Faking It Till We Make It

What happens when fake dating becomes the most real thing in your life?

Seventeen-year-old Zoe Martinez has always been the perfect student-perfect grades, perfect boyfriend, perfect social media presence. But when her carefully curated world crumbles just weeks before senior year, she’s desperate for a new angle for her Northwestern University essay.

Enter Adrian Park: academic rival turned unlikely ally, who proposes the most logical solution to both their college application problems-a mutually beneficial fake relationship that makes him look well-rounded and gives her the authentic relationship insights she needs to write about.

The rules are simple:

No real feelings
Clear boundaries
Strategic public appearances only
Exit strategy included

The problem? Hearts don’t follow contracts.

What starts as pure performance slowly transforms into something neither of them expected. Between family dinners, jealous ex-boyfriends, and the pressure of senior year, Zoe and Adrian discover that faking authenticity might just lead them to the real thing.

But when their arrangement is exposed in the school newspaper, threatening Zoe’s scholarship and their reputations, they must decide: Was their love story worth defending, even if it started as a lie?

From debut author Astrid Magnusson comes a heartfelt and witty exploration of what it means to be authentic in a world obsessed with performance, perfect for fans of Jenny Han, Rainbow Rowell, and Kasie West.