This contemporary romance is a standalone that ends with a HEA. It is written in first person from Star’s POV. I would have loved to have Rafe’s POV also, but I think so much of this book is related to Star’s self-exploration and discovery that a single POV is appropriate.
I love a good grumpy/sunshine romance, and I love a fake relationship romance. I was drawn to the blurb of the book and happy to get an ARC through Net Galley. I have read a few other books by this author, and I have been impressed with her character development and stories that take unusual turns while holding me in. Star is an interesting heroine. Despite her life being quite different from “norm” and having some emotional baggage because of it, she is a kind and optimistic soul. I loved her simplicity. She is fearless in some ways as she accepts people regardless of their differences and sees their hearts beneath the surface masks. Rafe is broody to begin with and readers soon learn he is tired of having women thrown at him by his family who wants him to settle down. Once he and Star get to know each other, I really appreciated the lightness she brings out of Rafe. I love that he can be himself with her and she calls him out at times when he needs a different perspective. Though they are very different, their differences complement each other. It takes some time for them to become physical and for their pretend relationship to become real. All the while, I could feel their chemistry and looked forward to seeing that become more.
The story also explores how upbringing affects a person’s outlook on relationships. I appreciated the way Star’s childhood, and the neglect she endured, is handled. I could also see that Rafe, with a stable if slightly dysfunctional family, would have a very different perspective. I appreciated that Star struggles with how much she should allow herself to change for love. I think most people have been in that position at least once. I also loved that it was not Rafe asking her to change. How love changes a person, what makes a person happy, where we find our emotional support systems, and how we communicate with our partner is all a big part of Rafe and Star’s love story. I didn’t want to put it down and I finished the book with a smile in my heart.

Wow just Wow !! The banter, joy and love in this book is OUTSTANDING !! Your will sigh deeply and laugh out loud because the chemistry between these two main characters is off the charts !!

Rafferty Whitman is the uptown Veterinarian that needs help with his Mom and Sister-in-Law to get and keep them off his back about his LOVE life.. In walks Star Shine Meadows, her career at the moments is a character actress and a professional line site which is TOTALLY different and off the wall from the woman Rafe is use to dating. But there is soothing about Star that he can’t get off his mind after his first time meeting her.

And let me tell you about their second meeting !! You will be rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter !! Even though she is WAY out of his league Star can’t help herself feel something deep down because with her upbringing she doesn’t know what REAL love is !!

Such an amazing story it is one that you will read over and over and want to smack his brother and sister-in-law over and over !!

The Love Plot follows Star who is a line sitter and a professional costume actor and Rafe who is a veterinarian.

Rafe is being set up by his family any chance they get and he wants them to stop and finally have the space to focus on his clinic and figuring out if relationships are for him or not. He asks Star to fake date him just for a few months to get his family off his back.

Through their fake dating Rafe and Star are helping each other through the past scars especially for Star who believes no string relationship is better than a relationship at all.

Tropes:
- Grumpy v sunshine
- Opposites attract
- Fake dating
- Billionaire MMC
- Forced proximity

Thank you author Samatha Young and Valentine PR for the arc 💕

The Love Plot by Samantha Young is a lovely fake dating, grumpy/sunshine romance that will paw its’ way into your heart. A vividly optimistic costume character actor meets a broody veterinarian as two worlds collide & their lives line up to change forever. Get ready to dive in because once I started, I was completely hooked!

I am a devourer of the fake dating trope & I am happy to say this one encapsulated the beauty of the classic fake relationship while somehow giving it a fresh spin on it as well. I think that ‘hats off’ is given to our gorgeously eccentric heroine, but she is balanced with the swoon-worthy & confident veterinarian hero. They made me laugh out loud. They made my head spin & they made my heart ache & adore them.

The Love Plot is perfect for fans of
💕Fake Dating
💕Opposites Attract
💕Grumpy/Sunshine
💕Two Different Worlds/Upbringings

I loved that the heroine was unique in her career, view of life & her unorthodox upbringing. I won’t go into specifics because I think you should just read it! I also appreciated the fact that both of the main characters were on paths of personal journeys of growth & understanding. They each had very different but essential family relationships to work through.

My compliant is that I wish the veterinarian had more animals, but for full transparency, there were at least 3 scenes with dogs…I will just always ask for more dogs. 🤣

The Love Plot dresses up the fake dating trope with a duo that is sure to win over one’s heart. The Love Plot is out now!

Massive thanks to NetGalley, Valentine PR & Berkley Publishing for the gifted arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

I’ve submitted my review on Amazon but still waiting for it to go live.

The Love Plot was a delightful, steamy contemporary romance written by Samantha Young. I blew through it in a day, it was so much fun.

