Book Review: Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon

Publisher’s description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a young adult romantic comedy about identity and acceptance. Perfect for fans of John Green and To All the Boys I’ve Love Before.

When Sunny Dae—self-proclaimed total nerd—meets Cirrus Soh, he can’t believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny’s older brother Gray’s bedroom—with its electric guitars and rock posters—for Sunny’s own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he’s the front man of a rock band.

Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray’s rock-and-roll castoffs. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he’s cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp.

Now there’s only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.

Amanda’s thoughts

Is David Yoon my new favorite author? I think so. I absolutely adored Frankly in Love and couldn’t wait to read this new one. If you know me even a little bit, you know my anxiety drives me to have everything done as far in advance as possible. I’m writing this on December 4 and all of my December posts for TLT are done and all of January is planned out. The day this review publishes, I also have my favorites of 2020 list publishing. I just had to squeeze in a review of this book because I loved it SO MUCH and because it definitely goes on that favorites list.

The easy comparison (that the publisher makes and that will likely occur to most readers) is to John Green, but I’m not even sure how relevant that comparison is to actual teens anymore. Yoon’s characters are quick-witted cerebral nerds who will make you want to be their best friends, and, for me, do the impossible: make me nostalgic for all the best parts of high school. (It’s maybe only now, in my 40s, that I can even see that there were any best parts.) When I was a teenager, I was a cynical punk who wanted to do nothing but go to shows, work on my zine, and argue about things. When my husband was a teenager, he was a philosophical D&D dork who made weird music and wore a cape. I think we both would’ve wanted to be best friends with Sunny Dae.

Here’s my favorite line from the book: Sunny and Cirrus are talking and she says, “It begs the question, What person isn’t just a made-up thing in the first place? Is it the fakery that makes us real? Is anything real?” And while that may sound like the kind of eye-roll-inducing conversation we all had as teens and thought was so deep, guess what? It is deep. Is there anything innate about our personalities or are we all just amalgamations of our interests and influences and ideals and emulations etc? And in Sunny’s case, is he actually faking being “cool” and interesting or is he indeed cool and interesting? Is changing our personalities and interests really in any way being “fake” when there’s nothing any more “real” about our previous identities or personalities or interests? How do you become who you are?

As I said in my review of Yoon’s previous book, I’m a hard one to make laugh, as a reader. Cry, sure, at the drop of a hat. But laugh? Rarely. But with this book, I laughed and laughed. I made note of brilliant lines. I went back and read clever conversations. I got completely sucked into the story and felt right there with the characters. I was shoving my fist right in there with theirs and shouting, “To metal!” I can’t say enough positive about this really smart, empathetic, and hilarious look at identity, friendship, preconceived notions, high school, and missteps. One of my very favorite reads this year.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781984812230
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 11/17/2020
Age Range: 14 – 17 Years

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