I love fake dating and this book goes one step further by having a fake engagement! Alex has a rivalry with his cousin for the CEO position of his grandma’s company. When Evie is tasked with delivering some papers directly to her boss, Alex, he mistakes her as his replacement secretary, rather than as an intern. Evie then has to sit in on a meeting between Alex, his grandma, and his cousin, all whilst trying to remain professional and panicking about the possibility of losing her job. Instead, Alex’s grandma sees the chemistry between him and Evie and thinks they are a couple, which ultimately leads to Alex asking Evie to be his fake fiancee.

Forcing these two to spend time together shows their undeniable chemistry as they get closer and have to act as a couple at family events. As the book progresses, the feelings become more real and Evie has to consider whether it’s worth upending the life she has built for her and her sister for the chance of love with a man who might not love her back. This was a fun, quick read with some of my favourite tropes!

Crash is the second part in the Pretenders series of Tamara Lush. Having read Drive last year, I was wondering whether this one would be about one of the other car drivers from Drive. But no, we actually move away from the track and into the siblings of Savannah: her brother Alex to be exact.

Alex is a bit of an arrogant type. Used to wealth and being in control and having woman throwing themselves at his feet. Fortunately, he has his foul mouthed grandmother (who is hilarious) to keep him grounded. She is, however, bugging Alex to get a stable family life. To appease her, Alex need a (fake) girlfriend.

Enter Evie, the feisty intern that Alex mistakenly thought to be his temporarily assistant. He offers her the role for a big amount of money. Ever since Evie’s parents died in a car crash, she has been struggling to keep her and her younger sister afloat. Barely old enough to take care of herself, she also tries to save money to get her sister’s education paid. So Alex’ offer, although insane, would provide for a big part of Evie’s money problems. So, she agrees, although she loathes Alex for throwing money at every problem he faces.

But now, Alex and Evie must find some common ground, to -at least in public- look like they are in love. It is fun to see the spoiled rich boy and stiff poor girl take diggs at each other. And, of course, when both learn to look beneath the exterior, they find that they actually have a lot in common. A slow burn, with wonderful characters. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I had a lot of run reading Crash by Tamara Lush! It is the perfect romcom for anyone wanting characters with real substance and relatable backstories.

Evie is a young, recent college grad who is struggling to make ends meet through her low paying internship. Things are especially difficult because she has found herself in a role of single mom to her teenage sister after their parents tragically died in a car accident. With her sister's graduation on the horizon and big expenses like college and science camp tuition, not to mention her internship coming to an end in just a few weeks, it is easy to understand why Evie is feeling a little extra stressed. So stressed that it's not surprising that she forgot to deliver an important document to one of the most important people in the company, and that when she does deliver it and gets mistaken for another secretary she doesn't clue in to his mistake until she's spilling coffee on him! She's pretty sure she's about to get fired, but actually, her boss Alex has something different in mind... a proposal of sorts... and the potential to solve all of Evie's financial worries. Too good to be true? Maybe. You'll have to read it to find out!

I loved that this book covered so much more than a simple fake relationship trope story, but dove into so many other themes. Evie has a fear of elevators after her parent's accident, she has financial worries beyond the usual college graduate debt, responsibilities for raising a traumatized teenager, career ambitions that feel out of her league, she's realistically inexperienced in the bedroom (um, she's been a little busy adulting...), and balancing multiple low paying jobs despite having a college degree because in 2023 that diploma is worth little more than graduating high school but significantly more expensive. Alex comes from a privileged background, but the story also unveils his own insecurities, challenges and ambitions, making him an easy character to root for despite how different he and Evie are.

This book is technically the second in a series, but for the most part it was easy to read as a standalone. From what I gathered, the first book is also about a fake relationship between Alex's sister and her now husband. It kind of bothered me that his sister's name was Savannah and they live in Georgia, but that may have been explained in the first novel, and is definitely not that big of a deal lol!

I would absolutely recommend Crash and I'm excited to share that it comes out this week! So go preorder your copy now so you have it on the 24th, you'll definitely want to get reading right away. Meanwhile I am going to go track down my own copy of the first book, Drive so I can find out what happened to Savannah's fake relationship that led to getting married and having kids.

Thanks to Rachel Wu at WattPad Books, and Netgalley, for giving me the chance to read and review this awesome novel!

