I love everything Bellefleur writes! This is a kicking your feet, blushing happy sapphic read that’s loveable from start to finish!

This is my first Alexandria Bellefleur read and it won’t be my last.

I absolutely loved this book! I devoured it and couldn’t wait till my work day was over just so I could read it.

Tansy doesn’t want to give up her family’s bookstore after she inherited it due to her father’s passing. However, she has to find a way (aka money) to pay her stepmom off in order to keep it. She absolutely loves the bookstore and it means the world to her.

Gemma needs a wife… ASAP. She needs one according to her grandfather’s will in order to inherit her family’s publishing company. However, Gemma doesn’t do relationships and Tansy’s luck in the love department is not happening.

Well, in quite the twist of fate, Gemma happened to be in Tansy’s orbit and they both got what they wanted. A fake wife and some money to save the store. Along the way, as expected, they give in to their mutual attraction and it takes off (oh, it’s not all smooth sailing though)

Tansy and Gemma were just magnificent. I loved Tansy’s sweet girl next door vibe but she wasn’t aloof. She knew her worth. Gemma… oh wow. Gemma had me grinning way too much. There was one scene where Tansy answered the door in her vintage negligée and Gemma noticed right away. Whew! Talk about hot…

Thank you @hcc & @harpercollinscanada for the eARC!

When bookseller Tansy’s family pressures her to find love, she invents a fake girlfriend inspired by the cover model on a bestselling romance novel. But the real Gemma, cover model and heiress, contractually needs to get married to inherit her family’s publishing company. When she finds out a hot bookseller has already laid the groundwork for their false relationship, they both have a reason to turn that fake dating into an engagement.

I am a sucker for a ridiculously complicated setup for a fake dating/marriage of convenience trope, and this one delivers right in the first chapter! Alexandria Bellefleur knows how to win me over with the perfect blend of humor, steam, and emotion. I love the hell out of Tansy and Gemma. It's an especially great romance for book lovers with the bookstore and publishing company plots. Maybe my favorite Bellefleur yet!

The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur is a five star read! A marriage of convince plot with the funniest, heartfelt and deliciously wicked duo. From the get go we are thrown into a situation that Tansy needs to work socially. I love Tansy, she is dedicated to her family bookstore, always working on having a relationship with her step-family and loves vintage clothing! Attending a wedding she's panicked when her girlfriend (that she made up...) walks into the room. Gemma is on the hunt for a wife to fulfill the request in her grandfather's will.

I loved the juxtaposition of Tansy and Gemma. Their personalities work so well together. The writing in this novel is perfection. Backstories are revealed just when they need to. We become friends with Tansy and Gemma as they become friends. We fall in love with them as things heat up for them.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley, #Avon and #HarperVoyager for the eARC. Opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

First of all, this title is a banger, and I think that this was a book we needed in the early 00s at the peak of cheesy hallmark romances. Even if I wasn't as blown away by the rest of the book, I thought the stakes of this fake dating book made sense... kind of?

Is it predictable? Yes.
Do I care about the characters? Not particularly.
Did the third act reconciliation still make me tear up? Yes.

Read if you think that we need more queer romances or if love fake dating tropes, outlandish gestures in books, and small-town media companies taking on goliath megacorporations.

This was such a fun read! Tansy and Gemma are both incredibly lovable characters in different ways. In particular, I love how the fake engagement immediately unfurls and how quickly they fall in love. Is it realistic? No, but nothing about a fake engagement premise is realistic. That's exactly why I love this genre of romance, as you get the pure, unadulterated joy of watching two characters fall in love, quarrel in the third act, and finally live happily ever after. This trope does not disappoint in this regard, but I think what stands out is how cute Gemma and Tansy's chemistry is. At first glance, they seem like an odd couple since Tansy is shy and less experienced and Gemma is a confident, extroverted model, businesswoman/heiress.

If you enjoy flirty banter and immediate sexual tension and a good takedown of pompeous misogynists ending with true love, happy ending, then this is the book for you.

Absolutely loved this. Alexandria Bellefleur is an amazing writer and I voraciously consume all her content!
This is such a magic piece and I love the way she writes Sapphic romances.

Highly highly recommend!!

