Saturday 3 June 2023

CBR15 Book 21: "He's Not My Boyfriend" by Jackie Lau

Page count: 180 pages
Rating: 3 stars

15-word review: Annoyed by family meddling, Iris tries to ignore her growing attraction to hot one-night-stand Alex

Iris Chin is happily single and doesn't ever want to enter into a long-term relationship, certainly not marriage. She can't understand why her mother and grandmother are so eager to set her up, both seem to have made very poor choices in their own marriages. One-night-stands feel much more uncomplicated to Iris, but once it turns out that one of her previous hook-ups, Alex Kwong, works on the construction site she's the head engineer for, and she'll keep running into him when on the job, things absolutely get more confusing for her.

Iris has also had to move in with her grandmother after her flat lease was finished, which brings with it several additional challenges. Obviously, saving money and having her grandmother cook for her is great, but she also has to contend with her grandmother's well-meaning meddling a lot more. 

This is one of Lau's earlier romances, and while it's not bad, as such, it doesn't have as much of the wit and sparkle that makes her more recent books stand out. This book was perfectly fine, but it didn't exactly blow my socks off, and now, a few months later, I'm struggling to remember the finer details of the plot. 

Judging a book by its cover: Just as I think Lau's general writing has improved with time, her covers featuring stock photo images have also definitely become better. This lavender colour-scheme is nice, but who cuddles in bed fully clothed, covered by a top-sheet?

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.