5 stars!

This is such a gorgeous read! A funny, romantic, utterly charming opposites attract story with two absolutely fantastic characters in a fake romance. I laughed and swooned, and I felt so much for these two, and I absolutely loved their story.

Star Shine Meadows is the daughter of hippies (no real surprise there). She is a free spirit, kind, honest and open, an optimist who sees the best in everyone and everything, and she lives her life on her own terms. She knows she is seen as flighty and a bit of a hippie, but she is fiercely intelligent. She speaks from the heart, she does what makes her happy, and makes no apologies for any of it. She’s an absolute delight, and I love her!

“Just because my life doesn’t fit into your idea of what a life should be doesn’t mean it’s bad.”

Star meets Rafe while she’s entertaining as a Disney princess at his niece’s birthday. He’s a grumpy a-hole who clearly thinks very little of her career choice, so when she is working at her second job as a line sitter (being paid to wait in line for a client), she calls him out and gleefully embarrasses him.

Rafe is intrigued by bright and bubbly Star. He is an uptight veterinarian, from a wealthy family who incessantly pester him about his single status and are constantly setting him up with single socialites. He’s desperate for anything to keep them off his back, so he hires Star to pretend to be his girlfriend for six months to give him a break.

It’s fantastically entertaining watching Star enter Rafe’s world. She is a breath of fresh air in the midst of the wealthy, stuck-up elite. She doesn’t hide who she is and she is proudly outspoken, yet she’s an absolute sweetheart and is always polite, and Rafe loves every moment of it! The book is written entirely in Star’s POV, so we’re never too sure of what Rafe is thinking, but there are meaningful looks and hints dropped that had my heart bursting with anticipation of what was to come!

“I’m glad this is working out how you hoped.”
He met my gaze. “Oh, it’s definitely working out better than I’d hoped.”
I stared at him. What did that mean?

While it’s a little awkward to begin with, Rafe and Star soon find their groove, and they’re so good together. You can feel the attraction between them, and I was cheering as all of that chemistry between them comes to its inevitable climax.

"He closed the distance between us, cupping my face gently in his hands. “I don’t want to fake this anymore when for me…this is very real, Star.”

But while Star is ready to dive on in to explore all of that mad lust, it’s Rafe who actually wants more. He’s truly falling in love for the very first time, and I loved seeing him fall so hard.

“If it were just a blinding attraction, I’d fuck you right here in this elevator.”
And now my nipples were hard.
“But it isn’t. I have real feelings for you. So I can’t do the casual thing. I’d just be asking to get hurt.”

This is such a gorgeous story – not only a sweet, heartfelt (and seriously sexy) romance, but as we watch Star trying to fit into Rafe’s life, we follow her journey as she navigates a whole new world and figures out her place. While I’m a romance girl through and through, I loved Star’s personal journey just as much as I did the romance. I admired her, and I felt so much for her as she struggles between maintaining her individuality with falling in love for the first time and trying to fit in somebody else’s life. Her search for happiness is so beautiful to watch, and though they do struggle a little bit finding their way, Rafe is there and supporting her through it all, and I loved watching these two find their happy ending.

I could not help but fall madly in love with Rafe and Star, and this book has so many beautiful messages. For so many reasons, I loved it so much – 5 stars.

Shine Meadows just floats through life. She is a professional costume character actor and sitter. While at a party, she meets a grumpy birthday girl's uncle, and even though he's hot, she decides to mess with him.

Rafe Whitman is a veterinarian, and he's excellent at what he does. However, he's not really a people person. His family bothers him often about settling down and getting married. After meeting Star, he offers to pay her to be his fake girlfriend at family gatherings.

This was a cute fake dating, grumpy sunshine story.

This was such an adorable fake dating, grumpy sunshine, found family, he falls first story that also gave the characters so much self- discovery. I thought it played out well and had a great story line that kept you sucked in the entire time and wanting more. I was sad to say goodbye to these characters and close the book because I felt so involved in it! Definitely recommend this if you enjoy these tropes!

Love it!!

Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

The Love Plot was cute! Star was an absolute delight and Rafe was adorably grumpy and their chemistry was so good. I enjoyed the opposites attract, fake dating tropes. There were some resolutions that seemed too easy towards the end but overall, this was a solid read.

This is such a great romance! The grumpy/sunshine trope done so incredibly well. I loved how opposite the characters were, yet their relationship was believable and so sweet. I would recommend this to any romance reader. It had everything you want in a romance novel!

This is a solid contemporary romance for Disney Adults and fans of grumpy+sunshine pairings.

