Rent a Boyfriend

Product Information

Hasta aquí todo bien, y en una comedia romántica, sabemos más o menos por dónde irían los tiros. Pero en Rent a boyfriend, en vez de reírme con los enredos, me he enfadado mucho. Sobre todo con los padres de Chloe. Entiendo el concepto de que los padres asiáticos pueden ser diferentes o darle más importancia a otras cosas, pero para mí ha sido demasiado. Hay escenas en las que no es que sean exigentes, es que directamente me parecen malas personas, tanto con su hija como con el chico con que creen que está su hija. Sé que hay muchos factores en juego, y no quiero hacer spoilers a nadie, pero de verdad que su actitud y sus actos no me parecen excusables. Y para mí, eso me ha estropeado bastante el disfrute del libro. Another element I really loved was the competitiveness of Chloe's Asian community, which I felt was a perfect representation of the society I live in and the things I dealt with growing up. I went to law school because it plays to my strengths (reading, writing, words, language), but another reason was because it was the only career choice that made sense. I'd wanted to study literature at university, but the harsh reality in my society is that arts graduates cannot find employment, and often work "an artist's salary" as Chloe's mom called it. In the typically materialistic, practical Asian community, professions like law, medicine, and dentistry are celebrated (even economics is seen as an easy-A major and hence inferior), and "impractical" professions like writing, painting or singing are heavily frowned upon.

But on the other hand, among all the Gloria Chao books I've read (a total of 3), Rent a Boyfriend is the least enjoyable. I was really impressed by the first 15% of this book. It was cute and everything. However, everything went downhill afterward. No ha sido lo que buscaba ☹️, uno de esos casos en los que las expectativas equivocadas matan el libro. Empecé esta lectura buscando una comedia romántica con la relación de relación falsa/novio por encargo, y bueno, el cliché está, pero la verdad es que no definiría esta historia en absoluto como comedia romántica. No me he reído demasiado, y no solo eso, sino que es que hay escenas en las que lo he pasado mal. The concept for rental boyfriends started when many strong independent Japanese working ladies found it hard to maintain a relationship because of work, but their parents were hassling them about getting married. So they would hire someone to pretend to be their boyfriend to show their parents.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.

AHHH I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS GAME!!!!! YOU GUYS DID NOT MISSSSSS!!!!!!! You guys have that "It' factor to make some really great games and stories; I hope your team plans to make more in the future!!!! I enjoyed every second of it and the voice acting really tied it together nicely. They both did incredible and somehow fit so perfectly! I was so flustered with those flirty lines from Aramis's VA lmfao I was screaming the whole time!! Really loved the pacing and as others mentioned, how you showed healthy relationship values/respect/consent through your writing. The plot and characters are okay. I don’t think that they are too special or unique. I don’t think that I actually liked any of the characters and their personalities. I liked their internal conflicts more. The inner conflicts that were written in this book were so good and so true. My favorite was probably Drew’s inner conflict.

Renting a boyfriend can help you feel less insecure

Were we all pretending, putting on a better face to fool everyone around us, even our family? [...] Did anyone else go by two names and feel like that separated who they were? — Chloe

Rent a Boyfriend中，所有的父母都不適任，此外還有糟糕透頂、被寵壞了的富家子弟Hongbo。我覺得他這個角色代表所有勢力、自大的有錢人，恰好與父母們挑女婿時所求的「乖」呈現強烈對比。本故事也稍微提及亞洲社群裡的恐同現象，像是有些人會因為還沒打算出櫃而租男友度過家庭聚會。

Development log

Follows Taiwanese-American teens Chloe (known as Jing-Jing to her family and community), a college teen who hires Drew, an artist, as her boyfriend over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Lunar New Year to disentangle herself from a preposterous proposal with the local yet rich asshole.