Simmering attraction held in for a year comes pouring out in
this fauxmance.
Jackie Bowman used to be a corporate lawyer but got off the
treadmill of stress and started a coffee shop, Full of Beans. At forty four,
she is personally in a better place, even if missing the adrenaline of her past
job a little. To get her fix of doing more she's joined an improv group and
feels fairly well-balanced. Lauren Myers is just shy of thirty and her life has
kind of gotten away from her. She'd moved to New York to be a journalist but
couldn't cope with the pressure. So she now works part time at a gay bar,
freelances a bit and is trying to make her dream of being an author a reality.
In order to keep happy appearances with her parents, Lauren
has told them that her job is going really well, that she is living in a lovely
house in Brooklyn and the to avoid going back home (for which she couldn't
afford the flight ticket) she invented a make believe girlfriend. Now her
parents are about to fly out for her birthday and she's tangled in a web of her
own making.
Jackie steps in with an offer to play Lauren's girlfriend
for the duration of Lauren's parents visit and asks Lauren to do the same at
the wedding of two of Jackie's exes getting married to each other.
The premise is not new but usually enjoyable. Not in this
one. Somehow the writing is very sophomoric and despite all right words and
situations, there is no chemistry between the MCs and it never felt that they
truly connected at any point. The age gap is unnecessarily made much
of. Both the MCs are okay, if rather tepid.
This book is so bland that we can't summon the emotion to
dislike it but there is absolutely nothing to like about it.
PS: We really wish that authors learn the difference between
'discrete' and 'discreet' in a hurry.
⭐⭐
