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The Switch

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A Friends To Lovers Romance

Ashanti Lane would do anything for her best friend Luke. Even pretend to be his girlfriend so his traditional Chinese parents would accept a black woman into their family.

The plan is simple. Get in and get out so Luke can have a happily-ever-after with his African queen. But when it’s time to make the switch, Ashanti realizes her feelings for Luke are more than a ruse.

Should she risk their friendship for love or step back and watch Luke walk away with someone else?

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2018

162 people are currently reading
153 people want to read

About the author

Nia Arthurs

166 books988 followers
From an early age, Nia knew she wanted to be a writer and actively began chasing that dream when she was a teenager.

Nia writes interracial romance and contemporary romance with guaranteed happy endings. She loves strong heroines and swoon-worthy heroes, and just enough spice and drama to keep things interesting!

Look for the Taming Series (Taming Mr. Jerkface, Taming Mr. Charming, Taming Mr. Know-It-All, and Taming Mr. Darcy) in ebook format.

And catch up with Nia on Facebook @authorniaarthurs. Happy Reading!

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5 stars
73 (36%)
4 stars
62 (30%)
3 stars
54 (26%)
2 stars
10 (4%)
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2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Darien.
868 reviews320 followers
November 15, 2018
3.5

Well...its been a hot minute since I read a contemporary m/f book. I got sucked in by the cover but the story made me stay.

Luke is Chinese who grew up in Caribbean country, his best friend is a black girl called Ashanti and they have been friends for many years. Luke starts to fall for a regular customer at his coffee shop her name Michelle and he really likes her. The only problem is, that Michelle is black and he can’t help but be worried about how his very traditional Chinese family will take him dating outside his race, but even more so dating someone black.

Ashanti comes up with the idea that he should tell his family that he is dating her to sort of ease them into the idea. As expected it doesn’t go over well and Luke soon realizes that his family will not compromise on the situation.

Alright, this book for me was very real because I have lived a lot of the situations in this book. I have half Asian children and some of the things I have heard and experienced myself. Like for instance, when Luke approaches his dad and says he’s dating a black girl, his dad asks “how black?”. That’s a legit question that has been asked, I’ve even been given acceptance because I wasn’t too black (meaning my skin tone is so close to theirs that they can forgive it). So yeh, there’s a lot here that might seem a bit unrealistic but its quite real experiences for many.

The story itself is very tame, there is absolutely no sex or anything sexy. Its just a very fricking sweet story that pulled me in and I wanted to keep reading. Luke and Ashanti are adorable and I am willing to check out more from the author. There isn’t anything wow about it, but I was pleased.

Also I’m a sucker for a Blasian story 🤷🏽‍♀️

SideNote- I’d also like to add that black people are guilty of racist shit against Asians too. We can say some very ignorant things too. My own personal experience though is that my family has never had a problem with any race I’ve dated. My family is quite mixed, my children are quite a mix and we should love who we want without prejudice and judgement. Stereotypes should be left in a black hole.
Profile Image for Katy O..
3,020 reviews705 followers
February 20, 2019
Loved the Belize setting. Some of the race strife was pretty heavy-handed and I wonder a bit at the whole idea of Black women being interchangeable as a plot point? However, this is an #ownvoices story and I appreciated the attempt at addressing family racism (Chinese family rejecting a Black girlfriend, son fighting back). Overall, it was okay. More unnecessary drama than I prefer, but it was readable. A good, quick, light choice to meet the “#ownvoices book set in Central America” for the Book Riot 2019 Read Harder Challenge.
Profile Image for ruta.
416 reviews20 followers
September 6, 2019
Çok kısa güzel bir hikayeydi. Asyalı bir erkek ile siyah bir kadının Asyalı ailenin ırkçı görüşlerine rağmen bir araya gelmelerini anlatıyordu. Daha önce böyle bir kitap okumamıştım ve etnik kökenin bu kadar büyük bir sorun olduğunun da farkında değildim ama bu kitapla birlikte gözlerim açıldı denebilir.

