I love me some Jackie Lau. Longtime readers of this site know she excels at rivals-to-lovers romances, and Love, Lies and Cherry Pie is no exception to the rule. The dialogue crackles, the interpersonal relationships sparkle and the romance is typically fantastic.

Emily Hung is a barista who (barely) has time to write. Her mother wants her to get married, and she hopes the practically-perfect son of their friends will fill that role. But Emily is not attracted to Mark Chan when her mother finally shoves them together.

Mark is everything a good son should be; the engineer makes good money, he’s a loyal guy, he’s kind to his friends and parents – why wouldn’t Emily want to be with him? Well, Emily takes the seed her mother plants and decides to grow her own proverbial garden with it – she asks Mark to pretend they’re dating to get her mother off her back. One thing leads to another, but might Emily have found true love with the guy who’s been staring her in the face all along?

Love, Lies and Cherry Pie is another of Lau’s lovely zingers. It sweeps along beautifully, giving us lovable characters and a romance with a lot of spirit and personality.

Emily is in an understandable place – caught between her harried sister (who’s having a tough time balancing motherhood and her own life) and her newlywed sister. Emily is in that relatable midpoint; her career’s going nowhere, she likes her cups maybe a little too much, and her dream writing career just keeps stalling. I liked her tremendously.

Mark is a nice, steady guy with a really interesting, sharp personality that grew on me; I kind of liked that he’s as nerdy as he is.

The romance slowly slides from enemies to friends to lovers; a burn that’s slow but very enjoyable. I liked all of the supporting characters and how the book tries to address Asian stereotypes, but Emily’s mom was just grating enough to knock the grade down to an A-.

But an A- is still a DIK, and Love, Lies and Cherry Pie is absolutely worth It.