The Stand-In

This was a great romance and an engaging story. Very much a slow burn as Gracie Lee meets the movie star Wei-Fang Lei and her leading man Sam. Wei-Fang Lei needs a break and although Sam objects Gracie Lee looks like Wei-Fang and takes on the job of being her for a few months. She and Sam begin to spend time together and get to know each other. There is also the friendship between Wei-Fang and Gracie that is very sweet and I enjoyed the character of Gracie so much. She was a people pleaser, who didn't always trust and believe in her own worth and she had so much growth during the story. It was also funny and I listened to it on Audible and the narrator was terrific. Definitely one to pick up this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I think the narrator did such a good job bring each of the characters to life. I was immediately sucked in to this book because of the main character, Gracie, who is essentially a list and productivity enthusiast.

The idea of having someone stand in for a famous actress for their events is hilarious, however there were a few things that I feel were completely overlooked in the book. The main thing was that Gracie and Sam started galivanting all over without ever get caught. This seemed problematic considering the entire premise of the book started because she was mistaken for Fangli without trying.

The other odd thing was when Mei ousted Fangli because she was jealous of Gracie and Sam's relationship. This didn't turn into anything which seemed a little odd despite them trying to explain it by buying off the media. IRL I feel like this story still would have turned into something even if it was small

Stretches the limits of plausibility, but ultimately full of well-drawn characters and charming. The audiobook narration is easily worth a star on its own: Philippa Soo is terrific. 3.5 stars.