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    Rent a Boyfriend
    Rent a Boyfriend
    Rent a Boyfriend
    Audiobook9 hours

    Rent a Boyfriend

    Written by Gloria Chao

    Narrated by Feodor Chin and Emily Woo Zeller

    4/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    SELECTED AS A YALSA 2022 AMAZING AUDIO FOR YOUNG ADULTS!

    To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this “entertaining and nuanced” (Kirkus Reviews) romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.

    Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ‘Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.

    Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ‘Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.

    When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community.

    But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew—who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ‘rent-worthy—her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?

    Editor's Note

    Rom-com to the max…

    Are your parents trying to set you up in an arranged marriage? Then try Rent for Your ’Rents, which allows you to rent a fake boyfriend to impress your parents and get them off your case (it’s really a fantastic fake company name, we must say). “Rent a Boyfriend” indulges in rom-com tropes to the max (obviously), but it’s a heartfelt examination of the warring pressures felt by Asian American young adults as well.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateNov 10, 2020
    ISBN9781797113210
    Author

    Gloria Chao

    Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, Our Wayward Fate, and Rent a Boyfriend. When she’s not writing, you can find her with her husband on the curling ice or hiking the Indiana Dunes. She does not regret putting aside her MIT and dental degrees to write, and she is grateful to spend her days in fictional characters’ heads instead of real people’s mouths. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.Wordpress.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram @GloriaCChao.

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    Reviews for Rent a Boyfriend

    4/5

    199 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed Gloria Chao's previous novel, Our Wayward Fate, and decided to pick up Rent A Boyfriend. I was especially excited to read it because it revolves around a fake dating trope, and that's my kryptonite.

      Our heroine, UChicago student Chloe "Jing-Jing" Wang hired Drew Chan to be her fake boyfriend for Thanksgiving via the Rent for Your 'Rents app (according to the author's note, hiring fake boyfriends is actually a real-life practice in some Asian countries). Chloe's Taiwanese parents are trying to make her accept the marriage proposal from Hongbo, the son of their richest friends. But Hongbo is the most disgusting, awful human being and Chloe wants nothing to do with him. So, Drew is going to play the most perfect boyfriend to divert her parents from their constant nagging about Hongbo. But, Chloe and Drew get closer and real feelings develop between them. What will happen when Chloe's parents find out that Chloe hired Drew to be her fake boyfriend, and he's actually not a pre-med student with rich parents, but a college drop-out who had cut off all ties to his family?

      Rent A Boyfriend was a fun read, and very timely. It's set between Thanksgiving (November) to Chinese New Year (February), so I was getting all the holiday feels and, personally, very relevant because as someone who is also Asian, I get what Chloe was feeling (though my situation isn't as extreme as Chloe's) and why she made the choices she did.

      The scene stealer was Chloe's mom. She was awful, and you'd love to hate her! I hated her, but I also found her to be hilarious. And strangely endearing even, at times. Like Chloe, I have complicated feelings for Mrs. Wang lol. We did get snippets of her past, so we see why she's really pushing Chloe to accept Hongbo's proposal but oh man she was frustrating! The whole time I was reading I was thanking heavens my parents aren't like the Wangs, and my family doesn't belong in that type of community where parents are constantly one-upping each other about their kids. Very maddening!

      This book was told in alternating points of view between Chloe and Drew, but even though we're partly in Drew's POV I feel like I didn't really get to know him like I did Chloe. Maybe because we were at home with Chloe and her parents and we really got to know her inside and out, but I didn't connect to Drew. He was fine while I was reading the book, but he was forgettable. The romance between Chloe and Drew was cute though!

      After reading Our Wayward Fate and now Rent A Boyfriend, what I really love about Gloria Chao's books is how immersive they are in Taiwanese culture. The language (we get a glossary!), the food (except maybe the frankenbao lol), the traditions... I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrators did a great job with the Mandarin (I mean, I couldn't tell if they butchered it because I don't speak Mandarin, but it sounded legit to my ears lol)--I'm glad I was able to go back and forth between the physical book and the audiobook because otherwise I'd be stuck on trying to figure out the Mandarin. I highly recommend the audiobook!

      Overall, I had a great time reading Rent A Boyfriend! I went in for the fake dating trope, and I came out of it with so much more. If you like complicated mother-daughter/parental relationships, immigrant stories, a cute romance set during the holidays, and/or Taiwanese culture, Rent A Boyfriend is for you!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Cute book. So cozy and enjoyable. I had a great time reading this.
    • 4/5
      Cute and light hearted . I recommend for romantic comedy lovers
    • 3/5
      It was an interesting book and I loved the characterization of Drew and Chloe, but Gloria really needs to stop with the completely unrealistic over-the-top portrayal of the chinse community. As a chinese immigrant myself in North America, I can say with certainty the attitudes and behaviours of Chloe's parents are NOT the norm, while Gloria writes as if it is. Their 'traditional' beliefs and attitudes are SO over the top it's not believable and takes away from the serious themes underlying the book: filial piety, loyalty, transparency etc. Also, it seems like Gloria has something against the church or religion in general because at every turn religious terms are being used for cursing throughout and everyone who is connected to a religion are awful, terrible hypocrites who are deceitful and utterly repugnant. It's a pity because this book could easily be 5 stars if Gloria would just temper her writing to be more believable and balanced, even while being true to chinese strict traditions and beliefs.
    • 5/5
      Read for the Reindeer Readathon prompt of "Blitzen: Read a book featuring some sort of struggle".

      I read American Panda and loved that, so it doesn't surprise me that I absolutely adored this newest installment by Gloria Chao!

      This book.

      Ahhhh, this book was everything!!

      I had no idea that girls had to hire boyfriends to get their Asian families off their backs in today's world! Reasons including preventing arranged marriages, for those that weren't ready to come out yet, for whatever reason really.

      I enjoyed the explanations of the style of parents and how the company trained their employees being mentioned too (wish that would have been even more expanded on!).

      Drew was such a great character and he and Chloe messaging back and forth was SUPER cute.

      The family dynamics were so well explained and I loved that each character was written so realistically and had layers to them.

      Chloe and Drew are one of my new favorite fictional couples!

      The audio version of this featured two different voice actors for the dual perspective chapters with those narrated by Chloe to be one narrator and those narrated by Drew another.
    • 3/5
      I’m not sure if I can finish listening to this book. I am quite getting annoyed at the mother. I think it’s a bit too much on the exaggeration on how Asian mother really is. It’s true they can be annoying at time but dang. The text every single day. Why can’t she just speak up and tell them the truth rather than hiring a fake bf.
    • 1/5
      Audio of the book is not working properly when listened to it in app.Really annoying and spoiling a good book
    • 1/5
      Lmao. Please don’t waste your time. Read something else instead.
    • 4/5
      Great contemporary story with a lot of discussions about culture and family!!!
    • 5/5
      Geez Louis, this character goes through a lot that made me want to hug her. Cute as this romance was, I think the main takeaway was family. And the way it was handled was both triggering (some points hit too close to me) and well explored
    • 5/5
      A wonderful audiobook that I enjoyed - especially having different actors for the Drew and Chloe