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suzyq436's review against another edition
1.0
I believed I would fall into the camp that liked this book as I’m quite easy to please when it comes to romance and the premise seemed quite cute. A story about a woman, Eliza, whose post about her wearing an engagement ring (she’s very single) goes viral and now she needs to find a man. A man who will go along with this charade of hers as this one post has done wonders for her struggling jewellery business. Sounds cute, a little mental but that’s where the comedy comes in, right?
WRONG. So very wrong. I dnf’d this at the halfway mark because I just could not take it anymore.
Writing
Even though the writing is decent, the flow was stilted and awkward. There is also so much telling and very little showing. There are pages and pages and pages of descriptions and of Eliza’s innermost thoughts. If there were two full lines of dialogue on a page, then that was a lot. Due to this, I did not feel the connection between her and her so-called love interest, Blake. I, as a reader, felt quite distanced from the relationship between her and Blake. The incessant inner monologues that Eliza had made her come across as narcistic, materialistic, superficial, ungrateful and obnoxious. I had absolutely no love for her character. She says, or rather thinks, things like, “I don’t want to dwell on whether or not this is fair to Blake…” Wow, are you feeling the romance yet?
Due to the minimal dialogue, it was hard to like the other characters because this whole book is told from Eliza’s point of view.
Story
This is not a romance. How can this be considered a romance when Eliza thinks things like, “As much as I see him as a prize…” or “He’s a solution.” Oh yes, I am melting at all the romance and feels that Eliza is catching for Blake. I assume that this relationship is meant to be a relationship of convenience but it definitely isn’t if the guy is not made aware of the convenience aspect! Blake doesn’t know about Eliza’s faux pax. He doesn’t know why she is doing what she’s doing. He is IN THE DARK! That is NOT romance. Making someone fall in love with you because you want to make money for your business but not tell them that you’re using them as the “solution” is not funny. Making him believe that you’re falling in love with him is deranged. All this woman cares about is free stuff, the publicity, the number of likes and growing her customer base and even that is not good enough for her as made known when she gets offered a free wedding dress. She actually comments on the styles of the wedding dresses when she is asked if she would like to come try some on and says, “People seem to like that, but I don’t. I write back immediately to say, thank you, yes.”
Also, the biggest elephant in the room and something that NO ONE in her inner circle seems to take note of: What happens after the wedding? You know, the marriage bit. Where you spend the rest of your lives together as promised in the vows. I don’t know if this is brought up in the last 50% of the book but how is it that you have three good friends and not one of them shines light on this little snag especially since the poor schmuck believes you love him and actually wants to spend the rest of your life with him.
So, I don’t know how it ends and I also don’t care. This book is not good and I don’t recommend it.
WRONG. So very wrong. I dnf’d this at the halfway mark because I just could not take it anymore.
Writing
Even though the writing is decent, the flow was stilted and awkward. There is also so much telling and very little showing. There are pages and pages and pages of descriptions and of Eliza’s innermost thoughts. If there were two full lines of dialogue on a page, then that was a lot. Due to this, I did not feel the connection between her and her so-called love interest, Blake. I, as a reader, felt quite distanced from the relationship between her and Blake. The incessant inner monologues that Eliza had made her come across as narcistic, materialistic, superficial, ungrateful and obnoxious. I had absolutely no love for her character. She says, or rather thinks, things like, “I don’t want to dwell on whether or not this is fair to Blake…” Wow, are you feeling the romance yet?
Due to the minimal dialogue, it was hard to like the other characters because this whole book is told from Eliza’s point of view.
Story
This is not a romance. How can this be considered a romance when Eliza thinks things like, “As much as I see him as a prize…” or “He’s a solution.” Oh yes, I am melting at all the romance and feels that Eliza is catching for Blake. I assume that this relationship is meant to be a relationship of convenience but it definitely isn’t if the guy is not made aware of the convenience aspect! Blake doesn’t know about Eliza’s faux pax. He doesn’t know why she is doing what she’s doing. He is IN THE DARK! That is NOT romance. Making someone fall in love with you because you want to make money for your business but not tell them that you’re using them as the “solution” is not funny. Making him believe that you’re falling in love with him is deranged. All this woman cares about is free stuff, the publicity, the number of likes and growing her customer base and even that is not good enough for her as made known when she gets offered a free wedding dress. She actually comments on the styles of the wedding dresses when she is asked if she would like to come try some on and says, “People seem to like that, but I don’t. I write back immediately to say, thank you, yes.”
Also, the biggest elephant in the room and something that NO ONE in her inner circle seems to take note of: What happens after the wedding? You know, the marriage bit. Where you spend the rest of your lives together as promised in the vows. I don’t know if this is brought up in the last 50% of the book but how is it that you have three good friends and not one of them shines light on this little snag especially since the poor schmuck believes you love him and actually wants to spend the rest of your life with him.
