This was so sweet! A lovely romance.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It had one of my favorite tropes (fake relationship) and I thought the author did a good job with it. I thought the characters were great and entertaining, especially Beck. He was so adorable and had major golden retriever energy. Who doesn't like a lovable, nerdy MMC? Connie felt relatable too. She's the black cat here and I totally understood her hesitance when it came to believing in love. I think a lot of readers will relate to her. These two were simply adorable. The chemistry was there and the banter was fun. We also get a one bed trope too which is always a delight.

If you need a fluffy romcom to brighten your day, I'd recommend this one. This one is a lot of fun!

My Big Fat Fake Marriage was all around a light, fluffy, and adorable read! Perfect for those looking for something that will hook them quick, make them giggle, and give them all the feel goods. Fantastic!

Such an adorable romance with plenty of representation! I could not put this book down once upon starting it and I cannot wait to see what else Charlotte Stein writes because this was absolutely beautiful.

I love seeing larger bodies represented in love stories. However with that said i found it hard to really get invested in these characters and the writing felt a little disjointed for me. The story wasn't bad but it wasn't great.

“Connie has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—editor extraordinaire, lover of bow ties, sweet and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.”

I had never read anything by Charlotte Stein before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me. I felt like I was eavesdropping on an uncomfortable conversation right in the middle of it.

I didn’t get a good history of the characters so I didn’t get a sense of who they were. As other reviewers have mentioned, there was so much dialogue but minimal description.

While I love the dating/fake marriage trope, this one did not do it for me. However, I still appreciate NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book.

This book was a light, fluffy, and quick read. Definitely go into this book suspending your disbelief, because our ML is so outlandish and unreal.
The spicy scenes and the banter between our leads made up for some of the issues I had with the book. I feel like the female lead wasn’t fully fleshed out and I didn’t know much about her, other than she has been constantly burned by “nice guys” in the past and that she wants to be a writer. The transitions throughout felt a bit rushed as well.
If you like a fake marriage romance with a super green flag ML, I say to give this one a try!

My Big Fat Fake Wedding is a sweet, funny, and heartwarming romance that delivers all the feel-good vibes you’d want in a romcom. Hazel and Beck’s journey from strangers to fake spouses to something real is filled with humor, awkward moments, and genuine emotional growth.

Hazel is a relatable and flawed heroine, fiercely guarded due to her rough past and convinced all men are bad news. While her cynicism about men feels a little over the top at times, Beck’s wholesome, sweet nature slowly breaks down her walls in the most endearing way. Their chemistry is undeniable, and their flirty banter will leave you grinning. Beck, with his awkward and almost-too-perfect charm, is a refreshing change from the usual romance heroes.

The fake relationship trope is executed wonderfully here, especially when Hazel impulsively steps into the role of Beck’s pretend wife to help him at a work retreat. The story thrives on their awkward yet electric connection, and while miscommunication moments can be frustrating, the payoff is absolutely worth it.

The plot stays focused on Hazel and Beck’s relationship, with minimal distraction from side characters or subplots. The shift from wholesome and funny to steamy about two-thirds in might catch some readers by surprise, but the spice is well-written and satisfying.

This book isn’t perfect—some aspects feel a bit thin or overly idealistic—but it’s exactly the kind of fluffy, lighthearted romance that makes for a great pick-me-up. If you’re in the mood for a swoony, laugh-out-loud romcom with a lot of heart, My Big Fat Fake Wedding is a delightful choice! Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC and the publisher St. Martin’s press for the gifted copy.

A really delightful read! A lot of “squee” throughout, as the challenges the characters face could be clunky in the hands of a less skillful writer, but Charlotte Stein makes everything feel grounded and organic.

Review posted to StoryGraph and Goodreads on 2/17/25. Review will be posted to Amazon upon release.

Oh bravo! Hazel and Beck are everything I could want from a couple. Everyone in Hazel’s life thinks she’s this confident big personality but she’s calculated and trying her best to hide the things she thinks no one would like about her. She knows what “nice guys” are like and when her neighbor Beck keeps doing all these nice, kind things for her she’s got her guards up. Beck is the most delightful cinnamon roll who is also a giant teddy bear. People underestimate him and think he’s old fashioned. When Beck finds himself the target of a work colleague he tells a lie that he has a wife and doesn’t know how to get out of it. When Hazel meets this work colleague she quickly finds herself identifying as Beck’s wife and shenanigans ensue on a writer’s retreat.
This book has a plus banter, steamy scenes that will make you reach for a glass of water, and a couple who sees each other exactly as they are and accepts each other. I loved this book so much and found myself laughing out loud at times. Charlotte Stein has done it again. She’s quickly becoming an auto-buy author for me

Title: My Big Fat Fake Marriage
Author: Charlotte Stein        
Genre: Romance       
Rating: 3 out of 5 

Connie has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—editor extraordinaire, lover of bow ties, sweet and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.

Until Henry Samuel Beckett—or Beck, as he’s known to most—tells her the secret underneath his sunny surface: He’s been single all his life. But in a moment of panic, he’s told everyone at his publishing house that he’s married. And when Connie, an aspiring writer herself, can’t help defending him, she ends up being the fake wife he doesn’t actually have.

When they head off on a writing retreat, surrounded by people convinced this must be a ruse, both of them can't help but agree. Until they share their first kiss, their first touch, their first time in only one bed. Side by side, every night, as the simmering tension builds…Connie starts to wonder if this might be real after all.

