4.5 stars

I may sound like a broken record, but can publishers please stop calling every single new Romance book a rom-com? There is nothing com about this rom. Not to say it’s completely gloomy, but I was not laughing. Pockets of joy and happiness do not equal comedy. If you’re someone who needs/wants trigger warnings, this story delves quite deeply into grief. The grief of a young woman who unexpectedly loses her dad. The grief of that woman’s mom and the way it causes her to withdraw from society. It may be a fantastic book, but it’s not a rom-com! At least the description of the book mentions the father’s death and the mom’s grief, so I’ll give them that.

Almost four years ago I read my first book by this author and even went so far as to put her on a list of favorite new-to-me authors. Of course, I have read nothing from her since that time. SMH. This book reminded me why I loved Ten Rules for Faking It so much. This author can write chemistry. I was hooked on the connection between Lexi and Will before they even knew each other’s names.

Listen, from experience, I know not everyone can be a great server. I can waitress in small, slow-moving venues. Other than that I get anxious and forgetful. I can chat up customers and put them at ease when there is no rush, once there are more than a few people to keep up with I’m frazzled. I felt that in the first chapter of this book. The author did a great job of getting that feeling across. It was almost too good because I was getting anxious while reading it! But it led to Lexi and Will meeting and joining forces to get her out of a sticky situation, which showed Will’s kind heart right from the get-go.

This couple goes from fake dating to fake engaged in a heartbeat and quite by accident. Instead of setting the record straight, they go with it. How do you break up a fake engagement when you are both interested in dating each other? Especially when one of you makes the society pages regularly. It’s fake dating with a twist. Of course, they fall in love along the way, but they are interested in each other from the very beginning and don’t hide that from one another.

Not only did I enjoy watching Lexi and Will fall more and more for each other, but I also loved watching Lexi and her mom come out from beneath the cloud they’d been under since her dad’s death. There is still a lot of work to do, especially for her mom, but they are making strides. Lexi learns to love herself for who she is, not who everyone thinks she is. Lexi and Will are both the type to take care of everyone around them, only Will seems to know how to do that without making himself feel as though he isn’t worth the same energy and love. There is a ton of growth for all the characters and I love how self-image and the image the world sees are dealt with in this book.

I cannot let myself go another 4 years before reading more from Sophie Sullivan. Now I have to go back and read what I’ve missed over those years.

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**

Such a cute, quick, fall read to add to your TBR