If Stephanie Miller doesn't find a fiancé, she's out of a job--but she never thought the man she needed would be her brother's uptight best friend. Derek Rory may have the business savvy to close the deal she wants...but can Stephanie endure this maddening mock engagement long enough to fake her way into real love? ~ Goodreads
Review:
I seem to be on a roll with reading about fake fiancés and friends to lovers stories. The fake fiancé trope used to be one of my least favorites but I've read a few cute ones that changed my mind. The key for me is that the set up isn't too outlandish or the lies get so crazy out of control that it's more wacky than emotional.
Faking It had a good set up. Stephanie needs to land an account at work or she's out of a job and back to needing her family to bail her out. Again. On her way to lunch with her FBI (& hilarious) brother she meets a sexy business man that comes to her rescue when she's caught without an umbrella in the pouring rain.
Turns out that the sexy business man is Derek Rory, one of her brothers best friends and someone who can help her land the deal at work. The catch….there's always a catch….is that the man she's trying to convince to fund her project is a "family values" business man. Derek steps up as her fiancé for the week to help Stephanie and in return she plays tourist guide for him around Miami.
This is a fun story and the characters have great chemistry. They're opposites and Stephanie's bright, quirky personality gets Derek to loosen up and look for something more in his life other than the next big business deal.
If I have one complaint, it's with Stephanie. She wants to be taken seriously as a business woman but keeps doing silly things like losing her files, not backing them up and not taking advice from Derek because of her stubborn pride. Her boss is a total sexist ass. I was so mad that everyone kept deferring to Derek in meetings instead of Stephanie so in that regard I could understand the chip on her shoulder. She's a great person, with obvious compassion and drive, but between her flightiness and Derek calling her "kittenish" multiple times I sometimes had problems seeing her as professional.
Final thoughts: If you like the fake fiancé trope I would give Faking It a try. The couple has great chemistry. Even though the romance develops in quite a short time I completely bought into it. They both bring out something better in each other. I would have liked Stephanie to be worthy of the professional respect she was demanding in the beginning but even that worked out great in the end.
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Source: Entangled publishing for my honest review
Buy the book! Faking It
Great review. It just goes to show you should never judge a book by its cover as I would never have picked this up looking at the cover and yet your review makes me think I'd enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteOoh, this looks like their new Indulgences line if the cover is any indication (I think they're calling the line NA but if you ask me, some of it's not).
ReplyDeleteI love the friends to lovers trope, but it drives me nuts when they make the female lead a professional and then have her be sort of an idiot. I'm so glad you pointed that out, it's a big deal for me lately. Entangled has such good books though. :/ I've almost never had a stinker from them and if you got past Stephanie being a fluffhead, then I'd trust you. Terrific review!
She has her reasons for being like that - with an over protective family that swoops in to help her all the time - so I get it. And she really doesn't want to rely on anyone anymore and I admired her for that but then it drove me loopy when she would do something dumb. She's great though. That's just a minor quibble.
DeleteBut I agree with you - you can't really go wrong with anything from the Bliss/Indulgence line. They're all almost guaranteed fun/romantic reads.
I don't *think* this one is NA. Both characters are adults in the business world. It's steamier than the Biss titles but not overly racy or explicit.
I agree with the comment about the cover...this isn't one that would draw me in...but I love the friends to lovers angle...as many times as it is done...if it is done right you can sign me up:)
ReplyDeleteThis isn't so much a friends to lovers (I should have worded that a little differently - it's more the fake fiancé trope) I just meant I had been reading a lot of both recently. He is a very good friend of her brother though which made the set up more plausible to me. At least she knows he's not a psychopath lol and they have at least a small foundation to start from.
DeleteI can't decide how I feel about the cover. At first I didn't like it but now that I've read the book it fits the couple and story.
I love the fake fiance trope, too! Stephanie sounds a little like me, and I would NOT make a good executive. lol Sounds like another great Entangled book!
ReplyDeleteOh to be honest, I don't think this one would be for me. I think that Stephanie would get on my last nerve. However, Derek sounds like a great character to get to know. Hm... maybe I wouldn't hate it so much, but I still think she would bother me a bit more than it did you... :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you enjoyed the setup and the characters had good chemistry!
ReplyDeleteBrandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Hm, nah, nothing is telling me read it :/
ReplyDeleteI enjoy a little fake fiancee now and then. This looks fun!
ReplyDeleteJen @ YA Romantics