Fake the Date is the first book in the ‘Love Wins’ series. It stars Ben and Evan. This is told in first person from both Ben and Evan’s povs.
2.5 Stars
This is a fluffy, quick read about a fake boyfriend at a destination wedding. The blurb does a basic job of explaining what the plot is about. Pretty much it’s about the sexual tension between Ben and Evan, overbearing parents, and a subplot of hidden treasure that is just filler for the story. Ben has a crush on Evan, but Evan is straight or so Evan insists.
A few things I didn’t like about the writing, was it was simplistic, more like a New Adult, rather than Adult, read. There was too much monologue, and both men’s voices sounded the same. The only way to tell them apart was by their mannerisms. Numerous times I had to go back and check the title designation which told whose pov the chapter was in. There was a lot of repetitive dialogue on Ben and Evan’s part. Ben reminding himself he shouldn’t fall for a straight guy, and Evan would never want an ordinary guy like him. Evan kept insisting he was straight to himself, to Ben and to people on Instagram. The repetition could have been removed and made the book flow better. There was also this strange habit of while in either Ben or Evan's pov, they'd mention how they knew what the other person was thinking and then explaining it. There's no way they'd know that. It was used as a crutch by the author to convey information by 'telling' instead of showing the information. There was too much telling so I couldn't emphasize with the MC's. Ben’s mother was the typical b****h in an M/M story which I don’t like. There wasn’t any nuance to her character.
As to Ben and Evan. Evan has an Instagram account on fitness. He also seems to like attention and talks too much about personal stuff involving Ben. Evan insists he’s straight but eventually realizes he’s bi. I got the feeling that he didn’t necessarily like that idea. If he could be straight, he’d have preferred that, but because he was attracted to Ben, he was bi, but never had sex with a man. Evan struck me as superficial, but more confident and extroverted than Ben. He did stand up for Ben, which was a good trait Evan had. Ben was an introvert, a virgin, and acquiesced to his parents’ demands. He liked the money his parents gave him to live on, but didn’t like the lack of freedom making his own decisions. Once Ben and Evan got together, Ben grew more confident and finally stood up to his mother. That was a good influence Evan had on Ben. I couldn’t believe in the two as a pair. The writing felt forced to make them a couple.
Overall, Fake the Date was an okay read. I liked their dog, Toto, Ben’s sister Charlie, along with Aunt Rosy, the best. Which says something if I don’t care that much for the main characters and prefer the side characters. I’d like to give this story 2.5 stars, but since I can’t, I’ll give it, 3 Stars, but I wouldn’t recommend it, nor would I read it again.