Fake It Till You Break It
Jenn P. Nguyen 

Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: May 28th 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Mia and Jake have known each other their whole lives. They’ve endured summer vacations, Sunday brunches, even dentist visits together. Their mothers, who are best friends, are convinced that Mia and Jake would be the perfect couple, even though they can’t stand to be in the same room together.
After Mia’s mom turns away yet another cute boy, Mia and Jake decide they’ve have had enough. Together, they hatch a plan to get their moms off their backs. Permanently. All they have to do is pretend to date and then stage the worst breakup of all time—and then they’ll be free.
The only problem is, maybe Jake and Mia don’t hate each other as much as they once thought…


~ Guest Post With Jenn ~

“Please tell the readers what type of Korean love stories if any, have inspired your writing. You talk about binge-watching Korean dramas do you have any favorite Korean love stories?”

So so many! I can write a series of blog posts about this topic alone. Which I probably will have to on the Swoon blog now so thank you for this awesome idea!

There isn’t really any particular drama that inspires my writing, but rather the process of watching a drama. For anyone who doesn’t know, Korean dramas are basically a miniseries that can range from 16 one-hour episodes to well over 60 one-hour episodes. So when I start writing, I subconsciously put all my experience watching Korean dramas into my plotting and writing. I don’t visualize the story a three-part act like other people. Although there’s absolutely nothing wrong with writing like this! I just don’t.

Usually when I plot, I would start with a chapter outline. I visualize each chapter like an episode in a drama. There’s a beginning, middle, and end. Sometimes the ending can be a cliffhanger, but sometimes it can just be a little satisfying conclusion to that particular scene. Then I would move onto the next chapter/episode and what would happen until I’ve gotten to the end of the story/drama. And I basically watch the story unfold in my head as I write. So in a way, it’s a mixture of pantsing and plotting. But I absolute cannot write a single word until I have my chapter outline done and preferably printed out next to me.

Now for my absolute favourite Korean dramas. A lot of it depends on what mood I’m in at the moment. But these are basically the ones that I watch most often.

My Love From Another Star – A stranded alien on Earth for more than 400 years finds himself failing in love with a famous cocky actress right when he’s finds a way home. Now the description may sound a bit weird at first, but I LOVE this movie. It’s hilarious, heart warming, and totally addicting.

Pinocchio – After a young boy loses his entire family because of the media, he tries to conceal his identity until he decides to get revenge. Three words. Lee Jong Suk. He’s one of my favourite actors and for good reason! He can be goofy, funny, earnest, and suave. The whole package!

Reply 1997/Answer Me 1997 – A class reunion brings back memories. This is a pretty quiet low key drama. It’s similar to How I Met Your Mother with the flashbacks between various parts of the past and the present. It’s very sweet though and slightly nostalgic.


Author Bio:

Jenn Nguyen fell in love with books in third grade and spent the rest of her school years reading through lunchtime and giving up recess to organize the school library. She has a degree in business administration from the University of New Orleans and still lives in the city with her husband. Jenn spends her days reading, dreaming up YA romances, and binge watching Korean dramas all in the name of ‘research’.


XBTBanner1