First Love Language, by Stefany Valentine

Since the passing of father, Catie has grown increasingly obsessed with learning more about her Taiwanese mother and her cultural background. Afraid that she'll offend her stepmother, Catie's kept the desire to herself.  When she discovers that Toby, one of her coworkers, has recently returned from Taiwan, she begs him for language lessons.  But what can she offer him in return?

Toby is handsome, but shy.  He's infatuated with a girl named Nichole, but he's helpless at communicating with her.  So, Catie offers to teach Toby how to date.  Not that she knows anything about dating, having never had a boyfriend before.  But using an old copy of The Five Languages of Love that Catie inherited from her late father, she devises a series of "fake dates" to teach Toby some interpersonal skills.  As one would predict, teaching Toby how to court Nichole becomes complicated when Catie finds that she has feelings for Toby herself.

A number of other (largely unresolved) subplots also contribute to the story, including Catie's search for her biological mother and her family in Taiwan, and also her cousin's search for her sexual identity.  On the whole, much about the story feels unresolved, but the romance is pleasant enough although it is quite chaste lacks much heat. There's some cute feel-good moments at the end, but not much that carries a punch.  This is sort of the issue with the novel in general: for all the action, it's lacking much in excitement.  My impression is that the author likes to set up conflicts, but has little interest in playing out drama.