This is a cute story of Rory and Penelope as they navigate fake dating, he in order to evade the advances of his boss's wife, and she in a bid to get material for a romcom she's writing.
Overall, the story was wholesome (the part that I have read anyway). I loved the comedy: the writer has an impeccable sense of humor that shines through.
However, I could not connect to the characters, and having a hard time with it, so I'm dnf'ing. I felt that sometimes the writing was a tad stilted and the characters' thought processes felt disconnected.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a very cute story featuring the friends-to-lovers storyline. Penelope is a wrter of romance books and her new story seems to mirror her new situation. She gets her friend Rory to agree to fake-date to make one guy from her past jealous and so that she can be his date for his business retreat and other business-related dinners. Cute story and you know how it will end before you read it.

Let me begin by saying that I would risk it all for Penelope and Rory. I'm not even joking when I say that. They are absolutely adorable! It's a best friends-to-lover romance with faking dating and a slow burn, which is my personal favorite.

This novel depicts a wide range of emotions, which I enjoy. Penelope is a struggling novelist who is sending out her manuscripts to publishers in the hopes that they will be accepted. Although she receives some positive responses initially, they ultimately reject her because they believe she needs to expand. Fake Dating Folly and Caper Crush are the two books she's concentrating on back-to-back, and Kathy's next book is expected to be Caper Crush, which is super cool. She not only manufactures and distributes miniatures to support her income, but she also manages a blog about her dollhouse, which is linked to her Fake Dating Folly narrative.

Since college, Rory has been Penelope's best friend. His encouragement for Penelope's books has to be the cutest thing ever. While the other characters in the novel are supportive of her literary career, Rory occupies the top rank. Especially when he's trying to help her out by reading romance novels. When Penelope approaches Rory for help with her Fake Dating Dolly book, he asks her to fake date him since he, too, needs to keep his boss's handsy wife off his back.

I indicated that this narrative incites a lot of emotions because, to put it simply, it does. We follow Penelope's progress as her writing improves over time. Especially when she stops allowing rejection to control her life. She also works on her feelings for Jamie since she is unsure if she still has any affection for him. Spoiler alert: she is no longer likes him, but they have a mature friendship. Callie, on the other hand, is a different story. She's free to pack her belongings and leave. Having to deal with his parents going on a break when he thought they were perfect was extremely difficult for Rory, and it caused him and Penelope to break up. Overall, I admire the intensity with which this novel elicits feeling.



*thank you to NetGallery of an arc in exchange for an honest review*

The story
Penelope is a twenty-something New Yorker. She’s given herself two years to get her career as a romance writer off the ground, but her stories keep being rejected by agents and publishers. A lot of the feedback she gets is that the stories hold back the emotional stuff, and she knows it probably has to do with the fact that she herself holds back on emotions. When her parents were killed in a light aircraft accident when she was in college, it changed her life. When Penelope’s best guy-friend Rory suggests fake dating to help him avoid a client’s amorous wife and help Penelope with her storyline, she agrees. She knows that she will probably end up feeling more than she should and has her doubts. But it seems that maybe Rory suggested the fake dating less to help himself and more to test the waters with Penelope.

My thoughts
I loved how closely the storyline in Penelope’s books and miniatures blog mimicked the events of her real life. Her side business in miniatures is her own form of art and expression, and seems to be a successful business even when her writing career is a challenge. So many aspects of this story felt like those photos of photos taken in a mirror, reverberated into infinity. I felt like I was sitting on Penelope’s shoulder, sharing her viewpoint and getting a clear line of sight into her thoughts. I felt so close to the story that at some points, I wanted to whisper to Penelope to just throw a tantrum and tell Rory to get rid of his his horrible ex. I loved how, similar to Partner Pursuit, the city is such an integral part of the story, almost a character in itself. It’s a goodie!

Cute funny rom com with one of the best tropes , “fake dating”. Whilst the ending was predictable it was still a really good journey to get there. Would recommend.

