Pretending in Paradise

I had the pleasure of receiving an ARC of Pretending in Paradise from NetGalley in exchange for this unbiased review. This is my first time reading a novel from M. Ullrich, but it definitely will not be the last. Her writing style is fantastic and in this book, she kept me engaged the entire time I was reading.

Pretending in Paradise is a fake romance to a real romance novel. Emma is a writer for a travel website who likes to have a little extracurricular activity on her trips. This gets her in trouble as one of her “activity participants” sues the company after Emma writes a bad review of the property. In comes Caroline, a PR rep that has been recently hired to take care of the issue. Emma looks to be suspended for 2 weeks without pay when she gets a tip about a new couples only resort that is opening in Miami that she can get an instant scoop on. Her boss agrees to her taking the trip, but Caroline must go with her to supervise and make sure that she doesn't get into trouble. Since the resort is couples only, Emma and Caroline must pretend to be a dating couple for the next 10 days.

Without giving anything else away, the pacing of this novel is perfect. It is a very slow build as the two go from enemies to civil friends to more in the span of just over a week. I loved the way Ullrich allowed little pieces of each character's pasts to be brought out through their different activities. The sexual tension increases over time and the end result of the build is amazing! The emotions that are built for these characters had me in tears a couple of times, including the last chapter.

This is such a well-rounded romance novel and I am sure I will be reading it again in the near future. I hope an audiobook version will be coming as well. The story is one that I could easily see made into an excellent romcom movie. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a good romance. It is a very special read.