Caught in a Bad Fauxmance
Elle Gonzalez Rose
A fresh, fun contemporary rom-com from debut author Elle Gonzalez Rose, about an aspiring artist who agrees to fake date one of his family’s longtime enemies in the hopes of gathering intel good enough to take down their rivals once and for all. Devin Baez is ready for a relaxing winter break at Lake Andreas. That is, until he runs into his obnoxious next-door neighbors the Seo-Cookes, undefeated champions of the lake’s annual Winter Games. In the hope of finally taking down these long-time rivals, the Baezes offer up their beloved cabin in a bet. Reckless? Definitely. So when annoyingly handsome Julian Seo-Cooke finds himself in need of a fake boyfriend, Devin sees an opportunity to get behind enemy lines and prove the family plays dirty. As long as Devin and Julian’s families are at war, there’s only room for loathing between them. Which is a problem because, for Devin, this faux game of love is feeling very real.
Publication Year: 2023
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0- I‘m always a sucker for fake dating
- better yet if it‘s rivals/enemies-to-lovers that have to fake the relationship
- Devon and Julian opening up and getting to know each other and consequently realising that maybe the other isn‘t all that bad (aka the sweet sweet part of the enemies-to-lovers/fake dating trope)
- I liked the conversations about struggling to decide what to do after school. Very much relatable
- the thing with the decade long rivalry was pretty unrealistic. <spoiler>If someone stole an idea of mine and got rich off of it, I don‘t think a cute little rivalry around a family game with little pranks sprinkled in would be the logical consequence. </spoiler>
- Maya‘s behaviour was making me mad mad. She was behaving like a 12-year-old. She pretty much annoyed me for most of the book.
- <spoiler>the making up was way too fast and easy for what Julian did imo</spoiler>
02024 reads: 57/250
2024 tbr: 30/120
devin baez is looking forward to a relaxing winter break at lake andreas, even though it may be his last. his family has made a bet with the seo-cookes, their longtime rivals, that whichever family wins the winter games gets to keep the baezes’ lake house. when julian seo-cooke offers a fake dating scheme to get back at an ex, devin reluctantly takes it, figuring he can at least gain insider information into how the seo-cookes win every year. what he’s not expecting is to fall for julian, despite their history.
this was such a fun book! i liked reading about all the pranks the baezes and seo-cookes have pulled on each other over the years, though they did get progressively cruel. i’m a sucker for rivals-to-lovers AND fake dating, so you know i adored the relationship between devin and julian. overall, i thought this was a great debut, and i can’t wait to read more from the author.
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