Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.

But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly: convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.

Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…

Dear Ms. Lau, 

Despite the fact that generally I’m not a fake-dating fan, I loved this book. I think this is a standalone novel but honestly I enjoyed it so much that I was a little sad that the sisters of the MCs are already married. Ms. Margaret Muffins, who often looks unimpressed with the world, is an unexpected treat and I adore that the hero talks to her as I do to my cats. Yes, they understand me, why do you ask? The heroine’s horror at the realization that she might actually be “getting old” (per her niece), was amusing to me as I look (way) back on the age Emily is now.  

Emily Hung’s last single sister is married and even Emily’s five year old niece (and I adored Scarlett and her sister Khloe) is questioning why Emily is single and tells her that she’s old. But all of that is in a loving five year old way. As Emily sees her mother bee-lining towards her, she knows that something is up. Mark Chan isn’t exactly thrilled with the forced meeting at this wedding but Mrs.Hung convinces him that Emily wants to see him again. Well, that isn’t true but Emily’s out-of-the-blue suggestion to fake-date takes him by surprise until he decides, why not. Can they keep it up long enough to get Emily’s mom off her back while also convincing half of Toronto that it’s a real relationship? And what will happen once all the secrets start coming out?

The book brings to life the story of immigrant’s hopes and expectations for their Canadian children, how those children feel about what their parents want, lots of family drama and dynamics, some scrumptious sounding restaurants, good friendships, the outrageous prices for Toronto real estate, living your own life and dreams, and a cat. Even though Emily (and to a degree her sisters) moan about their feeling at being pushed to choose a prestigious career, it is obvious across the whole of the book that their parents love them and just want the best for them. Emily often thinks about how much her parents gave up in order to immigrate to Canada with hopes for their future children. There is a truly lovely revelation at the end that is both heartwarming as well as bittersweet when Emily learns something her mother has never told her. 

Emily is a hard worker who has dared to leave a career that her degree in mathematics got her in order to do what she loves – writing. She’s got one book published but as she (eventually) explains to Mark, the fucked up publishing world gives no guarantees of future success based on past performances. Emily is that increasing rara avis – the midlist author – and she’s worried that after she’s finished this three book contract, she won’t ever get another. I liked seeing so much of her writing job as well as the fact that in order to afford half of a two bedroom Toronto apartment, she has to do two other part time jobs. Roommate Paige is delightful as well and the two definitely have each other’s backs. 

Ashley frowns. “So what happened?”
“The kiss … we were sitting on a bench, and then I saw my auntie.”
“Oh my God,” Paige says, “Your auntie saw you tonguing your fake boyfriend?”  
“We were not tonguing.” I paused. “Okay, maybe there was a little tongue.”

Mark initially didn’t make a good impression on Emily but after they open up and discuss the wedding, Emily realizes why he was texting so much and what his facial expression meant when she mentioned her roommate. Emily, to her credit, immediately apologizes for her misunderstandings. I had thought that the book would be totally shown from Emily’s first person POV so the switch up at halftime to both character’s POV was a nice surprise. As Mark says, he wishes he could know what Emily is thinking because he’s thinking he likes her. A lot. 

Mark: Margaret will stay home. She doesn’t like car rides. I’ll ask my neighbor to check on her once a day.
Me: You’re on a first name basis with your cat now?
Mark: No, she calls me Mr. Chan, alas.

Their romance slowly plays out as things become clear to both of them and the shift from fake dates, to real fake dates (it makes sense in the book) to real dates feels real. I never felt that things were moving either too quickly or too slowly and totally believed in their changed feelings. I felt that Mark was a bit more thoughtful at times than Emily who let herself get overwhelmed by the whole fake-dating circus but her final act confession of her true feelings was heartfelt. Maybe with the two of them together, Ms. Margaret Muffins’s social media presence will increase to what she deserves. B+         

~Jayne

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Dear Emily Henry,

After reading and loving your books for a number of years now, I’ve come to have high expectations. I’ve yet to be disappointed.

