Alice Chen's Reality Check by Kara Loo; Jennifer Young is a romantic comedy with mystery elements. I like reality TV and that made this fun to read. The book was so chaotic in a good way. The chaos reminded me of Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto.
I got the ARC from Quirk Books via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are mine

ABOUT

Alice Chen is a hard working only daughter to her Chinese immigrant mother who is sick and going through cancer treatments. She is a middle school math teacher and drowning in medical debt. When her fiancé recommends that they go on a couple’s competition reality TV show for a chance at the million dollar prize money, she doesn’t overthink it for once and applies.

They are selected to compete, and the extremely put together and competitive Alice has a strategy to win. The variables she couldn’t have seen coming, however, are that her high school academic rival Daniel Cho was also selected to be a contestant on the show AND the crew and the Producers do not appear to have the same goals in mind…

REVIEW

I really liked a lot about this book. Cultural representation, mental health and caretaker perspectives, and an entertaining writing style that kept me turning the ebook pages to name a few!

I think the premise of the book was already strong with the behind the scenes of a reality TV show cast and crew setting. When we get to the other blurb-and-cover mentioned plot point of a death on set, I started to feel like the story was trying to do too much. I was invested in these characters already and I’m not sure complicating the plot worked for me.

This book is definitely not boring!

Alice Chen's Reality Check is an INCREDIBLE amount of fun!! I didn't know it was possible for a book to check so many of my favorite elements off, but this book absolutely did. Fake dating? Murder mystery? Reality TV? Rivals? Beach setting?? I adored it.

I've watched a lot of reality TV and read a lot of books that tackle this genre and this one is pretty solidly in the middle of the pack. It's also really long and I didn't think it necessarily needed to be.

Alice and Daniel were fine as main characters, but they didn't really stand out to me. They were academic rivals in school and get reunited on a reality show for couples vying to win a million dollars, as they're each coupled up with other people. The challenges were ridiculous and fun, just as they should be for a book set in the reality TV world.

There were a lot of characters, and I don't think any of them were fleshed out particularly well, especially Chase. I know he isn't the main character but his characterization was ALL over the place. Once they get to filming, it's like his entire personality completely changed. (and then later changes back?) I get that there needed to be a catalyst to get Alice and Daniel together but I didn't love how it was done here.

Overall, this book was fine. I think it would have been stronger if it just focused on being a romance or just focused on being a murder mystery- as soon as the murder happens (which is more than halfway through the book, even though it's a main selling point in the description), it kinda goes off the rails a bit.

Thank you Quirk Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

I loved this contemporary, mystery romcom. Romance suspense/mystery is my favorite genre, and while I usually prefer the historical variety, a contemporary comedy is always fantastic.

I really liked Alice, a driven, loyal, woman. She is smart, caring (the eldest/only daughter in an “ethnic” household? Duh!). And I LIVE for the reality dating show setting; those ridiculous shows have been carrying our mental health since the days of the pandemic 😂.

I liked the Asian characters and culture representation , old rivals to allies to lovers tropes, and how charming and funny Alice was. I also liked the era-appropriate commentary on the healthcare system.

There were parts that dragged a bit for me but I was mostly entertained. Nice debut.

A romance book with stakes, I say! *everyone cheers*

Alice Chen's Reality Check was an absolute blast. It totally delivered on all the hilariously entertaining petty and vapid drama you could possibly want from tropical reality shows like Love Island or Bachelor in Paradise (two shows I was fond of when I was studying for my MCAT). When Alice's fiancée cheats on her in week two of "Dawn Tay's Inferno," she must pair up with and fake-date her high school rival to stay in the game. She needs that prize money to pay off her mom's medical bills, after all.

Even better, this romance becomes a detective mystery when one of the PAs is found dead on set. Foul play is suspected, and when Alice discovers that the PA was collecting blackmail material on the contestants and producers on the show, the killer starts coming after her. Will Alice make it off the island alive?

The twists and turns kept me flipping the pages at a breakneck pace. It was thrilling, it was funny, the romance was giggle-and-kick-my-feet-worthy, and overall, it was just a great time. When this bombshell of a book entered the villa my head definitely turned (LOL)!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley and Quirk Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Alice Chen is a math teacher who is drowning in both student debt and medical bills from her grandmother's cancer treatments. Her fiance is offered an opportunity to join the cast of a reality tv show with Alice where they have the chance to win a million dollars. Once on the show Alice finds herself face to face with her high school rival, it isn’t long until they are forced to fake date to stay on the show. Accidents keep happening on set and eventually a body is found, Alice believes it wasn’t an accident at all and suddening there is more at stake than a million dollars.