The writing style was really good with the book! It felt pretty easy going!
If you're a fan of the fake dating trope you'll enjoy this book! It's a quick read but I kept waiting for something to make this stick out and wow me. It needed just a lil something to set evie and Alex apart from other fake dating trope books

Something about the writing was a bit off, maybe along the lines of trying to sound hip but didn't land. With that aside it's a fake engagement and hits all the beats. Alex needs to impress his grandmother and marriage is the answer. Evie is struggling intern and this arrangement helps.

I had a tough time getting into this one. The writing wasn’t great and the plot didn’t really capture my attention.

"I want you to be happy. And it sounds like he made you happy."

WE ALL LOVE A FAKE DATING TROPE. Alex Jenkins is everybody's favourite trust fund baby. He works for his family's corporation, and is trying to be the next person to take over after his grandmother. But, trying to get his grandmother to believe in him is a challenge, especially when he's got the playboy image going on. Evie Cooper's been trying to make ends meet to put her sister in college, and to pay her own student debts. After losing her parents at a young age, Evie's taken full responsibility of her younger sister. Meaning, she doesn't really have the life of a typical girl in her 20's. She works as an intern for the Jenkins' corporation, and when she's about to resign, she gets a proposal from Alex: to be his fake fiancé so he can convince his grandmother that he is the ideal person to run the corporation after she retires. With the amount of money Alex offers, Evie cannot resist the proposal. She is in financial need, after all. But, Evie promises herself not to fall for this businessman, because she knows it will end in heartbreak. They aren't in the same social circle. But what happens when those hand touches and lingering looks end up lasting longer than necessary? What happens when Evie and Alex have moments even when the family isn't looking? Are these real feelings, or are they still pretending...? Meanwhile, the Jenkins family have words of their own to say. They're pretty awful, especially when they call Evie an escort to Alex, just because she doesn't come from a high class family. They all need a punch in the face. The only person that was proper in the family was Alex's grandmother, because she treated Evie like a HUMAN BEING. This book will make you rip your hair out, but at the same time, Alex and Evie's romance story is to DIE FOR. GO READ THIS BOOK. ALSO, WE LOVE WATTPAD.

This one was not for me. I'm very fussy when it comes to romance books and they either tend to be a huge miss or hit. For me, this one was a miss. I think others will enjoy it though, so do check out other reviews for it.

Thank you Wattpad books for allowing me to access an advanced copy of this title!

Ok, I realized a little too late that this was a book set-up in an existing universe. Although it’s a perfectly good standalone, I did end up buying the first book and reading it before proceeding. I have to say... this is a way better book! The characters are much more fleshed out, including better supporting characters that help move the narrative along and develop the main characters’ backgrounds and conflict arcs. It also helps that one of the main characters isn’t a total self-centered arrogant man, but maybe that’s just me... Alex also won me with his classic sci-fi collection. I was sold, and kinda super jealous. Signed Asimovs? Only in my wildest dreams will I ever own one.

I really liked where this book took the main characters. Mainly, in pushing them both out of their comfort zones when they were together which allowed them to challenge their views of themselves and their perceptions of the other person. The conflict build up could have included more tension, and I think the twist is given out too early and resolved to quickly so that we can’t really get an idea of how much that really impacted the main character’s and their families.

If you are looking for a book with good feels and that just breezes by, but also allows you to take a look at two main characters that had to cary a lot of weight on their shoulders and love their families unconditionally, this book is for you!

PS.: My favorite has to be Evie’s sister. She’s delightful and I wish we heard more about her adventures at camp.

I loved this one so much! Shouting from the rooftops! As per usual, I didn't do my due diligence and noticed that there was a first book before this one, so I obviously went back to buy it and I'll read this series backwards but I couldn’t wait to share how much I loved this! I love Evie and I love the relationship that she and Alex had. Even though Alex is a powerful man at work, he really leaned on Evie to help him grow as a person and fight off all his insecurities. I love that Evie actually let Alex help her at times (things we don’t normally see) but she did it in a way that still served her and made her a strong lead. It was a true partnership and I am excited that I can now read the first one to keep this series going!

oh my god i loved this book so much!!! evie and alex’s story was so freaking cute to read and i loved seeing them fall for each other! they were both such amazing characters and the sparks between them throughout the whole book always kept me wanting more. one of my favorite fake engagement books i’ve ever read!!

