3.5 / 5 stars

This was a fun listen! I love a good little public scandal and "Boobgate" was a solid one. I enjoyed watching Pres and Rach slowly break down each other's walls and fall for each other. And I really liked the way Pres stands up for her at the end, despite any negative attention he might receive and how that would affect his campaign. all in all, a pleasant story!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook!

Rach likes to live her life with a cup half-full kind of attitude. Even when she is sleeping on her ex-boyfriend's couch weeks after they've broken up while he brings home his newest lady.
Until everything gets... interesting. She meets Pres, the grumpy and unlikeable man about to run for mayor. Unfortunately, she also ends up half naked live on tv by accident. Boobgate goes viral and now Pres's PR wants him to use it in order to capitalize on the moment when the first thing that comes out of his mouth is that Rach is his new girlfriend.
Pres wants only to win this election and stay on his current track, Rach just wants to keep her job, but can they keep it going? Can Rach be herself and get the man, or should she really just be faking this until she makes it?

Any book that starts with BoobGate honestly has me, Rach is an incredibly relatable female character that teeters the line of wanting destiny to have hold of her fate and how life will turn out but still wants to be in control even if she doesn't know what she wants. I absolutely loved the sweet romcom vibes while we watch the two of them slowly resist and fail to fall in love. Pres had me laughing out loud the whole book. Amanda has really got Grumpy Sunshine down so well! If you're looking for a rom-com movie feel in the form of a book, then stop! you found it!
I will 100% be re-listening, especially to the last big emotional scene, all the feels!!

Dahlia's narration is also perfectly on point, her cadence and emotion really brings this audio to the perfect place!
Recommend hands down & can't wait to read more by Amanda Gambill!!
I had the chance to listen to the audiobook narrated by Dahlia Summers thanks to Dreamscape and Netgalley in order to give my honest review.

Honestly, I'm Totally Faking It by Amanda Gambill is a contemporary romance by Amanda Gambill featuring Rach, an optimist down-on-her-luck, and Pres, son of the most hated senator in America who is also planning to run for mayoral office. Rach is an assistant to assistants, constantly being belittled when she volunteers to take on the most difficult client in her firm temporarily. Unbeknown to her, Pres is doing a live interview in his office when she accidentally stumbles in on it completely naked. Pres, thinking quick on his feet, jokes that his girlfriend did not know about the interview and "boobgate" is born. The story goes viral and Rach and Pres find that it would benefit both of them if they pretended to fake date until the buzz dies down, but keeping feelings out of the office is harder than they both anticipated.

I liked both of the main characters quite a bit. Rach really does try to see the bright side of everything, but not overly so. Pres is also a slightly grumpy, but very serious statistics guy and Rach brings out his playful, joking side. I did cringe quite a bit at the humor as much of it was based in puns. I did enjoy much of the dialogue between Rach and Pres, they had great banter and brought out the best in each other. Pres truly is a modern-day Mister Darcy as he can be fussy, decorous, and serious, but he was also romantic and a chivalrous hero. The ending to the climax really was the best1

I will say that the physical development in their relationship was very sudden and was very close to lacking verbal consent. Not to say there was not consent, but one character was very suddenly performing romantic physical attentions on the other person without checking if it was okay. The other person showed through their actions it was okay, but it could have been in borderline assault territory since it was so very sudden and forceful. It was a little ick.

Speaking on the bedroom scenes, there were several but the descriptions were not terribly deep, somewhat surface level. If someone were reading this for the spicy scenes, they will probably be disappointed here. This is definitely more of a light and fun rom com.

There are definitely some borderline moustache twirling villians in this book, sort of 2000's era shallow bad guys a la The Devil Wears Prada, but it sort of felt with the vibe of the book, so it wasn't totally out of place.

I would recommend this for someone who wanted to read a contemporary bodice-ripper as this is what this truly felt like! There was classism, "I-can't-be-with-you-because-of-our-social-curcumstances vibes, political intrigue, social faux pas, and a heroine we can root for!

The book was written well. I don't want to take away from that. But, I could not stand how naive the FMC was. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you for allowing me to listen and review.

I absolutely loved this book! Honestly, I'm totally faking it by Amanda Gambill was an absolute treat.

I love a good fake dating romance and this was the perfect book. I loved the narration in this audiobook. I thought the narrators truly brought life to the characters and the story. It added to the story and made it more interactive and fun. I found myself laughing and smiling while listening. I really did enjoy the audiobook and would highly recommend it. The story of itself was so much fun. Rach finds herself a new job to prove she's going somewhere in life after a pretty bad breakup but when she realizes that the man she's working for is not a stuffy old man and in fact the hot and younger man, Pres, that she met at an event under alias, and finds herself in a silly situation which leads to her and Pres fake dating while he is running for senator. I loved the sunshine and grumpy dynamic. She's such a ball of sunshine and looks at the bright side of things despite having a difficult past and he's so type A but with her breaking down his walls, they both fall hard for each other. This was such a fun, steamy, cute and swoony fake dating romance. I would definitely read this again!

Rach has a perpetual round trip ticket on the hot mess express (complimentary, because same). She agrees to become the temporary personal assistant for a notoriously persnickety client who she was led to believe is a boomer Senator. She discovers that her client is in fact said senator’s hot son the hard way: While thinking she was at her client’s home alone, she decided to shower away the storm she was caught in to be presentable for an interview with a prospective housekeeping applicant. Believing she accidentally left the television in his office on the day before, she moseys over to turn it off immediately upon exiting the shower, walking directly into a live televised interview with her real employer, accidentally flashing her boobs to the entire nation…oh and also her boss turns out to be the hot guy she propositioned for a one night stand while running an errand at an event.

