How to Fake-Date a Vampire was such a fun read! This cozy fantasy was the right amount of whimsical, magical and romantic fun and has shot up pretty high in my favourite cosy fantasy books list. Emma was a truly delightful character and I enjoyed reading from her perspective. Alaric was honestly so hilarious and flirty and made me swoon so hard. Their romance together was honestly amazing; they had such good chemistry with each other. It made me feel all soft and gooey on the inside. It's been a while since I've felt like this after reading a book and I appreciate this one so much for that. I would have loved some more vampire-y stuff in the book, but nevertheless, it was a really fun read.

I was ready to DNF this book at 4% literally one chapter in. The dialogue is cringe and excruciating. There are a lot of mixed metaphors and idioms that don’t go well together or make a lot of sense together. All of the characters are so flat. Every awful plot device from every awful romance novel is in these first few pages and this book manages to execute these in the most excruciating and insincere way ever. This doesnt bode well for the rest of this book. I am going to give this book till the 15% mark. I actually stopped at 16% because that was the end of chapter 5 and it is still excruciating. I’m mostly skim reading it. She has encountered a talking skunk and vampire boy has proposed a fake dating situation. His excuse for wanting to fake date is the weakest excuse for a fake dating situation I have ever heard of. Because he wants his grandma to spend more time with him because he misses her? I cannot count the ways I hate this book already. I am DNFing.

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

Cute easy to read. This was the second book of the series. However I have not read the first one and didn’t feel I was missing out on anything.
The term vampires is a stretch… wished there was a bit more ommpt to them.
Tropes include fake dating
But there is a third act breakup… but it’s short lived.

Unfortunately this turned out to be not for me. It was ok for the most of the time but the last 30% was horrible. The problems that characters faced were childish, it didn’t matter that the duke was a vampire, there were many contradictions in the plot, generally it was a weak story :( sad.

3.5 stars

This was cute. It’s the second book in a series, though you don’t need to have read that one to understand what is going on. I think it’s a stretch to call them “vampires” but if you are looking for a cozy light fantasy with no stakes I think you’ll really enjoy this one. The fake dating trope was well executed and luckily the third act miscommunication trope for the third act breakup doesn’t last long. What really elevates this one for me was the talking skunk.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Emma needs to host a ball for the witches in her coven in order to become a full witch, so what better place than the Duke's spectacular garden? However, in exchange for being allowed to host a ball on Duke Alaric's property she agrees to fake date him leading up to the engagement to appease his grandmother.

This book is cute, witchy read for fall, however, predictable. I think I would have liked this book more if the plot didn't read like a to-do list. Alaric and Emma's dynamic was sweet and I did enjoy their interactions.

The review posted available on goodreads now.
This review will also go on instagram page (@syrensbooks) on October 5th and will be apart of my paranormal romanace recommendations reel which will go live on October 4th.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. This is my honest review.

I almost DNF this. So much telling in the first 25% of the book! It felt like all background and exposition and the writing didn't feel polished at all , more like a first draft. It could have used a heavier editing process for sure.

Emma was a sweet character but she felt very juvenile, in how she spoke and how she acted and her behavior overall. I really liked Alaric and his family.

I think this story had a great premise and a fun story line but the execution was lacking in my opinion. I thought this was a debut novel but it's not, which surprised me.

I'd say two starts for the execution. maybe three for the plot? 2.5 starts at best.

Unfortunately I DNF’d this. The main character was really not my cup of tea, and she acted like a teenager most of the time in my opinion.

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I couldn’t get into the story and I tried multiple times. :(

I am so thankful that I got an arc not only for the first in this series but for this one as well. Such a cute, cozy story perfect for fall. It’s got those witchy romance vibes that I just swooned for. Although this is second in the series it is a standalone story just in the same setting.

This was a really enjoyable and fun read - I really loved reading Emma find her place as a witch and take on responsibility showing how capable she is, with the help of a brooding vampire. Emma was a great character, with a hilarious and glamorous familiar. The only thing I would say is this is more of a witchy read, than a vampire read, despite the title. The story really focuses on Emma as a witch and although Alaric is a vampire, this isn't focused on a lot other than mentioning the fact him and his family drink blood. I'm really enjoying the fake dating trope at the minute and Emma and Alaric's blossoming romance was really lovely and sweet.

Fake dating is a classic romcom trope for a reason and as the title suggests, that's exactly what this book is all about. Combine one witch with everything to prove to her coven, a dashing duke with a dark secret and a charming Cornish village and you have all the ingredients for an entertaining, charmingly cheesy story (and I mean that in a good way!). I'm a sucker for an animal sidekick and I won't reveal much for risk of spoilers, but there's a skunk called Penelope and she's honestly the best character. Despite the title, lovers of vampires won't actually find much here, it's very much a witchy novel, but it's a great one for lovers of a found family (another classic trope!).

A cosy and enjoyable witchy romance. I loved the vibes of this book and can't wait to read more in the series. A must read for this Autumn.

I struggled to get into this book and ended up not being able to get past about 15%. While the synopsis and title truly interested me, the development of the story felt very rushed and predictable and it wasn't able to hold my interest or attention.

Thank you NetGalley for this one. It’s a cute little found family romance with some magical features. I loved Penelope’s character in this one and thought it was a cute storyline overall. I preferred this one to the first Charming Cove novel. Overall, this book wasn’t my favorite ever, but it was a fun and fast paced book.

I really enjoyed this book - it was a quick paced paranormal romcom set in a small town.

I abousley love the fake dating trope so this was such a fun read, I also really liked the mordern day fantasy vibe & I was laughing out loud at the banter. Emma and Alaric have my heart.

Such a perfect book for spooky season. Would recommend reading book 1 for the full experience

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Grumpy sunshine gets me every time! This was really cute. Add in the paranormal aspect, and this romcom is perfect as an autumn read!!

Here are some reasons why I think you’ll love this book; it consists of:

- a witch and a vampire duke falling in love
-fake dating trope
-a cute familiar
-bees
-grumpy ghosts
-finding out your purpose in life

Truly, this could read as a stand-alone, I haven’t read the first book of this series and yet I wasn’t lost at all. Highly recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved this book. I don't normally read rom-coms but since this had a paranormal element I was able to convinve myself.

I was so pleasantly surprised! This is a feel good, funny, quirky book and I would recommend any book this author writes!

This is book 2 in a series, but they are all standalone books that can be read in any order.

Oh my gosh- I loved this!

How did I not know about this series!? I read this out of order, oops! With that being said I felt like this was a true stand alone, I never once felt lost or like I was missing something!

As a lover of cozy fantasy this book ticked all of my boxes! What an absolutely darling paranormal romance!

In this you’ll find:
-a witch and vampire Duke romance
-pub trivia night
-fake dating
-the cutest familiar ever
-beekeeping and bee love
-grumpy ghosts
-preparing for a ball
-magic
-finding your place in life
-the sweetest granny

All in all my only complaints were that I like my vampires to be a bit more vampire in nature, less human. I also thought the third act breakup was unnecessary and to be honest a little lazy, like it was done because that’s what’s supposed to be done.

With that being said it still gets a 4 ⭐️ from me and I’ll definitely be going back to read book 1 in this series!

This had everything I needed and didn’t know I needed. The perfect romance book to read in October for some witchy vampire vibes. Will definitely read more in this series.