In the 1990s, I watched many movies with fake dating tropes geared to young adults. Think She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Drive Me Crazy. It should come as no surprise that as an adult, I still love the fake dating trope, especially in books. To satisfy my younger self, I have created a list of young adult romances with fake dating tropes. This is not a complete list, instead these are the ones that caught my eye first! As of this writing, all of these books are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions provided by the publishers.
Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
No one loves musicals more than Riley Morris—her dream is to be a Broadway director. But when the spring show is canceled, Riley has to figure out a way to bring it back. Easier said than done—she’s stuck working at her dad’s game store. The place that means more to him than his family does.
Riley can’t waste time at a dead-end job when her entire future is resting on making a name for herself. So she convinces her co-worker Nathan Wheeler—the floppy-haired, glasses-wearing guy she barely knows from school—to help her. In exchange, she’ll help him make his gamer-girl crush jealous. Plus it won’t hurt to show her egotistical ex, Paul, just what he’s missing without her.
Soon Riley and Nathan are “a couple,” and people seem to believe it. But selling the ruse means joining Nathan’s role-playing game. To Riley’s surprise, the game is almost fun. And even more surprising, flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she thought it would. . . . – Delacorte Press
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee
Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn.
Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons.
In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend . . . but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems.
Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both? – Underlined
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
Two friends. One fake dating scheme. What could possibly go wrong?
Frank Li has two names. There’s Frank Li, his American name. Then there’s Sung-Min Li, his Korean name. No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California.
Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl–which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit . . . who is white.
As Frank falls in love for the very first time, he’s forced to confront the fact that while his parents sacrificed everything to raise him in the land of opportunity, their traditional expectations don’t leave a lot of room for him to be a regular American teen. Desperate to be with Brit without his parents finding out, Frank turns to family friend Joy Song, who is in a similar bind. Together, they come up with a plan to help each other and keep their parents off their backs. Frank thinks he’s found the solution to all his problems, but when life throws him a curveball, he’s left wondering whether he ever really knew anything about love—or himself—at all.
In this moving debut novel David Yoon takes on the question of who am I? with a result that is humorous, heartfelt, and ultimately unforgettable. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar
Everyone likes Hani Khan – she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they don’t believe her, claiming she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship… with a girl her friends can’t stand – Ishu Dey.
Ishu is the polar opposite of Hani. An academic overachiever, she hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for university. Her only problem? Becoming head girl is a popularity contest and Ishu is hardly popular. Pretending to date Hani is the only way she’ll stand a chance of being elected.
Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after. – Hachette
Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan
Elouise (Lou) Parker is determined to have the absolute best, most impossibly epic summer of her life. There are just a few things standing in her way:
- She’s landed a job at Magic Castle Playland . . . as a giant dancing hot dog.
- Her crush, the dreamy diving pirate Nick, already has a girlfriend, who is literally the princess of the park. But Lou’s never liked anyone, guy or otherwise, this much before, and now she wants a chance at her own happily ever after.
- Her best friend, Seeley, the carousel operator, has always been up for anything, but she’s decidedly not on board when it comes to Lou’s quest to set her up with the perfect girl or Lou’s scheme to get close to Nick.
- And it turns out that this will be their last summer at Magic Castle Playland—ever—unless she can find a way to stop it from closing.
Jennifer Dugan’s sparkling debut coming-of-age queer romance stars a princess, a pirate, a hot dog, and a carousel operator who find love—and themselves—in unexpected people and unforgettable places. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
I’ll Pretend You’re Mine by Tashie Bhuiyan
Summer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts—but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.
Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up—even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.
At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants—and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart. – HarperCollins
Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
Twelve days of fake dates. Two holidays. One chance to convince everyone they’re in love.
Arden James is Hollywood’s hottest teen actor. Infamously reckless, she’s a constant in the tabloids. But when her messy reputation costs her an audition for her dream role, Arden and her publicist make up a lie to flip the script. Only, for the lie to work, she’ll have to head home for the holidays for the first time in four years.
Caroline Beckett has spent those last four years shining up a stellar portfolio that will get her into a top journalism program and convincing herself she could not be less interested in what her former best friend and first crush has been up to since she left without a word. But when Arden suddenly shows up at her doorstep with the promise of a real byline in Cosmopolitan in exchange for a write up on their “secret romance” and twelve snow-covered holidates in their Christmas-obsessed hometown, Caroline can’t help but be tempted into playing along.
It should be easy enough to stand each other for twelve days to make their dreams come true, right? But when old feelings start to bubble up, so do new holiday wishes that might just have Arden and Caroline falling faster than that Christmas Eve snow… – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.
When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.
In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. – Quill Tree Books
