Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I DNFed this book at 50%. However, I have read enough of it to provide appropriate feedback.
This book follows our two main characters, Lexi and Will, who find themselves in an awkward situation. Everyone thinks they're engaged! While Lexi works her second job as a waitress, a group of her old high school friends stop by. After seeing them for the first time in years, Lexi doesn't want them to think she has led an unsuccessful life. But after her friends mistake Will, a patron of the restaurant, for her hunky boyfriend, things spiral from there. With neither Will nor Lexi being in a place where they can have a long-term relationship, will these two crazy kids end up together or just as a one-time fling?
Let me start with the things I liked about the book.
-It's set in Seattle. That's cool. I, too, am a PNW girly, and I love Seattle. It's always fun to see it represented.
-I like Will's friends. They seem nice.
And that's it. I wish it wasn't, but there just was not enough in this book to keep my interest.
Moving into the dislikes.
-It was crazy to know that Lexi is in her late 20s and still obsessed with high school. Why would she care what these people think? There is literally a line in the book that says, "Maybe there is life after high school and heartbreak." I cackled when I read that because it is an insane thing for someone close to 30 to think. Lexi has been out of High school for almost a decade. I'm pretty sure most people stop thinking about it as soon as they graduate. This immediately makes her feel very childish and unsympathetic to me.
-When describing this book to people, I often say it feels like something I would read in High school and be super excited about. It just matches what a 16-year-old thinks about people in their late 20s. There's even a moment where one of her old friends talks about making partner at her law firm. PARTNER. OF A LAW FIRM. BEFORE 30. That's crazy and so unrealistic. A quick Google search confirms that making a partner happens much later. I know this is a small detail, but it really threw me.
-Now, I don't mind fake dating I would even say I enjoy it. But we can all admit that the way the couple enters fake dating is always a little cringe and contrived. Because how could it not be, right? People don't find themselves in fake dating relationships this often. So my one rule for the 'fake dating inciting incident' is that even if it's cringe, it has to be kind of silly and fun. This book fails at that pretty hard. It is only cringey. I cannot fathom why Lexi would not correct these people nor why Will would have any interest in this charade. The whole scene is uncomfortable and deeply unbelievable. If Will weren't a random stranger and maybe a regular that she occasionally flirted with or had some kind of repertoire with, it would make this scene a little better and more believable. But he's a complete stranger who's had his order messed up, and a drink spilled on him. In what world is this man going to bat for this woman?
-The two main characters have absolutely no chemistry. The banter is stilted and rarely funny. And every conversation these two had was roughly the same thing. Both character's inner thoughts were wildly repetitive.
-The escalation from fake dating to fake engagement was crazy. It felt like whiplash, and I could not figure out why her friends would have made that mistake when they first showed up at that party. There was nothing from their first meeting to suggest that these two people were engaged. Why would they think that? Better yet, why would Lexi and Will go with it? And WHY would they repeat the lie later? I cannot understand the logic of this book.
-Lexi and Will are way too into each other for people who barely know each other. Lexi is weirdly possessive, and Will is way too into it.
Outside of the above-listed things, there were several inconsistencies that I will chalk up to being an ARC, but I'll still mention them in case some of them were on purpose.
-When Lexi takes a fry from Will's plate, she describes it as tasking like sawdust, yet everyone ever in this book says the food at this restaurant is good. So why does the fry taste bad?
-When we first meet Lexi's mom, she refers to her as both mom and Gwen. This was so confusing that I thought a third person was in the room. She does this later in the book as well and I would highly advise the author to pick one and not have them both.
-When Will has his little sister over to the house, he offers her a bottle of water, but a couple of paragraphs later, a sentence says he took a sip of his pop. He is not drinking pop.
Overall, this book feels half-baked and lacks all of the charm needed to be a fun fake dating rom-com.