3.5⭐️

This was a fun read with some of my favourite tropes, but I did have a few problems with it. I thought that the relationship between Star and Rafe was really believable, they truly did feel made for each other by the end of the book. My only issue was that I found Star’s quirkiness was very forced and it drove me a little bit mental at times which made me enjoy the book a lot less.

Read if you like:
🩵 Fake dating
🩵 Miscommunication trope
🩵 Grumpy x Sunshine
🩵 One bed trope
🩵 Spice

(Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the EARC)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮-𝙜𝙤-𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙜 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝, 𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙮.

📍 Read if you like:
• Fake Dating
• Grumpy/Sunshine
• Found Family
• Opposites Attract

This was such an entertaining and swoon-worthy romance. The characters are so lovable and I instantly felt a connection towards them.

The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my absolute favorite tropes in a romance, and I think it was exceptional in this book. We also get an addition of a fake dating aspect.

We get Star and Rafe, and from the beginning, it’s quite clear they’re very different from one another. Star is a professional line sitter and character actress at parties, while Rafe is a veterinarian from a wealthy family. Star is our sunshine, while Rafe is a grumpy character!

I always love it when complete opposites catch feelings for one another. I found myself flying through this book and I was having a great time with the story. I laughed a few times with the banter in this book.

This was such a fun and heartwarming read. I loved the chemistry between the characters and the tropes in this book. I can’t wait to read more from Samantha Young, highly would recommend this romance!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Berkley for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Sexual Content, Emotional Abuse, Classism, Bullying, Child Abuse, Injury/Injury Detail

Samantha Young is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I absolutely adore her novels and the quirky characters that fill the pages. Star Shine and Rafe were amazing together, I loved their chemistry. The couple is an example of grumpy/sunshine done right. It was also a fantastic enemies to lovers book. There's a lot of drama, but it felt realistic and not manufactured for a plot device. Five fabulous stars!

Happy-go-lucky, quirky (sunshine) Star and rich, uptight (grumpy) Rafe fake a relationship and find out that opposites really do attract.

The Love Plot could have been titled The Love Trope - it’s a grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, fake relationship, one bed, etc. etc. Samantha Young is a must read for me, and I enjoyed this one too! It was a quick listen for me, and I definitely recommend the audiobook.

This opposites attract romance was a blast to read. The characters were so different but complimented each other perfectly! They had incredibly chemistry and the swoonworthy moments were a delight to read!

Ok how cute is this cover?!

I truly enjoyed this story so much - cute doggos, uppity wealthy people, a free spirited bohemian and and uptight vet.

I loved the grumpy/sunshine trope plus opposites attract. I think my biggest challenge was too much spice (I know!) and a story that dragged in the last third. It all made sense though, so props for that.

Overall a good, solid read

“The least you can do is say hi considering you got peanut butter and jelly all over my bedsheets!”

I loved it! This book had a lot of my fave tropes and Star completely tugged at my heart strings. Despite her neglectful childhood her zest for life was infectious. Not to mention there is a hot, grumpy veterinarian who needs her help to get his nosy family to butt out of his dating life.

Thank you netgalley and penguin random house for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

DNF…I found both characters to be extremely unlikable. I found Star’s quirkiness to be annoying. I hated how condescending Rafe is. It’s terrible that the first time they meet they are disrespecting each other. They both are extremely immature which made me stop reading. I’m disappointed this didn’t work as I loved the author’s previous work.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Couldn't provide feedback for this book because I didn't finish reading it. The story never captured me. I ended up reading about 40% of the book and I felt bored the whole time. I tried reading it as an audiobook when it came out and picked up where I left off and I still couldn't finish it. It was just a boring story for me.

I read this as an audiobook. The narratorjdid a great job capturing the tome of the books and the different characters. I recommend the audio.

Star and Rafe could not be more opposite. Which means watching them fall for each other couldn't be sweeter. Star is living the life she wants. She takes gigs to pay the rent, and manages to maintain some free tom in her life. Her gig might be line sitting, or it might mean being a princess at a birthday party. At said birthday party, she meets the birthday girl's grumpy uncle where he is obviously judge-y about her life choices.

Fast forward and she runs into him again while line sitting. She can't help but yell out some embarrassing things- really just for the fun of getting under his skin. She certainly wants' expecting that to turn into a proposition... to be in a fake relationship (one of my favorite tropes). Rafe just wants his family to stop match making, and Star seems like the perfect solution.

The result is a slow burn romance where Star also questions who she is and who she wants to be and who she wants to be with I love my romances with a side of personal introspection and growth ad this had both. It also made me smile and root for the Rafe and Star.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy. All opinions are my own.

I had this book in my TBR pile since the summer and I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. As soon as I started reading it, I could not put it down. I read it in a day and half. I have enjoyed other Samantha Young romantic comedy books. Fun, flirty and hard to put down. This book starts out as a fake dating situation between grumpy vet, Rafe and super cheerful and optimistic Star. She is a character actor who is performing at a children’s birthday party and Rafe just happens to be there as the uncle. During this birthday party, Rafe’s mom and sister in law try to set him up on a date. In fact, they have been trying for months and they are quite aggressive. Rafe decides to take matters into his own hands and hires Star to be his girlfriend to get his family off his back.

