Anyone who likes the fake relationship trope will love this book. It is a satisfying addition to the many romances already out there that feature it.

Laurie is attempting to recover from the heartbreak of losing her boyfriend of 18 years when Jamie, the devastatingly handsome office playboy, presents an idea to her: pretend to date him to make her ex Dan jealous while also helping him look more respectable in the hopes of getting a promotion at work. Despite warnings from her best friend that lying isn’t ethical and that she might begin to blur the line between fake and real the longer it goes on Laurie agrees. 

Along the way they become friends, which causes Laurie to reassess her perceptions of Jamie as her friend’s warning comes true. What’s supposed to be fake is starting to feel very real for her. Navigating these feelings coming so soon after her ex leaving her is hard enough, but Laurie also has to deal with a very complicated relationship with her father, the resurfacing of some traumatic memories, and the consequences of her and Jamie’s lies catching up to them. 

While this book is a wonderfully well written romance that left me wanting to see more of Laurie and Jamie’s relationship, the best parts of it for me were ultimately the explorations of Laurie’s losses and traumas as she comes to terms with needing to create a new life, finding her own way in the world, and discovering what (and who) it is that truly matters to her.