Love the fake dating trope and enjoyed the characters. This was much deeper than just a PR stunt and fake dating. Nothing like I expected but still enjoyed.

First off, a huge thanks to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for sending me this ARC!
I absolutely love this book and everything about it!! Definitely ranked as one of my favorite reads of the year! I love books with celebrity romance, and Ava Wilder delivered! The plot was so well constructed and you can really get connected to both Grey and Ethan. I've already read it multiple times over!

Are you in the mood for a light and fun comedy? Well, this is not the book for you! I feel like people may pick up this book on a false pretense- while the description may seem light and fun, this is a much heavier read than I expected. Much less Beach Read/Unhoneymooners and more A Star is Born.
I'm not saying this is a bad book, but I do not think that the book description is accurate. If you want romance on the heavier side, you may appreciate this one.
⭐⭐⭐

Gotta love two cynics in love as a cynical girl myself. Really loved this one. Thanks to Random House for the arc for my honest review.

***ARC provided by the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

A relationship of convenience and a lot of heavy baggage weighs this romance down, leaning into adult fiction territory for How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder.

When Grey Brooks finds herself a little light on work after the end of her teen drama, Poison Paradise, her publicist has a perfect idea of a fake relationship to keep her in the public eye.

Audrey's idea of the fake boyfriend? Former Hollywood bad boy and current Hollywood recluse Ethan Atkins. With the connection to both, Audrey is hopeful that it'll boost their career profiles.

Ethan is a few years removed from the stardom he came into. After the devastating loss of his film partner and best friend, he spiraled into a miserable mess of drugs, alcohol, and self-loathing.

The characters feel real, and the chemistry between Grey and Ethan is absolutely off the charts from the start. It's this aspect that makes their love scenes all the steamier. I also appreciate that Grey has got her stuff together, is utterly self-assured in what she wants, and how she commands respect, especially when she first meets Ethan.

Her self-assuredness and sense of worth make their darker third-act break-up much more challenging to read. It pulls at the heartstrings, making you feel for Grey and Ethan, the latter dealing with an insurmountable amount of pain paired with his inability to work through that pain and grief.

Overall, though, this feels like adult fiction/women's fiction in romance's clothing, in a way. Though the crux of the story is centered on the two of them, the story goes to great lengths to focus on how they grow to be better because of the experience of being in each other's lives.

Fake dating troupe starring Grey Brooks, a young Hollywood starlet trying to make it in a cut throat industry, and Ethan Atkins, a wash up has-been looking to reinvigorate his career. Will this relationship accomplish what they set out to achieve?

Overall I enjoyed the plot and was rooting for Grey to find happiness! Ethan’s character definitely grew on me as his story gained more depth.

TW: Addiction, substance abuse, alcohol abuse

Sincere thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book and getting to know the characters. I loved the fake dating and the instant attraction. How to Fake It in Hollywood is incredibly well written. Unfortunately, several of the chapters were tough to read for me personally. But I am excited to see what Ava Wilder has next! The writing, storytelling and character development was very well done!

I'm such a sucker for fake dating and famous character tropes. How to Fake it in Hollywood had both! I appreciate how Grey Brooks and Ethan Atkinson were into each other while pretending they were not. I mean, Ethan was Grey's teenage celebrity crush, after all. We've all dreamed about this situation playing out. This book provided the behind the curtain feel into the lives of the celebrity culture and the real problems in this industry. This book also dove into the personal challenges of the characters in an emotional but meaningful way. It was not a light romance read. I could not stop listening to the audiobook. Both of the narrators did a great job. Andrew Eiden is one of my favorite male narrators!

Penguin Random House Audio and Dell, thank you for my gifted copies.

Really enjoyed the romance and the trope of this one! Was such a fun and engaging read. Hope to read more by this author.

Heavy but lovely. Fake dating! Flawed protagonists who take time to work on themselves before their happy ending! I think it suffers from being marketed as something fluffier than it is, while really dealing with some very heavy issues. Good for fans of Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Grey Brooks wants to be taken seriously in Hollywood and book roles that are more than the teen fantasy lead she played up until a few years ago. Ethan Atkins, once major film star, hasn’t been relevant since that time he got drunk and punched a paparazzi in the face and went to rehab. When their mutual agent decides they both need a PR boost - Grey and Ethan find themselves in a fake relationship that is supposed to be mutually beneficial but quickly turns overly complicated and not-so-fake.

Right off the bat - the cover and description of this book is misleading. You should note that this is not an easy or light romance novel and deals with heavy themes of alcohol and drug abuse, destructive behavior and codepency. While beautifully written, it was definitely not what I expected from looking at the cover or reading the synopsis. Very reminiscent of The Idea of You or Annabel Monaghan’s Nora Goes Off Script.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House / Ballantine and Ava Wilder for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Whoa, whoa, whoa—THIS BOOK! I couldn’t put it down, it sucked me right in. I am weak for fake dating books, but add in an age gap, flawed and messy love interests, and a bit of forbidden romance??? There was no way this book wouldn’t be one of my top reads of the year.

