She secretly has a crush on him. He knows she’s off-limits. What happens if they break all the rules?
Presley Windsor is preparing for the new season of American Ninja Champions, leaving her zero time for anything as frivolous as a boyfriend. When someone posts a picture of her trying on a diamond ring with a mystery man, they assume she’s getting engaged. Instead of telling the public it was all a misunderstanding, Presley’s publicist decides this is the perfect launch for her career and confirms the engagement. Things escalate quickly, and the network wants to reveal her fiancé on national TV, leaving Presley scrambling to find someone to play the role long enough for the special to air. Kade Hunter is her brother’s best friend and makes Presley breathless just looking at him. She’s secretly crushed on him, never dreaming he might have a thing for her too. When he volunteers to be her fake fiancé, Presley keeps reminding herself he’s doing it as a favor to her brother. Everything changes after they kiss under the mistletoe, leaving Presley hoping the magic of Christmas will bring her a real fiancé after all.
I love Cindy Roland Anderson's stories and I snagged this one on audio. I loved it every bit as much as I did before! Soooo cute and swoony!
(12/19)Presley is an American Ninja competitor, Princess Warrior, and a mistaken social media post finds her in a situation where she needs a fiance--stat! Kade is only too willing to step in and be that man, but the situation turns out to be more than either of them bargained for.
Secret crushes on a brother's best friend, along with a fake engagement, lead to some very intense swoon with this book. The chemistry showered off the pages like New Year's fireworks and I loved every minute of it. There were some obstacles to overcome, but the deep, mutual respect these characters had for each other, along with a growing adoration and family support, helped them arise to the tasks. My brothers are all younger, but it's fun to imagine if I had an older brother with a hot friend to crush on, so yes, I lived vicariously through Presley in a flashback to the past.
This author's writing style never fails to completely immerse me and I felt like I was a fly on the wall. The characters were fantastically written, both strong yet flawed, and the situations were a combination of heartwarming, hilarious, and realistic. The romantic tension was perfectly captured and captivated me, heart and soul. I couldn't read this one fast enough, but I also didn't want it to end. This is exactly the type of Christmas romance that I love best!
I love fake to real romances and I love this author so this book was a win for me. Presley and Kade know each other so there is a base of friendship which helped all the growing feelings seem more natural. The attraction is obvious with chemistry humming and crackling all over the place. It was so fun. This is set during the Christmas holiday so it was also full of holiday charm and traditions. I really enjoyed this light, fluffy romance.
This was such a sweet and fun holiday romance. I really enjoyed the premise and how Kade and Presley have to pretend to be engaged. What I didn’t count on was how much I’d come to love Kade’s family, just like Presley. So many fun characters and some toe-curling kissing scenes made for a fun and sweet clean romance.
Presley and Kade have been friends for a long time, after all Kade is Presley's brothers best friend. Of course she's noticed the hot firefighter, he's just always been off limits. But he really steps up when she finds herself in need of a fake fiancé. Presley and Kade have a great friendship, it really helps with the whole fake relationship they're having to pull off. I thought they had great chemistry and lots of fun scenes together. I enjoyed the Christmas setting (can be enjoyed any time of the year haha), Kade's family and a dash of drama to keep everyone on their toes. A fun, quick escape. I flew through this one, I love when that happens.
Content: Clean romance, kisses. No language or violence.
I agree with the many good things other reviewers wrote. I found myself eagerly reading to learn what happens next. I found the story entirely believable, and the characters well developed. However, I am hesitant to award the five stars the vast majority of reviewers awarded. I had a hard time visualizing the protagonists and their friends as adults in their mid-twenties. I don't know why, but, as I read, I envisioned young adults aged about nineteen. This visualization plagued me as I read. Additionally, I was disappointed that the conclusion did not reveal any sort of reconciliation between Presley and the Warrior Princess project due to Jillian's widely broadcast take-down just before Kade was to propose. Consequently, I award four-stars for this offering by Cindy Roland Anderson and look forward to reading more of her work.
Romance, clean, contemporary; series but stand alone read Presley and Kade's romance was a series of twists and turns, as they finally acknowledged to themselves, and to each other that they were attracted after Kade agrees to be her fake fiance due to a social media snafu. There were some fun family moments, sweet moments with each other, and of course some drama. Kade's family was so funny! Cute moments with the nieces and nephew's, Presley's honest, sincere personality and character, and of course, Kade's real attraction to her that he finally realized was more than just wanting to date. Loved the ending! So very fun and perfect!
I loved this book, such a fun read. Kade and Presley were so fun. Presley has had a crush on Kade her older brothers best friend for years, she needs a fake fiancee, Kade is playing the part, but will Santa bring Presley what she really wants for Christmas this year??? Good clean romance, 5 star swoon worthy all the way.
