Publisher summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that when there is a hot person, there is also someone with a crush on them.
Mia Yoon has a plan for everything. Get a full ride to her dream film school in Los Angeles, behind her mom’s back, and escape her middle-of-nowhere hometown—check. Produce her own dating show starring other people and their crushes—check. But everything goes off the rails when she has to enlist the help of her own secret crush, Noah Jang, a boy she’d rather hate.
Despite being a campus celebrity voted “most eligible student bachelor,” Noah can’t remember the last time he was in a relationship. And he’s perfectly content with that, thank you very much, especially since just the word feelings makes him uncomfortable. But he can’t stop staring at Mia, who keeps glaring at him in class. And when she asks him to be on her dating show—as one of the contestants—he can’t say no.
As Noah goes on more and more romantic dates on The Cuffing Game and Mia watches from behind the camera, something feels off. With the showrunner and contestant slowly falling for one another, can the show still go on?
My Thoughts: I’ve been waiting months to finally get to read a new Lyla Lee novel. Full disclosure–I’ve devoured both of her previous YA books, I’ll Be the One [Jessica’s review here], and Flip the Script [Audrey’s review here] so I may have started the book with certain expectations. Thankfully, they were met. It was a delightful story with a few surprises and a fairly predictable romance with lots of reasons to smile.
Readers experience the story from Mia and Noah’s alternating perspectives starting with their antagonistic beginnings before getting into the heart of the story. The main action takes place during winter break of Mia’s first and Noah’s fourth year at university and several scenes happen at the fire pit featured on the cover. Shoutout to Leni Kauffman (jacket art) and Molly Fehr (jacket design) on getting the vibes just right.
While it has some nods to Pride and Prejudice, it seemed to lean more towards inspired by or re-mixed rather than a re-telling. I’m a sucker for either and enjoy having the allusions within a very contemporary book that also blended the fun of reality tv. With most human activity we can make plans, but people will still find ways to surprise us and this is certainly the case within the show that Mia and her friends have carefully orchestrated. They set things up and when the contestants follow the rules or skate along them, all kinds of unforeseen interactions occur. That’s part of the draw with reality tv. We think we can anticipate what people will do based on the previous knowledge we have about them or the stereotypes we believe, and then they go and do something completely different which plays well with the Pride and Prejudice theme.
The relationship between Mia and Noah, while not a surprise, is still very enjoyable to watch unfold. They have a few misunderstandings along the way, but begin to see each other more and more clearly over there time together. I didn’t count the tropes, but there were enough that there should be at least one for everyone with a favorite.
Recommendation: Get it as soon as it is released next week–especially if you need a little laughter and coziness in your life. This is a solid rom-com that will brings a little wintry love and joy. And then, if you like this one, you may also want to grab these two from last year: Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick and True Love and Other Impossible Odds which also have that wintery cuffing season feel.
Extra: Author video explaining the title on Instagram
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
Review copy: Final copy via publisher
Availability: On sale November 18, 2025