Review by Booklist Review
Formerly a college student on a full-track scholarship, Lexi is now an online student working two jobs while living back home in Seattle. She is paying off debts three years after her father's death and helping her grief-frozen mother. Lexi is not a great waitress and pretends a handsome customer is her fiancé when some high-school friends spot her in the café. It turns out Will is a scion of a prominent family and is delighted to date his pretend fiancée to get out from under the pressure of his family's business and marital expectations. Lexi is uncomfortable when her fake engagement makes the news but enjoys getting to know Will as they start developing a real relationship. From apple-picking dates to galas, she realizes that different backgrounds may help build a strong relationship rather than prevent it. As Lexi moves beyond the grind of work and study, her mother and others around her find positive futures, as well. Sullivan follows Love, Naturally (2024) with a slow-burn, fun, fake-engagement rom-com with appealing growth arcs for Will and Lexi.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A memorable meet-cute kicks off this adorable fake engagement romance from Sullivan (Love, Naturally). Lexi Danby, a former college track star whose bright future was derailed by her father's death, takes a job as a waitress in Seattle to make ends meet--but when Becca and Jackie, her über-successful friends from high school, enter the restaurant one day, she's desperate to keep them from realizing she works there. So she plops down with an attractive solo diner and pretends to be on a date. High-powered businessman Will Grand is charmed and happy to play along. Becca and Jackie invite the presumed couple to a party that night, and Will suggests they use the event as their first real date. When they arrive, however, they find that everyone thinks they're engaged. Maintaining this ruse works well for Will, who needs to shed his bachelor reputation ahead of an upcoming business deal, and thrusts Lexi into a world of wealth and luxury. The more time they spend together, the more their attraction grows, but the pressures of the public eye and Lexi's fear of commitment may tear them apart. Lexi makes an endearing hot mess of a heroine, and Will is an ideal "book boyfriend." Cute and cozy with just enough drama to propel the story forward, this is a charmer. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
A tragic turn of events during her last year of college sets Lexi on an unexpected trajectory. She is sure that her classmates would be disappointed in the girl they chose as Most Likely to Succeed, which is why, when two of her oldest friends enter the café where she's waitressing to make ends meet, she pretends to be a customer and sits down with an incredibly kind and attractive stranger, Will Grand. Will finds Lexi both beautiful and intriguing; could she be the one to put an end to his mother's matchmaking attempts? When a miscommunication leads people to think that Lexi and Will are engaged, he suggests continuing with the fake relationship to see how real the sparks are between them. Lexi has a hard time believing that the fake engagement and her very real feelings for Will are anything more than a fairy tale, but Will is sure that she's the one for him. VERDICT Readers looking for a humorous and cozy read will enjoy Sullivan's (Love, Naturally) newest rom-com, with its great cast of characters and a slow-burn fake engagement where he falls first and they fall harder together.--Morgan Lockard
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Once a scholarship college athlete, Lexi is now a struggling waitress, slowly finishing out school while living with her widowed mom. Meanwhile, Will sits comfortably as the successful grandson of "Seattle's Royal Family," though that doesn't stop his mom from trying to meddle in his love life. A disastrously funny meet-cute turns into people assuming Lexi and Will are engaged, and they decide to temporarily fake a relationship. But the longer the farce continues, the more it doesn't feel fake at all. But when a relationship begins as a lie, can it really endure? Sullivan delivers a low-stakes, high-rewards romance, brimming with delightful classic tropes. Lexi and Will's insta-like encounter, paired with their familial back stories, makes their romance easy to root for. The comedy of errors in creating a fake relationship exposes the main underlying conflict of honest communication. Lexi and Will learn they can't live at the expense of their own feelings; the facade of happiness isn't worth silencing any struggles. It's a smooth storyline that's exceedingly easy to be hooked on. The speed of the romance may be fast, but the "he falls first" is guaranteed to satisfy readers regardless of the short time line. Intimate scenes are built up, then implied and not seen, making this a pick for teens wanting a light romance with older characters. Characters are minimally described. VERDICT A sweet, quick read about tackling changes in life that is sure to delight fans of romance and fake-dating.--Emily Walker
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