tl;dr: super funny and dirty story with a fake relationship and a sex tape
The Story:
When Brynn and her gal pals meet for drinks in an effort to cheer her up post-divorce, they decide she needs to get back in the saddle, ASAP. Except they don’t trust her to choose the right man, since her tastes before now have tended toward more sensitive types. Her pals decide she needs a man’s man – one that can get her tousled and dirty, and get her ex-husband out of her mind.
She’s not totally on board until her friends drag her along to a party she doesn’t want to go to, and happens to see that ex-husband being handsy with another woman. She’s hurt, since the reason their marriage withered was because he wasn’t interested in her sexually. So, on the coaxing from her cheer-up squad, she literally runs and jumps on a man who she presumes is the gardener at the fancy property where the party is.
Turns out, the “gardener” is a famous HGTV-esque reality show star. And the fancy property? His, that he was letting his best friend use for the shindig. Brynn and Tom find themselves embarking on a hot and steamy love affair, that only gets steamier when someone records them having sex during that party and uploads it to the internet.
Brynn is embarrassed, because her “O” face is out there in the world, and Tom’s frustrated, because now the network that his show is on wants to cancel him due to some kind of “morality clause”. Tom’s publicist comes up with a harebrained scheme to smooth things over: pretend they’re engaged. (The logic being, married couples having sex is less titillating. Obviously they do not recall Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape?) Anyway, they are now fake-engaged, although both people are starting to feel less and less like it’s fake.
Technical Elements:
I wasn’t crazy about the writing style of this book. It’s very informal and off-the-cuff. If you’re looking for stunning prose, this isn’t it. However, the book is warm and funny, and I really enjoyed reading it. The smut is hot and the innuendos are hilarious. I feel like I got to know both characters really well, and their baggage that they brought into the relationship was believable. There also weren’t a whole lot of weird contrivances only meant to keep them apart. At one point, an ex-girlfriend of Tom’s enters the picture, and you think it might be seen as a misunderstanding, but it isn’t at all, and as a reader that prefers the drama to be believable, I was relieved.
Also, the final chapter was hilarious and sweet, and set up the next book wonderfully.
Final Thoughts:
If you’re looking for a light “fake engagement” romance with lots of humor and dirty jokes, this is the right book for you. The conflicts makes sense within the context of the story and the romance between the two protagonists is sexy and heartwarming at the same time.
This book isn’t available at libraries, but you can find a retailer here.
Looking for more celebrities that are just like us? Check out Alexis Daria’s The Dance Off series. You can read my review for Take The Lead now, and Dance With Me should be coming soon!
Or maybe you want a fake engagement romance? (One of my favorite tropes!) I recently read Big Rock by Lauren Blakely and it was highly enjoyable!