Add an adorable leading man in need of a wife and a plus size leading lady who is skeptical of his motives for his attention. Add some spice and we have a lovely romance. Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy of this book. The opinions are my own.

My Big Fat Fake Marriage by Charlotte Stein is brimming with charming and endearing characters, accompanied by a captivating romance that kept me eagerly flipping through the pages.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one. A fake dating story about a jaded woman and her lovable dork of a fake husband sounds right up my alley, but unfortunately I just didn’t love it like I thought I would.

The story is silly, sweet, and sexy, but seemed to focus more on spice than anything else. The fake dating premise was flimsy and the main character is so aggressively horny that it became distracting.

The plot and characters were simply not realistic, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t still have fun reading those and cheering for these two goobers to get together in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

An easy fun read, going into it knowing it’ll be a fast smutty little joyride. Enjoyed the characters too!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for my advanced copy

Connie had bad experiences with so-called nice guys. Henry Samuel Beckett is single but told everyone at his publishing house that he’s married. And when she defends him, she ends up being the fake wife he doesn’t actually have. Together on a retreat, it might not be as fake as they believe.

Connie was burned by a number of Nice Guys (TM) that only wanted sex after dates as if she owed them. We get a rundown of this all in chapter one, seeing the paranoia and prickly surface she projects to the world. This makes her suspicious of her neighbor Beck, but he's actually the bumbling himbo type, unable to lie convincingly and socially awkward. She comes to his defense when a smarmy coworker puts him down, and the two perpetuate it for the retreat because Beck is running it and he'll be there.

Beck and Connie get along very well once they start talking with each other. They have some common interests and a matching sense of humor, which is really fun to see on the page. It gets steamy in close contact, and the two reveal a lot about themselves and their desires beyond the physical. At the same time, they fear that the connection isn't entirely real. It's a fun romcom with a cinnamon roll hero that has hidden depths. Connie faced her fears of being good enough in a relationship and in writing, and we get a lovely happily ever after.

3.75/5 rounded up

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the advanced reading copy!

Another sweet and spicy story from Charlotte Stein! I really enjoyed WHEN GRUMPY MET SUNSHINE and was excited for some cameos from Mabel and Alfie in this book.

Beck was the BEST -- sweet cinnamon roll angel and I loved him so much. He started out sweet and turned into spicy which is the most fun thing to witness in my opinion. Our FMC -- who I will call Hazel, because the Connie/Hazel thing felt odd and unnecessary to me -- was great, as well. We hear this entire story through her stream-of-consciousness perspective, which I can find annoying but loved in this case. It's so believable and well-written, you truly feel like you're right there with her. It could be frustrating to hear her not believe in herself and their feelings for each other, but I know that's just part of the book and, ultimately, made her more loveable.

This book was definitely fun to listen to. I enjoyed the story thoroughly and the spice was super sexy and well done. I don't totally buy-in to their romantic feelings for each other, rather feel that this was wrapped up in lust and sex more than anything else. I guess you just need to go into this book knowing that you're getting something fun and raunchy and not anything super deep -- and that's totally okay if that's what you want! I would absolutely read more by Charlotte Stein and hope for more books like this in the future! The writing retreat setting was great and that basketball scene -- IYKYK. I love a fun story and this was definitely that!

I came to Charlotte Stein from When Grumpy Met Sunshine and loved how fun and sexy her book was, and My Big Fat Fake Marriage delivers the same. I also loved the cameos of Mabel and Alfie from WGMS.

Hazel is jaded and cautious, but also pure-hearted so when she learns her neighbor, Beck, lied about having a wife because of a bully at work, she decides the best solution is to claim that role and show that bully what’s what. Unfortunately what she thinks can be a quick turnaround of “oh we got divorced after all” turns out can’t be the case because the writer’s retreat she’s been looking forward to? Beck is the one running the whole thing and now there’s only one bed.

I really enjoyed how obviously smitten Beck is from the beginning, and Hazel’s complete inability to recognize it because she’s never been treated with care or the manners that Beck gives freely. I also loved how horny this book is, and how sexy things are between Beck and Hazel. The way Hazel describes both her own fat body and Beck’s large figure brought extra layers of delight to me reading the book.

This was a really fun, lighthearted jaunt that brought joy to a stressful week. I love Stein’s humor and look forward to more books from her!

Connie has always been wary of nice guys, believing they often hide unpleasant secrets. Then she meets Henry Samuel Beckett, or Beck, a cheerful and sweet editor who loves bow ties. Despite his sunny demeanor, Beck reveals he's been single his whole life but has told his colleagues he's married. Connie, an aspiring writer, steps in to play his fake wife. During a writing retreat, surrounded by skeptical colleagues, their act starts to feel real. As they share intimate moments and grow closer, Connie begins to wonder if their relationship might be genuine after all.

