[QCrit] Contemporary romance, LOVE, LIES, LUNAR NEW YEAR (83k words, second attempt)
Dear [Agent's Name],
My contemporary romance, LOVE, LIES, LUNAR NEW YEAR (83,000 words), puts an Asian American spin on the popular holiday fake-dating trope, with a dash of Crazy Rich Asians vibes. It will appeal to fans of Lauren Ho’s Last Tang Standing, Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient, and Julie Tieu’s The Donut Trap.
Lily Wong is an animal activist whose main goal in life is to save reptiles from being turned into purses. Her overbearing Chinese parents are desperate for her to settle down, although they are half-convinced that their thirty-five year old plain-Jane daughter will never find a man. So when Lily brings an unexpected date for the Lunar New Year–none other than Charles Chen, dashing heir to a multi-million dollar shark fin empire–her parents can’t believe their luck.
What they don’t realize is that Charles is faking a relationship with Lily to solve his own problem: his parents can’t stand his spoiled, social media-famous girlfriend, Margaux. After a fight with Margaux, Charles convinces the animal activist at the mall, Lily, to pose as his girlfriend for the Lunar New Year. Charles hopes that by bringing down-to-earth, shark-fin-hating Lily home as a contrast, his parents will appreciate Margaux and accept her, helping him win Margaux back. Lily agrees on the condition that he fake date her in return, so that her parents get off her back for the holiday.
As they get deeper into their lie over the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year, neither Lily nor Charles anticipate catching real feelings. Lily has to confront her fear of heartbreak, and decide if she’s willing to step into a high-society world where shark fin soup and alligator-skin bags are commonplace. Charles has to overcome his shallow tendencies, question the morality of his family’s business, and learn how to nourish a relationship that money can’t buy. When Margaux reappears to reclaim her wealthy boyfriend, Lily and Charles are forced to make a decision between going back to the lives they knew before, or following their hearts into the new and unknown.
I am excited to write to you, because [of your support for underrepresented voices like those in the AAPI community]. With a focus on first-generation immigrant family dynamics and Chinese traditions, it offers readers a unique cultural layer and will appeal to readers interested in multicultural narratives.
While LOVE, LIES, LUNAR NEW YEAR is my first full-length novel, I have published [a bunch of short stories in a top magazine, but in a completely unrelated genre]. My novella [title in unrelated genre] was shortlisted for [foreign writing bootcamp]
By day, I am a [technical non-writing role]. I started writing this story when I was single in my mid-thirties, facing pressure from my family to find a man and settle down. I am happy to report that I have since found my Charles (though he is not the heir to a shark fin empire).
Thank you for your consideration.
first 300 words:
“Let me get this straight. You have to bribe Margaux every year so that she’ll accompany you to your family’s Lunar New Year celebration?”
Charles led Tom down the promenade of Stanford Shopping Center, enjoying the crisp air of the mild Californian winter as he made the familiar trek to Louis Vuitton. The upscale mall was an extravagant oasis in the heart of Silicon Valley, where tech billionaires and startup founders casually strolled past designer boutiques as if it were routine. Sleek modern water features gleamed under the California sun; the shallow pools, with minimalist edges and lined with dark stone, added a tranquil yet luxurious ambiance, their smooth surfaces reflecting the vibrant greenery and high-end storefronts around them.
“It’s basically become a tradition at this point,” Charles replied, resigned, as he made a beeline towards the luxury store in the middle of the mall. The prospective “bribe” lay within. “Margaux even tells me what bag she wants in advance.”
“What does she want this year?” Tom asked.
Charles fished out his phone from his coat pocket and double-checked. “The Capucines MM.”
Tom read the description of the bag on Charles's phone. “The bag she wants costs eight thousand dollars? Your girlfriend sounds like she needs more seed funding than your startup.”
Charles shrugged. “It’s snakeskin, so it costs more than a regular Louis Vuitton bag.”
As they approached the iconic Louis Vuitton store, they heard a commotion.
“It might be a bad day to buy snakeskin anything today. Look,” Tom said, pointing at the entrance.
The weekend crowds parted for a second, revealing two women protesting in front of the Louis Vuitton store. With clipboards and signs in hand, they chanted slogans while shoppers either ignored them or glared at them, annoyed that their holiday shopping was being disturbed.