Super Fake Love Song

Sunny Dae is perfectly content with his reputation as a nerd. That is until he meets Cirrus Soh. When a mixup leads Cirrus to believe that Sunny is in a rock band, instead of correcting her, Sunny leans into the mistake. He persuades his two best friends into starting a rock band and starts wearing his older brother’s old clothes. But the further he gets into the lie, the more he has to lose. With themes of family and the American Dream, Super Fake Love Song is a story of identity and what it means to be yourself. It is told entirely in the first person from Sunny’s perspective. Sunny was an excellent, dynamic character. I loved his use of cynicism to protect himself, as well as his loyalty to his close group of friends. I wanted to like this story so badly but it was all over the place. There were parts that I really liked, mainly Sunny’s relationships with some of the characters: his longtime bully Gunner, his rockstar brother who moved home, his two best friends. The part I didn’t enjoy so much as the plot surrounding his relationship with Cirrus, the main plot of the book. Something about it felt so forced to me. Additionally, I didn’t love Cirrus. She initially came off as so vapid to me, and I struggled to warm up to her from there. If you were a fan of David Yoon’s last book, Frankly in Love, you will likely enjoy Super Fake Love Song. Thank you to BookishFirst and Penguin Teen for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Super Fake Love Song is about Sunny Dae, a Korean American teenager who is a mega-nerd trying to survive at his wealthy, white California high school. He is introduced to Cirrus Soh, a very cool, worldly, beautiful girl. To impress her, he impulsively tells her he is the front man of a rock band. He starts wearing his rocker older brother's clothes. He ropes his friends Milo and Jamal into forming a rock band to maintain the deception. Along the way, Sunny's perception of himself and those around him changes. He gains confidence. His relationship with his older brother and family improves. Super Fake Love Song is hilariously, cleverly funny. Gut busting, roll-on-the-floor funny. David Yoon definitely has a way with words. Because I am an ancient, pre-internet fossil, I was a huge fan of the John Hughes movies from the 80s. In many ways this book echoes the themes of those movies: breaking down stereotypes, dysfunctional families, being true to, and standing up for yourself. Super Fake Love Song goes further and also addresses racism and diversity. The characters were relatable. I loved Sunny's friends Milo and Jamal. I thought they were the big heroes of the story in terms of standing by Sunny throughout all the insanity. Super Fake Love Song is a funny, fast-paced entertaining read that also makes the reader think.

I received a finished copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I would like to start off by saying I didn't really *read* this book. By that I mean, I struggled my way through about 50 pages before giving up and beginning to skim through the rest. I started by skipping a few pages, then whole chapters, to finally skipping chunks at random. I just simply could not get into this book at all. I had somewhat high hopes for this book though I have never read anything else by this author. Other early reviews made it seem promising. I greatly disagree. Typically, I do not leave reviews for books that I didn't finish but I felt the need to share my disappointment on this one. The book started off cringey and only got worse from there. I myself am a big time nerd but it was SO extraordinarily nerdy, it actually made me uncomfortable. Not only that, but it is very unrealistic. For instance, the hero nerds of our story are overly rude to adults. Normally I wouldn't mind and this would not be something that stuck out to me, however as someone that was a teen only a few short years ago, the lack of response to these comments from the adults seems strange and kind of shocking. Personally, they seem to treat adults in the same manner the popular, snotty kids that they seem to dislike do. Also, the tone of the story is kind of hard to follow. One minute you feel as if it is meant to be funny, but missing the mark by trying too hard, then the next you feel as though you are meant to be sad and/or feel sorry for the main characters. The references and "teen lingo" seem to be stretching and, once again, trying too hard. The interactions between the teens themselves seem unrealistic to a degree and super cringey as well. There are moments when it is hard to tell what is actually happening and what is imagined. Overall it seems overly dramatic and exaggerated, which I suppose is fine if that is what you are expecting and it is clear that that is what the author was going for. Personally, my anxiety and empathy just could not handle it. I felt like I was watching every cringey moment of every terrible teen movie nonstop. Normally, I skip or fast forward though those scenes, so I decided to skip this book. If this is not an experience you've ever had before, you may be able to get through this story no problem.

While this was a pretty quick read, there were several things that annoyed the heck out of me. First off, being a nerd and liking things like LARPing and playing D&D and other similar things is not the pariah that it used to be. The way that Sunny goes on and on about how uncool it is, while still doing it with his friends, Jamal and Milo, really irritated me. Also the way that he kept pushing his friends to go along with his lie about being in a band, The Immortals, to impress his new girlfriend, Cirrus and pushing his other commitments to the back (Livestreaming with Lady Lashblade, etc). I did like how one of the other characters, a seemingly typical football jock, turned out to have hidden depths. It is too bad Cirrus did not have any depth to her character though, besides being the besotted girlfriend who thinks the world of her guy and nothing else. This book did have cute moments and I did enjoy reading about the band practices. It kinda made me want to hear the Beauty is Truth song. And the making of Esmeralda's Veil, etc. If you want a light, quick read that has humor and not much depth and a neat, tidy not surprising at all end, then this is a good choice. I could definitely see this as a teen romcom movie.