Rafe was a tall, dark and stern veterinarian so of course I enjoyed his character and journey immensely. Star...was annoying, her inner dialogue and narrative passages outright cringe, and of course the book is her POV so that dampened my enthusiasm significantly. I did appreciate that she was a gig worker, and some of the existential analysis that comes with "am I adulting right" career doubts, though.

There's actually some polyam rep that surprised me, three of Star's friends in an established relationship. While it felt like it was just kind of put in there to diversify a white het romance, it was nice to see it casually treated, I guess.

The spice was great, and the grumpy+sunshine trope was pretty well done. If you don't mind the sunshine side of the trope being dialed up to eleven, you'll enjoy this.

This was overall a cute read. The developing romance between the two main characters had the warm and fuzzy moments we all crave in a romantic comedy, however I think I expected more sparkle in the last half of the book. I did feel like the plot flattened out a bit after a fast paced story and lots of spice and while I flew through the first half of the book, the pace shift made it a little challenging to finish the second half. However, I did enjoy Rafe’s character development and the opposites attract theme.

I always love rom coms, especially by Samantha Young’s, they are always so fun and this one really had great chemistry between the two characters who couldn’t be more different.

This was a cute grumpy x sunshine, fake dating romance in NYC. I enjoyed Star who had a hippie Disney princess personality who is content with her life. I love animals in stories so Rafe being a veterinarian helped to pull me in, even if he is a socially quiet guy who just wants to be left alone by his SIL and mother.

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of The Love Plot!

I really enjoyed this book. Once I was invested in the story, I could not put it down. I liked that this was a romance (definitely an open door romance with some good steam), there were a lot of other elements at play in the plot...specifically, the side effects of people pleasing. The main character, Star, is wonderful as she is! Albeit, a bit immature IMO on her long-term goals, but she's getting there. She's living a life with one goal - to be happy, and she's okay with how she's getting there! Enter Rafe, a fake dating trope, and one heck of an irritating family. Rafe was the grump to her sunshine, and their balance was perfect. There were some elements of insta-love, but let's be real...I can't say no to a hot vet, and this story gave me a hot vet in spades (hello, spin-off book about the other vet? Owen?).

I liked that this story showed it was okay to not know who you want to be when you grow up. Kids are so often pushed down a path too early to understand the repercussions, and Star's character showed it was a journey, not a destination. I also love how supportive Rafe was of her, and how he truly wanted someone to balance him out...not another carbon copy of his family. Rafe showed Star he was there for her in every situation, and when she pushed him away, he gave her space but he always came back for her. I loved him! (And Star).

I did get really irritated with Rafe's family, especially his brother and sister in law. I felt like his brother's bad actions were explained away with the age old "he's a man and he's having a bad time at work, so he's lashing out" trope, which I hate. And, his sister in law Pippa was quite possibly the worst human being in the world. And Star's parents? Grade A jerks, even though Arlo got a little redemption. I grew very frustrated very quickly with them and their treatment of both Rafe and Star. I also was frustrated with the writing at times because it seemed stilted.

That being said, I ultimately enjoyed this book a lot! I rated it four stars, but it was probably more like a 3.5 star romance (but I don't do half stars)...so four it is!

Rating: 4⭐️

In the Love Plot, a quirky character actor fake dates a grumpy vet. While I enjoyed the differences between the two main characters, once they admitted their feelings, the story got a bit boring and predictable.

Samantha Young does the grumpy/sunshine trope so well! I am always left satisfied reading one of her books and I thought this one although a tad short was really fun and sexy.

Rafe and Star are opposites, she’s a bohemian free spirit and he’s a reserved vet looking for his family to butt out of his business. An opportunity arises for Rafe to use Stars services as a birthday party actress to get his mother and sister in law off his back by hiring star to be a stand in girlfriend.

Fake dating is always fun to watch play out and I adored the juxtaposition of these two characters and their families and I thought they complemented and brought out the best in one another.

A solid romance, definitely will be recommending.

The Love Plot was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. At the beginning, I found Star to be annoying and unrelatable. But once I got to know her, I just wanted to wrap her up in a hug! My favorite aspect of The Love Plot was the tension between Rafe and Star. I liked that there was a little bit of a slow burn between the two characters. Once they finally got together, I started to lose interest in the story ☹ I wasn’t a big fan of how the last 20% of the story played out for Star. Overall, this was a fun and quick read. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the arc.

This book was simply ahhmazing. I loved it so much I couldn’t stop reading it. Not only was the romance entertaining and fun, but the heroine, Star, definitely became my bestest fictional friend in the entire world.

The Love Plot starts with Star meeting Rafe at his niece’s birthday party where she’s dressed up as Merida. The two get off on the wrong foot but the two end up meeting again later and they eventually decide to fake-date. Rafe needs his family to get off his back and Star needs the money Rafe is paying her to go on a road trip.

