Review by Booklist Review
In order to avoid her family's persistent meddling in her love life, Seattle bookstore owner Tansy Adams invents a girlfriend for herself. The first name that pops into Tansy's head is that of romance novel cover model Gemma West, a.k.a. Gemma van Dalen. This isn't a problem until six months later, when the real Gemma van Dalen turns up as a guest at a wedding Tansy is attending. Bracing herself for the resulting debacle once her relatives discover the truth, Tansy is even more shocked when Gemma not only pretends to know Tansy but announces to everyone attending that they are now engaged to be married. Written with a surfeit of quippy wit and graced with a delightfully quirky constellation of supporting characters, Lambda Literary Award winner Bellefleur's (Count Your Lucky Stars, 2022) fun, fresh take on the marriage of convenience trope delivers all the romantically swoonworthy moments and steamy chemistry romance readers crave.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This zippy Sapphic rom-com from Bellefleur (Count Your Lucky Stars) features slow-burn romance, a steamy marriage-of-convenience, and a profusion of Taylor Swift references. Shy bookseller Tansy Adams has been lying to friends and family about having a girlfriend using photos of Gemma van Dalen, a stunning romance novel cover model, to keep their nosiness about her nonexistent love life at bay. When Gemma shows up at Tansy's family's bookstore, live and in the flesh, Tansy worries the lie will blow up in her face, but instead Gemma doubles down, announcing that they're engaged. Gemma's absurdly rich family requires her to marry to inherit the family publishing company, making the arrangement mutually beneficial. Attraction soon grows between the women, threatening to turn their carefully constructed fauxmance into real love. Meanwhile, they must outwit Gemma's ruthless family to protect their livelihoods--and each other's hearts--from the van Dalens' machinations. Bellefleur's snappy prose is perfect for the banter between Tansy and Gemma, and it's delightful to watch the tension build between them. The plot occasionally leans on convenience to move things along, but the payoff is deeply satisfying and more than worth it. Fans of Casey McQuiston should check this out. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
To avoid her stepmother's constant inquiries into her love life, indie bookseller Tansy Adams invents a girlfriend named Gemma. Never mind that Tansy's Gemma is based on an utterly gorgeous model of the same name who graces the covers of some of the bookstore's romance novels; why not envision the perfect woman as hers? But the real-life Gemma van Dalen is far from perfect and is, unbeknownst to Tansy, the cousin of Tansy's horrid, emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend. Unbeknownst that is until Gemma arrives at said cousin's wedding, shocking Tansy both by her appearance and her agreement to go along with the farce Tansy has created. Of course, Gemma needs something from Tansy too--namely a wife, so she can inherit the van Dalen newspaper empire. Seems like a win-win, until Tansy and Gemma's fake relationship starts to feel very real indeed. VERDICT A sharp and witty novel that revels in soapy romance tropes while introducing a large cast of characters in Bellefleur's ("Written in the Stars" series) familiar Seattle setting. Will please fans of Alexis Hall and Ashley Herring Blake; recommended for general purchase.--Elizabeth Gabriel
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A bi indie bookstore manager agrees to a marriage of convenience with a bi romance cover model to save their family legacies. Tansy Adams has been fibbing about having a girlfriend to fend off her pushy stepmother's demands. Then, at a family wedding, who should walk in but Gemma West, the romance cover model whose name and photo Tansy had appropriated to represent her fake girlfriend. It turns out she's actually Gemma van Dalen, a publishing heiress and estranged cousin of the man marrying into Tansy's family. Put on the spot, Gemma surprises everyone by going along with Tansy's lie and even--gasp!--proposing to Tansy in front of everyone. Suddenly, Tansy is saying yes to Gemma's proposal, which will let her have the millions she needs to buy her late father's Seattle bookstore from her stepmother, who wants to sell it to a chain, while letting Gemma fulfill the terms of her late grandfather's will. Former party girl Gemma is interested only in inheriting and running her grandfather's newspaper publishing empire, but she quickly finds her heart ensnared by the softer, more diffident Tansy. Once they learn how each other's families have hurt them in the past, they're both determined to protect their newfound mutual affection while turning their fake relationship into a real one. Bellefleur peppers the novel with callouts to the romance genre plus oddball supporting characters, including rich jerks who want to foil the two women's plans. A backstory about how the groom sexually shamed Tansy in high school introduces a more serious theme, balancing out the weaker poor-little-rich-girl narrative given to Gemma. Text messages between the two women serve as romantic banter, while in-person sex talk and on-page sex scenes show the sparks of their chemistry. In the manner of Four Weddings and a Funeral or Notting Hill, a crisis delays the happy ending, and two grand gestures and a public proposal facilitate it. En route, the tale of two women battling corporate giants also takes on straight White male privilege. A Sapphic novel in which opposites attract offers a new twist on an old trope. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