Pres is a political consultant, the son of a conservative senator, and future progressive mayoral hopeful. He thrives on control and will not settle for anything less than perfection. When the woman he met in the alley at an event turns up naked in his office causing what the media later dubs “Boobgate”, he does the first thing that comes to mind and claims that she is his girlfriend. To improve his stuffy political image, his PR rep suggests that they fake date for the foreseeable future until he announces his candidacy.

This book was first published a few years ago, but I received an ARC of the audiobook which is released on September 24th...and I don’t think I could have loved it more. I’m always skeptical of the power balance in employer/employee tropes, but this book handled it perfectly and it was delicious. Pres is a mega grump, and Rach is eternally optimistic because of the shit hand of cards she’d been dealt in life, but they balanced each other out so incredibly. He refused to let her discount herself, and she opened his eyes to a completely new perspective. If you need a not too serious but super sexy political rom com, this is the book.

PS The narrator was 🤌🏼 And for all of my speed reading girlies, she was still so good when sped up a smidge.

Easily a 5 ⭐️ read for me.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for a copy of this ARC via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

I want to start by saying that I really enjoyed the narration and thought the audiobook was very well done.
This book was simply adorable. It starts with a series of hilarious events that lead Pres and aspiring politician and Rach his assistant to need to fake date. The fake dating trope can feel overdone but this is book is so funny and enjoyable that I feel it breaths new life into this trope. Pres took sometime for me to warm up to but once he did I was sold. rach is the quirky down on her luck assistant to the assistant who helps Pres become more relatable. The book has great character development! Highly recommend

Thank you Netgalley, dreamscape media and the author for the alc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. This far exceeded my expectations and so glad I gave it a try will be one of my favorites of September for sure. The author has a bit of a backlist excited to read some.

4.5/5☆

This was sooo good one of my fave audio book arcs of had this year.

The narrator dahlia summers was great I’ve listened to her narrations a few times and she is so talented.

Amanda got this book so right on so many levels for a rom com.
I got total ‘2 weeks notice’ vibes with high grant and Sandra bullock.
It was funny I was laughing out loud.

Pres has that awkward ‘I come from money and has been sheltered his whole life’ personality. I mean him going to a shop to pick up groceries is a major adventure and traumatic all at the same time. Him trying analyse and understand why bacon and eggs are not on the same aisle baffles him completely.

Raych is a happy go lucky character with her works falling down around her and she still finds light where ever she goes.

The chemistry was perfect 👌
Spice was just enough.
The development and growth in the characters was just amazing.

Thank you netgalley, dreamscape media and Amanda gambill for the audio book arc in exchange for an honest review!

Just beautiful
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'd love this audiobook - both well written and well performed. I found the plot so funny - the circumstances that bring Rach and Pres together were really engaging. I love the grumpiness of Pres, and the contrast to Rach so good too - they're a great grumpy sunshine couple. I really liked how the story developed too - it went in a way I wasn't expecting. I've never read a politically based book before - but really like how this played out in the book! The audiobook was so entertaining too - I found myself laughing at multiple points from the performance!

Would recommend!!!

This was honestly another great political romance. I’ve been on a political romance kick for a while now, who would have thought this this would become a sub genre. Anyways this is definitely one of my top fav’s, it had unabashed nudity, a grumpy hero, fake dating, angst, and a lovable heroine. I think someone needs to come up with a cute name for the political romance genre, maybe polimance, romitical, I’ll keep working on it.

3.5/5It was cute and funny. I loved the banter. It wasn’t anything extraordinary. But I enjoyed it a lot. Narration was good.

I don't usually connect with many female narrators but they did an excellent job here. I loved listening to this ARC.

This was a great grumpy/sunshine with a chaotic optimist and a stubborn grump. I loved the interaction between the two. I loved her 'nothing to lose' attitude due to their circumstance (it allowed her to be bold and honest when he was surrounded by yes men). Such a great micro trope. I was also surprised how much I liked his casual...bossiness...when he wasn't being the boss hehe

Absolute recommend for a quick, fun read.

Thank you so much to the author, Dreamscape and Netgalley for this audiobook. I am leaving my review both voluntarily and honestly.

"I'd always wondered what it meant when someone kept their real smile hidden. Now I wondered what it meant if someone kept it reserved for just one person."

Pres and Rach are super cute & both are super clueless in the love department. They are perfect for each other!

Rach is a down-on-her-luck, happy-go-lucky kind of lady. Sure, she may work as an assistant to personal assistants, crash on her ex-boyfriend’s couch, and hide a whole secret past. But, mostly, things are great.
Until she:
Meets Pres, an aspiring politician, certified Capricorn, and a definitely “unlikable” dude (he knows, he had a poll done on it).
Accidentally goes viral at the same time. The internet is calling it “Boobgate.”
His PR person says they should capitalize on the fame. Pres only wants to win an election. And Rach, well, she really just wants to keep her job.
Now, she must decide if she can be herself and get the guy, too, or if faking it until you make it is all it’s cracked up to be…

Thanks to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for the ALC of this book!

Honestly, I'm Totally Faking It
By: Amanda Gambill
Narrated by: Dahlia Summers
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Release date: 09-24-24

A great fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, funny and emotional read paired with fantastic writing. Rach and Pres were opposites but together they were magic. I loved both MCs backstory they were fully developed and well written.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for allowing me access to this audiobook of Honestly, I'm totally faking it by Amanda Gambil. It'll be released on September 24 and we follow Rach, a carefree, down-on-her-luck woman who accidentally goes viral in a scandal dubbed "Boobgate" while meeting Pres, an aspiring politician who's determined to win an election. Their unlikely connection turns into a PR-fueled partnership, with Rach navigating the chaos of internet fame while trying to keep her job. It's witty and fun and I honestly had a very cool time with these characters! Love the banter! The narrator did a good job and I liked her voice.