Super fake love song

Review by Booklist Review

Sunny Dae doesn't mean to lie to new girl Cirrus Soh--it's just that she's so cool and he's a nerd who makes D & D videos. Surely he can be forgiven for claiming that his brother Gray's guitar-filled bedroom is his own? As his friends Milo and Jamal point out, the easiest way out of the sticky situation he's created is to make the lie true, and the two of them reluctantly agree to help him form a rock band even though they'd rather return to nerdier pursuits. Growing closer to Cirrus is everything Sunny dreamed it would be, and his new rock-star attitude--which he's becoming oddly addicted to--is even making him popular. But his relationship with Gray, whose life is slowly falling apart, is strained, and the game he's playing seems destined to implode. Sunny's relationship with Cirrus doesn't ring quite as true as his friendships, but his voice, unique and wry, is gripping. Fans of Yoon's Frankly in Love (2019)--and there are legions--will enjoy this follow-up that similarly tries to reconcile romance with identity.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Yoon won hearts and accolades with his best-selling, Morris-finalist debut, Frankly in Love, and readers have been eagerly awaiting his sophomore novel. You won't have to twist the truth to get them to pick this one up.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Yoon's (Frankly in Love) endearingly winning coming-of-age novel begins when 17-year-old self-described nerd Sunny Dae, who is Korean American, meets the girl of his dreams: Korean American Cirrus Soh, the well-traveled daughter of commercial real estate developers. After her family moves to Rancho Ruby, a "99.6 percent" white community in Southern California, tongue-tied Sunny doesn't correct Cirrus when she mistakes his older brother Gray's room for his, leading Cirrus to believe that Sunny is a budding rock star. Desperate to impress and avoid being caught in the lie, Sunny recruits his best friends to join his fake band, the Immortals. Together, they learn to play instruments and work on perfecting one of Gray's unperformed songs. But when Gray moves back home, and the bully who has tormented Sunny for years figures out the scheme, Sunny's plans may all come tumbling down. Through Sunny, who feels conflicted about his parents' obsession with money and his older brother's choices to abandon music for a more stable career, Yoon challenges stereotypes and tackles the age-old theme of being true to oneself, whether that self is a rock star or a nerd. Ages 14--up. Agents: Sara Shandler, Joelle Hobeika, and Josh Bank, Alloy Entertainment. (Nov.)

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up--Most of the time, Sunny Dae is OK with being a nerd, despite the bullying and casual racism he experiences at school for being Korean American in a mostly white community. He has two close friends, and together they run a successful DIY cosplay video channel. But Sunny is jealous of his older brother, Gray, a musician living in Hollywood. When his parents' colleagues bring their teenage daughter, Cirrus (also Korean American), to Sunny's house, Sunny makes a split-second decision to pretend that Gray's bedroom is his own and that he is the one in a rock band. And something amazing happens: Cirrus thinks Sunny is cool. For several weeks, Sunny carries the lie further by wearing Gray's clothes and convincing his friends to actually form a band with him to play in an upcoming talent show. With his new persona, Sunny begins to experience what it's like to feel cool for the first time in his life. Predictably, Sunny's lies soon alienate those close to him, and eventually he must come clean and make a decision about who he truly wants to be. Readers will be drawn in by the sweet romance and Sunny's hilarious narration. But in a novel filled with excellent writing, strong characterization, and abundant positive messages, perhaps the greatest strength of all is the emotional openness of the male characters. VERDICT Yoon's sophomore follow-up to 2019's Frankly in Love is charming, witty, and inspirational. Highly recommended.--Liz Overberg, Zionsville Community H.S., IN