Kitabı ve anlatmak istediği şeyleri gerçekten sevdim ama yazarın hikaye öyküsünü beğendiğimi söyleyemem. Sürekli Michelle'in araya girmesinden, odak noktasının değişmesinden hiç hoşlanmadım. Ayrıca kitabın sonu çok aceleye getirilmişti birkaç bölüm daha olsun isterdim ya da birkaç yıl sonra neler olduğu ile ilgili bir epilog ve Luke ve kuzenleri ile ilişkisine dair birkaç bölüm daha.

Yine de her şeye rağmen güzel, tatlı bir romandı. Ama pek bana hitap etmiyordu. Bu nedenle bu türde bir daha kitap okucağımı pek zannetmiyorum.
Profile Image for Nkechi Ajogwu.
Author 29 books10 followers
February 13, 2025
26 down, 274 to go.

Genre - Romance

The Switch
Ashanti Lane pretends to be the girlfriend of her best friend, Luke Zhang, so his Chinese parents will accept a black woman in their family. They soon realize that there is more to their friendship.

Lessons:
1. Everyone should be treated equally and judged based on their character and actions rather than the color of their skin.
2. Fight for what you want regardless of the opposition.
3. Things won't change if you sit silently and watch injustice happen.
4. The strength of your conviction and depth of your love will show where your heart lies.
5. True happiness is found in quiet moments.
6. Keep friends who thrive in pushing you out of your comfort zone.
Profile Image for Amanda.
574 reviews58 followers
February 21, 2019
3.5 stars, rounding up

Loved Ashanti and Luke. The whole plot centers around interracial dating and Luke’s family—or I should say parents—didn’t accept her. I don’t feel like it’s my place to really comment on that but I thought it was interesting and created a believable conflict. Plus there was a fake dating aspect of this. Loved the Belize setting!
11 reviews
September 27, 2021
ENDING SPOILERS IN REVIEW

I give it a 3.5, but put 3 stars because rounding up to 4 would be pushing it.

Really, it's 3 material, but I thought it was cute enough to deserve another half.

I think this book handles the interracial/intercultural stuff... well but not well? I appreciate that in the end, Luke's parents still weren't approving. It doesn't always work out. I also liked that they at least had his grandparents and uncle on their side. It's just sometimes I found the delivery of the IR dating issues corny and heavy handed, mostly due to the simple (and sometimes flat) prose, but I supposed it was fairly realistic.

Also, what was Weng's deal? It definitely felt like maybe he liked Ashanti... maybe there's supposed to be a book two but I don't think Weng warrants all that.

Also I was convinced Ashanti's dad being overprotective at the end was a fakeout for humor's sake but it wasn't. BYE LOL I didn't understand his reasoning. "You waited until I left to move in on my daughter" he's known her for 20 years, through hormonal teenaged years, you think he felt the need to wait until you went on a cruise and THAT'S why he moved in? 😭 Also you know Luke and that that's not his character... I would've been too fed up with parental approval at that point to even try to coddle her dad but I'm glad they had the patience to.

Though, this book really was cute. I appreciate that it didn't have sex, for some reason. I just felt it would've been out of place. I only wish the prose had been a little more intricate for such a heavy topic, but I did admit I came for a lighter read. Still, there are nice little gems in there. I think it's worth a read, especially after winding down in the evening.
September 20, 2019
This was my first book by Nia Arthurs but certainly not the last. She seems to have a knack for writing cute and sweet stories with characters one just can't help rooting for, even when they do really dumb things that made me want to either sit them down and/or smack some sense into them.

Luke and Ashanti were so ridiculously cute together and so ride or die for each other, it kind of made me wonder why it took so long for these two people to see what so many others around them already did. It was obvious from page one these two have something way more special than just a lifelong friendship.

Of course the journey from friends to more is never smooth and real life can get in the way. In the case of Luke, those things are his attraction to another woman and his traditional Chinese parents who are totally against his dating outside the race, especially a Black woman.

