Ratings29
Average rating3.9
Lambda Literary award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur returns with a steamy Sapphic rom-com about a quiet bookseller and a romance novel cover model who agree to a modern-day marriage-of-convenience...
Tansy Adams’ greatest love is her family’s bookstore, passed down from her late father. But when it comes to actual romance… Tansy can’t get past the first chapter. Tired of her stepfamily’s questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a bestselling book. They’ll never actually meet, so what’s the harm in a little fib? Yet when real-life Gemma crosses Tansy’s path, her white lie nearly implodes.
Gemma van Dalen is a wild child, the outcast of her wealthy family, and now the latest heir to Van Dalen Publishing. But the title comes with one tiny condition: she must be married in order to inherit. When Gemma discovers a beautiful stranger has been pretending to date her for months, she decides to take the charade one step further—and announces their engagement.
Gemma needs a wife to meet the terms of her grandfather’s will and Tansy needs money to save her struggling bookstore. A marriage could be mutually beneficial, if they can fool everyone into thinking it’s a love match. Unexpected sparks fly as Tansy and Gemma play the role of affectionate fiancées, and suddenly the line between convenient arrangement and real feelings begins to blur. But the scheming Van Dalen family won’t give up the company without a fight, and Gemma and Tansy’s newfound happiness might get caught in the fallout…
Reviews with the most likes.
I picked this one up from it's place of distinction on the library kiosk during Pride Month. Part of my allyship is making an effort to read LGBTQIA authors. Rom Coms are not my usual genre of choice but this one did a solid job of giving the characters depth and the storyline plenty to work with. There were a good number of characters whose motivations were dodgey or at least seemingly sketchy. The protagonists both had compelling internal narratives. I liked them both and I wanted them to find their happily ever after. This was a well written story- not just a romance but a rom com with some nice depth to it.
3.8- I have mixed feelings because the writing style felt like reading wattpad but with millennial humor and Disney channel comedic timing. I picked it up from the library but, apart from some cringe, I was entertained and mostly invested lol.
5 stars ⭐️ because...
...gay
... adult and not teen (which I enjoy as well, but I appreciate more adult stories too)
... NO MISCOMMUNICATION (like in every other god-damn romance novel out there)
... very sweet but also realistic (especially the spicy scenes)
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2,709 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...