When his procrastination lands him in a difficult class with his least favorite professor, Henry Turner knows he’s going to have to work extra hard to survive his junior year of college. And now with his new title of captain for the hockey team—which he didn’t even want—Henry absolutely cannot fail. Enter Halle Jacobs, a fellow junior who finds herself befriended by Henry when he accidentally crashes her book club.
Halle may not have the romantic pursuits of her favorite fictional leads, but she’s an academic superstar, and as soon as she hears about Henry’s problems with his class reading material, she offers to help. Too bad being a private tutor isn’t exactly ideal given her own studies, job, book club, and the novel she’s trying to write. But new experiences are the key to beating her writer’s block, and Henry’s promising to be the one to give them to her.
They just need to stick to their rule book.
Oh, and not fall in love.
This is the funniest fake dating trope ever, mainly because the reasons for it are so absurdly flimsy, I can’t help but laugh. Our female main character, Halle, needs to experience a lovely relationship for the sake of the novel she wants to write, because her first and only (ex) boyfriend was a jerk. So, fake date the first hot man you bump into at a library, I guess? Honestly, I can’t even remember why the guy agreed to it. The only issue I have is that, pretty sure, these two fell in love at first sight. The chemistry between them? Off the charts. But I did feel like there was zero buildup to them becoming friends, which left me thinking, “Wait, how did we get here?”
That said though, they do take their sweet time getting together. In part because one of their rules for their whole fake dating experience, is – you guessed it – Halle isn’t allowed to fall in love with Henry because….. reasons. And if she does he is supposed to break her heart because ….. more reasons. When I first read this, I thought it was a random rule thrown in just to create tension later in the book. Especially given that though it’s a 400+ page book, by page 130, I was already like, “Just kiss already!” But I was wrong. Those rules? Total red herrings. And let’s be real, why are we throwing red herrings into a cozy romance? What even are the stakes? But the plus side to all this? There’s no real dumb third act conflict that causes the couple to break up which I was grateful for because very few times is that masterfully done.
I’ll be the first to say that I’m not really a friends to lovers girly because I find such stories not to have the necessarily angst or tension I expect, but this one did a lot of other things right. The fluff was amazing. The chemistry, pallable. The communication, sublime. They literally ate my heart out. Henry is truly the man of (day) dreams. I mean imagine saying this to your non-girlfriend who you are fake dating in a romance book and expecting me not to gush:
“I always want to and I always will, but I have to be honest, sometimes I don’t know I should. I need you to talk to me if you feel like I’m not stepping up, because I will. I’ll do anything for you, Halle. I just don’t always know it because sometimes that isn’t how I think. I get wrapped up in things and then I don’t focus on the outside things I want to focus on. You are a high priority to me.”
Excuse me???
Like many a fun romance book, this was no plot, just vibes but with actual likeable but still complex characters (??) who also know how to communicate (??). Given that, just know there is also absolutely no tension. If you are looking for a break from high stakes romance books with morally grey to downright evil love interests and just want something light and enjoyable, this is the book for you. Easiest 4 stars I have ever given a romcom.
