By some measures, 33-year-old Emily Hung is successful. She has a literary agent, a published novel and another on the way. She has achieved greater literary success than many of her writer friends. And even though she still has to work as a barista and pick up tutoring gigs to make ends meet in expensive Toronto, she’s grateful (most days) that she has the opportunity to follow her dreams.

But when it comes to family, Emily can feel like a failure. She is the second oldest of five sisters and, as of the novel's opening, is the only one who isn't married. Most of her sisters are also more conventionally successful in their professions than Emily --- at least in the eyes of their mother.

"Just when you think you're seeing only one side of the story, she upends our expectations --- in much the same way that Emily's expectations are constantly adjusting over the course of the novel."

So when her mom tricks her into a brunch date with Mark Chan, the son of a family friend, Emily is furious. Among other things, the two got along like oil and water at her sister's wedding. But despite mutual disdain, they hatch a plan. If they pretend to date, maybe their parents will get off their case and allow them to get on with their lives. Soon Emily and Mark are making up stories about dates spent decorating cakes and drinking bubble tea. But Emily's mom seems to have spies everywhere in Toronto's tightly knit Chinese community. Before they see through their ruse, Emily and Mark grudgingly admit that their faux relationship will require them to go on at least a few actual (fake) dates.

Mark is everything Emily is not: conventional, stable, with a respectable engineering job and his own apartment. But what Emily doesn’t know, at first, is that Mark also has a hidden whimsical streak; he is deeply loyal to the people he cares about; and the kind of person he's attracted to is very different from himself --- perhaps someone like Emily. Is it possible that this setup might have been on target after all?

I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that Jackie Lau manages to play with point of view in interesting ways in LOVE, LIES, AND CHERRY PIE. Just when you think you're seeing only one side of the story, she upends our expectations --- in much the same way that Emily's expectations are constantly adjusting over the course of the novel. Emily is a funny, flawed and hilariously judgmental narrator. But for the most part, her exasperating tendencies feel charmingly unique rather than annoying. Mark is a steady presence but not a boring one, and readers undoubtedly will be rooting for Emily to finally write both of them the happy ending they deserve.