This may be the quirkiest book that I have ever read, but I devoured it and loved every second of reading it. The banter and tension were on point this whole entire book, and Connie's inner angst was just so good. I don't think I was expecting the level of spice that came from this book.. We went from very wholesome to very spicy, quite quickly. I really think the tension added to the spice here and I enjoyed it all.

I LOVED Beck and Connie so much- both full of many insecurities of their own but so supportive and caring towards one another, and it was sooo wholesome. You could truly see their growth throughout the book. I felt so many emotions while reading this, but I also laughed out loud so many times. If you need a good, quirky, romantic comedy read- definitely give this one a read!

Rating: 4.5/5
Spice: 4/5

Tropes:
Fake Marriage
One Bed
The BIGGEST Freaking Cinnamon Roll MMC
Forced Proximity
Curvy FMC

Thank you NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Charlotte Stein for a chance to read this gifted ARC. All thoughts are my own.

What happens when the guy who has trouble lying, and the person who distrusts everyone end up posing as a married couple?

I enjoyed this book which explores that situation. This is a sweet read with some spice. I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick beach read.

I received a free advance review copy through from St Martins Press through NetGalley and my review is voluntary.

This book fell between 3.5 and 3.75 stars for me, which I've rounded up to four for this review.

Connie is maybe convinced that her neighbor, book editor Henry Samuel Beckett aka Beck, is a serial killer, I mean someone can't just greet his neighbors everyday and drop off baked goods out of the goodness of his heart right? It doesn't help that she's convinced that no nice guy is ever actually just a nice guy. And it really doesn't help that he's mentioned a wife that Connie can see no evidence of. After noticing he's had a bad day, by seeing that he didn't iron pleats into his pants no less, she goes to his apartment only to find what she considers evidence to confirm everything she suspects. However, it turns out Beck has made up a fake wife to keep a cruel co-worker off of his back and he's trying to keep every lie he's been telling straight. This wouldn't be a romance if Connie didn't end up assuming that role herself. Their fake marriage is further complicated as Connie will need to attend a two week writing retreat planned by Beck and share a retreat cabin with Beck and cruel co-worker. And of course there's only one bed.

This was my first foray into Charlotte Stein and I really enjoyed myself! I think i will definitely be jumping into her back list sooner rather than later. I appreciated Connie's growth as a character and her journey to accepting herself for who she is and what she likes, not what she thinks will make her seem "cool" and interesting. I also liked how sweet Beck was and his sense of justice. However, I did find that I had a hard time with a lot of Beck's dialogue. There were points where it felt like he was speaking as a caricature of an American who is uber polite and considerate, but not actually how a person would talk. I found that that eased up the further we got into the book, but it did make some portions of the first 40-ish percent of the book hard for me to get through.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for the ARC!

Connie has always distrusted nice guys, because she expects them to turn out to be awful guys - experience has taught her as much. When she meets her adorable, bow tie-wearing, American neighbor, Becks who also happens to be an editor who works with her friend, Mabel.

Underneath the golden retriever exterior, Becks suffers from self-doubt and he panics at work by telling a lie - that he's married! Connie is an aspiring writer herself, so she offers to play the part of his fake wife at a writing retreat. It stays fake until their first kiss and they have to share a bed and interact like a married couple would.

There are 2 tropes I adore and this romance has both of them - fake marriage & only one bed! It also has sexy times and moments I laughed so hard that I scared my cat awake from its nap.

Charlotte Stein is a master of writing the awkward character who doesn't realise how loveable they are & this romance is no exception to that rule.

My honest review is given in exchanging for receiving the eARC from Netgalley - thanks to the author and publisher.

This book is pure rom-com chaos in the best way! Fake marriage? Forced proximity? A cinnamon-roll book editor who actually says “oh fudge”? Yeah, this one leans all the way into the tropes, and I had a blast with it.

Beck is the ultimate sweet, nerdy love interest, but I still can’t wrap my head around how he made it to 30 without even a kiss. Connie, meanwhile, has serious trust issues, which makes their dynamic equal parts adorable and frustrating. The pacing dragged a bit, and Connie’s inner monologue went hard, but the banter and chemistry kept me hooked. A fun, lighthearted read. Just don’t overthink it!

3.25 ⭐️

I have pretty mixed feelings about this one! I’m a SUCKER for a fake marriage / forced proximity book, but this one was a bit far fetched / awkward for me?