I loved Alice, she was so organized and strategic, doing research before going on the show, making plans on how to win. I felt that in my soul, I would also be doing as much prep as possible before something like that.

Being forced to fake date someone on a reality tv show felt like a very possible scenario and Alice fully believing her high school rival hated her also felt genuine. When you’re young and naive in high school it’s easier to miss the signs that someone likes you so this setup was very believable.

The spice level in this book was lower than I expected for a reality tv/island paradise/abs and bikinis type read. There is some spice but only a couple, short, not very detailed scenes. This is not a huge deal to me but was unexpected.

The mystery!! I had no idea the whole time, I had one guess early on but was wrong, so I really enjoyed how that all played out.

Overall, this was a fun time and I loved our FMC and MMC together!

Kara Loo and Jennifer Young were as ambitious as our female lead, Alice Chen, in what they wanted to accomplish with this book. Not only are we exploring the fun, campy vibes of reality TV, we've also got an exploration of Alice's relationship with her mom, a budding rivals to lovers romance, and also a murder mystery thrown into the mix! Whew!

I just want to start by saying that I loved the bits we got with Alice and her mom. The way that she's been raised to show her love in practical ways, like food, is so reflective of my own experience growing up Asian-American. I felt really seen every time we got to hear Alice talk about how she felt indebted to her mom and wanted to take care of her now. More of this in my books, please!

You can tell from the get-go that Daniel is way more into Alice than she's into him, and I am absolutely SAT for a man who's down bad for the FMC. The bits in-between chapters—interviews, production notes, interviews—were also really fun. But by the time we get to the murder mystery, I feel like we're juggling too many balls in the air. While I liked the idea of blending the genres together in concept, I don't think it quite landed for me in practice. There were just too many ideas fighting for "screen time," and while there are some really great moments, the book was just short of overall greatness. I wish they'd really honed in on one flavor, because I felt like I was left with a confusing plate of ideas.

This wasn't the one for me, but I definitely know people for whom this would be right up their alley to recommend as a fun summer beach read!

Alice and her fiancé Chase go on a reality show to help with her mother's substantial medical debt. Gumming up the works is the sudden appearance of her high school nemesis Daniel who, of course, grew up hot. Further gumming up the works is her fiancé cheating on her with another contestant, forcing Alice to team up with Daniel to continue the game. And finally, there's a murder to be solved. Whew, that's a lot!
This was a quick read with a nice amount of humor. Alice and Chase are mis-matched, which I guess is the point, and it made it easier to root for Alice and Daniel. Without giving spoilers, there were some plot points I didn't love. Some I also found pretty far-fetched, so suspend disbelief to enjoy the ride. There was a nice sense of tension as things started to mysteriously go wrong on-set, which helped move the story along. The murder plot was interesting, but it often felt like the overall story had too much going on. I liked Alice but her relationship with Daniel felt forced to an extent. This story had a lot of potential but it never really grabbed me fully. It's a fun book if you're into reality show culture and you like murder mysteries with romance mixed in. Publishes June 3, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of this story, all opinions are my own.

It’s well known that I am a reality tv fanatic and therefore I was sold by this title and cover alone. However, if you’ve watched as much reality tv as I have then you’ll be utterly bored and disappointed.

It started out strong but I thought I was almost done and realized I had only reached 50%. Pros: it really details what reality tv is like. Cons; it really details what reality tv is like. There was nothing new or unique and therefore I felt like I was just reading a summary of a real life episode.

I think a lot of people will enjoy this but they probably haven’t watched many shows if they do

A pleasingly funny and warm hearted spin on a dating show romance, Reality Check sees plucky math teacher Alice forced to reunite with her childhood rival to win a dating reality show and solve just a teensy murder on said show.

Thoroughly charming, hilarious when it needs to be, and compelling to read, it's the rare feat of combining a charming fake dating romance with an intriguing cosy mystery and a satirical wink towards social media and the spate of romance reality TV.

