Okay so. This book. Wow. Okay.

First, understand. This rating only has as many stars as it does due to the narrator Rebecca Lee. I doubt I could have finished this book without Lee telling me this story. It was perfect. Every character had a subtle yet distinctly different voice and I was never confused as to who was talking. On top of that, I just found Lee’s narration and voice easy to listen to and get sucked into the story with. Honestly, the best thing about this book.

This is a very sweet (cloyingly so at times), low angst, low drama book with a frankly ridiculous plot. All things I generally speaking really enjoy. There’s a few moments of homophobia and racism, but everything is dealt with really well and very promptly and the book goes back to being low angst/drama.

The characters are well built, the MCs each have a distinct voice. The side characters are great as well. I’m kind of intrigued as to if the author is going to continue with this group of characters because there’s some characters I would consider picking up a second book by this author for.

My problem with this book really lies with a few things. First, if anyone drags me around for weeks telling me that they’re getting married and enlists me to do all this shit for them just to turn around and say that no actually it’s all fake for a TV show and a check, you better be cutting me in or we are not friends any more. Kris and D’Vaughn have much nicer families and friends than I am to anyone.

Secondly, the chemistry between Kris and D’Vaughn is so… instant and makes up such a large part of how they feel about each other for so long, I had a hard time connecting to the characters or being invested in their relationship. I guess this is another way in which f/f (or really, any romance story with a female lead) differs from m/m for me.

And last… okay so, D’Vaughn’s level of overthinking things is honestly the most relatable thing about this book, but in her overthinking, she comes to conclusions that I just can’t follow the train of thought. Maybe you could say that about my train of thought too when I overthink things but I’m not the one trying to sell the ending epiphany of a character’s journey to self-realization. Because that last one bugs me the most. I honestly don’t understand how D’Vaughn got what she did out of the *cough* prompt in front of her.

But all those are relatively small problems that have more to do with me than actual problems of the book, so if those don’t bother you, go for this. And if you are looking at this, listen to the audiobook. Like I said, it was perfect.

CWs: sexual content. Brief blips of moments with racism and homophobia.

Thanks to NetGalley for an audiobook copy in exchange for an honest review.