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A laugh-out-loud funny and whip-smart romantic comedy from the author of The Shaadi Set-Up, about a young woman who takes the place of her celebrity doppelgänger, and must fake-date the actress’s sexy costar boyfriend. Writer Freya Lal has a huge secret: she’s a dead ringer for It-girl actress Mandi Roy. Her second novel is due in a month, but inspiration is nowhere to be found. Desperate to shake off her writer’s block, Freya leans into her look-alike abilities and indulges in some mistaken identity for simple perks, like scoring a free mimosa or getting into a trendy nightclub. Actor Taft Bamber appears to have it all: gorgeous, talented, and Mandi’s love interest both on- and off-screen. But what nobody knows is that their relationship is a PR stunt, and after years of playing make-believe, he’s yearning for something real. When Freya’s latest impersonation of Mandi goes viral thanks to Taft’s accidental interference, rumors of a breakup threaten Hollywood’s golden couple. To make amends, Freya is forced to give Mandi a little time off: she’ll pretend to be the actress for a month, move in with Taft, and squash the rumors by acting completely in love. But as Freya and Taft play house, it becomes impossible to ignore that their instant chemistry isn’t just for the cameras. While faking it, they might have just found the real thing.
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“Opportunity doesn’t knock so much as bowl into the bookshop”
Ooo it's a meet-cute! That was my first thought as I read this line. Here is the first encounter of our two romantic leads, but sometimes what we dream of in our heads doesn’t exactly turn out the way we hoped in real life.
“My mom, Anjali, passed away shortly before my book published. I would have never have believed I could write a book if she hadn’t encouraged me every step of the way.”
Freya’s number one cheerleader is no longer in her life and that has created a dip in her self-confidence. She struggles to create another book as she deals with the loss & grief of her mom’s passing. Sometimes we lose the belief in ourselves when those who were the voice in our ears, telling us we could do or be anything are no longer whispering support.
“...Has anyone ever said his name like that before?....It’s not just physical attraction. He relishes the quiet intimacy, the precariousness of their situation. Dangling over a cliff’s edge, teetering toward a fall.”
As Freya & Taft pretend to be a couple (as Mandi & Taft) they are both fighting an instinctual & highly magnetic pull that is blurring the lines of what is real and what is an act. They are both (but Taft mainly because he cares about others feelings way too much) torturing themselves by not giving into a growing attraction that is plain to see.
0Fake dating and celebrity romance are both two of my favorite guilty (but not that guilty) pleasure tropes, so I was excited to see both showing up in The Decoy Girlfriend's synopsis. I just wish I loved the end result as much as I'd been hoping to. I expect a certain amount of suspension of disbelief - surely this isn't the kind of situation that happens very often, and that's fine! I'm reading a romance novel, not a memoir - but too many of the set-ups and situations protagonists Freya and Taft find themselves in felt contrived and forced. More than that, though, I didn't feel like they built up any real, organic, deep relationship with one another, as they even play a "ten secrets" game to get to know one another better. The relationship's focus is much more on their mutual physical attraction, which struck me as kind of funny in a book where she's nearly identical to the woman he's definitely absolutely for sure NOT interested in and has to pretend he is. That might be more other readers' cup of tea, but it just isn't my thing.
I also didn't think either character really grew or developed or changed much, except a bit superficially, and the whole thing just felt a little...under-developed? Insubstantial? Flimsy? The side characters, too, were barely realized. Some fun writing, and a few lines I specifically highlighted as lovely descriptions of love or attraction, but mostly a rather shallow iteration of this particular type of romance.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy!
0I love a good fake dating story, and this one was stellar. Freya is a writer, struggling to overcome imposter syndrome and writer’s block to finish her second novel, and she uses her uncanny resemblance of a Hollywood sweetheart to her advantage, until it all comes to a head being discovered by the actress.
That puts her headfirst into a crazy scheme and the house of her Hollywood crush. Craziness and love ensue.
It was a good concept and I loved how it came to an end.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this now. I’ll be recommending it!
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