[Review] Faking Reality - Sara Fujimura

Summary: Dakota McDonald swore after “The Great Homecoming Disaster” that she’d never allow her romantic life to be a plot line in her parents’ HGTV show again. But when the restaurant run by the family of her best friend (and secret crush), Leo, is on the line, Dakota might end up eating her own words.

Leo Matsuda dreams of escaping the suffocating demands of working in his family’s restaurant, but the closer he gets to his goal—thanks to the help of his best friend (and secret crush) Dakota—the more reasons there are for him to stay.

Sara Fujimura's Faking Reality is another charming multicultural romance by the award-winning author of Every Reason We Shouldn’t, a National Public Radio Best YA Book of the Year. (Pub Date: Jul 13 2021)

 

I find it funny that this was maybe the first time I read any book by a Japanese descendant, considering how the Japanese culture interests me and I even took a course in the university about the generations of immigrants. But I'm digressing, although Dakota does mention some things I've seen in my course as she narrates.

Dakota is the daughter of the stars in a popular reality TV show and that's she's been all her life, which has led her to many inconveniences and a couple of traumas. Because if that, she prefers to live in her bubble, trusting very few people in. One of them is her childhood friend and major crush, Leo Matsuda. But now he has a girlfriend, she can't continue to dream of the day she'll be out of the friendzone and decides to find an actual date for the Sweet Sixteen extravaganza the show runner is planning for her in the last season. 

I'd give this a 3+ but still not enough to round it up to 4. All the Japanese culture inserts are really nice and surely a good immersion especially for those not familiar, but it wasn't enough to save how messy the plot gets. 

It may be a me problem, and other readers might love this—I did mention I don't find easily things about Japanese culture so they might not find it either—but Dakota and Leo's friendship bothered me a lot. And I feel it wasn't intentional or if it was the book didn't treat it the right way, because the way their relationship goes in the story felt very unhealthy. It's sad, because Leo is a great guy who just couldn't deal with Dakota's feelings for him. YA books are not here to teach anything, but I wish they had either showed a good way to solve the friendzone problem or showed it some other way. Less romance as the end goal and more coming of age, perhaps?

I also found it hard to connect with Dakota and even with Leo (because I kept hating how he was dealing with everything). To be honest, I can't say any character was my favorite, and their flaws would get me at times. 

And as mentioned, the plot is a little messy. Maybe, it took too long for the book to get to the point, that is Dakota trying to get over Leo and find a date to her party. This only happens around halfway, actually. On the other hand, this gave the two enough time for their conflict to appear and explode. 

I feel the actual audience will enjoy it much more than me, an old lady for them. There's a lot for them to enjoy along the way and maybe they won't be as bothered and judgmental with the main romance as I was. But for me, this story needed more editing to maybe become whatever the official summary leads us to think it is.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.