There is some hilarity along the way, especially when Star sees Rafe on the street and he doesn’t quite recognize her because she is not in costume. He is more than ready to introduce her to his family so they stop trying to set him up on dates. Star is worried about the family because she is not sure their relationship will be believable and it turns out she likes them because they are nice people. As Rafe and Star get to know each other better, their fake dating relationship turns into a real romance. They both have to get over some emotional baggage from their past, but as long as they support each other, things should be fine.
Rafe and Star have some sizzling attraction going on. They both have a lot of depth to them that is not so clearly visible on the surface. If you are looking for fun banter, laugh out loud situations, steamy pages and just plain fun, this book is for you. I highly recommend this book for when you are in the mood for a good romantic comedy.

I really enjoyed this romcom! Its got that hippie chick and high class man love in it. Also grumpy x sunshine which is literally my fav trope lol its everything you might want in a romcom. Also fake dating and one bed? Count all of us in. Also has some spice in there that we all love. I've enjoyed all of the Samantha Young books I've read so far so I was so excited to get accepted for this one on NetGalley.
Thank you, NetGalley and Samantha Young, for the ARC.

When Star is at her job dressed as Merida for a girls birthday party and she meets grumpy Rafe. He could care less about her job as a costume actor and thinks she’s doing a terrible job. The last thing either of them expected was to run into each other standing in a line. That’s when Rafe comes up with an idea to hire Star to be his fake girlfriend and get his mother and sister in law off his back about dating.

This was such a cute romance story. I thought it was an easy fast read that kept interested and entertained. It had a some spice in it but wasn’t too overwhelming so, if you’re newer to spice or do not like a ton of it in your books this would be a great option.


•grumpy/ sunshine
•fake dating
•he falls first
•opposites attract
•boss romance
•billionaire romance

The Love Plot by Samantha Young is a fake relationship, opposites attract romantic comedy, and it was excellent! I absolutely loved it! Star and Rafe's banter had me laughing out loud, and I loved that Rafe was so serious, while Star was such a free spirit. To be honest, most of the books I read are angsty and drama-filled, so this book was just extra refreshing, and it was something I didn't know I needed right at this moment.

This is one of the best fake relationship romances I've ever read. Samantha Young is such a talented writer, and I just want to gobble up anything she writes! This romantic comedy is brilliantly written, and I swooned, while also giggling, throughout the entire book! This book is highly recommended with all the stars!

Samantha Young is consistently one of my favourite voices in the romance genre and this continues that trend. This story follows Star Shine Meadows a commitment-phobe, with relationships and jobs, and Rafe, a by-the-book kind of guy. This definitely leads as an opposites attract with a dash a fake dating with some simmering tension throughout. I really enjoyed this book and hope we maybe get a book for Gigi!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

this was such a cute little grumpy/sunshine romance book that had the perfect levels of everything!! the banter, the tension, the laughing, and crying, it was all there and tied together with a little bow and it was such a cute book! i loved star and rafe and their chemistry together was incredible. i loved them and this book so much. overall 4.25/5⭐️

Rafe and Star meet at Rafe’s nieces birthday party where star is performing as Merida from Brave. The first interaction made me laugh and then the next interaction in line 😂 omg I was laughing so hard trying to imagine Rafe in real life and seeing his reaction to Star calling his name out. Rafe is being pushed to get married but he’s not ready to so he asks Star to be in a relationship with him for 6 months and he will pay her generously.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre/tropes: contemporary romance, fake dating, grumpy sunshine, he falls first
CW/TW: fear of abandonment; inept parenting

It’s been a good while since I’ve read a Samantha Young novel, and I’m so glad that this was it! I found it charming, funny, and full of the kind of silly banter I’m a fool for.

Rafe meets Star at his niece’s birthday party, where Star is hired to play a Disney princess. Star is the kind of carefree, non-ladder climbing person that he can’t understand. He initially looks down on her lifestyle, but after another encounter where she messes with him, he thinks she might be the solution to his problems. His mom and sister-in-law keep settting him up on dates wanting him to settle down. He’s sick of it, so proposes to Star that they fake date to get them off his back. He’ll pay her for her efforts, and the sum he’s offering is possibly her golden ticket to her travel dreams.

It was so much fun seeing how their ‘relationship’ developed from transactional to resembling an actual one. What was even more interesting to me was that it’s Rafe, the gruff, small talk-hating, people-hating guy who mellows out and falls first. While Star has feelings, she won’t let them lead to something else because she thinks all monogamous relationships are doomed. It takes a lot of convincing and proving to her how serious he is. Rafe and Star are electric together, and I loved every moment they bickered in a cutesy way or gave each other a hard time.

I so needed this cute, a-little-serious-but-mostly-lighthearted romcom to reenergize my reading. It had me feeling content with the ending. Samantha Young fans will enjoy it, as will any newcomer to her books!

Many thanks to @netgalley & @berkleyromance for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Plot worked my emotions like my heart was putty in Rafe and Star's hands.

First, let me appreciate the fact that Star has two jobs that I had never seen depicted in a book before. I absolutely loved how refreshing it felt to read about her costume character actor and line sitter jobs. It also got me laughing a lot.
But her carefree approach to life and love couldn't be any more different than Rafe's, a grumpy veterinarian whom she meets at a princess party she's working as Merida.

Their fake dating antics? Loved it! So much fun!
But what make me connect with this story and root for them was their individual backstories. Especially Star's. My heart broke for her and her childhood of neglect, and it made it totally believable why she was so adverse to commitment and to giving her heart to someone.