I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS BOOK. I just finished I all I want to do it reread. It was so funny, so raw, so real. I absolutely adored every character. I was invested 100% of the time. The romance was top notch, the steam was perfect. There were so many tough topics touched on and I thought it was done very well. Ava Wilder has become an autobuy author for me after reading this. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review! For some reason it took me a few tries to get going with this book, but once it took off I fell in love with the characters! The plot is fairly predictable, but Ethan and Grey are lovely and I was rooting for them the whole time and sad to see them go. Fake dating is always a fun trope, and fake dating between two celebrities was even more fun. I’m eager to read Ava Wilder’s next book!
4 stars for a solid contemporary romance

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would - particularly because it didn't go as I predicted. I feel that many romcoms have straight forward arcs that you can pretty much bet on every time - a meet cute, they get together, they break up, they get back together. While How To Fake It In Hollywood didn't rewrite that particular arc, it did surprise me in other ways that I won't spoil.

I listened to the audio and thought the narrators did really well. I didn't completely enjoy the male's voice when he was trying to do Grey's part, but hey, at least he tried!

If you're looking for a cute read, love an enemies to lovers, enjoy a touch of steam, and don't want it to be entirely predictable, look no further! This is one I definitely recommend!

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the copy.

I really enjoyed this one!

Character growth being the forefront—this was soo much more than just a romance. Tackling alcoholism to drown out grief, intrusive, diminishing, and insecure thoughts along the lines of always letting people down and being a disappointment. This was a very enjoyable, fast paced, steamy and romantic book. I found myself reading at a pace quicker than usual, and I became very emotionally invested. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

3.5/5 Stars

Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost from the publisher/author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I am leaving a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

I liked this book and I loved parts of it but I didn't love all of it. These types of reviews are so hard for me because it really comes down to a feeling more than anything. And it's hard to rate a feeling when it's smack dab in the middle of the spectrum.

I think the thing that created a little bit of disconnect for me with the story was the execution of the character development. There was certainly some very nice character growth in the book but it felt impersonal to me. I can't really put my finger on it but the characters just didn't stand out to me. The story does touch upon topics of grief and addiction and I think that those topics were handled gracefully.

Ava Wilder does a fine job of making the story compelling. Despite not feeling overly close to the characters, I still felt the drive to keep reading. I really and truly wanted to know what was going to happen next. The writing style was easy to read for the most part but there were times it felt a little clunky. The world-building felt so real, as though I were living in the story.

There were parts of the romance that I liked and parts that I didn't mesh with. I enjoyed the fake dating trope and I think that it was executed well. I also liked that Grey and Ethan developed feelings after spending time together and getting to know each other. Their chemistry wasn't entirely convincing to me in the love department but in the lust department, they were definitely convincing. It was obvious that they were attracted to each other the first time they met. It was almost an instalust situation. When their feelings developed though their chemistry felt different. It didn't feel realistic for two people in love.

Overall, this is a fun story with an addictive premise that fell a little short for me with character relatability. But don't let that stop you from picking this up because it was still an interesting read. I think that in this case, it is just a personal preference situation. I'd definitely try something else from this author.

How To Fake It In Hollywood is a classic enemies to lovers romance that delivers more than your typical rom com novel. In some ways it really reminded me of A Star Is Born!

Grey Brooks is coming down from the ending of her teen soap era, and Ethan Atkins is a recluse actor who needs to improve his personal PR image. They both unwillingly agree when their PR agent suggests fake dating would be good publicity for both of their careers.

As you can imagine, the classic fake dating romance tropes ensure, and these two end up realizing they might have real feelings for each other. However, this book goes much deeper and moves past their surface level romance to tackle a deeper look at personal identity and personal struggles. I love the cover, I loved the romance, and I would really recommend this one as it offers something new to the genre!

How to Fake It in Hollywood is a fake dating rom-kinda-com novel. Grey Brooks has been a low key off the radar actress since she was a child. After her mediocre TV show ends she's having trouble finding work. Her publicist suggests fake dating the reclusive, older, used to be heart throb, Ethan Atkins. Both are looking for a life make over/do over.

This seemed like it was going to be a fun read but disappointed easily. The side characters were interesting and probably the best part. This book was deceptively heavy with themes of depression, grief, co-dependency and alcoholism. It was heavy for the story and the issues were resolved off the page or not at all. They 16 months latered us and then they 2 years latered us. The author clearly had trouble with character development and conflict resolution. So all of that was pretty much glossed over.

I would recommend this book to fans of Nora Goes Off Script, by Annabel Monaghan and Funny You Should Ask, by Elissa Sussman.