A reclusive former celebrity, a recovering good girl, and small town trouble…
It started as a joke. After a string of bad boyfriends, I made up a fake boyfriend so people would quit asking when I was going to meet a grumpy lumberjack trying to save his mama’s inn in my adopted hometown.
When my grandma demanded proof from afar, I sent her a picture of me and my “boyfriend.”
Spoiler alert: He wasn’t really my boyfriend.
He was actually a reclusive former boy band member who swings through town sometimes and is friends with my friends.
As much as a reclusive former boy bander can be friends with anyone, that is.
He doesn’t know I told anyone he’s my boyfriend. Or that his name is Steve. Or that my grandma judges him by his tattoos and manbun.
So when Grandma sends the guy she’d rather me marry to town to make sure “Steve” is good enough for me—and to talk me into marrying him instead—I have something of a problem.
But I got myself into this mess, so I’ll get myself out.
By proposing.
Relax, relax, I’m proposing a fake wedding.
And when he turns me down, I can say we broke up.
Except he doesn’t turn me down.
Instead, he offers me a trade.
He’ll pretend to be my groom, but I have to do something for him in return.
And that something?
Hoooo, boy.
I liked the man better when he was my pretend boyfriend Steve.
The Pretend Fiancé Fiasco is an action-packed romcom featuring the reclusive final member of the boy band Bro Code, a recovering good girl with too many men interested in her for all the wrong reasons, a treasure hunt, a fake engagement, and the best surprise to hit the Copper Valley universe since the Fireballs’ new mascot was revealed. This small town romantic comedy stands alone, but you wouldn’t go wrong to read both the Copper Valley Bro Code and Copper Valley Fireballs series, along with Dirty Talking Rival, to catch all of the easter eggs.
This book was so much fun but bittersweet since it’s the end of a series I love, one that introduced me to the author no less and she’s become an absolute favorite. But though I’m sorry to see it end, it couldn’t have had a better ending than Davis and Sloane’s story. She’s relatively new to her adopted hometown but quickly fell in love with the history, even if she’s never believed in the mystery of the pirate’s treasure as so many do. Sloane escaped an abusive family and their suffocating religion, but though she avoids visiting, her grandmother never stops trying to get her to return.
A woman should be married and having babies, according to grandmother, so she’s relentless in pressuring her granddaughter to do the “right” thing and come back. Sloane has no intention of going back so she invented a fake fiancé to get her family off of her back. She even took some photos of a reclusive sometimes-local whom she has met, but doesn’t really know, sending them to her family in an attempt to shut down the pressure. It was the perfect plan, until it blew up in her face.
Davis is the recluse who frequents Shipwreck and although they’ve met, he’s surprised to learn about his role as Sloane’s betrothed. He’s willing to play along if she helps him find the treasure, the one that doesn’t exist in her opinion. Sure, it’s an odd request but no stranger than a fake fiancé and a mock wedding so she agrees.
This a steamy slow-burn with mystery, bad guys, treasure (maybe) and a bit of suspense and I couldn’t get enough. This can be read as a standalone, but it will be a lot more fun if you’ve read the whole series, I promise. I’d like to thank the author and Give Me Books PR for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