I liked the premise of the book, and the FMC was relatable. I enjoyed the overall writing style. it was bingable and was an easy read.

I didn’t vibe with the MMC. I felt like his character wasn’t believable. He’s in his mid 30s and he’s never even had a kiss before? I don’t know… it felt…. far fetched. I felt the spice was REALLY awkward. I know it’s supposed to have that aspect about it, but it just felt very cringey and while i respect it, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The inner monologues were a bit much for me as well… i didn’t feel like there was much of any character growth and there was only sexual tension imo, and no emotional tense or angst grown.

Lastly, i read this via digital AND audio, and as a major audiobook consumer i hated this audio. I don’t feel like the narration was sold at all, and maybe with a different reader it would have been better, but there was no emotionality in the narration at all.

Overall… It wasn’t bad, but i feel like i will forget it rather quickly. It wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yep, a fake marriage/forced proximity rom com that's,,,,,sweet. Connie impulsively identifies as Beck's wife to help him out but as it turns out, they find real feelings for one another, Yep, it's a little predictable but the characters are people we don't often see in this genre-they're both big in size and in personality (once you get to know them)-and they're cool. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
While I adored my first experience with Charlotte Stein, some of my initial doubts were restored with the premise of her second book, which had visceral depictions of bullying (even more than I anticipated based on the CWs), which resulted in me DNFing. However, my faith was restored with the pure fun of My Big Fat Fake Marriage.
I was particularly won over by its charming lead characters. Connie is incredibly relatable, with all her failed dating experiences with Nice Guys who use their “Niceness” to manipulate her. I also loved the focus more on a more body neutral-to-positive stance to fat rep, with it not being the central focus of the narrative, although it is a facet of her identity. She’s a tough cookie, but beneath all that, she’s vulnerable due to all the hurt she’s been through.
And Beck? He’s an absolute golden-retriever cinnamon roll, and while I did feel like the book suffered a bit from not having his POV, I liked seeing him coming into his own, as he’d previously been rather awkward and had to put up a front to hide it. And as she helps him, he also helps her tear down her walls and learn to trust in the goodness of others.
I did have some additional reservations going in, given how tepid I’ve been feeling about fake dating and related tropes lately. But while I did feel like the setup did get a little old as the book went on, the romantic tension was strong enough that I wasn’t bothered too much about the iffy nature of the stakes, and I was able to stop picking at the “structure” of it all and root for them to figure things out.
This was such a fun read, and I’d recommend it to readers in search of a sweet, steamy romance centering plus-size/fat people.

There is something about a golden retriever MMC that just does it for me every time and this was no different with Beck. We have Beck, who is for lack of better words, inexperienced, and Connie, who does not trust the nice guy anymore. They end up in a fake marriage at a writing retreat surrounded by their peers and they must act the parts of a married couple. What could go wrong, right? The chemistry is strong and they cannot seem to keep their attraction at bay, not when they have to share a bed every night. This book was cute, sexy, and funny. This book had me laughing out loud multiple times. This borders on just the right amount of unhinged in my opinion. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC. All opinions are my own.

Instagram post will be live 06Mar25.

So... I absolutely love Charlotte Stein and was elated when approved for this ARC on NetGalley... This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. It's hard to find romance books with positive plus sized main characters, and this book delivered! It had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire time- I never wanted it to end. The ending was everything I wanted it to be and more- although I was *slightly* concerned at around 90%. The book is just a fantastic and quick read.

This book features a MMC with cinnamon roll and golden retriever energy..... times ten. Normally this would annoy me, but Beck is so obviously sincere right from the beginning that I couldn't deny how adorable he is. The FMC is a cinnamon roll acting as a black cat. She's very in her head about a lot of things and carries a lot of romantic doubt, but is quick to defend Beck. In fact, Hazel defends him too well and ends up being his fake wife for a work retreat with his sworn work bully. I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved this book. Fake marriage, friends to lovers, plus size characters- it has it all!

I really tried.

I thought that the change to First person narration would help me like this book more than When Grumpy Met Sunshine.

It did not.

I think it actually made it worse.

This book helped solidify the thought that this author is just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.

The beginning was extremely slow and I almost gave up but I pushed through because of the reviews. I normally do not like romance novels but wanted to still give this one a try because it sounded fun. It wasn't my favorite but I know other readers will enjoy this. I am curious to read others by this author because I enjoyed her writing style.

This one is definitely a slow burn. A little over the top and far-fetched at times but it had good banter. I didn't like the characters that much but I was able to finish the book. I think sometimes the story just got on my nerves.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.