There is nothing I love more than a fake dating romance and this was a great read! I loved the relationship between Jiya and Ibrahim. They balanced each other out so well and I loved watching them start to fall in love IRL!

From Fake to Forever by Laila Rafi is a delightful read perfect for fans of lighthearted, slow-paced rom-coms who enjoy stories about fake dating, insta-love, and cultural identity, particularly those who appreciate a strong female lead and a swoon-worthy, brooding hero.

This book is so cute!!! I do like the relationship and the family involvement. I do like how the communication between them was there, even though they were fake dating for most of it.

I enjoyed this so much.

One of my favorite tropes is fake dating where you don't really know where the line blurs into an actual relationship and it catches them off guard. The best. And Rafi does a perfect job of bringing this love story to life.

Mixed feelings; it was fun and well paced but there were parts I just felt like I had to skim through as I wasn't entirely invested

this was okay, but read a little juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

The cover drew me in, the description had me hooked. I thoroughly enjoyed and still applaud the cultural representation From Fake to Forever has and the plot line was very different from most fake dating stories I've read recently. I will say, however; the characters fell relatively flat for me. I didn't believe their chemistry and they didn’t have much tension, and I missed the banter I've grown to love in my romance novels.

Overall, it’s a sweet, pretty short read. Would recommend to my fellow romance loving friends, they'll find at least one thing to love within these pages!

I’ve been really enjoyed romance fiction and From Fake to Forever ticked all the boxes. Will read again.

I found this book really hard to get into so didn't end up finishing it, but it's a book that definitely has potential so I may end up finishing it in the future.

This was generally a good escapist/romance read to start with, although unfortunately my interest in the plot gradually waned, and I felt mostly distant to the cast of characters— who were not developed as well as they could have been.

Fake-dating needs to be done well. I mean it. This book felt overpowering, and there was too much confusion with the characters and the story itself. I liked it, but got lost in the book.

These characters were reeeeeally tough for me, unfortunately! I was invested enough to make it through, and the grand gesture at the end was really cute. 50/50 on this one!

This was on the lower end of a fine read. There's just so many better books out that I can't recommend this one as a priority

What a fun read! I love a good romance novel. This one did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend it!

This book was slow to get into but once the fake dating trope kicked in, the plot really sped up and I was engaged in the story. I adored the lead characters and the dramatics of family trying to arrange a marriage. The chemistry between the two leads is electric and compelling. This was a fantastic debut and I can't wait to read more!

Jiya Ahmed and Ibrahim Saeed were tired of their parents not listening to what they wanted. They didn't want to get married yet, so Harry set up his friend (Jiya) and his brother (Ibrahim) up together so they can fake date their way out of their parents' constant arranged marriage proposals.

Well, this one took me a while to get into. I was really interested in this one because it had POC given the names of the main characters are Jiya Ahmed and Ibrahim Saeed. I just love, love, love reading about characters that aren't white, okay? Unfortunately, this one was a miss for me.

I absolutely love the fake dating trope, but then there's also the insta-love trope. The insta-love trope is such a hit or miss for me. That paired with the fake dating trope? No thanks. It just didn't work well for this book.

I only liked two characters. Everyone except Jiya and Harry pretty much pissed me off. Ibrahim was okay at first but then at a later point in the book he pissed me off and had me so frustrated. So, yeah, I don't like him anymore. Although I liked the main characters in the beginning, I just couldn't connect with the book. I couldn't get invested. The writing was alright, but it didn't really leave me wanting more.

I don't know if it's just me, but this book felt longer than it actually is. I mean there's only 336 pages, but it felt way longer than that.

To be honest it does what it says on t he tin. It's got it's cute moments and the fake dating trope does what it's supposed to do. For me it was a bit longer than it needed to be. I didn't really connected with the characters and nothing really jumped out at me as memorable. But if you happen to be in the mood for this trope then this will give you what you want.

I tried so hard to like this book, but just never quite got into it from the start. I read the first couple of chapters multiple times and ended up DNFing. I typically love a fake-dating trope, but I couldn’t connect with the writing.

Fake dating is definitely in my top 5 tropes, so I had high hopes for this one. However, it took a me a while to really get invested in the characters and the story, and the ending left me kind of "meh."

I thought the idea was wonderful and funny, but this story just kind of blends in with all of the other ordinary fake dating, parent-stalling romances that are out there. It was fairly entertaining and Harry had my LOLing a few times!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this!

I love a fake dating trope (who doesn't?!) and this book delivered, but with a slight twist due to the family pressures of marriage. The dual POV did lead to some slight confusion, but overall this was an enjoyable read with well-developed characters, especially Jiya as being the strong, lead female main character.