Star Shine Meadows and Rafe Whitman have absolutely nothing in common--she's a professional character actor and line sitter, the product of two hippies and their free love, and he's a veterinarian from a wealthy, traditional New York family. After meeting at his niece's birthday party--while she was dressed up as Merida--Rafe offers to pay Star $10k a month to pose as his girlfriend. He's tired of his mother and sister-in-law trying to set him up with every woman they know.

Like all good fake-dating arrangements, the more they get to know each other, the more their feelings grow and what started as a ruse becomes shockingly real. If you're looking for a quick, romantic read, this is definitely one to pick up. It does have some heavier moments, as Star wrestles with unpacking parental neglect, but Young handles it with tenderness and care. I loved watching Star experience true family for the first time, and how she challenged Rafe's family to confront their preconceptions about what it means to be successful and happy. 4.5 stars!!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley Romance, and Netgalley for providing me an e-ARC.

This book hooked me right from the start! I loved it from start to finish and highly recommend!

Star is such a fun, happy, confident, glass half-full individual who doesn’t let society’s ideas and expectations of a woman affect her life. She is a costume character actor and a line sitter.

Rafferty “Rafe” is a grumpy, glass half-empty man who is sick and tired of his sister-in-law, Pippa, and mother, Jen, hounding him to find a girlfriend. The lengths these women go to to try and get Rafe set up with a woman is a bit on the crazy side.

Enter: the peanut butter and jelly incident. 🥜🫙
This scene was hilarious and everything I didn’t know I needed. IYKYK

Rafe has decided to propose a job for Star as his “girlfriend” so that Pippa and Jen will get off of his back. He offers her a lot of money, which she wants because she wants to travel, so she accepts.

This story is filled with lots of fun, cringey, cute, sexy, loving and accepting moments and I loved it.

Read for:
Grumpy x Sunshine
Fake dating
Only one bed
Amazing inner dialogue
The peanut butter & jelly incident
Amazing besties (who are also in a poly relationship)
And so much more!

I loved this story. Star might be the most sunshiny sunshine I have read so far. I really enjoyed her story, and while I normally love dual POV, this was very much Star’s story about her journey not just falling in love, but also discovering important aspects of herself.

She doesn’t live her life in conventional ways and it just makes her all the more lovable. She starts fake dating grump Rafe to get his family to stop their matchmaking efforts. He comes off as way too grumpy and mean at first, but I fell in love with him shortly after seeing a few more interactions with him.

Beautifully written and I couldn’t put it down. It was a bit long but everything felt important. My first book by the author and it won’t be my last.

Grumpy & sunshine
Opposites
Fake dating
He falls first
She’s afraid of commitment
No breakup
Spice 2.5/5

5 Opposites Really Do Attract Stars!!

I don’t think there could be two more diametrically opposite people than Star Shine Meadows and Rafe Whitman. She’s happy and in the moment and is all about not taking life too seriously. Rafe Whitman is pretty much a grump when it comes to anything that doesn’t have to do with his animal patients. He’s not looking for a relationship at all, but when he’s finally had enough of his family picking and picking and picking at him to find a girl, he hones in on Star Shine because this kind of “assignment” is right up her alley so to speak!

I loved how the connection between them simmered right below the surface almost from the minute they met… even if they didn’t want to admit it. Let’s face it, Star Shine is a no strings kind of girl and Rafe always needs to know the who’s what’s and when’s so his attraction to this woman confounds him! Eventually in between their witty banter and some swoon-worthy moments, they come together in every way possible!

My love for this book is everything I love about reading, great characters, scenes that let me escape my everyday life, truly laugh out loud moments, stellar writing and I came away with a smile on my face.

Star Shine Meadows is living her best life in New York as a costume character actor and line sitter. She has learned only to depend on herself for happiness throughout her unusual upbringing. When Star meets veterinarian Rafe while working at a children’s birthday party she immediately thinks he’s attractive but after trying to talk to him finds herself disappointed and feeling he’s a stuck up snob. When Rafe unexpectedly asks Star to pretend to be his girlfriend to get his family off his back Star accepts. The more time they spend together the more Rafe and Star realize they are developing real feelings for each other and that their first impressions were definitely wrong. It becomes startlingly clear they come from completely different worlds and Star feels that she needs to change herself to fit in with Rafe and his family. Can Rafe convince Star she doesn’t need to change to keep him happy?

This book delves into deep issues such a conformity and self love and dependency with Samantha Young’s trademark humor and banter. This was such a fun and delightful read!

Thank you so much to Valentine PR, Samantha Young and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately this was a miss for me- I had a hard time connecting with the FMC and I think that’s what may have ruined the reading experience for me. But it’s still a fun and engaging story and I think many will love this, just wasn’t my cup of tea.