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Review by Horn Book Review

Sunny Dae and his friends are the "nerd caste" (and also "42.85714286 percent of the entire nonwhite population") at their suburban Los Angeles high school. They are, after all, the hosts of a web series about building props for LARP events (live action role playing, for the uninitiated). But when he meets cool new girl Cirrus, Sunny hides his passions for crafting and role-playing games and pretends he's the front man of a band called the Immortals, using his older brother Gray's equipment and wearing his clothes. The lie escalates quickly: soon, both Cirrus and Sunny are smitten with "Rock Star Sunny," and the Immortals are preparing to perform in their school's talent show. Sunny's narration, full of inventive metaphors, is distinctly, gloriously nerdy. For example, when he hears that Gray quit his band for financial reasons: "It killed me that people had to cancel their dreams for endless toil, unless of course we somehow managed to pull ourselves out of these late-stage capitalist dark ages and into a Star Trek (TNG) future blessed with a universal basic income and sweet jumpsuits." Despite Sunny's self-professed cynicism, the novel is a joyful one: a bully easily becomes a friend; three geeky friends turn out to also be decent musicians; and ultimately Sunny, just as he is, gets the girl. For nerds -- and those who love them -- this is a fitting tribute. Rachel L. Smith January/February 2021 p.120(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Fake it till you make it? Unlike Gray, his aspiring rock star older brother, camera-shy Korean American teen Sunny Dae loves sharing his nerdy hobbies of live-action role-playing Dungeons & Dragons and designing cosplay props with his best friends, Milo and Jamal, despite the bullying he receives from a school jock. Milo is Guatemalan American and Jamal is Jamaican American, and the trio have bonded in their Southern California town that is over 99% White. Then Sunny meets Rancho Ruby High School's newest student, the beautiful, worldly, music-loving, Korean American Cirrus Soh. Soon, he finds himself doing things he's never done before, like pretending his brother's band is actually his. Yoon captures the humor, the heart, and the universal anxieties--and possibilities--of trying on new identities in high school while also exploring microaggressions, toxic masculinity, bullying, parachute parenting, and classism. The book cautions readers against judging character based solely on outward appearances. Part of its brilliance lies in how it shows the ways Sunny's and Gray's desires for acceptance and popularity reflect what they see as their parents' own efforts to keep up with the Joneses. Dungeons & Dragons fans will appreciate the symbolic parallels between Sunny's story arc and the fate of the paladin figurine he made in middle school. A clever, hilarious, and empathetic look at diverse teens exploring authenticity, identities, and code-switching. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Gray's door was always open, because that's how Gray liked things. The door to my room was always shut, because that's how I liked things. My door was blank and unadorned. My door could have led to anything--a linen closet, a brick wall, an alternate universe. You only get one chance to make a first impression , Mom liked to say. It was characteristically shallow advice, but there was a truth to it that I only now realized. I followed Cirrus, heading left into Gray's room instead of right into mine. Cirrus had already made herself at home in Gray's salvaged steel swivel chair. She drummed her fingers on her thighs, as if eager to be introduced to the room's history. I started to say something, then stopped. I started to say something else, then stopped. I started to-- Cirrus eyed me with growing concern. "So are you--" she said. "These are guitars," I said suddenly. I craned my neck back to look at them. I stretched, sniffed, did all the things amateurs do when gearing up for a big lie. "They're my guitars." Cirrus brightened. "Wait. Are you in a band?" "Phtphpthpt," I said with a full-body spasm. "It's just a little band, but yes: I am." Cirrus looked at the guitars again, as if they had changed. "Very cool." I heard none of this, because my lie was still busy pinging around the inside of my big empty head like a stray shot. Shocking, how easily the lie had slipped out. "You're more than cool," continued Cirrus. "You're brave. Most people barely have hobbies, if they bother to try anything at all. Most people let the dream starve and die in the kill-basement of their soul and only visit the rotting corpse when they themselves are finally on death's door wondering, What was I so afraid of this whole time? " "Jesus, you're cynical," I whispered. Cirrus spotted something behind my guitars [Gray's guitars]: the torn Mortals flyer. "Is that you?" I cleared my throat, which was already clear. "That's, uh, my old band," I said. "We split up. I'm working on a new thing." "Cool-cool," said Cirrus, nodding blankly. Then she flashed me a look. Not just any look. The Look. I recognized the Look from when Gray was still at school. The Look was a particular type of glance Gray got often--a combination of burning curiosity barely masked by bogus nonchalance. Everyone badly wanted to know Gray; everyone pretended they didn't. The Look was the expression people gave to someone doing something well, and with passion. It was an instinctive attraction to creativity--the highest form of human endeavor--expressed by emitting little hearts out of our eyes. It was falling a little bit in love with people who were fashioning something new with their hands and their imaginations. I had always wondered what it would feel like to get the Look, and now I realized I had just found out. The Look was pure deadly sweet terror, and it felt incredible . I instantly wanted another. Excerpted from Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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