This review is being held until the HarperCollins Union gets a contract! Publishing professionals deserve a living wage, and as a reader who loves the books HarperCollins publishes, I stand with the workers who produce those books.

ETA: This was actually a DNF for me, but maybe I'll like her next one better!

Genre: Sapphic Romance
TW: Please Check
Spice: Open Door
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️[4/5]
Review written by: M
*Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager Avon for providing an e-book ARC in exchange for an honest review*
Format: E-book & Audiobook

The moment I saw a marriage of convenience book from Alexandria Bellefleur I knew I had to read it. This merging of one of my favorite tropes and authors was just something I could not pass up, and yes, she did it again. She gave us a witty romance that had the reader swooning and rooting for the MC’s. A romance novel that was easy to read, easy to fall in love with and had you daydreaming about one day meeting your own Gemma or Tansy.

One thing that I love about this book is that the third act conflict never felt over the top. The motivations for the issues feel realistic and not just created out of thin air. Her books are ones where the third act breakup doesn’t have me wanting to fling my book across the room. I also appreciated that the two MC’s had great communication skills. There wasn’t that irritating miscommunication trope throughout. They acted and spoke to each other like adults and were constantly honest and open with each other about how they felt. This made the book feel even more realistic in my opinion. Which brings me to my only complaint in this book. Because the communication and actions of the MC’s throughout the book was so realistic, the way the “relationship” began felt a bit too far-fetched for me in contrast to the realism of the rest of the book.

I love Alexandria’s steamy scenes, but this book, although enjoyable, was nowhere near as steamy as her other books. I wish she would have brought a bit of that steam from CYLS to this book. I loved this book and although “Count Your Lucky Stars” is still my #1 book of hers, but this came close to rivaling it.

If you are looking for a cute sapphic romance, without miscommunication, easy, witty, and steamy, then look no further!

A sweet f/f romance. A typical fake relationship that ends in a romance. But in the end it was sweet and well done, although a common troupe it was interesting and well written.

This was such a beautiful and romantic book!! I loved the two main characters, and this had a great mix of tropes. 4.5 rounded up!!

Whatever Alexandria Bellefleur writes, I will buy and read, every time. This book is no exception. A steamy will-they-or-won't-they between a nerdy bookstore owner and a stunning playgirl with nothing in common, this story has it all. You will not be disappointed in this queer love story by one of the best contemporary romance authors.

Thank you Harper Collins Canada for a Netgalley copy of The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur, a sapphic romance out now!

I loved these two. So much so that as the third act drama drew near I did not want to finish it because they seemed so happy!
This is a fake dating, marriage of convenience, sapphic love fest and if you are looking for witty banter and some pretty Insta love between two women with self doubts and a kind nature, this is it. One of my favourite romances of the year so far. I’ll talk forever about this one!

This was an ok book. I liked the premise, but I just didn't really feel it between the characters. I liked the beginning, but I wasn't really a fan of the ending. Overall, it was just ok.

I enjoyed this book but just didn’t end up loving it, unfortunately. Surprisingly, I ended up liking the final third the most, which rarely happens in a romance for me! But it also shows that I had a hard time getting into the book overall, as normally the initial meeting and the exciting build-up is my favorite part of the book. It just took me a long time to see any sort of spark between the two main characters, and I just wasn’t entirely convinced by the whole premise/background either, until near the end.

It’s tough to review because while I did generally have fun with the book, it just wasn’t my favorite. I think the main issue for me was just missing the spark between the two main characters throughout most of the book. It felt like things moved too fast for them, switching quickly from fake dating/marriage to actually being into each other. And while I did how they handled it together, and how open and communicative they were about their boundaries and feelings, I just needed to see a bit more build-up first!

I also feel like there was just so much going on sometimes that it was easy for the romance itself to get lost. It was especially true because of how many side characters there were, and it felt like we really only spent time on the problematic ones. It just felt like a bit too much drama and shitty people at times, and while I’m glad we got to see them finally lose, I also would’ve liked seeing more of the better side characters, or just more of the romance.

Overall, this romance was fun but not entirely for me, but I can definitely see it working for others!