This was a great story of Presley & Kade love journey with lots of humor. Presley brother, Travis who has warned all the men at the fire station where he & Kade works that his sister is off limits. Kade has been attracted to her, but Travis is his best friend. Presley has had a crush on him for years. When a picture on social media shows her and a man picking out engagement ring everyone thought she was engaged. Her manager used that to get her an endorsement to the Nijina Warriors show. Kade agreed to be her finacee, so she could get on the show; however, spending time together at his parents home for Christmas changed everything. Then his ex girlfriend showed up, because his mom was determined to get them back together. Poor Kabe he was stressed and frustrated with Jillian being there; however, it made his see how amazing Presley was with the family and his nieces & nephew. Jillian tried to ruin everything when Kabe decided to prospal for real and the scene went viral with Jillian calling Presley out being fake and using Kabe. Presley left and Kabe was devastated. Then Christmas morning at her brothers fiancee parent's house everything she ever dream of came true.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. Kade and Presley had met when her brother went to learn to be a fireman paramedic. Kade was in the same class. When she needs a fake fiance due to social media having a picture of her picking out an engagement ring. The man in the picture could not be clearly seen and was actually her brother picking out a ring to surprise his girlfriend. They had to move up his proposal before letting her know that he was the man in the photo. Meanwhile, Presley's PR person had contacted the TV competition show that Presley had been on and they wanted to film a reenactment of the proposal. But, who could be the fake fiance - Kade was chosen. When they finally kiss for the first time at Kade's folks' cabin, the kiss is very electric. They both started to care for each other. To find out what happens, please read this book.
No happy ending can make up for how much I disliked most of this book. Kade’s mother and ex-girlfriend are both so interfering it makes for a very frustrating read, as Kade never tells them to mind their own business. The whole book is about their interference in his life, just as much as it is about Kade and Presley’s love story. Presley is a ninja warrior and Kade is a firefighter, which I thought was going to add some fun action-type sequences to the story, but the author went nowhere with those potentially interesting backgrounds. Instead we focus entirely on Kade’s ex, who he has no interest in. Blah.
This book was fun, a little late to the party since this is a christmas book lol. I liked the chemistry between Presley and Kade. I love the name Kade and that he's a firefighter. I laughed each time Presley's name came up because I kept reading is as parsley lol. Anyway, I liked it. It had a good amount of drama and nothing too crazy. Aside from the whole faking thing, everyone with the exception of Jillian, was mature about it all. I never understood the whole trying to viciously win back an ex that dumped. I mean he moved on. Get over it.
Story had potential for more but felt a little flat for me.
I hated the fact that Kade’s mother and his ex GF were so disrespectful towards Presley. Their passive aggressive actions were not cute at all, and this was an opportunity for Kade to set his ex gf straight along with his mother, but not once did he stand up for Presley. Not once did he draw a line to defend her or let his family know where he stood in his fake non fake relationship.
The ending was a quick wrap up that left me with questions. Ugh.
This is an entertaining, fun read. Kade and Presley are interesting, complex, relatable, intriguing, entertaining characters. I enjoyed them as individuals and a couple. Their romance was sweet and very fitting for this couple. The secondary characters – especially Kade’s family – added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. There were so many tender moments in this story. I wish we had gotten more from the ending – including answers to a few subplots. The story is easy to read and get into.
I enjoyed the audio version of this book and the narrators.
It was a fun holiday romance! So easy to get to know the characters and what’s not to like with Kade and Presley!? They are just so cute together even though this is a fake engagement. But as they start spending more time together, they soon realize that feelings are starting to be real.
It’s a short story on Audible but so fun to listen! I love that it was different narrators for Kade and Presley’s parts.
I loved everything about this book. The characters, the plot... It had history, drama, forbidden romance, sexual tension, dreams, strong characters... The only thing I did not like was the character Jillian but she's supposed to be unlikable so that worked too. Can't stop ravinv about this
Like reading a Hallmark movie!! I don't usually write reviews but I just had to say how much I enjoyed this one. It had all the "formula" of a Hallmark Christmas movie (and I just love those.). The characters were great and the family interaction was believable and sincere. The ending made me tear up and I can't remember the last time a book had that effect on me. Give it a read; you won't regret it!
Oh yes, this was a wonderful story and well written love story. Cindy is so talented in her way of writing such a beautiful romance. What can I say to this Arthur other than you have such a talent in your descriptive scenes. Thank you for helping us to survive our stay at home time. God Bless You!!
So many things to say! I’ve been desperately seeking a clean and fun fake fiancé story! But one that wasn’t super hallmark like and cheesy! I wanted some tension! The angst! Ah! It so delivered!!! On all those things!! I loved it and can’t wait to read more! I just read most of it in one sitting. So GOOD!
Another cute fake romance story. What starts off as neighbors turns into friends could it turn into more? I love the chemistry between the two main characters. Not your typical fake romance story. Lots of adventure, laughs, and sweet. The narrator did a great job at conveying emotion and keeping you wanting more.
This is definitely a sweet and charming little romance with adorable and heartwarming characters that will steal your heart and have you cheering for their happily ever after moment.
A well written clean Christmas story. Characters are well developed and both H and h are likeable. I don't usually like "fake" relationships but this worked because they had a past history. I would highly recommend it.
Wow! Kade and Presley had some fun banter! I loved how adorable they were. Jillian was terrible, so terrible! But, I loved Kade’s family and their sweet Christmas traditions! The end made me cry a little.
A fun fake fiance romance mixed with a charming Christmas love story that can be enjoyed any time of year. My only disappointment is that it ended way too soon. I wanted to spend more time with these delightful characters!!
Ms. Anderson has done it again. Her Stand-in Fake Fiancé is fun, touching, humorous, and romantic. I could hardly wait for Kade and Presley to figure out their relationship. But Jillian surprised me. And, of course, I love a happy ending.
Very cute and very clean! It was a quick read and I liked that it mentions several things they like about each other besides their attraction for one another, but that is also a very real aspect and I didn’t think it was over done or under done.
It is a wonderful, sexy, clean story of friends to lovers. I enjoyed every aspects and I will definitely be reading more from this author. A must read for my romance readers.