There must be a signal released in my brain when I recognise your words; something in me just relaxes and prepares to be all-in on the story. I guess all my favourite authors have it – that thing where recognition occurs from that first page. It’s comforting and exciting all at once.

Funny Story is about Daphne Vincent, a children’s librarian who moved to Waning Bay on Lake Michigan with her fiance, Peter. Daphne has always wanted to belong somewhere and to someone. She is very close with her mother, but after her dad left when she was little, they moved around a lot and Daphne learned not to make friends because they wouldn’t be staying long enough for her to keep them. Her dad has been unreliable all her life and many of her childhood memories around him involve her waiting for him to arrive and fairly often him not turning up at all. She wants roots and friends and family beyond her mother and thinks she has it in Peter. She’s made an incredible effort to be accepted by his friends and family.

But then, following his bachelor party, Peter announces that he’s actually in love with his best friend, Petra, and Daphne is left very much alone.

I’d thought we were building something permanent together. Now I realize I’d just been slotting myself into his life, leaving me without my own.

Petra had been living with her boyfriend, Miles Nowak. When Petra moves in with Peter, Daphne needs a place to live. Miles, in turn, could use help with the rent. Plus, he’s a nice guy. So Daphne moves into the second bedroom in Miles’s apartment.  Daphne is hurt and reeling and counting down the days until she can leave Waning Bay and go somewhere else, to start again. Miles is not any happier and they bond over their shared heartbreak.

Very shortly after they are dumped, Daphne and Miles are shocked to receive wedding invitations in the mail for Peter and Petra. After the initial pain of it wears of, Daphne allows some anger in. And, when Peter is being condescending in a phone conversation, she blurts out that she and Miles are dating.

“I didn’t need a plus-one. He got his own invitation.”

The weighty silence tells me Peter is doing invisible calculus now. Only he’s got the brain for it. “You can’t mean . . .” His voice slides past disbelief straight into incredulity. “You’re with Miles?”

No, no, no, the voice in my head screams.

“Yep!” my mouth chirps.

I am instantly back to silent Munch-screaming out the window.

The next silence extends too long. I’m incapable of breaking it, because the only thing I can think to say is, I don’t know why I said that—it’s an outright lie, but I also cannot. Cannot tell him that.

Miles is pretty easygoing and is prepared to go along with the fake relationship. He’s also come to value Daphne as a friend and when he finds out she’s planning to leave town at the end of the summer, he embarks upon a plan to show her the real Waning Bay and the surrounds and convince her to stay. Most Sundays they play tourist and Daphne learns more about the town than she ever did while with Peter. She realises that Peter had never made an effort to help Daphne belong or be welcome.

“Daphne,” he tuts. “Daphne, Daphne, Daphne.”

“Let me guess: I’m a clueless fool,” I say.

He starts the car. “No, just a sweet, naive, beautiful little innocent, raised in captivity by a man who loves wheatgrass.”

As Daphne and Miles spend more time together, a simmering attraction develops and grows, bursting out of them from time to time before they try and put the genie back in the bottle rather than risk their friendship and their copacetic living arrangement. But it just won’t go away.

The thing, it would seem, Miles has been hiding all along is that he’s diabolically handsome, with angular cheekbones and a jaw that sort of looks like it might cut your fingertips if you were to run a hand over it. Or your tongue. You know, whatever.

Miles is nice. He’s popular with locals and strangers alike. He’s able to strike up a conversation easily and is genuinely interested in what people say to him. He’s easygoing and laid back – basically the opposite of Peter. (He also has a quirky but endearing love of sad love songs.)

Daphne has a deep sense of not being good enough, not being worth staying for, not being anyone’s first choice (apart from her mother). She wonders what is wrong with her that people leave.

Miles has his own baggage. Raised in an extremely toxic household, he feels great responsibility for his (13 years’ younger) sister, Julia. He feels like he didn’t do enough and let her down. He feels like he always lets people down when it counts.