Ashanti, being the true friend she is (and ignoring her own feelings about Luke) comes up with the "brilliant" idea of pretending to be his girlfriend so that his parents can get used to the idea. Oops, let's just say that didn't work out at all. Let's just say Luke's parents would be perfect candidates for the KKK if the Klan allowed Chinese people to join.

The irony shouldn't be lost that Luke's parents and his family lived in a predominantly Indigenous and Afro-Latinx/Caribbean country yet his parents held such racist views. Luke wasn't naive, but he was shocked at how virulent his parents' bigotry really ran. It spoke highly of him that he was willing to risk losing his relationship with them though it hurt. It was also interesting how the rest of Luke's family were much more welcoming towards Ash (despite Ash playing at being girlfriend). Add to this Luke's indecisiveness towards Michelle, the woman he thought he liked even though he just couldn't stop thinking about or being around Ash.

As I said before, this was a sweet burn romance that still felt satisfying. There's kissing and those butterflies in the stomach in the face of finding that special someone.

I wavered between 3.5 stars and the full four stars. The racial issue wasn't heavy-handed or preachy and it wasn't the whole of the plot. I had to deduct half star because though this is set in Belize, there really was no sense of the place. The story lacked those important local touches of color. Had the author not mentioned Belize, I would have thought it was set somewhere in the United States.
791 reviews4 followers
September 16, 2021
One of these days Black people will stop being stereotyped, maligned, marginalized and scapegoated!

It never cease to amaze me how every other culture disdained Black people yet have no compunction about stealing tenets of our culture and claiming it as their own. Then this hierachy thing that places the value of Whites as first and Blacks as last. God's word says the first shall be last and the last shall be first! Unfortunately every ethnic group kow tows to Whites as if they have not raped and pillaged all of our cultures and it is disgusting when you consider how all of their victims are suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome! Everyone tries to walk, talk, dance, sing, dress and interact like Black people, they just don't want Black people to embrace all of our culture they so readily claim! How insane is that. I enjoyed the story except for the racist mindset of an ethnic group in a predominantly Black country, making their living off those same Black people yet curling their noses and lips at them as they erroneously think of themselves higher than the people whose country they are in!
Profile Image for Paige Lynn.
Author 14 books3 followers
January 31, 2023
This adorable couple will capture the heart and leave you rooting for their happily ever after. However, it does deal with the heavier issues of family acceptance. Mostly on his part rather than hers. While this section rang true and offered up lots of angst. I found there was very little courtship as we were mostly reading about their struggles with his family and their feelings. Sure, their friends to lovers, but I would've preferred more scenes of them falling into love after living in a place of strong like. Yet, their biggest strength as a couple is how much they rely on each other and support each other. So, while the moments were angst-filled, I enjoyed watching them pour so much love and strength into each other.

Read More Spoilery Review: TRS BOOKS-The Switch
Profile Image for Laverne Brewster.
1,395 reviews18 followers
October 8, 2024
2.25 Stars. (BW/AM). Kindle Edition-$2.99/ 242 page- E-book.

Setting" Current time in Belize.

Trope: Childhood friends to lovers. Fake dating. .

Characters:
1. Ashanti C. Lane, heroine, is a Black native Belizean working as an Investigative Journalist for the Belize National Paper.
2. Luke Jen Jitsu Zhang, hero, is a Chinese Belizean with an accounting degree who has chosen to work in toward proprietorship of his Uncle Eddie's coffee shop.

