⭐⭐☆
Going by the
number of books based on it, fake relationships seem to be a super-favourite
trope of authors and publishers. Is it the sheer fantasy aspect that makes it
so popular? Toaster-oven is another fantasy. As the author says somewhere in
this book (paraphrasing here) a straight woman is the kryptonite of a
lesbian. Guess everyone wants to believe that who the person is and
what they bring in to the relationship should and will conquer cultural heteronormative
conditioning.
Kara Wexler is somewhat of
an overachiever working in her family-owned multinational advertising firm. She
is not only held back in her performance but cut to pieces by the CEO, who
happens to be her father. The whole situation leads to depression which rings
the end of her relationship and she spirals further. Demotivated and depressed,
she hands in her resignation to her brother, Doug, just before the board
meeting. Doug the unwilling heir-apparent of the company and younger sister,
Joanne are unwilling to let Kara leave the company. They are set on her leading
the company. They concoct a plan to get Kara’s mojo back before the board
meeting. Their wildly unbelievable plan is to give Kara a dream girlfriend
experience which will put her in a happy place and back on track for the board
meeting. Madeleine Jessepp, who had moved to Vegas a decade back has nothing by
way of career and is set to return home to Minnesota. She is roped in as the dream
date for Kara, and she takes the job so that she doesn’t return home completely
broke.
There are
three parts in this book. The first part is the whole Las Vegas fake girlfriend
bit. That is excellently written and both the MCs are totally likeable. Their chemistry
works wonderfully and you are completely drawn into the story.
The second
part is the inevitable fallout and Kara and Madeleine dealing with their
feelings and realities. The perfect pacing stuttered in this part. We were
particularly eager to see how the two get back together and what happening when
they connect again. Sadly, that completely fizzled out. We expected drama and
emotion, but both were absent.
The third
and final part is about forging a strong relationship and believing in each
other and their relationship. This was the weirdest part. The author threw up
more obstacles in the relationship (Madeleine getting an awesome break, Kara
suspecting Madeleine to be involved with a guy, threat to Kara’s position in
the company because of her involvement with Madeleine), but the narrative
completely downplays the upheaval. Worse, the MCs seemed to stop connecting
and talking.
Where the
first one-third of the book was pushing it firmly into the 4 (or more) star category
the second made it slip into 3 and well, the last bit…2.5 at best.
⭐⭐☆