To him, he’s the brother who ran away. To her, he’s the one who stays, even when he shouldn’t.

He tries hard to live in the moment and not to foster too much expectation from others. At least, that’s what he says. It’s clear enough that that the connections he’s made in Waning Bay don’t share that view at all. Yes, he’s often late because he gets caught up in conversations and because he’s very good at being in the moment but people want him around – he’s kind, generous, funny and personable. Because of that genuine interest, he knows everyone in town.

Miles’s philosophy can be summed up in this passage:

“Things go smoother if you don’t let people get a rise out of you,” he says. “If you give them control over how you feel, they’ll always use it.”

“Finally, I see your cynical side,” I say.

He smiles, but his jaw is tight, and it doesn’t reach his eyes. “It’s not cynical. If you don’t give other people responsibility for your feelings, you can have a decent relationship with most of them.”

Honestly, it’s not far off from thoughts I’ve had. Only for me, it’s never been about controlling the feelings themselves. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. It’s more, controlling the expectations you have for certain people.

If a person lets you down, it’s time to reconsider what you’re asking of them.

Whereas Daphne’s is very different.

You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t.

Trust people’s actions, not their words.

Don’t love anyone who isn’t ready to love you back.

Let go of the people who don’t hold on to you.

Don’t wait on anyone who’s in no rush to get to you.

Beyond the relationship between Miles and Daphne though, Funny Story, charts Daphne coming into her own, learning more about herself, putting herself out there and finding her own sense of belonging rather than looking for it from others. She makes a good friend at work, Ashleigh, and their growing bond is also great to witness. I liked Ashleigh very much – as well as the other library staff and other locals we meet along the way.

I also liked that Daphne learns she isn’t perfect and that, ultimately, it’s okay – people make mistakes and hurt others, even she does. She has to grapple with not just being the one being left waiting, but being a person who has let others down. It’s a thing she’s never realised before – mostly it’s never come up (my impression was this was largely because she lived her life in such rigid compartments before the Peter/Petra catastrophe – which turned out to be the best thing for her). But things get a little messy and Daphne realises that not everything needs to be coloured inside the lines. She also realises she’s worth loving, worth staying for and worth investing in – by others and by herself.

I liked very much that Miles got support he didn’t even know he needed from Daphne and was able to see himself through her eyes and realise that he’s worthy too.

Funny Story is told entirely from Daphne’s point of view which makes sense given the eventual conflict between she and Miles. You set up very well the reasons for each character to act as they do. I did think that Miles’s initial explanation as contrasted with the more complete version was a little bait-and-switchy. It made the ending more satisfying but it felt to me a bit like the conflict was a tad manufactured. That’s really my only criticism of the book – otherwise, I pretty much loved it from start to finish. And, I want to reiterate, the HEA was extremely satisfying.

Grade: A-

Regards,
Kaetrin

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For context, you need to know that I’m a big paranormal fan, I enjoy fake relationships a great deal, and I love a steamy book. So this book should have been perfect for me and the first 60% absolutely was. Unfortunately, it hit the skids at about 70% and didn’t really get back on track properly after that.

Mackenzie is an ER doctor in Denver and she’s a shifter and an omega. The rumours are that this makes her extra sexual which she has always rather resented as though she’s reduced just to a sex act. She half-heartedly dates, but they’re all pretty terrible and her gran is desperate for grandbabies. Isn’t there always a meddling older family member? I wish authors could find another way to force people into relationships.

So she asks Noah, an interventional cardiologist at her hospital, to be her fake boyfriend. Turns out Noah is in a tricky spot. He’s been pretending to be a normal shifter, but he’s not. He’s an alpha and this hospital has discriminatory policies against alphas*. But if he’s mated, or so the nonsense legends go, then he’s more docile and not as much of an alpha-hole. So they agree to be fake mates for the hospital and a brand new couple to Mackenzie’s gran.