This was such a cute reality TV rom com. Alice was so strong and was such a loving daughter. I very much identified with the way she put her all into a relationship only for it to be one sided. I also related to how much of a caregiver she is, putting everyone else in her life before herself. This was a fun read that I devoured in a day!

Rating: 2.5⭐️

I was intrigued by the authors combining romance with mystery in a reality TV show setting, but this book ended up falling flat for me.

I couldn’t relate to the female lead Alice. She was way too competitive and high strung for my liking. All the characters felt underdeveloped quite honestly. This book is almost 400 pages but I didn’t get a good grasp on anyone. There is also two instances of cheating from two different couples and the way it was brushed off so easily really bothered me and did not sit right with me at all.

The whole reality TV show aspect of the book wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be either. The biggest twist was revealed in the blurb so there wasn’t anything surprising. The challenges were also lame and boring.

Overall, the superficialness of the characters, romance and the plot did not help me enjoy this book and it ended being too cheesy and unrealistic for me personally.

*** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review ***

Alice Chen is a no-nonsense 8th grade math teacher who is drowning in student loan and medical debt. So when Chance, her fiancé, is invited to participate in a couples reality show with a chance to win a million dollars, Alice is all in. But things go wrong from the start. Chance cheats on her with another contestant, and Alice is given the option of competing with Daniel, the suddenly single other guy in the group—her chief Quiz Bowl competitor from high school. She accepts. But then accidents start occurring, and eventually one of the assistants is murdered. Alice feels that her only option is to solve the murder, but that puts her in the crosshairs.
This is a fun beach read that pokes fun at reality tv while addressing some serious relationship issues.

Super cute, fun, a little bit steamy with some surprising twists and a lot of heart. A perfect summer beach read.

Alice's mother's medical debt has left the obsessively organized math teacher so overwhelmed she joins her charming golden retriever of a fiance on a reality show to win $1,000,000. He immediately cheats on her, forcing Alice to hook up with the other jilted lover to stay in the game. This happens to be Daniel, her high school academic rival, who can still make her blood boil and her cheeks flush. On top of this, the production is so plagued by “accidents” that someone winds up dead. The romance elements are sweet and spicy, and play more plausibly than the mystery. The train wreck of a show is just plain fun.

What happens when Alice Chen (methodical; fiscally responsible queen) goes on a couples reality TV show with her boyfriend (two brain cells to rub together; golden retriever dabbling in villainy?) in hopes of paying off her mom's medical bills? And what happens when her high school rival (abs-haver; hot; down bad???) shows up as a fellow contestant?

I adored this one! It was such a delightfully fun romantic romp with a murder mystery to solve as well. Authors Kara Loo and Jennifer Young knock it out of the park with a sardonic protagonist wrestling with her role as only child to her ailing mom. Alice Chen has been extremely driven her whole life, but when she re-unites with arch-rival Daniel Cho, she has to reconsider what, if anything, she's been driving to. Witty banter and delicious tension abound. The characters are lovable, and this was just the fun read I needed to keep me from going insane while I was stuck at the airport for 11 hours.

rivals to lovers and fake dating are two things that go together like peanut butter and jelly, it never fails to hit that spot!

ARC review
Publication date 3 Jun 25

“Alice Chen's Reality Check” by Kara Loo and Jennifer Young is contemporary romance combined with a murder mystery.

I received an advanced reader copy from Quirk Books (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

What you can expect:
- reality show
- fake dating
- rivals to lovers
- murder mystery
- tropical island

Alice and her fiancé go to a reality show because she needs money to pay for her mother's cancer treatment.
There she ends up fake dating her former high school rival, Daniel, after her fiancé cheats on her.

The plot of the book is engaging and I liked the pace of the action.
This is mostly a romance, but there is also a murder on the island and Alice is trying to find the killer.

I think that this was an accurate representation of what happens during a "reality" show and how some things are fabricated.
Alice is very competitive and also has trust issues. Her interactions with Daniel were great and he is just so sweet.

I liked the concept of the book and the mystery part, but I did not agree with all the decisions that Alice took.
Some of them can be explained by the fact that she needed the money, but she did not think about the consequences.

Overall I enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend it.

Cute but also fast-paced and thrilling! I'm not much of a reality show person, but the concept of non-reality show people in a reality show environment is always great. A lot of points where you'll go "I knew it!" but still lots of fun