The Stand-In

The Stand-In is Lily Chu's debut romance, first released as an audiobook and later in print. Gracie Reed has been fired by a boss who would not keep his hands to himself, cannot afford the nursing home her mother needs, and is holding her life together by list-making alone.

Then an SUV pulls up carrying Wei Fangli and Sam Yao, the golden couple of Chinese cinema, and Fangli makes Gracie an offer: the two women look uncannily alike, and Fangli wants Gracie to stand in for her at public appearances. The money would solve everything. The catch is Sam, who must escort her, and who is the most attractive and most irritating man she has ever met.

Gracie is dropped into a world of luxury she never knew existed, and playing an elegant movie star turns out to be far harder than she expected — especially once she learns why Fangli needs a stand-in at all. It is a contemporary romance about identity, caretaking, and the cost of pretending.