As lovers of diverse romance, there is nothing more satisfying than curling up with a short and sweet YA rom-com this season. Especially one with a BIPOC and queer cast as diverse as The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee!
The Cuffing Game centers around a group of college students producing and starring in a dating reality TV show. Mia Yoon is the showrunner, who came up with this idea as a way for her to cope with her most unwanted crush on the local campus celebrity, Noah Jang.
With unexpected coupling and plenty of drama both on and offscreen, we ate up The Cuffing Game and would 100% watch it if it ever became a real show. A swoony romance that fed into so many of our lifelong obsessions—K-Dramas and Pride and Prejudice (2005), we’re looking at you—here are three things we love about The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee!
Book Overview: The Cuffing Game
Content warnings: panic attack, mentions of child abuse and homophobia
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?
All The Contestants
One thing we will forever appreciate about The Cuffing Game is its diverse cast, couples, and crew members. We know all the crushes and crushers’ identities from the beginning, but we’ll let you read about them. The show starts out with some friends and classmates pairing up, as several were too shy to admit their crushes from day one. And who could blame them when rejection means automatic elimination from the show? It warmed our hearts to see the reveal of multiple queer couples later on. The Cuffing Game did everything it set out to do, and many of the contestants found a suitable match by the end.
The Snow Scene
No, this is not a drill! (And in our defense, it isn’t even too much of a spoiler if we don’t give the specifics of what happens.) But The Cuffing Game features a snow scene between the two lovebirds, Mia and Noah. After a heated shooting day, they end up snowed in at a secluded cabin for the night. To say we freaked out over this scene would be an understatement. We went absolutely feral. As you can tell, we love this type of force proximity trope bad, and it definitely raised the romantic tension between our main couple. Nothing spicy, as this is still a YA romance, but very enjoyable all the same.
Noah’s Grand Gesture
Would The Cuffing Game truly be a reality TV romance without a grand gesture to seal the deal? In the final days of filming, Mia can’t seem to take Noah’s confession seriously. She doesn’t believe that he has real feelings for her after watching him participate in the show and try to date other girls. But Noah doesn’t let that stop him from dropping everything to make sure her roommate is safe. Nor does he let it stop him from racing back to the show to confess his feelings again. It’s chaotic and dramatic in all the best ways, and we wouldn’t expect the production to end in any other way!
With a healthy amount of reality TV drama, unexpected coupling, and a much-appreciated snow scene, we were fully tuned in to Lyla Lee’s The Cuffing Game!
The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee goes on sale November 18th, and you can order a copy of it here!
What did you think of Lyla Lee’s new YA romance? Did The Cuffing Game make it to your reading list? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
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