Crash is a romcom about Evie and Alex. Evie is just trying the best she can to survive each day. She has a low paying internship, she works a second job as a hostess, she's trying to raise her sister after their parents tragically died in a car accident, she's swimming in student loans and expenses, and is just trying to breathe at the end of the day since she's barely making ends meet. Alex is the director of the company that Evie is interning at and in line to become the next CEO as his family owns the company.

After a mix up in which Alex believes Evie to be his temporary assistant for the day as his current assistant is taking some time off, things start to happen. Evie gets sucked into Alex's world to try helping him become the next CEO. Alex's grandmother won't name him the next CEO though because she believes he needs to settle down and become a family-man. Well, Alex's grandmother happened to really like Evie during the whole mix up, so cue the fake engagement.

I read this book predominately in one day. It was fast-paced and thing after thing happened, making it difficult to put down. This book did have minimal spice, maybe 2-3 scenes, so interpret that as you will. For those looking for a really spicy book, this is not the book for you. For those looking for fake dating/fake engagement, roll up your sleeves and dive on in, the water is fine here.

This book does explore the social class difference between Evie and Alex. Alex's family does give off Crazy Rich Asian vibes, though his family are not POC/Asian. His family is quite privileged, they do belittle Evie for not being a debutante/from a well-off family, and kind of messy.
This book is a stand-alone and it did have an HEA. However, it apparently is part of a series, and it now makes me want to go back and read the first book to learn more about Alex's sister Savannah and her relationship with Dante. I had no difficulties understand what was happening in this book without having read the first book, it's just now my curiosity has set in and I want to know more. Great job Tamara Lush for sucking me in and making me want to read more from this series.

I received this book as a free ARC on NetGalley for an honest opinion. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Tamara Lush for providing me with this opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed reading this. This is my first Tamara Lush novel and it won’t be my last; I really enjoyed the conversational tone of her writing and found it very engaging. It’s light and fun and suited the story perfectly.

Fun, dual POV / fake dating, with the steam factor. Evie is a relatable heroine, Alex is not relatable for obvious reasons ;-)
I finished this one in one sitting and definitely enjoyed the writing style. Would definitely pick up more by this author

I had not expected that this book would be the second one in the series, but worry not - it's not a problem at all
to follow what is going on in "Crash".
Evie is a girl that works as an intern in Alex's company - soon this will come to an end, but on one of her last
days she's sent to deliver something to the CEO. And there she's mistaken for his replacement assistant - and
there will be some funny moments in it. After that, she was offered by him a proposition to fake a relationship
with him - but is it something that can be beneficial for both of them?
I liked how their relationship was shown in the book and developed slowly. Still, Alex was taking care of Evie
from the very beginning of it and I found it really sweet.

Also, the title is really insensitive. The heroine's parents died in a fiery car wreck. I really don't see why it
was named Crash in the first place. For me this book was like a raw gem that had a lot of beauty to it, but it really needed to be polished. There is a lot of potential, but sadly it missed the mark. I enjoyed the book but it was missing that spark that makes it special. For me it wasn't the kind of book I'd read again but I don't regret reading it.

I finished this in one sitting! I could NOT put it down which is a true testament to Lush’s characters. I will definitely be reading more books by this author. Not my favorite tropes, but her writing is so flawless, it didn’t matter!!!

I enjoyed this book and quite liked all of the characters. It was an enjoyable enough read but I just wish more happened. It was predictable in places and sometimes felt a little slow.

When an intern walks into Alex's office when he expected a secretary, the light gets off to a bad start. Through a comedy of errors, Evie ends up playing secretary and witnessing some of the wild family dynamics that hold up the family-run business.
Alex persuades Evie to pretend to be his fiance next and all craziness breaks loose.

The trope in general is usually so disingenuous to me but the characters were so well written and how they worked together with mutual respect and admiration worked in this book far beyond what it usually does. By the end, I couldn't put the book down.

#arc
#netgalley
#crash

I enjoyed this book! it was an amazingly quick read and once I sat down to read it, I couldn't put it down!! I look forward to any books Tamara Lush may write in the future.

Crash was a quick & easy read that I enjoyed, but overall it was just okay for me. If you enjoy
Billionaire romance
Dual POV
Fake dating
Spicy scenes
You might enjoy this book!