Member Review
Review by
Beth B, Reviewer
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book, this is my objective review. This the second in a series (follow-up to When Grumpy Met Sunshine). And although we first met Connie and Beck (our main couple here) in that book and Alfie and Mabel make an appearance in this book, this book does work okay as a standalone. That said, go read that one too because it's highly enjoyable.
Connie, our fmc, is jaded and burned by the skeevy type of "Nice Guys" in the past so she has a hard time trusting an actual nice guy (her neighbor Beck) when he makes an appearance. The bare bones book description is that Beck claimed at work to be married, and so he asks Connie to be his pretend wife on a 2-week writing retreat that Beck is managing and that Connie already planned to attend. Can they believably maintain the ruse or will Beck's a-hole co-worker see right through it? And can they both keep their hearts intact when the 2 weeks are up? Beck is written like a caricature of an earnest American nerd, with the speech patterns of a character from "Fargo." Personality-wise he is deeply noble and decent. Physically, picture an American Henry Cavill with a mustache, who leans *hard* into his geeky interests and also wears bow ties. Whereas Connie is a closet nerd who subverts her inner geek with the shiny facade of a cool girl that she was taught to wear like armor. The book is written from a single 1st-person POV from Connie's perspective, but the author has a talent for writing internal monologues that do a great job of revealing things about both the character and who- or whatever the character is observing. The writing is a bit over-the-top but in a really enjoyable way. I love that Connie latches on to the idea that she can try on a relationship with a sweet guy like Beck, while it simultaneously makes me sad that she doesn't think she deserves a real relationship with someone who is kind. And what frustrates me about fictional couples like this is that neither thinks they deserve the other, and so the assumption builds to sustained misunderstanding (that we have to trust will get resolved for the HEA). And I get that it builds tension, which I'm not here for. What I *am* here for is the dawning realization that they were wrong and that what they want *can* also be the exact thing they truly deserve. If you like hyperbolic and semi-dense introspective monologues laced with humor and heat, this will be the book for you. I really like how Stein crafts her female main character's inner thoughts: when she's on her game, they're so relatable and work so well to set the scene that you don't really notice the lack of active events. One last note: as with her other books, this one is very open-door. So maybe be careful where and how you listen to an audiobook of this story!
Connie, our fmc, is jaded and burned by the skeevy type of "Nice Guys" in the past so she has a hard time trusting an actual nice guy (her neighbor Beck) when he makes an appearance. The bare bones book description is that Beck claimed at work to be married, and so he asks Connie to be his pretend wife on a 2-week writing retreat that Beck is managing and that Connie already planned to attend. Can they believably maintain the ruse or will Beck's a-hole co-worker see right through it? And can they both keep their hearts intact when the 2 weeks are up? Beck is written like a caricature of an earnest American nerd, with the speech patterns of a character from "Fargo." Personality-wise he is deeply noble and decent. Physically, picture an American Henry Cavill with a mustache, who leans *hard* into his geeky interests and also wears bow ties. Whereas Connie is a closet nerd who subverts her inner geek with the shiny facade of a cool girl that she was taught to wear like armor. The book is written from a single 1st-person POV from Connie's perspective, but the author has a talent for writing internal monologues that do a great job of revealing things about both the character and who- or whatever the character is observing. The writing is a bit over-the-top but in a really enjoyable way. I love that Connie latches on to the idea that she can try on a relationship with a sweet guy like Beck, while it simultaneously makes me sad that she doesn't think she deserves a real relationship with someone who is kind. And what frustrates me about fictional couples like this is that neither thinks they deserve the other, and so the assumption builds to sustained misunderstanding (that we have to trust will get resolved for the HEA). And I get that it builds tension, which I'm not here for. What I *am* here for is the dawning realization that they were wrong and that what they want *can* also be the exact thing they truly deserve. If you like hyperbolic and semi-dense introspective monologues laced with humor and heat, this will be the book for you. I really like how Stein crafts her female main character's inner thoughts: when she's on her game, they're so relatable and work so well to set the scene that you don't really notice the lack of active events. One last note: as with her other books, this one is very open-door. So maybe be careful where and how you listen to an audiobook of this story!
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