What a sweet and cute grumpy x sunshine romance! I loved the opposites attract trope and adored both characters. I appreciated how vulnerable Rafe was with Star and how she pushed him to be better. I loved how he consistently showed up for her and showed her what love can be. I really enjoyed that their relationship grew over many months. I feel like so many romance books do the insta-love trope which isn't always pulled off well. I struggled with Rafe's family and how cruel they were to Star. I did adore how Rafe never tried to change her and encouraged her to keep being herself. I'm really excited to read more Samantha Young!! 4⭐️ 2.5🌶️

Thank you to Netgalley, Valentine PR, and Samantha Young for the ebook ARC. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

This is a steamy romantic comedy set in NYC.

The narrator is 28 year old Star (female 1st person POV). She is a costume character actor and professional line sitter. I found her jobs to be so fun. And I really liked that she was a big reader and such a happy person.

She meets 33 year old Rafe when she is working at his niece's birthday party. When they meet he is brooding and not overly friendly.

This was an enjoyable read that used many of the most popular tropes (which isn't my favorite thing). It was very sexy. The romance was good. And the heroine was super unique. I enjoyed her friend group and her relationship with her parents. And I enjoyed his family. Both families added lots of drama to the book. Overall if you want a steamy fun read and love seeing many of the popular tropes then this book is for you.

Possibly the most grumpy-sunshine of relationships I've seen since Good Omens 2, Star and Rafe are total opposites, and accidentally perfect for each other. She always looks for the positive in things, doesn't think a career is for her so has two unconventional jobs, doesn't do long-term relationships because she doesn't think she can do committed, and her greatest goal in life is to be happy. He went the conventional route, likes animals more than people, and is going crazy because his mother and sister-in-law are aggressively trying to set him up without asking him how he feels about it. When they meet at Rafe's niece's birthday party, you could not find two more different people. Rafe's idea to hire Star to be his pretend girlfriend has predictably surprising and entertaining consequences: his parents like her, and Rafe discovers he likes Star more than he expected. They do say opposites attract. . . .

Star is a quirky, delightful, believably flawed and wonderful person. Her parents are self-proclaimed hippies who taught her not believe in committed relationships, careers, or tying herself down to anything long-term. While that works in the short-term, and Star is quite happy with her jobs as a character actor and line-sitter, Rafe and his stability start making her question if she's limiting herself. I love how Star works to see something positive in people, gives them the benefit of the doubt, and to put happy out into the world to improve the lives of others. She practices what she preaches. The times when she tries to be something she isn't, she's miserable, reminding both Star and us that being our authentic selves is the best life.

I can best describe Rafe as a Mr. Darcy- only more outgoing when he's happy. Shy and quiet around strangers, better with dogs than people, it's no wonder that he's going crazy with his mother and sister-in-law throwing random women at him! He's a guy who believes in commitment if he's going to be in a relationship, so he and Star come at pretty much everything people-related from different angles. But I loved how he doesn't just dismiss Star's views based on his own experiences, he listens to her thoughts and frequently found himself changing his mind because of her viewpoints. They'd catch themselves in arguments and try to explain what the problem was exactly because they came at things so differently. I don't think I've ever read that in a romance before, where the main characters so continually work like real people to make a real relationship happen and I really enjoyed it. Even when they mess things up, it is real and relatable.

Rafe's rich family doesn't know what to do with Star and her bohemian ways and polyamorous friends at first. Do they change her to fit with them or do they accept that she makes him happy as is? I loved how Rafe stood by Star when she dealt with her family crisis and started facing her defining childhood, and how she was willing to do anything to ensure he didn't break with his family because of her. It was clear they loved each other long before they admitted it, but that was kind of the point. Star has lots to teach Rafe and his family, but they have some things to show her as well.

This was a lovely, funny, heart-warming book and I definitely recommend it, not just to Samantha Young (Much Ado About You, A Cosmic Kind of Love) fans, but to anyone looking for a beautiful romance.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This was a relatively light read that had me smiling the whole time. I loved Star and Rafe and the dynamic between them.

4 Stars

When I first started this book, I didn’t think I’d be able to read a whole book from Star’s POV. She’s a gig worker who only has one goal in life: happiness. She’s not into commitment thanks to her parents’ very unattached relationship and is just happy to live in the moment as she seeks out temporary happiness.

Star is hired to be a character Princess for Rafe’s niece’s birthday party. Rafe was cheated on and has thrown himself into his family and his thriving Veterinary practice in Manhattan. He comes from wealth and the upper class of NYC and his mom and sister-in-law think he needs a wife…any wife. Even though Star is the complete antithesis of everything he should want, he asks her to fake date him to get his meddling family off his case.

But you know, feelings catch. So we have the classic grumpy/sunshine trope mixed with fake dating and it’s honestly such a good combo!

