A special thank you to the author, Jenny Holiday, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Once upon a time, teenage Aurora Evans met a hockey player at the Mall of America. He was from Canada. And soon, he was the perfect fake boyfriend, a get-out-of-jail-free card for all kinds of sticky situations. I can't go to prom. I'm going to be visiting my boyfriend in Canada. He was just what she needed to cover her social awkwardness. He never had to know. It wasn't like she was ever going to see him again…
Years later, Aurora is teaching kids’ dance classes and battling panic and eating disorders—souvenirs from her failed ballet career—when pro hockey player Mike Martin walks in with his daughter. Mike’s honesty about his struggles with widowhood helps Aurora confront some of her own demons, and the two forge an unlikely friendship. There’s just one problem: Mike is the boy she spent years pretending was her “Canadian boyfriend.”
The longer she keeps her secret, the more she knows it will shatter the trust between them. But to have the life she wants, she needs to tackle the most important thing of all—believing in herself.
Told in alternating perspectives with some epistolary elements, this is a novel about taking risks, finding joy, and second chances. Canadian Boyfriend is also a fresh take on the fake dating trope—Mike Martin doesn't know that he's Rory's fake boyfriend.
Holiday doesn't shy away from sensitive topics—eating disorders, mental health, death of a parent—and writes them with care, compassion, and purpose. The narrative is lightened with Canadiana and humour.
Rory and Mike are working through their own issues, yet are still present in communicating with one another and are committed to being friends first. Holiday has an impeccable ear for dialogue made apparent by both the witty banter and the touching conversations.
Canadian Boyfriend is heartwarming, emotional, and therapeutic.
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JENNY HOLIDAY is a USA Today-bestselling author whose books have been featured in The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and The Washington Post. She grew up in Minnesota and started writing when her fourth-grade teacher gave her a notebook to fill with stories. When she’s not working on her next book, she likes to hike, throw theme parties, and watch other people sing karaoke.
Holiday lives in London, Ontario, Canada.
Q & A with Jenny Holiday*
GWR: How did you start writing/become a writer?
JH: I guess it depends how you define writing. I have been writing stories since elementary school (oddly, those were usually horror stories!). And I had a whole professional career as a writer and editor in the non-profit sector, which I did for many years before writing books and then in parallel with writing books until I was able to ditch the day job. So I some ways I think I’ve been a writer my whole life. I feel like I’ve been writing as long as I’ve been thinking.
But if you’re asking about book writing specifically: I was a late-comer to the romance genre as a reader, but when I discovered it, I went all in. Eventually, I started thinking, “I wonder if I could write a book? How hard can it be?” (The joke was on me because it was in fact very hard!)
GWR: Are you a pantser/gardner or a plotter/architect? What does your process look like?
JH: I think I probably fall somewhere in the middle. I don’t outline my books, but I usually have a pretty good idea about the emotional core of the story and how it’s going to get resolved. I definitely don’t plot in terms of what is going to happen in a literal sense, but I like to know who my characters are and what they need to learn or how they need to grow by the end of the book.
I usually write pretty linearly, but I get snippets and flashes of stuff I think will go later in the book, and I quick write those at the end of my document. So the closer I get to the end, the more I have fragments already there that I can weave in (or trash!).
JH: The pitch: an teenage American ballerina having a tough time socially has a passing encounter with a hockey play at the Mall of America and goes on to pretend that he’s her long-distance boyfriend. Years later, she meets him again, and in a more lasting way, and has to grapple with the ways in which he is and isn’t like her imaginary “Canadian Boyfriend.”
Casting: I usually have trouble answering this question, because I am not a visual thinker. I typically don’t even have that great an image of what my fictional people look like, much less who in Hollywood might play them. But this book is an exception, at least when it comes to Mike. For him, I would cast Joshua Jackson, one of the quintessential literal Canadian boyfriends (even though he is technically a tad too old…aren’t we all?!). For Rory, I didn’t have an immediate actress in mind, but sitting here thinking about it, I would cast Jenna Dewan—because she’s a dancer, obviously, but also because I think she has a certain vulnerability mixed with strength that would suit the character.
GWR: Did any minor characters become major characters over the course of writing the novel?
JH: Not really, but I did enjoy the character of Sansa’s mom. Super minor, but I love a dance mom. They loom large regardless of the actual size or scope of their intended role.
GWR: What were the most important characteristics and dynamic that you wanted Rory and Mike Martin's relationship to have? What about Mike and Olivia's?
JH: I wanted Mike and Rory to be true friends who grow to trust each other and who then feel like their romantic feelings sort of sneak up on them. Their initial connection is born from them helping each other, striking a mutually-supportive arrangement. I wanted that sense of them having each other’s backs to extend throughout the book, even as their relationship changes.
I wanted Mike and Olivia’s relationship to be uncomplicated. I don’t meant that literally, I suppose. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Olivia’s mom died and Mike is “only” her stepdad. But I wanted him to be unwavering in his love for her and his determination to support her, even when she is being a typically pissy tween. Mike might make mistakes, but he doesn’t make them with Olivia.
GWR: This book takes a deep dive into other issues—death/grief, eating disorders, mental health—why was it important to include these elements specifically?
JH: I didn’t set out to include them. They emerged from the story rather than vice-versa.
GWR: What made you decide to write the book from a dual point of view? Was it easier or more challenging to explore the parallel storyline?
JH: This is how all my books are. It’s the default for me, so in that sense this was my comfort zone. I love dual point of view for many reasons, but a big one is the delicious dissonance between what one character thinks is happening with the other and what is actually happening. When done well, it can feel like that we as readers are in on a kind of secret, and part of the joy of those books is (im)patiently waiting for the character(s) to catch up with reality.
GWR: The Canadian representation was so refreshing and well done! Not having grown up here, what is the most surprising thing you have learned about Canada/Canadians? And what are some of your favourite Canadian things?
JH: I feel like I’m pretty Canadianized, but the fact that I didn’t grow up here comes up—mostly when people get nostalgic about their childhoods. I have never seen Mr. Dressup, for example!
In a superficial sense, my favourite Canadian things include the fact that vinegar on fries is normal and widely available at restaurants, Blue Rodeo, and our vibrant, safe, diverse cities.
In a deeper sense, and at the risk of sounding schmoopy, I deeply love Canada and I think my most favorite thing about it is what I would call our national personality: a kind of self-deprecating humour mixed with quiet progressivism.
GWR: If your book was a beverage, what would it be?
JH: Maybe a crisp, dry champagne, like Rory and Mike drink with their McDonalds on Christmas Eve. Fizzy and refreshing but with a hidden depth.
GWR: What are you working on now?
JH: I have a book coming out in April called
Earls Trip. It’s the start of a Regency rom-com series inspired by Ted Lasso. A group of earlfriends takes an annual trip and shenanigans ensue. At the moment I’m working on the second book in that series. It’s called
Manic Pixie Dream Earl, and it comes out spring 2025.
