Ready. Set. Faux.
Holden James picked the worst time to have a meltdown. His chance to audition for his favorite game show, Madcap Market, should have been a moment of triumph—a glorious, loving homage to his adored mom, who died six years ago. Instead, he’s destroying the minibar in a grim Los Angeles hotel room…recently dumped, partnerless and sliding into misery.
But at least the hotel service is sublime. It even comes with an unfairly fit and sexy (smart-ass) concierge who arrives at the door with pizza, Monopoly and deliciously distracting forearms.
All Holden knows about Leo Min is that he’s beautiful and unexpectedly sympathetic, and the chemistry between them is beyond. Maybe it’s even enough to convince everyone, including the show’s casting directors, that they’re a real couple. All they’d have to do is crush the competition, win the huge cash prize and all of Holden’s problems—his broken heart, his buried grief, his complete lack of money and direction—will be fixed.
Of course, reality doesn’t quite work out that way. But love is an entirely different game…
From showing up to glowing up, these characters are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way.
Don’t miss these other fun titles from Afterglow Books:
The Bookbinder’s Guide to Love by Katherine Garbera
The Devil in Blue Jeans by Stacey Kennedy
Frenemy Fix-Up by Yahrah St. John
The Boyfriend Subscription by Steven Salvatore
Manila Takes Manhattan by Carla de Guzman
Fake Flame by Adele Buck
Out of Office by A.H. Cunningham
Review:
This was really cute! Though I *love* dual POV stories, having just one here (Holden’s) worked really well for the narrative. I liked that Holden and Leo talked about the real feelings they were catching while in their fake relationship–the but we’re doing it for the show! We have an end date! So of course we’re not going to talk about it, I’d rather suffer alone in silence (overblown) drama we often see in fake relationship plots wasn’t really here. (There’s other drama from other sources–including one that made me gasp out loud while reading and call secondary characters very bad names. Apologies to my oldest, who was sitting next to me trying to play video games in peace)
Holden’s grief did bog the story down a bit in parts, but that’s OK because that’s what it was doing to him too, which made it feel authentic. I loved the way finally talking about his mom helped to strengthen his relationship with his dad.
And that HEA! Very sweet. But before that? Sooooo much steam. If this is the direction this new Harlequin line is going, I am very much in favor!
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.