I struggled to get into this which was probably my fault since this is the second book in a series. It felt like I walked into the middle of a story and spent way too long trying to figure out who the characters were and what their relationship were. I did like the fake dating trope between Rory and Penelope. It is one of my favourites and was cute and romantic if somewhat lacking in depth. (2.75⭐️)

I enjoyed reading this book. It contained pretty much all my favorite tropes, fake dating, friends-to-lovers, and last but not least the one bed trope.

One thing I'm not particular fond of is the "fade to black" before all the 'Spicy' scenes. It's not a big deal for me but just a little pet peeve.

But over all a cute and heartwarming story!

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC of Is This for Real?

This was a quick and cute read. I always enjoy a good friends to lovers and fake dating plot. Though I enjoyed Rory’s character and I felt the story fell a bit too flat for my taste.

Such a cute book! And I love a good fake dating trope. This book has very relatable characters which makes for an easy read. Very fun and makes me want to read the first book as well!

IS THIS FOR REAL? was a very cute story featuring the friends-to-lovers trope. Penelope and Rory agree to fake-date to simultaneously make her ex-crush who rejected her jealous and have Penelope be a buffer between Rory and his client’s overly friendly/sexually harassing wife. While the book was enjoyable and definitely a quick read, I wish there had been a bit more character development and more showing, less telling.

Thank you Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the free ARC!

It was a fun and cute read, I enjoyed it. Friends-to-lovers, always a big yes for me! It's a trope I'll never get bored with and in this one it was represented really good.
Penelope was a likeable character, I liked how she never gave up on her dream to become a writer and was constantly writing. It gives me motivation to take her as an example. After so many rejections she never stopped editing her book and taking all the criticism to do better. I was happy that the author wrote the parts where other characters give their opinion about what she could change in her books. Really well done!
She and her best friend Rory decide to fake-date, but then Penelope starts to feel real emotions for him. What was before only research for her book became a real thing. I liked how their relationship developed, you can see that they got along before they started dating, but I wanted to read a bit more about their relationship and their feelings. I wanted to read more about the slow-burn and have more situations where they slowly discover their true feelings. All the other characters were good ones too.

Kathy Strobos was a discovery these past few months and I hope to read more books by her. She's a really good author and I like her writing style. This one is now my favourite book by her.

This was way too corny for me!
It felt a little over the top and unrealistic to follow along with in parts. The characters fell flat for me and overall the narrative was a bit all over the place. I would've appreciated more connection to each other and a stronger flow all over.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

While I was very excited to read a light hearted story about friends to lovers AND fake dating!! I didnt enjoy the book as much as I had hoped.

I feel like the characters fell a little flat for me. I didn’t find myself rooting for the characters. At some points I feel there were just too much detail that took me out of the story.

I also wish there was a bit more to Rory's character, he felt a little two dimensional. I don't think there was enough of him, away from him being Penelope's fake date.

Is This Real? Features Penelope, an unpublished romcom writer who decides to fake date her best friend “for research”. Rory goes along with it to support Penelope’s writing and as an excuse to avoid his client’s wife’s advances. The obvious flirtation from Rory’s ex, Penelope’s ex-crush and the client’s wife were a bit cringe inducing to read. However, under that guise Penelope and Rory do form a bond and find real romance together. Overall, it was a cute story to read and included more of the mundane ups and downs of life than is usual of a romance novel.

However, Penelope fell a little flat for me. She didn’t have confidence in her career, her abilities, or any of her relationships. She also didn’t seem to grow much as a character and when her emotions changed (getting over the crush, falling for Rory), I didn’t feel an emotional connection to those changes. I also wish there had been more conflict between Penelope and Rory to help build the strife of falling in love.

Thank you to strawbundle and Netgalley for this ARC!