(*Side note: I really enjoyed the world in which these shifters lived. Alphas don’t lead packs anymore; they’re just a bit ‘more’ than the average shifter. They can take suppressants that stop their pheromones from being spread and keep their emotions/hormones in check. This is how Noah isn’t outed to the hospital until someone does something nefarious.)

The first 60% of the book is a delight as they explore their fake relationship. The sex is steamy and there are some new-to-me things that are explored: Mackenzie’s heat cycle and knotting during sex. Both of those things along with the general learning-of-each-other that goes on were tremendous fun to read. At this stage I was reading with great happiness and with the occasional giddy smile directed to my Kindle.

Up until the book deteriorated for me, I adored Mackenzie. She’s funny and smart and teases the ever-so-staid Noah until he turns pink. It’s adorable! Noah isn’t so much a grump as he is a really serious dude. He’s so locked down that he neglects the importance of human connection. He lightens up considerably under Mackenzie’s influence.

Not all the characters are so charming though. Parker is Mackenzie’s gay best friend (I thought we left this trope in the 2000s?) and he is an actual grump and never quite as supportive of Mackenzie as I would like. He does get one truly excellent line when Mackenzie first tells him about her fake mate situation: ‘Oh, so now you’ve got multifaceted deceptions going on? Whipping ourselves up a tomfoolery tiramisu, are we?’ Undoubtedly the funniest line in the book.

So what happened after 60% that killed my joy? That’s just it. Nothing happened.

In fact, things stopped happening. The plot, which had been jogging along at a good clip, stopped and was replaced with lots and lots of confused navel gazing. All the tension and various problems they were managing as shifters resolve somewhat, and then what conflict is left is not compelling. Mackenzie and Noah hadn’t been honest with each other about their very real, growing feelings. There were hints, but for the most part, instead of a frank conversation, we have each character separately pondering their options and choices, but not actually talking to each other about it. At this point, I stopped reading because the story was really going nowhere, but a couple hours later curiosity won and I picked it up again.

When things started up again, we went right into the bleak moment which was … fine, as bleak moments go. But for me, the book had lost crucial momentum in the build up to that emotional climax and so it wasn’t as powerful as it could have been. The denouement was okay too, but my goofy smiles of the first 60% were long gone by then.

If this book had maintained its giddy pace all the way through, it would have absolutely delighted me. As it is, it’s a distinctly meh situation that I’m left with. Would I recommend it? Probably not. The first just-over-half is really fun reading, but it falls apart so dramatically after that, I ended up very disappointed.

Will fake boyfriends become the real deal this holiday?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—except ex-Marine Logan is jobless and getting evicted. Worse, he’s a new single dad with a stepson who hates him. A kid needs stability—not to mention presents under the tree—and Logan’s desperate.

Then he meets lonely Seth and makes a deal.

Can Logan temporarily pretend to be live-in boyfriends to increase Seth’s chances at a promotion? If it provides a roof over their heads for the holidays, hell yeah. Logan considers himself straight—he doesn’t count occasional hookups with guys—but he can fake it. Besides, with his shy little smile, Seth is surprisingly sexy.

Make that damn sexy.

Shocked that Seth has only been with one man, Logan can’t resist sweetening their deal to teach him the joys of casual sex. No strings attached. No feelings. No kissing.

No falling for each other.

Easy, right?

The Christmas Deal is a steamy holiday gay romance novel from Keira Andrews featuring fake boyfriends, bisexual awakening, a clueless single dad with an angry preteen, and of course a happy ending.

Spoilers in the review.

Review:

Dear Keira Andrews,

This story was written in 2019, but I stumbled upon it yesterday and grabbed it because it was free on amazon. I have read this writer’s works in the past and it was mixed bag for me, so I figured let me at least try again. I finished it very fast and I actually really liked the development of the relationship between them no matter how fast it happened.

