Synopsis:
Fake girlfriend. Real sizzle. What could possibly go wrong?
Sam Ngata has the talent of creating something out of almost nothing in his successful wood carving business, Kauri Whare. That talent doesn’t extend to producing a serious girlfriend out of nowhere when he implies to a huge overseas investor that he’s a one-woman kind of man. Big on domestic bliss and honesty, the investor is due to arrive in less than ten days time with a deal that’d provide Sam’s family-operated business with invaluable future security. Now Sam just has to find a woman willing to fake it until they make it — the deal, that is — with no strings attached.
Single mum Vee Sullivan needs a man in her life like a flightless kiwi bird needs wings to soar. She has a precocious little girl to provide for and she’s in the middle of expanding her clothing business — with an eye on Kauri Whare’s newest retail space. Unfortunately, it’d take a small miracle for her to afford the lease. So when childhood crush, Sam, offers her a one week only role of pretending to be his ‘serious’ girlfriend in exchange for three months waived lease, Vee is sorely tempted. But saying yes to fake girlfriend means she might not be able to say no to real passion. Someone’s going to get their heart broken…
Review:
Tracey Alvarez is a go-to author for me; I enjoy her writing style and love the New Zealand location of her books. She loves her home country, and it really shows in her writing–reading one of her books always makes me want to take a vacation there 🙂 Her latest, Break Your Heart, however, wasn’t quite all that I hoped it would be.
Fake relationships can be a tricky trope to make work; usually friends-to-lovers can help sweeten things up a bit, though, so I was hopeful going in. Though I really liked both Sam and Vee (and OMG, add Vee’s young daughter Ruby into the mix? All kinds of adorableness) their fake-to-real relationship felt problematic–especially with the detail we find out about it in the end…
The over-the top investment everyone else around them had into making them “real” ended up feeling forced and artificial, which was disappointing.
Still, it was nice to catch up with everyone at Bounty Bay again, and wonder who will get their HEA next. Even though this one won’t be my series favorite, I am glad I had the chance to read it–did I mention that I loved Ruby? Yes? 😉
Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.