Penelope writes romantic comedies. And her love life is nothing like the books she writes.
So when her best friend Rory suggested they fake date because he needs a date for one of his work functions Penelope agrees.
Which this could be a win win.... She could the help through their experience for her romcom novel!
Sadly she feels they would never work out. She doesn't want to risk losing their friendship over a failed relationship.
So they begin to develop those static of electric when together, they can feel that attraction to one another.
Can she get his heart before his ex girlfriend wins him back?

This was a cute opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers, fake dating read.
Penelope and Rory were very cute characters.
I enjoyed seeing Penelope's side and hearing from her. So much fun!
I also loved that the characters who kept me guessing as to what would happen with them.
If you want to be entertained and like a slow burn romance read... this would be the perfect book for you.
I felt this was funny at times, engaging and a cute heart warming romance.
A very enjoyable book from the start. I loved how things started off all the way to the ending of the book. It was a wonderful, light hearted read, with moments that brought on the humor as well as the charming moments between our characters. Great read!

Thank you so much Strawbundle Publishing foe the opportunity to read thus eARC!
I will post and tag to my platforms closer to pub date!

Thank you to NetGallery and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review. Overall I really enjoyed this book! It was a friends to fake dating trope which I really like but it also delved into the frustrations of fake dating someone. Not only that, the main character is an aspiring writer and this story shows the struggles of receiving rejection letters and struggles to write the perfect story! No matter the obstacles in her way, Penelope finds ways to strive for her ambitions regardless. However, I would of loved to see Rory’s pov and understand the intentions and feelings behind some of his actions. This was a really cute story overall and I did enjoy reading it! Also the cover is so pretty!

You truly learn the ins-and-outs of Penelope throughout the "Is This for Real?". Penelope and her best friend Rory start fake dating to mutually benefit them in work, her as a writer and Rory with a handsy client's wife. I love fake dating tropes, they're one of my favorites - we all know how this is going to end. Penelope was a great character and I loved getting to know her friends and Rory. The tension between the Penelope and Rory is steamy, but all spicy scenes are fully left to the readers imagination. The only thing I disliked about the book was the detail, sometimes it felt like I was being disconnected from the story because of detail overload. Almost like it was an all access pass to Penelope's every inner thought.

Overall, I would give this book a 3.5/5

This was such a cute and fun romance read. First of all the cover... I absolutely love it! The main character Penelope is an aspiring author and throughout Is This For Real, she is writing a book of her own. I loved how the author made it seem that Is This For Real is the book that Penelope was writing. The conflicts that Penelope faced were some of the most realistic and challenging that I have seen in a romance book. There were several times throughout the book that I was genuinely scared about the outcome for the main couple. I have not read the first book by this author that tells the story of another couple seen in this book, but this book made me want to read it. I really liked the author's writing style as well and how she brought in certain topics and conflicts to the story.

thank you netgalley for this arc which i received in exchange for an honest review.

this was a cute romance with lots of charm and i really enjoyed reading from the perspective of the protagonist.

penelope was unique to all other heroines i’d read about before. i love how we learnt so much about her and she wasn’t one dimensional. her miniature business and her difficult journey trying to get her books published.

although the romance towards the end lost me a bit (rory acting like a bit of an asshole and the book kinda falling towards the woman having to apologise for the man’s mistake trope) i did enjoy this and it was easy to read.

i recommend for fans of romantic comedies and feel good romances which are very character driven.

First of all, cute cover!! As soon as I saw best friends to lovers I had to give this a read. For one, I really enjoyed the pacing. I was hooked right away. You have them jump right into the ‘fake dating’ from the get go. I really like the fact that the mc is quite relatable and that she has ambitions that she strives for regardless of the realistic barriers that we do face. It was nice to be hooked onto what Penelope was feeling and what she was doing, especially her research for her books were entertaining to read about. None of it felt like filler content. I liked seeing her experience of trying to get her book published, felt some book inception there with her book blog too. I loved Rory as well! Even without his POV he was the perfect book boyfriend. The romcom mentions, the fact that they’re both creative and that he reads her drafts *chefs kiss* AND THE DOLL SCENES WERE SO WHOLESOME.