I have to be honest:  this felt like a badly-disguised, cliched bit of porn. The characters felt more like tropes than actual people—Connie/not really Connie and her extreme skepticism of all men, Beck’s nerdy/oblivious personality—without much of a believable explanation as to why, so I could buy into the whole thing. This just really wasn’t a good fit for me.

Charlotte Stein’s new novel is My Big Fat Fake Marriage.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 3/7).

I honestly had a hard time getting through this book. I was looking forward to the nice guy/cinnamon roll and opposites attract! But the dialoge between the characters was a little cringe at times, and really took the enjoyment out of it for me. I also had a hard time following along with the FMC train of thought sometimes. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but I did struggle.

My Big Fat Fake Marriage by Charlotte Stein is an absolute delight—fun, flirty, and filled with sizzling chemistry. The fake marriage trope is executed to perfection, with plenty of banter, emotional depth, and just the right amount of chaos to keep things interesting. The spice level is off the charts, making every interaction between the leads electric, yet the story never loses its heart. Stein balances humor and heat effortlessly, delivering a romance that’s as swoon-worthy as it is steamy. A must-read for anyone who loves their rom-coms extra spicy!

Woof, DNF for me.

I read When Grumpy Met Sunshine as an ARC and absolutely loved it, How To Feed a Hungry Werewolf and thought it was good, and now this as an ARC and it just fell completely flat for me. I'm so disappointed because this was a highly anticipated read for me this year and every trope in it is one of my favorites (one bed, fake marriage, forced proximity, cinnamon roll MMC) but I could not get over how much he sounded like Ned Flanders and just the...ridiculousness of the inner monologuing of our FMC. I couldnt get into her headspace or the way she thought whatsoever, not to mention the over the top reaction of her friend/friends partner? Unfortunate.

Hoping this isn't going to be how books are from this author now as my interest/enjoyment seems to have gone down with each book

I’ve read some funny rom-coms before, but this one had me laughing out loud so dang much!! It was sweet, hilarious, and ooh so spicy! Connie and Beck are different from any characters I’ve read before. Beck is a super sweet cinnamon roll, and Connie is a feisty baddie! Such a fun read. I could feel the nervous energy of the characters flying off the page. Includes your favorite tropes: forced proximity, one bed, and, duh! Fake “dating” (well, marriage for this one). Now I need to go back and read the first book in the series (can be standalone, but characters are referenced from the first book).

I wanted to love this book, but it fell a little flat for me.

There were a lot of really cute moments! I loved the opposites attract flipped on its head - where the FMC is more ‘experienced’, and the MMC falls into more of the pushover, unexperienced trope.

Unfortunately, I found the characters and their dialogue to be a little cringey. It was hard to read at times - it felt like they were characterchures of themselves. There was way too much of ‘no you’re too nice you definitely don’t mean this!’. Also, the FMC referred to the MMC as hairy several times - while to each their own, it was brought up so many times I found it off-putting.

Why are these Charlotte Stein contemporary rom-coms so good?! I love her heroes so much - they are just totally gone for their heroines, and this was no exception. I don't even care that he was a virgin, but was so great in bed and had such a mouth on him - it just worked for me, it didn't need to make sense. Forever and ever will want to read any of these that Charlotte Stein puts out.

This was my first book by Charlotte Stein so I had no idea what to expect. It was a bit of a slow starter for me and I was having trouble connecting with Connie. I loved Be k immediately and hung in there just for him. Once they got to the writer’s retreat and Connie embraced her real self, I warmed up to her a lot. I loved Beck and Hazel’s banter and yowza, this one gets hot! Quite a lot of very well written spice in the second half of the book.

Connie has never met a nice man she could trust. Yes, not a believer in happily ever after.
Beck is a nice man that’s never been in love. Awkward, Nerdy, yet desperately seeking happily ever after.

The writing style took me a bit to get used to reading. The premise was interesting, but a lot of points were far-fetched to me.

Beck is a nice guy that Connie sees often in her building, obviously she doesn’t trust him because he is nice. She thinks he is married, but he divulges that it is fake. Later, Connie blurts out that she is his wife. A Fake Marriage is created and the story develops.

The back and forth banter between Connie and Beck keeps you reading and interested.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the complimentary eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a very fun, fluffy read, but it didn't have quite enough substance for me. I don't expect my romances to have a ton of plot, but this novel felt far more like a short story's worth of content with a novel's amount of conversation/dialogue between the characters. I loved the premise (fake dating/marriage between a cinnamon roll and cynic), and what we did get of their interactions were fun and sweet. The banter between the characters was fun, particularly when they wrote or emailed each other, but there were times when Beck's cheesy charm just felt like too much for me. I loved his Ted Lasso wholesomeness, but some of the phrases he used came off as cringey and definitely took me out of the moment. The steam was surprisingly spicy for Beck's character, and I loved all of it (even if the dirty talk did come off as somewhat childish at times). Overall, this was not my favorite romance, but I did enjoy it and I could overlook some of the plot holes/cringe because it was just very fun and sweet. I genuinely do love the premise, and I think Beck's character was a great change of pace from the norm in romance currently, but I wish they had maybe toned down the "aw, shucks" dialogue choices for him. I would still recommend this for someone who just wants a fun time, and I am still excited to see what Stein does in the future, but it's probably only a 3/5 for me because of the above.

Thanks to NetGalley, Stein, and St. Martin's Griffin for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed 2/14/25 on Goodreads.

I DNF"d this book so I don't necessarily have helpful feedback. I linked it in general, but I never got hooked in by the plot and had other books I wanted to prioritize more.