Logan and Seth just had that easy going chemistry and I was rooting for them to make it, but man I had to close my eyes and imagine really hard that their relationship did not start as a fake one, that they just met through Logan’s sister and started becoming friends because Logan agreed to do renovations for Seth and they would eventually fell for each other.

Yes, yes, I know I imagined the beginning of the different story than the one I have read on page and I should not be doing it, but honestly this is a testament to how likable I found both characters and wanting to keep reading despite doing a massive eye roll as to how their relationship started in this book.

This book is another proof that fake relationship especially in contemporary romance just does not work for me, not because I mind the trope in theory, it is just every time I make an attempt to try the book with it, it sounds so silly and ridiculous. This one is no exception. Okay, sure I can see how Seth’s new boss has a policy of promoting people with families first.

Note, I am not agreeing with such a policy! I am just saying that I can imagine that happening . I would go further and say that in the romance land I can even see Seth himself ( if he was a different character mind you!) coming up with such charade and asking someone who was a friend to pretend that they were dating and going to be married, still sounds ridiculous to me, but if I squint hard I can maybe imagine that happening. But for crying out loud, why would Seth’s coworker who also happens to be Logan’s sister suggest to their new boss that Seth is dating her brother?? If the character’s actions and reactions resembled how reasonable human being acts why would she do it?

Yes, Jenna is a busybody, but she has no idea that her brother even has casual sex with men, forget about him being bi or gay. So, why would she decide that suggesting that her straight brother is in a fake relationship with her work friend may be a good idea? Beats me.

So, yes, I liked the guys and the relationship, I just really did not buy the beginning of it. I liked both men, even though they both had some hang ups, but it made sense. Actually Seth’s hang ups made a little more sense to me than Logan’s, but it is mostly because I have not read a book where one man not only does not think he is gay, but where he is having casual sex with another men and still trying to convince himself that he is straight, not even bisexual in a very long time.  I still liked Logan, but was really happy when he got over it. I also really liked Logan trying to find common ground with his step son Connor, I thought it was a very sweet and relatable storyline.

C+/B-

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Dear Andrew Grey,

I generally like a fake relationship story. For me it’s the modern equivalent of a marriage of convenience in many ways and forced proximity usually means a lot of the love interests together which also suits me. But I probably didn’t think through where the premise of Dragged to the Wedding would inevitably take me.  James Petika is a Chicago policeman who is going home to Missoula, Montana, to his sister’s wedding. He is gay but isn’t out to his very conservative family. His mother, in particular, is a force of nature and he wants to keep her off his back about “marrying a nice girl and settling down” while he’s home. His friend introduces him to “Daniella” – who turns out to be Daniel Bonafonte, an entertainer who performs as drag queen Lala Traviata. Daniel can tone down the drag makeup and pass as female and James ends up agreeing to pay Daniel $1,000 to be his fake date to the wedding, the festivities for which involve six days of family gatherings.

Daniel is not trans. When James introduces Daniella to his family he is not only lying to them about his relationship status, both he and Daniel are actively involved in a deception which can only end in tears once Daniel’s gender is revealed (and of course it will be). It’s one thing to pretend to be in a relationship but this deception takes things to another level. Had Daniel been trans and therefore actually been Daniella I would not have had this discomfort with the story – as Daniella would not have been lying about who she was. But Daniel is pretending to be a woman and it’s easy to see how James’s family would feel humiliated and hurt at being deceived that way.  As I read through the book, my realisation crystallised of just how badly the people I was supposed to be rooting for were behaving.

I found the writing style generally choppy and there were a number of times when an idea was introduced that was never resolved. For instance:

James could not explain to his father exactly what was going on, and that was part of the problem. He didn’t know what was real and what was an act any longer. This was all his fault, and now he had to find his way through this minefield of dresses, makeup, and deception all on his own.

