RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SPICE: 🔥🔥🔥
This did not quite hit the spot as I would like, which is a bummer, because the series had been a winner so far.
Lee and Annie have been two peas in a pod since they were kids, and they have a standard modus operandi. Lee the small-town lothario gets himself in trouble with the ladies, and Annie comes in after him to clean up. Their relationship might as well be cemented in the friend zone.
Much to Annie and the town's surprise, Lee bids on her at the town's matchmaking gala, sweeping her away from the man whose attention she has been trying to seek. Now they are committed to six fake dates, and the more they spend time together in a non-platonic capacity, the more suppressed feelings and buried secrets seem to come to surface.
The fake-dating friends trope is usually my jam, but the premise of Lee and Annie's relationship just did not quite add up. Sure, we add the complication of Lee's late ex-girlfriend -- who also happens to be Annie's friend -- in the middle of their childhood friendship, but Lee's romantic awakening to Annie just did not feel quite organic. I had wished that the guy Annie was crushing on gave Lee a bit more competition because that would have definitely added more dynamic to Lee's realization about his feelings, but Charles was too easy of a competition to get rid of.
Lena Hendrix has definitely built an intriguing world in this book universe. I found myself more drawn to the mysterious Kings men and the budding connection between Duke and Sylvie. This book did not live up to the high standards its predecessors had set, but it certainly will not deter me from reading the rest of the series.
** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Lena Hendrix for providing an ARC. **
ABOUT THE BOOK
Fake dating my best friend? Total disaster.
With his cocky grin and devilish charm, firefighter Lee Sullivan makes every woman in our small town swoon. Every woman except for me.
Which is why I’m shocked when he steps in at the town’s Matchmaker’s Gala and outbids my crush during the charity auction, committing us to six prearranged dates.
Six dates where we, very publicly, pretend to be falling in love.
Despite my objections and our efforts to set each other up with other people, Lee is convinced pretending to date each other is the perfect opportunity to get the women in town off his back (and out of his bed), while also helping to nudge my non-committal crush in the jealousy department.
Stupidly, I agree.
After the disastrous blind dates he set me up on, what’s a few months of letting Lee worship the ground I walk on? He owes me.
Trouble is––every fake kiss, every lingering touch, every filthy word he whispers when no one is around––is starting to feel very, very real.
We know everything about each other––from my orphaned past to his irrational hatred of dolls. The only secret I have ever kept from Lee spans all the way back to his time in the Army and it’s the one thing that could ruin our friendship forever.
Because where Lee is concerned, I have learned to guard my heart. Suddenly, he’s asking for the opportunity to feel something real. He’s asking for the one thing he wouldn’t want if he ever knew the truth: one chance.
