Rent a Boyfriend

By: Gloria Chao

Narrated by: Feodor Chin, Emily Woo Zeller

SELECTED AS A YALSA 2022 AMAZING AUDIO FOR YOUNG ADULTS!

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this “entertaining and nuanced” (Kirkus Reviews) romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda.

Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend—because the truth is she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ‘Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents.

Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ‘Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him.

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.

But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew—who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ‘rent-worthy—her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?

Critic reviews

"Emily Woo Zeller and Feodor Chin narrate an affecting story about balancing identity and family. In a moment of desperation, Chloe Wang hires a fake boyfriend to bring home over break; when Chloe and Drew start to develop real feelings for each other, things get complicated. Both Zeller and Chin show deep compassion for Chloe and Drew, and their complicated family situations. They lean into the story's frequent humor but never at the expense of the characters. Zeller, in particular, is nuanced in her portrayal of Chloe, a young woman struggling with her desire to be her true self without breaking family bonds. Chin initially depicts Drew as laid-back and carefree, but as his past is revealed, the pain that is always below the surface becomes obvious."

Such a sweet story

I truly enjoyed this story. Definitely five stars for originality, performance, cultural education and all-around feels. My only concern was that the female lead never told her parents exactly how awful and abusive their chosen fiance’ had been toward her. I have to believe that if they had known the details, they would have behaved differently.

Great performances. Too predictable.

The story is mostly cute but with no twists nor surprises to the very it’s all very vanilla.

Interesting and Complex

There was a lot that I learned here. Renting a boyfriend is apparently common... and the reasoning behind it varies from customer to customer. That small knowledge blew me away. It sets the stage for Chloe and her relationship with her parents. There is a struggle between making sure the child you have is cared for and the child wanting to live their own life and make their own decisions. There is a lot that happens and I went through a gamut of emotions while reading. Wonderful read. Made me think.

Great story!

I am of the same heritage and similar background as the main female character and can totally relate to her experience with her parents. Obviously, my parents would never have made the choices her parents made, but so much of what they talk about and how they think, I KNOW is very familiar to me! The story is predictable but VERY enjoyable and I love a happy ending. I took off a star on the performance because I don't love the female narrator. I have listened to some of her other books and I just can't get used to her inflection. I know many love her but I have to really love a description of a book to try if she's narrating. This book happened to sound very cute and fun and I'm glad I took a chance. Male narrator did a great job!