Review will go live on my blog on July 14th

I fell in love with Alexandria Bellefleur and her writing when I first read her novel Written in the Stars (review) back in 2020. I jumped at the chance to read her latest novel, The Fiancée Farce, and I think it might be my new favourite of hers (or at the very least tied with Hang the Moon! (review)). I loved everything about it!

Here’s the book’s description:
Tansy Adams’ greatest love is her family’s bookstore, passed down from her late father. But when it comes to actual romance… Tansy can’t get past the first chapter. Tired of her stepfamily’s questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a bestselling book. They’ll never actually meet, so what’s the harm in a little fib? Yet when real-life Gemma crosses Tansy’s path, her white lie nearly implodes.
Gemma van Dalen is a wild child, the outcast of her wealthy family, and now the latest heir to Van Dalen Publishing. But the title comes with one tiny condition: she must be married in order to inherit. When Gemma discovers a beautiful stranger has been pretending to date her for months, she decides to take the charade one step further—and announces their engagement.
Gemma needs a wife to meet the terms of her grandfather’s will and Tansy needs money to save her struggling bookstore. A marriage could be mutually beneficial, if they can fool everyone into thinking it’s a love match. Unexpected sparks fly as Tansy and Gemma play the role of affectionate fiancées, and suddenly the line between convenient arrangement and real feelings begins to blur. But the scheming Van Dalen family won’t give up the company without a fight, and Gemma and Tansy’s newfound happiness might get caught in the fallout…
Fake dating (or fake engagement) tropes are, well, kind of ridiculous. How anyone ever expects them to work is beyond me but, damn, if I don’t love reading them. Stakes are high (would you agree to fake date someone if they weren’t?) and the tension is delicious. When will they realize they’re actually into each other? Will they have to come clean about it being a fake arrangement? Oh, the suspense!

Tansy and Gemma were absolute delights to read about. Each woman has their own chapters and I really enjoyed having a dual POV. Bellefleur’s done dual POV in all the other books of hers I’ve read and it really adds something special to the story because she does it so well. Both women are far more nuanced than you’d first expect and I love how the reader learns more and more about them as the story unfolds.



I had all the feelings while reading this one. There were swoony moments and there were steamy moments all balanced in an absolutely magical way. It wasn’t just the romance-y or lust-y feelings that came through the pages either. Neither woman has an ideal family life - found family is big in this book - and there were a few heartbreaking moments in this story as well. Knowing Tansy and Gemma had each other to lean on was so important - and so wonderful.

Plus, how great is it when one of the main characters runs a bookstore? I love bookish touches like that in novels and I know I’m not the only one. And the additional nod to romances with Gemma’s past as a romance novel cover model was too much fun. It made for a GREAT meet cute!

It’s always really hard to review a book I adored and The Fiancée Farce is no different. I loved Alexandria Bellefleur’s latest novel and I think all romance readers need to pick this one up. It’s funny, smart, sexy, and so well written. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book from Bellefleur!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Avon, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

This was fine, but it didn't have any gravity. I didn't really feel like Tansy and Gemma had chemistry, and for this story to work, you need to feel them absolutely pining after each other. There's so much drama with all of the other characters that Gemma and Tansy kind of get lost

Tansy Adams' is tired of her family asking about her love life, so she invents a fake girlfriend, only to have the person she named show up at a family event. Thankfully Gemma goes along with the ruse, but then one-ups Tansy to say they're engaged. You see, Gemma has to get married in order to claim her inheritance from her grandfather, and she sees the situation with Tansy as the perfect opportunity to help them both.

Tansy agrees to go along with the engagement in return for six million dollars to buy out her family bookstore that her stepmother wants to sell. It's supposed to be a marriage of convenience, nothing more, but the two catch real feelings almost immediately.

I really enjoyed previous books in this series, but I found it harder to love this book. The characters were great, but I just didn't love the near-insta-love premise and found myself a little bored by the story. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't my favorite from this author either. I did enjoy the Seattle setting, and was picturing Elliot Bay Books whenever Tansy talked about her family bookstore.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order next year and will recommend it to students.

Alexandria Bellefleur is at her absolute best with The Fiancee Farce. Tansy and Gemma are an absolute riot, and the romance is brilliant and steamy in all the right ways. Another win for the sapphics!