I don't like YA books that much, but I am currently reading Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. So far, it's okay. I'll post a Goodreads review when I'm done. I will say that I am happy that it's a debut by an Anishinaabe author with a protagonist who is proud of her Anishinaabe heritage though, and I hope this author will keep writing more.
Anyway, what's keeping the pages turning for me is that it happens to have a very specific romance trope that I am obsessed with. This is the trope where people pretend to be dating as part of an undercover operation but then they fall in love for real.
Where have you seen this trope before? That's right, in a rather brainrotted and unserious anime called SpyXFamily. Now, SpyXFamily is supposed to be slice-of-life, for entertainment only, "not that deep" etc. but I found it incredibly heartwarming. Some of the episodes that focused on Anya's dog were so wholesome I almost cried.
In SpyXFamily, a spy and an assassin get married as a fake marriage larp thing to avoid suspicion. To add even more spice to this, neither knows about the other's true identity. Also, they adopt a girl named Anya who can read minds but doesn't tell anyone about this ability. So she knows their true identities lol. And they have a dog who can see into the future, but only Anya can read his mind and use this information. Insane premise, I know.
But what is really touching about this anime is that the fake family has more love for each other than some real families do. The fake mom, fake dad, adopted kid, and adopted dog are like the most wholesome family unit ever even though it's all fake!!! How can that be? I literally think it's satirizing suburban white picket fence families who wish they had that much love in their lives but who never will. I think the key is that the respect and friendship that Lloyd and Yor have for each other is worth more than what suburbanites call love.
Suburbanites want this level of love, joy, and fulfillment but will never have it no matter how hard they try to larp as this.