“Ah, I see,” his father whispered knowingly as he sat forward. “I thought that I recognized something was amiss. You’re not telling us everything about Daniella, are you? You know, if you look closely enough, it’s pretty obvious.” His gaze bored into James, and for an instant he felt completely exposed and vulnerable. A cold chill ran up his back, and James held his hands together just to keep them from shaking.

“I…” He opened his mouth to try to explain, but his father continued. This was his worst nightmare. James’s mind raced in a million directions at once.

His father looked toward the kitchen and motioned for James to come closer. “What were you thinking?” The tone was barely above a whisper and knife sharp, and James lowered his gaze. “I’m not stupid, and don’t think for a second that I condone this type of thing. Lying to your mother…”

“Dad, I… There are things that you don’t know.” The ground beneath his feet turned to quicksand in a second, his heart raced, and James could almost feel the end of his life with his family approaching like a freight train.

His father’s face transformed with a smile. “You really care for this girl,” he said. “I can see it.”

“What?” James tried to make his head shift gears in a second as relief warred with the idea that he should just come clean and tell his father everything.

I still do not know what James’s dad was actually on about and nothing in the text that followed told me. I had quite a few instances of mental whiplash where I asked myself “what just happened?” I felt like key information was missing. If it had been a paperback I would have been tempted to shake it to see if any extra pages fell out.

James’s mother, Grace, is something of a caricature but she’s also a bit inconsistently drawn. Every now and then she will come out with something positively risque or be permissive of something unexpected, but most of the time she’s the stereotypical “no sex before marriage” super conservative Christian often depicted in media (and often found in real life too if social media is anything to go by). She’s also a mother-of-the-bride-zilla. She changes the order of service to suit herself, she changes the wedding dress order (when the dress was one the bride did not super-love in the first place) so it does not fit. (Aside: what kind of wedding dress seller would allow that??) She did not truly deal with actual consequences for this outrageous behaviour either.  Fortunately, Daniel is a whiz on a sewing machine and (somewhat very  unbelievably) he alters the oversized wedding gown in the space of 24 hours so it fits like a dream and James’s sister walks down the aisle as the princess she always wanted to be.

Between problems with the wedding and an obnoxious best man who keeps hitting on Daniella, a shady pastor and avoiding the truth coming out to James’s family, Daniel and James fight their burgeoning attraction. Well, they fight it for a while. Then they don’t. (Which, honestly, is fine.) It’s just that there’s an awful lot going on in a book which came in at 184 pages on my ereader. There were too many concepts and storylines for any of them to really get the attention they deserved and that included the romance.

And, when the big reveal inevitably occurred, neither James nor Daniel truly appreciated their own fault. James in particular leapt to blame his mother for being so demanding he felt forced to bring Daniel-dressed-as-Daniella to the wedding so really it’s all her own fault and then the conflict swiftly  moves to being about Grace’s homophobia. Truly, I felt James and Daniel owed James’s family a very sincere, grovelling apology but it did not happen. And, then, everyone got over it way too quickly for it to be remotely realistic.

I won’t give away the ending but I found it only added to the unreality of it all.

There were things I did like. For instance, I liked how James, apart from their very first meeting, always saw through whatever Daniel was wearing to the man underneath. He was unashamedly attracted to Daniel whether he was wearing a dress and heels and full makeup, was in full drag regalia as Lala or, presenting as Daniel in a t-shirt and jeans. There was something about that I found charming because it was presented as him really seeing the person he cared for. James just saw Daniel. I liked that James was not only unfazed by dating a drag queen, he actively reveled in it. I liked how he only had admiration for Daniel’s talent and skill.

Unfortunately a lot of other things didn’t work for me and Dragged to the Wedding was a disappointment.

Grade: C-

Regards,
Kaetrin

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Note: Mild spoilers for Battle Royal follow.

