As Malin pointed out, I have reviewed a lot of Jackie Lau this year. I discovered her this year. I am a binger by nature. She has a nicely priced back catalog. She has sent me a couple of ARCs. I really like her books. I did receive Man vs. Durian as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Peter So hates the smell of durian, a Malaysian fruit known for it’s hard, prickly shell, pungent smell and creamy taste. Valerie Chow loves the taste of durian. When they meet, they run into each other and Valerie gets durian ice cream on Peter’s shirt. Peter whips his shirt off. He asks her out, she says no. And then she asks him to be her fake boyfriend. Peter’s stealthy plan is to fake date Valerie until she’s ready to really date him. He is attracted to the way she curses passionately, her smile and the way she closes her eyes when she’s enjoying her food.
Here’s why I stan for Jackie Lau. She creates complicated characters who doubt whether they can have a happily ever after, and then she gives them one in all their difficult glory. I love that she spreads out the difficult characters among her male and female main characters. The grumpy hero is a common and beloved trope in romance. The grumpy heroine is appreciated by a much smaller segment of romance, and we all know that in real life, women are not rewarded for being gruff and grumpy. Lau has created several grumpy, prickly, difficult women who put their love interest through the wringer before recognizing that they deserve and can accept the love that’s being offered. It means so much to me to see these people who struggle with themselves and the world for acceptance, receive that acceptance and love and a happily ever after without becoming different people.

In Man vs Durian, Valerie is the difficult character and Peter is so sweetly easy going. He wants to make Valerie smile and he accepts all of the things that other people have told her make her too much work. Valerie’s previous boyfriend cheated on her and told her she was sexually inadequate. Reading romance novels can give some unrealistic expectations about sex and orgasms, so I appreciate it when an author writes more realistic sex, but still makes it steamy. I loved that Valerie and Peter have some very frank conversations about pleasure. Peter doesn’t feel inadequate because his penis isn’t a magic bringer of orgasms and Valerie starts to feel like less of a failure of a human. Peter is a problem solver. Whether it’s turning a fake romance into a real romance, finding durian desserts for Valerie, or getting his partner to orgasm, Peter figures out a way to do it. Like many anxious people, Valerie is looking for the other shoe to drop and feeling like she doesn’t deserve a good relationship. Seeing Peter willing to wait patiently and Valerie able to move past her anxiety felt like a win for me.

I feel a little odd talking about diversity in romance because my ancestors were the jerks who arrived in North America and claimed it as their homeland. I feel like when I talk about diversity in specific romances I sound like a Nice White Lady. The last thing I want to do is make diversity all about me or sound patronizing, but making things all about me and sounding patronizing are my defaults. We need diverse romance whether I enjoy every romance by every author of color or not. We need it because we need to see every kind of person get their happily ever after and we need a broader spectrum of what happily ever after looks like. I love reading diverse romances, because I get so tired of reading the white woman experience. Unless I emigrate, people will assume that I belong and that my culture is the dominant White Anglo Saxon Protestant culture, and they won’t be wrong. I’ve never had a problem finding women who look like me on the page, though it’s only recently that I’ve started to see women who are like me (anxious, depressed, not great socially) in romance. Jackie Lau shows a spectrum of Chinese Canadian experiences in her books. In some books she talks specifically about the limitations placed on immigration from China, in others she talks about whitewashing and her MC feeling disconnected from her Chinese heritage. Racism is less prominent in Man vs Durian, but parental expectations are highlighted – physician and engineer are more valued than landscaper and ice cream scooper.
And now, let’s talk about Jackie Lau and food. I love food. I will plan my day around cooking one meal. Who am I kidding? I will plan my week around cooking one meal. My birthday is in 7 weeks and I am already planning my birthday dessert. Going out to a restaurant requires at least an hour of research. I love food. I want to cook food, eat food, read about food, talk about food and think about food. I am still mad about the time a friend’s husband told me risotto and pilaf were essentially the same thing. Like, if I attend his funeral I will bring it up mad. I hope it comes up at my funeral mad. Jackie Lau is, sadly, not going to come out with a cookbook featuring all the amazing food her characters have eaten. Her characters though are almost as obsessed with food as I am. Valerie and Peter seduce each other with food and I am here for that. I follow her on twitter and Instagram. I started for the books, but now I’m all about the ice cream and donuts. I don’t even like donuts that much and now I have a list of best donuts in Toronto on my tablet and I want to go to there.
I’ve only tried durian once and was put off by the smell, but I will try it again just for Valerie.
- difficult main characters
- diverse characters and perspectives
- food
And that, dear readers, is why I stan Jackie Lau.
I stan other authors as well, but this is Jackie’s book.