"Cute, complicated and entertaining, this “will they, won’t they?” page-turner sees an endearing British-South-Asian teenager write her own real-life romcom script"
Best friends, fake dating, friends-to-lovers twists and a whopping web of secrets — Anika Hussain’s This is How You Fall in Love has a wonderful Desi girl at its beating heart and reels with romcom entertainment.
Though she’s obsessed with romcom novels and movies, Zara has yet to star in her own love story. In the meantime, her life revolves around her beloved Desi family and her best mates - Sadie, who sets about making a documentary film project about love, and Adnan, her best friend since childhood, who everyone thinks would be her ideal leading man, including their parents.
While both Zara and Adnan insist that will never happen — they’re close friends, that’s it — the tide turns when Adnan needs to cover-up his real girlfriend and begs Zara to pretend they’re an item. How hard can it be? Very, as things turn out. First up, there’s a whole lot of practical issues around how they behave towards each other, and around Adnan’s actual girlfriend. Then there’s jealousy, and the problem of Zara falling for someone for real. With a fun meta-fiction vibe (a romcom about romcom with entertaining romcom twists), the besties-to-couple trope is thrust to the fore from the off: “that’s literally how every YA romcom starts. Boy and girl are besties, they get involved in a fake dating scheme and then BAM they get together for real.”
All of which leaves readers expecting that very thing to happen to Zara and Adnan. Cue much confusion and soul-searching realisations on the path to heart-stirring happiness.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
Zara and Adnan are just friends. Always have been, always will be. Even if they have to pretend to be girlfriend and boyfriend...
Zara loves love in all forms: 90s romcoms and romance novels and grand sweeping gestures. And she's desperate to have her own great love story. Crucially, a real one. So when her best friend Adnan begs her to pretend to date him to cover up his new top-secret relationship, Zara is hesitant.
This isn't the kind of thing she had in mind. But there's something in it for Zara too: making her parents, who love Adnan, happy might just stop them arguing for a while. She may not be getting her own love story, but she could save theirs. So Zara agrees and the act begins: after all, how different can pretending to be in a relationship with your best friend be to just hanging around with them like usual? Turns out, a lot. With fake dating comes fake hand-holding and fake kissing and real feelings...
And when a new boy turns up in Zara's life, things get more confusing than ever. The course of true love never did run smooth, but Zara's love story is messier than most...
A hilarious and heartfelt romcom, told with a light touch, perfect for fans of To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry and Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating.
This Is How You Fall In Love features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Debuts, Romance / Relationship Stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Relationship stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Dating, relationships, romance and love, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Humorous stories, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Recommendations, Fiction, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Relationships (non-family / groups), Children’s / Teenage: Personal and social topics
This Is How You Fall In Love is available in Paperback, Ebook
This Is How You Fall In Love was written by Anika Hussain and published by Hot Key Books
This Is How You Fall In Love has 385 pages
£8.09
