A wickedly funny debut romcom in which a young scientist reluctantly becomes a contestant on a reality TV dating show to save her lab—and realizes her secrets are threatened when romance unexpectedly finds her behind the scenes.
Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Reality Bites by Amy Mass, which releases on May 12th 2026.
Grace Lambert’s entire family are all influencers. Her mom runs an HGTV-like Instagram, her dad operates a Yoga for Men Youtube channel, and her brothers are famous on Tiktok and Twitch. Grace, however, is a scientist devoted to saving the Southern Mountain yellow-legged frogs from extinction, who has never had social media.
When her mom signs her up for a dating show with a cult-like following, Grace hangs up on their lawyer, Andrew, immediately. She has no interest in reality TV—until her lab loses its funding, and her coworkers learn about not only the show’s worldwide viewership . . . but the cash prize.
Arriving on set, Grace immediately feels like a frog out of water. She doesn’t know how to mug for the cameras, make effortless small talk with the contestants, or watch her tongue in an interview—making her a constant thorn in Andrew’s side.
The more time Grace spends competing in challenges, unexpectedly flirting with contestants, and making Andrew’s life a living hell, the more she realizes that being there for the wrong reason and keeping it secret might be trickier than she thought—not to mention just how much trouble an illicit, off-screen romance can bring.
Excerpted from REALITY BITES by Amy Mass. Copyright © 2026 by Amy Mass. Reprinted here with permission from Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
I pull into my parents’ circular driveway, past my brother’s gas guzzling Range Rover, throw my Prius into park, and storm up the steps. I fling the front door open and shout, “What. Have. You. Done?”
“Hi, sweetheart!” my mom says as she unpacks takeout in the high-end chef’s kitchen that rarely gets used for actual food prep. “I got you that vegan curry dish you liked last time.”
I ignore her thoughtfulness, storm into the room, and hiss, “Don’t you ‘sweetheart’ me! You signed me up for a reality show without asking me first?!”
She gasps. “Ohmigosh, you got on the show?” She drops the Indian food and rushes toward me.
“What about me made you think I would ever go on a reality dating show?”
She ignores my disdain and pulls me into a hug. “This is such a huge opportunity, Gracie! I can’t believe you’re actually going to be on Love Shack.”
“I’m definitely not going to be on Love Shack,” I say loudly. Okay, maybe I’m technically yelling. Either way, it’s loud enough that Matt comes to see what all the commotion is about.
I try to extricate myself from my mother’s surprisingly strong arms, but she’s like a Lilly Pulitzer– clad sea urchin. I tell Matt, still stuck in her hug, “Mom signed me up for a dating show.”
He doesn’t even laugh, he just turns to her and asks, “Which one?”
But my mom is too focused on trying to convince me that she doesn’t answer him. She finally lets me out of the hug, only to look me deep in the eyes and say, “Honey, this is exactly what you need. They pick the cream of the crop of guys, and there are multiple contestants to choose from. You yourself said you wanted to meet a higher caliber of men. So here they are!”
“I only said that to get you to stop setting me up on blind dates. I’ve never even watched a reality show!”
“Then how do you know you won’t like it?” Matt teases. Then he demands again, “Seriously, which one?”
I ignore him and try to make my mom see reason. “I have to work, Mom! I have responsibilities! I’m a scientist, not a former child actor or washed-up one-hit wonder!”
She listens to my rebuttal as she takes out fancy gold-rimmed plates, then casually says, “First prize wins $250,000. That’s way more than you make at the nature center.” My jaw drops. “A quarter-million dollars!? For what? How do you even win a dating show? Go on the most dates? You know what, I don’t want to know, because it doesn’t matter. There’s no way in hell I’m going on Love Shack.”
“Ooh, Love Shack,” Matt says, perking up. “I love that show. You should definitely do it. I can help you set up your socials.”
“Great idea, Matthew!” my mom says, excitedly.
Feeling a headache coming on, I stand there massaging my temples. My mom doesn’t seem to notice because she just hands us each a plate and an orange cloth napkin tucked inside the bejeweled napkin rings she uses whenever we order Indian food. I take a deep breath and try to compose myself.
Normally the fact that my mother has to make everything, even takeout food, Pinterest-worthy doesn’t annoy me this much, but I’m not very happy with her right now. The only thing stopping me from throwing the napkin rings across the room and running out the front door screaming, “You can’t make me!” is the fact that I’m starving and she did order my favorite curry.
I’m still taking deep, centering breaths when my dad bounces in, wearing too much spandex, and kisses me on the cheek. “Hey, Peanut. How’s Kermit?”
Although it seems like his go-to greeting is a way of asking about my work saving endangered frogs, his eyes immediately glaze over whenever I actually talk about it for longer than thirty seconds. I usually say, “Still hopping,” but I’m excited about today’s breakthrough and welcome the change of subject, so I tell him, “Actually, it was a big day at the lab. We had some promising results with our vaccine, and we’re ready to reintroduce fifty frogs back into their habitat.”
“That’s great, honey,” my mom says absent-mindedly as she dishes out the food.
“So I guess Kermit is still hopping,” my dad jokes, sitting down at the table next to Matt.
“Well, actually, it’s a little more—” But before I can emphasize the severity of the fungus that has been killing southern mountain yellow-legged frogs by the thousands and how important it is to be able to inoculate against it, Jesse walks in. My youngest brother greets everyone with a “Yo,” totally oblivious to the fact that I was midsentence. My dad gives him a stern look, and he begrudgingly takes out his earbuds before sitting down next to me.
I’m about to get back to my scientific discovery that might literally save an entire species and be a case study for future generations when my mom says, “Dig in!”
And I realize that the window for me to share with my family has closed. So, as usual, I swallow my disappointment with a bite of tofu and tune them out as they begin discussing the latest celebrities commenting on their social media.