Dear Lucy Parker,

The second book in the Palace Insiders series, Codename Charming follows Petunia (Pet) De Vere, the sister of the hero from the first book, Battle Royal, and a bodyguard who works with her in the palace, Matthias Vaughn. By the end of the first book, Pet had commenced work as a PA to Johnny Marchmont, then-fiance of Princess Rose. She had also thwarted an attack by a stalker upon Johnny and had been seriously injured in the process. Matthias visits Pet in the hospital and brings her a teddy bear. (Obviously therefore, we readers knew this pair belonged together.) Codename Charming picks up around a year later.

Matthias isn’t exactly “grumpy”. He’s reserved and cautious, private and kind of starchy. Even on his days off within the palace he still wears a tie.

The man had probably laminated his copy of the protocol manual and carefully sponged the fingerprints from it every night.

He’s definitely in the right job because he’s also super protective.  (Yum.) Pet is quite sunshiney. In many ways, she’s Matthias’s opposite; she throws herself into things – quite literally on many occasions – she’s open and colourful and very not-starchy.

They’re also physically opposite. He’s huge – tall and muscular with a wrestler’s build and she is petite. More than one person comments on their almost comical height difference. She may be small but she is fierce and mighty.

Pet stopped trying to disappear into the couch and turned to look at him.

Matthias couldn’t see her expression, but Benji retreated with the haste of a man who’d just been metaphorically separated from at least one testicle.

But they have many things in common too. Like Matthias, Pet is also protective of those she cares about. And, both of them, through different family experiences, felt very alone growing up.

Pet has recently reconnected with her brother Dominic but for most of her life she felt unloved. She has had a few short-term flings but nothing serious. She’s wondered if she’s even capable of the kind of romantic love her brother and his wife, Sophie, share.

Matthias, for his part, lost his parents in an accident at a young age and grew up in the foster system. He was fed and physically cared for but he, too, felt unloved and unwanted. He had a childhood friend in Ireland, where he spent many years with one foster family, and became close to Padraig’s family as a result. Matthias and Padraig joined the King’s Guard and later went into private personal protective work together. But something happened and Padraig died which haunts Matthias. Since then, Matthias has been even more reserved. It feels like everyone he loves dies. (Oh my heart!)

Life on “Team Marchmont” is never dull. Johnny has an unfortunate habit of extreme clumsiness which often result in disasters which go viral online. One such saw Pet being launched from a stage basically onto Matthias’ head. Fortunately he caught her. The paparazzi have been sniffing around and have become attracted to the notion that Johnny and Pet are having an affair. Nothing could be further from the truth of course, but Rosie and Johnny are concerned about the rumours and especially their potential effect on Pet in the long term. They propose “Codename Charming” – whereby Pet will pretend to date Matthias so the media will stop linking her and Johnny. 

Pet had thought that Matthias didn’t really like her because he seemed to rebuff her attempts at friendship. Also, Pet has come up with a number of proposals for Johnny’s entertainment which Matthias had firmly vetoed as security risks. In fact, this is a regular occurrence so it’s not hard to see why Pet thinks Matthias disapproves of her. That’s not it of course.

Over the course of their fake relationship, Pet and Matthias come to acknowledge very real attraction and feelings – it doesn’t even really take long for  fake and real to become blurry. There are a lot of knowing looks and more than one viral video of some PDA. During this time, Pet helps Matthias reconnect with found family from his past and Matthias helps Pet on a quest to possibly-maybe find out more about her biological father. Plus, there’s a glitter wand war. Yes, that’s what I said.

While Matthias is not terribly bothered by anyone else’s opinion of his looks (anymore at least), he knows he’s not handsome. Online they are often described as “beauty and the beast” – something that infuriates Pet even as she tries to shield him from it. To Pet though. Matthias is more than good-looking.

His flush had spread to the tips of his lovely, generous ears. She’d never not be enamored with how all his features were so substantial, like his physicality was a direct reflection of his inner self and integrity, vast from his feet to his heart.