This book is chocked full of all the romance tropes readers enjoy including grumpy x sunshine, class difference, a quirky heroine, and a stern veterinarian as the love interest. Star and Rafe are the unlikeliest of couples yet the author did an amazing job of convincing me that these two belonged together.

My only real complaint about The Love Plot was that it just felt a bit over-the-top especially when it came to Star. Her parents were the absolute worst and I feel like this girl could not catch a break. Coupled with what happened with the dog toward the end of the book, I was just ready to slap some sense into Star but that’s sometimes how real life works.

As for all my dog lovers out there, you’ll enjoy The Love Plot because there are so many great doggie moments in here. We see Rafe at work as a veterinarian including him bringing dogs home with him to monitor them. It’s just so stinking cute and then there’s also the major climax of the story which features an unfortunate incident with a dog but it’s just so undeniably cute.

On the whole, The Love Plot was incredibly adorable and while it wasn’t as dog-heavy as I mentioned, I do think it’s a great one if you’re a dog lover. It’s also a nice one if you’re just looking for a sweet and fun contemporary romance.

I don't think there is another troupe I love as much as the 'grumpy/sunshine' troupe, and add in fake dating and I was sold on reading The Love Plot. This story was so much fun, but it also had it's emotional moments and frustrating moments. Overall, I enjoyed it so much. And that's mainly because of how much I loved both Star and Rafe.

When Star and Rafe first meet, it's clear that they are complete opposites. And we all know that opposites attract... Rafe is a veterinarian who comes from a wealthy family. He decided to go his own way and not follow the family business. Star is a professional line sitter and also a character actor for parties etc. In fact, she's playing a Disney princess at Rafe's niece's birthday party the first time they meet. Star may not know what she wants to do for a future career, but the most important thing to her is that she's happy and she genuinely is. Being just herself.
"...My ambition is to live a life that makes me truly happy. And I reckon that's probably the most ambitious anyone can be in this world."
Rafe needs his meddling family off his back and decides fake dating Star would be the key to do that. He never dreams he would fall for someone so different for him, but that's exactly what he does. Even though there were some things on Star's part that made her hesitant to commit and truly give in to Rafe, he was patient with her. I loved that Rafe loved her for her and never tried to dull her sparkle.

The Love Plot is a fantastic romantic comedy and one I highly recommend. I love Samantha Young's writing and this was such a win for me!

Oddly I feel sort of conflicted about this book but I enjoyed it which is why even though this is a more a 3.5 I'm giving it a 4.

I LOVED like 70% of the book but the last 30% sort of fell off for me. Rafe and Star were adorable and actually had me cackling during so many of their interactions. Star is just iconic; I love her optimistic attitude, loving nature, and ability to put Rafe (and most people) in their place when needed. I also loved Rafe's transformation/growth, especially in how he treated Star. And yet for some reason, the latter half just didn't give what the first 2/3 gave.

I love a fake dating trope, especially with grumpy sunshine, and add a rich MMC paired with strong FMC and you've sold me. I think Star's past, lifestyle, and overall outlook on life was genuinely so interesting and different from other books with these tropes; I loved it and her. Her friends were awesome, I love seeing polyamory representation! And Rafe, while grumpy and a bit of an ass, definitely had good morals at least despite the socialites in his circle, He could admit when he was wrong, felt remorse, and clearly had a big enough heart to love and work with animals (we love a Vet).

Both Star and Rafe grow and change (for the better) as characters throughout this book which really made it feel like we went through something with these two and the large supporting cast around them. Rafe becomes more affection, loving, romantic, and Star finally heals from her past, embraces commitment, and even tries to look for a life passion.

Overall, even though the first half held up way better than the second causing it to feel a little lackluster, I did have a really good time reading!

Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, fake relationship, romcom

I love Samantha Young's books and her newest romcom is no exception! Grumpy meets sunshine and a fake romance is a perfect combination and I could not have asked for more!

Star is so much fun and Rafe is just the opposite in every way possible. I really enjoyed watching him change because of Star.

The saying opposites attract is the perfect saying to describe Star and Rafes relationship. I enjoyed their relationship from start to finish!

The Love Plot utilizes my favorite trope (fake relationship) between an uptight NYC society veterinarian and a free-spirited child of hippies names Star Shine.

What works is the hero falling blindly in love with someone completely "wrong" for him. What didn't work for me is Star being so deeply insecure. It's just a personal pet peeve of mine when reading fiction.

This book was so fun! I love Samantha Young's books - this was everything I wanted and more. I could not put it down!