I was looking forward to reading a friends to lovers story featuring an Asian man and a Black woman; however, I was disappointed to read the author's preachy heavy handed presentation of the distain Chinese have for Blacks. The character interaction in this story resolve around issues of racial bias more than a romance between Luke and Ashanti. Didn't care for this storyline.
Profile Image for Lady Lauren Explorer.
849 reviews42 followers
November 19, 2021
Obviously from the title it’s a Friends to lovers but also fake dating trope. I went into this with a open mind but I was highly disappointed in the execution of this romance. I did like a Ashanti and Luke’s banter. I also liked the portray of a family that doesn’t want to mix races, because that’s happened to me. So that aspect of it was very telling and brought me back into the story. It’s just the lead up and the execution of the romance felt very bubblegum to me. I wish there was more feelings end explanations in that plot about what The couple goes through when it comes to not being approved by the family, or I should say the mother and father of the family. If you like fluffy reeds where it always ends in a good ending then this is a book for you!
Profile Image for Romantic Vixen.
145 reviews7 followers
February 11, 2019
Absolutely loved this book.

I started reading it because I wanted to read an "unrequited love" and "ugly cry" book, but the story just sucked me in.

It is so difficult for a person of color who comes from a conservative family in a country which welcomes multiculturalism, to be able to find love without feeling guilty.

The whole time, Luke kept on dismissing his feelings because he knew his family wouldn't approve of the person he choose to spend his whole life with.

But can you really choose who you fall in love with? After all love is a matter of heart.

It was so wonderful to finally see Luke and Ash get together at the end, because who doesn't want to see love fulfilled?
243 reviews
May 30, 2021
Wow, interesting and eye opening

This is a clean sweet story of friends finding more than friendship. The thing that was so eye-opening was the reaction of the hero's parents that wouldn't soften over time. This is really possible realities black women have to consider if seeing Asian men who are close to their families. I appreciated the author keeping the hero committed to her as her man should be and attempting the softening of the family situation by the grandparent's acceptance. Sweet tale.
10 reviews
February 18, 2020
Loved the story

Love good storytelling. This was a good one. Different from the typical friend to lovers. Love is indeed a choice . Love that story didn't end perfect as that is not real life. His family may not come around . Too many people in their relationships choose a partner who is not who they need of want because it's what their family wants me what society say should be their choice. The heart should win not societal pressures.
Profile Image for Connie Haynes.
196 reviews
August 25, 2019
Great story

This was a great story of how Ashanti and Luke became more than friends . I am hoping there will be a sequel because I feel there are some unanswered questions, such as will Weng’s crush on Ashanti affect his relationship with Luke or will Luke’s parents ever accept their relationship ? This was a nice clean romance , I hope to read more
Profile Image for Tonii Tonii.
Author 26 books46 followers
July 6, 2019
Read in one day

I read this book in one day. I read this author work before and loved it. This book was no exception I like it just like I like the other book. It was sweet, and realistic. Looking to reading more from this author.
156 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2020
Best friends are hard to beat

This is such a good story. I wasn’t sure if I would like it since I seem to lean more towards all ends Neón tied up and this I prefer series books. However, I don’t regret giving this book a chance even though my mind is saying what about Weng. Lol
Profile Image for Krystal Johnson.
739 reviews1 follower
May 5, 2023
3/5 not my favorite by this author i just didn’t really like how luke couldn’t make up his mind idk, i always wish we just got more of seeing them together i feel like they got together and then it was the end of the book
684 reviews5 followers
December 3, 2018
True

I loved reading this story. Everything was believable and no sappiness. The only thing I did not like was that it ends with them still dating.
545 reviews6 followers
January 15, 2019
Great read

Luke & Ashanti were so sweet together. His grandparents were great. His parents were so narrow minded. It was a great love story.I must read.
Profile Image for Monique Morgan.
35 reviews
May 27, 2019
Great

I really hope there's a sequel. Especially to answer the moodiness of weng...and if his parents ever change their minds or if the couple got married.
114 reviews1 follower
April 27, 2020
Good read

This was a cute BWAM no sex scenes if your looking for that keep looking. I did like the book overall
4 reviews
March 27, 2021
Unresolved

Unresolved...
The conflict in this book was never really addressed. A disappointing end. Very real problem, ending seems rushed though...
Profile Image for Nee Nee.
9 reviews
December 1, 2021
Super cute!!!! I would definitely read this again. I love both of our MCs (which is rare).
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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