While I think it was very much a me thing, I did have a little trouble getting into Codename Charming. There was no actual reason for it other than a capricious reading mood. However, after a while even that ceased to matter (one sign of a good book) as I became more and more charmed by this couple’s journey to HEA. I am a hero-centric reader and Matthias is kind of my catnip so it’s not a wonder I felt the way I did about him. Really, when he started calling Pet “Button” I got all melty. Pet was also wonderful; the kind of woman I’d love to spend time with. She’s funny, smart, generous, talented and kind. She’s also no pushover.

The thing I liked best about this book is something I can’t really talk about because spoilers. I’ll just say that the I loved the way it ended and leave it at that.

Grade: B+

Regards,
Kaetrin

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This book made me swoon IRL. Reading it was a fever dream and not just because of the sex scenes. I was so immersed in it that the real world and its troubles didn’t even occur to me for the duration of the book. (I am anxious by nature, so this is a feat.)

Lorcan St Leger had a rough start in life in St Giles, but through illegal (and now legal) means, he has built himself a little empire. I realise I’m about to describe a classic ‘alpha’, but that is only one small facet of his tremendous appeal. As the blurb says, he’s ‘feared and fearsome, battered and brilliant’, but my favourite part is that he’s endlessly loyal to those who are loyal to him. His presence in the story is so visceral and his sincerely protective* vibe is so sexy. Truly, I swooned. (*In a not-creepy, not-controlling way, I promise)

Lorcan’s ship has just docked and he is walking near the docks, just before ‘the storm of the decade’ promises to strike. The streets are quiet with everyone taking shelter for what promises to be a very intense storm. He’s looking for an inn, but instead he comes across Lady Daphne Worth climbing out of a window using braided bedsheets. He’s fascinated despite the storm pressing ever closer. The two end up seeking shelter at the Grand Palace on the Thames – the base for this entire delightful book series.

Cue two of my absolute favourite tropes: a fake relationship and there’s only one… suite of rooms (it’s a historical after all). Yes, there is only one suite of rooms and if Daphne and Lorcan want to get out of the terrible weather in a city whose inns are already full to bursting, this is their one option. That there is already a flicker of something between them is just a bonus.

Daphne is the only daughter of a feckless man who has gambled away the family fortune. Her brothers are in France avoiding the whole mess, as far as she knows. She’s travelled down to London as a paid companion, but her employer’s husband seems to think additional services should be offered. Hence the reason she was carefully defenestrating herself. Daphne feels obligated to help her family. She’s run the household since her mother’s passing when she was younger. She tries to keep the family afloat financially, but it’s wearing her down. She’s rather desperate by the time she’s climbing out that window.

Daphne and Lorcan – to their tremendous surprise – have personal connections with some of the residents at the Grand Palace on the Thames. This adds a delicious layer of complication to their forced stay. By the next morning, the roads have flooded and no one is going anywhere for the duration. This leaves a lot of time for glorious, squee-making conversations. More on that soon.

This is a book that should not be rushed. I didn’t take my own advice and I devoured it at pace. I’m going to read it again as soon as I’ve finished this review so I can revel in the sheer genius of the emotional growth.

The conversations between Daphne and Lorcan are slower to read because every flicker of emotion is described as the conversation unfolds. Initially, they’re talking about their cover story and how to make it believable, but from there, their conversations start to go into their individual histories and getting to know one another properly. Turns out, they love talking to each other and they want to do it all the time (to the extent that they sneak away from the social time after supper so they can talk to each other instead). Yes, this drops the pace of the book a bit, but the pay-off is huge. You are able to FEEL the connection between them happening. It’s immersive, compelling and so, so real. Layers of the onion are peeled back slowly and it’s a glorious process.

There is a delightful cast of supporting characters, but I would speedread those parts, desperate for more of Lorcan and Daphne’s far-ranging, emotion-laden conversations. Such is the power of this book, that I’m still in a fog of misty-eyed love a couple days later. If you need your heart to be held, loved and adored, then this is the book for you. Truly, I am in love.