I love a messy contemporary romance and this one starts off with a BANG! Our female main character, Daphne, was previously engaged to Peter who very recently cheated on her with his childhood best friend, Petra, after “realizing” he had feelings for her. So now Daphne has been kicked out of Peter’s house and is resigned to live with Miles, who just so happens to be Petra’s ex-boyfriend. Their living situation is convenient, if not a little weird, as they’re both recovering from their partners leaving them for each other. The only thing that’s keeping Daphne going at this point is her job as a children’s librarian and the planning of a huge end-of-summer readathon that she’s organizing.

Life gets a little more complicated when Daphne and Miles receive a wedding invitation for Peter and Petra’s hastily organized nuptials. They decide it’s time to bond and get absolutely hammered, ultimately deciding to RSVP to the wedding. When Daphne gets a surprise call from Peter about her RSVP, she lies and tells him that she and Miles are dating now and planning on attending the wedding together as a couple. And thus, the great faking dating scheme begins. News spreads fast in a small town, so they both commit to the bit and start spending more quality time together.

As contemporary romances tend to progress, unexpected feelings come to the surface, there’s plenty of personal exploration, lots of miscommunication, and a fabulous third act breakup (with bonus drama from Peter and Petra). It resolves itself neatly in the end in the convenient ways of your standard romance novel. I loved it, I loved the readathon that Daphne organized, and I loved watching these two characters grow both independently and with each other. If you’re an Emily Henry fan or you love your romance very plot-driven – check this one out!