As I kept reading, I found myself (much like Rafe) realizing I judged Star by the circumstances and stereotypes around her vs for the magic that makes her…her! I even found myself relating to her in such soul deep ways towards the end, that I honestly can say I was V WRONG at the beginning and loved being in her brain.

We don’t get a third act breakup and honestly this couple really is so healthy in the “we won’t let our toxic pasts tear a good thing apart” and it’s rewarding and so refreshing to read.

I highly recommend this one! I listened on audio and the narrator does a great job (although I personally had a hard time with her voice for Rafe, it’s definitely a me thing). The spicy scenes were spicing and the emotions really come through in each convo!

It was time for a palette cleanse..

I had been reading back to back thrillers and I wanted a light beach read.

What I got was a belly full of giggles and a full heart. What more could I ask for?

The Love Plot is absolutely adorable. It's not corny but yet a true love story. I loved watching Rafe try to deny himself falling in love with Star and I loved Stars quirkiness. It was impossible not to fall in love with Star!!! The fact that Rafe was a veterinarian, made me love him that much more (who doesn't love fur babies!!!)

This is one of those books that you want to see make it to the big screen, this is the perfect book for the Hallmark Channel

Check out this teaser :

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 from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young.

Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl’s grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can’t help but needle him. She’ll never see him again, and honestly, he's pretty hot.

Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn’t mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding “the one,” so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He’ll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else’s new phone, and he’ll get his family off his back.

When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star’s desire for "no strings" is tested against Rafe’s staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all....

🩷 Thoughts 🩷
Reading a romance book in the park just hits different, idk if it's just me but it makes the book a bit more romantic??? Yall the trope had me going yippeeee! He falls first, grumpy sunshine, fake dating??? SAY LESSSSSS 😘! Yall the character growth in this book was great and their chemistry leading to the romantic development -> I loved it and it was swoonnnnnn worthyyyyyy 🫶. Also the opposite attract trope??? This really worked well with the romcom 🤭.
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🩷 Appreciation 🩷
Thank you Valentine PR, Berkley Publishing, and Samantha Young for the e-arc copy in exchange for a honest review!

I am a huge fan of Samantha Young's books. She's a fabulous writer who crafts beautiful romances between some unlikely (and absolutely perfect for each other) characters. So going into this book, I knew I was going to love it--and oh, did I ever!

I ended up reading this in one sitting because I just could not put it down! The Love Plot is the epitome of sunshine and grump.

The FMC, Star Shine Meadows, was "raised" by hippie parents who believes in freedom in all things (from places, people, jobs, etc.) and always thinking the best in everyone. She is the definition of happy-go-lucky. Star juggles working as a costume character actor and a line sitter, and its during one of her work days that she meets the MMC: grumpy, grumpy Rafe.

Rafe is a hard-working veterinarian who prefers the company of animals to people. He's content to be alone, running his vet business, and occasionally helping out his family with their monthly dinners or various charity events.

One of the reasons for Rafe's perpetual frown? His family's constant nagging and blind set-ups to help him find "the one." When Rafe discovers Star's interesting job choices and ability to handle anything that life throws her way, he offers her a new job: fake date him to get his family off his back.

Two people who could not be more opposite... Well, I won't go into detail--you'll need to read The Love Plot for yourself--but if you enjoy opposites attract, fake dating, grumpy & sunshine, or simply romantic comedies (with some moments of heavier, emotional undertones), you need to pick this one up immediately!

I enjoyed every minute of this book and spent a good portion of it laughing at Star's antics. (Peanut butter and jelly, anyone? *hehe*). It was such a delight, and I think it's going to be one of those books I'll keep thinking about for years to come. (Any excuse for a re-read, right?!).

Disclaimer: I received an ARC.

4.5 stars

Star works a number of odd jobs. At the beginning we see her performing as Merida at a kids birthday party and working for an app that allows people to hire someone to wait in line. She was an interesting character who was sweet and fun. Her 'voice' and inner monologue were entertaining and I liked her a lot.

When she meets Rafe there's an instant physical attraction, but he's definitely not friendly or kind. So it is surprising when he later offers to hire her to be his fake date to family events. With how grumpy and unfriendly he was in contrast to Star's more sunshiny personality, I couldn't wait to watch the two of them fall in love.

I was hooked from the first chapter of the book and Samantha did an excellent job with the character growth and relationship development. I have read a number of Samantha's books, and The Love Plot is one of my favorites.

Thank you to Samantha Young and Valentine PR for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was absolutely adorable! I devoured the last bit of this book. It was so unique and not what I was expecting. I laughed out loud throughout most of the plot. The characters were funny and enjoyable. The fake-dating plot was ridiculous and fun and over the top and everything that I love about the trope. Rafe was swoony and broody, but his character development was executed perfectly! Star was such a fun FMC! She was unique and quirky and pulled you in from the very first page. Overall, this was just a super fun read!