her heart.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

the stand-in by lily chu was marketed as a rom-com, so i went in expecting something light and fluffy and i was pleasantly surprised to see how mature this book was. sure, it’s got its fluffy moments and a few rom-com shenanigans, but it also tackles some heavier topics regarding mental health and self-discovery, and i thoroughly enjoyed reading it! i really enjoyed how the romance was handled; you got to watch them grow from friends to lovers, and t believe their relationship was well-developed.

i’ve seen reviews mention how weak gracie was and i definitely disagree. i didn’t think of gracie as weak at any point of the novel, she was just someone that was forced by unfortunate circumstances to become a spectator in her own life, i suppose. i truly think she was depressed at the start of the book and by the end of it we see a gracie with a lot more personality and a lot more motivation, so she’s not a boring character by any means. i loved watching her discover herself by being someone else for a bit, she had such a glow-up. plus she was really funny.

sam and fangli were both very interesting characters and i liked how fangli’s deteriorating mental state was handled. mental health is a topic a lot of people avoid, but the book didn’t shy away from shining light on how hard it is to deal with your problems when everyone is watching your every move. i adored fangli’s relationship with gracie, they were both very lovely. gracie’s problems with anxiety and her proclivity to make a tiny problem into a catastrophe is something i related to a lot and i appreciated how the book handled this topic. sam and gracie were adorable together and i loved watching them fall in love. i appreciated the fact that it wasn’t insta-love, as i was kinda expecting it based on the synopsis. their banter was fun, but i love the scenes where they’re both soft quite a lot. sam has some trouble with his mom, that’s trying to control his life and i loved how gracie handled the situation.

the scenes with gracie’s mom broke my heart, not going to lie. dementia is such a difficult disorder to cope with, especially when it affects someone dear to you. gracie tried her best to give her mom the support she needs and i truly loved her for it. 

i really liked the ending – gracie figuring out herself and then figuring out her relationship with sam. i was kinda worried that the book might take the route of “i found love so now im perfectly fine”, but it thankfully didn’t. truly, she’s a complex characters and i liked her transformation. the book isn’t all sad, it had some funny moments as well and i liked seeing how clumsy gracie was at the beginning. her trying to imitate fangli was a disaster at first, especially with sam constantly “bullying” her for it. 

overall, this is a book i see many people enjoying and i’m definitely reading the author’s future works as i really liked their voice and the writing style!