So, I don’t know how it ends and I also don’t care. This book is not good and I don’t recommend it.
firedew's review against another edition
The main character is a liar and a user who, even when she questions whether what she's doing is wrong, somehow missing that ABSOLUTELY YES she's is in the wrong. For a book that was supposed to be fun and sweet, it made me mad instead.
jgardner97's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kvreadsandrecs's review against another edition
2.0
Don’t get me wrong: I wanted to like this book, but the pacing was all off. It was so unbelievable and ridiculous. Yeah yeah, we suspend our disbelief, but that cord was cut about 60 pages in. Come onnnn. The lead was unlikeable but never once came to realize how toxic she actually treated herself and others. And for her to get a happy ending??? Ugh. Do yourself a favor and skip.
theeuphoriczat's review against another edition
2.0
Did not like the story, she was a bit to happy at the end of the whole thing.
shaunareads's review against another edition
2.0
This story follows Eliza, a jewelry store owner, after she accidentally posts a picture on her Instagram (with 100,000 followers) of her wearing a ring on her left hand. With a spike in sales, she keeps the picture up and piles onto the story until she has to find a man to marry in six months.
I had high hopes for this book, but ultimately, it fell flat.
I could not get past Eliza's deceitful character and how much she was able to get away with. Hardly anyone questioned who she was dating, though she was getting all this positive press. I know her little Instagram only had 100,000 followers BUT come on, if she's creating all this buzz about getting engaged, one of these publications is going to want to know who her fiance is, and they're going to do some sleuthing. Yet, she gets off super easy EVERY time she's asked about it. It felt like lazy writing.
Second, she is a completely selfish person, and all of her friends and family are WAY too nice about. Someone needed to call her out, but instead they went along with her plan.
SPOILERS!!!!
I was actually slightly annoyed that she got a happy ending, if I'm honest. I didn't feel like she learned a big enough lesson for all the lying and scheming throughout the book. I cheered when Blake dumped her and I felt like Raj was way too good for her. Based on how she manipulated people, she didn't deserve either of them.
Okay, I'll end on a positive note:
The writing good, and I loved every scene with Raj, you could really feel their chemistry from the first time they met.
I enjoyed the rep of IVF. As someone that struggles with fertility, it was nice to see the representation in the book.
I had high hopes for this book, but ultimately, it fell flat.
I could not get past Eliza's deceitful character and how much she was able to get away with. Hardly anyone questioned who she was dating, though she was getting all this positive press. I know her little Instagram only had 100,000 followers BUT come on, if she's creating all this buzz about getting engaged, one of these publications is going to want to know who her fiance is, and they're going to do some sleuthing. Yet, she gets off super easy EVERY time she's asked about it. It felt like lazy writing.
Second, she is a completely selfish person, and all of her friends and family are WAY too nice about. Someone needed to call her out, but instead they went along with her plan.
SPOILERS!!!!
I was actually slightly annoyed that she got a happy ending, if I'm honest. I didn't feel like she learned a big enough lesson for all the lying and scheming throughout the book. I cheered when Blake dumped her and I felt like Raj was way too good for her. Based on how she manipulated people, she didn't deserve either of them.
Okay, I'll end on a positive note:
The writing good, and I loved every scene with Raj, you could really feel their chemistry from the first time they met.
I enjoyed the rep of IVF. As someone that struggles with fertility, it was nice to see the representation in the book.
distant_ships's review against another edition
1.0
I'm not sure what the message here is? Be a terrible lying person who uses people, and everything will work out for you?
yuniesan's review against another edition
2.0
Uh
The description of the book hit all of my favorite tropes, girl finds out former boyfriend gets engaged, fakes an engagement and then gets a guy to fake date her. Honestly I thought that from the description the other guy she was in love with was her ex. But no, they throw in another person completely, I wanted that fake date to actual lovers trope, which I love, and was cheated out of.
I want to like this book, I really did, but the first 100 pages made me feel all meh. I couldn't connect with the main character, from the get go she name drops celebrities who have brought her stuff, she talks about her and her sisters store like it was meant to happen, but of course she would get that chance when someone hands you the capital to create it. (I'm ranting and I know it)
Forget it, I can't go on talking about this book.
The description of the book hit all of my favorite tropes, girl finds out former boyfriend gets engaged, fakes an engagement and then gets a guy to fake date her. Honestly I thought that from the description the other guy she was in love with was her ex. But no, they throw in another person completely, I wanted that fake date to actual lovers trope, which I love, and was cheated out of.
I want to like this book, I really did, but the first 100 pages made me feel all meh. I couldn't connect with the main character, from the get go she name drops celebrities who have brought her stuff, she talks about her and her sisters store like it was meant to happen, but of course she would get that chance when someone hands you the capital to create it. (I'm ranting and I know it)
Forget it, I can't go on talking about this book.
beccastaley's review against another edition
1.0
This was pretty bad. At 56%, I was so disinterested in this book that I went on Goodreads to read other reviews to see if I was the only one who felt this way and I definitely am not. I did finish the book, just wanting to know how it played out for Eliza.
The main character is SO unlikeable that I found myself hoping that she wouldn't get her way in the end. She manipulated and used so many people just to get what she wanted for her business, regardless of another human beings feelings being at stake. She constantly was thinking to herself that she could potentially love Blake in the end and that kept her from telling him the truth. She won't give up this fake marriage/wedding even after Blake calls off their engagement and somehow manages to sucker some other poor soul into marrying her.
A lot of this book just seemed unrealistic, with having these high end wedding companies wanting her to advertise their stuff in exchange for free services when their business wasn't that big. She even said that multiple people checked her store out and passed on it for other companies. One of the biggest problems I have with this book is that her sister who is trying to get pregnant with her wife using IVF would ask Eliza for a "raise" of $15,000 for a round of IVF WHILE THEIR BUSINESS IS HANGING BY THE SEAMS. I'm not a monster, I empathise with her situation but I think it's the stupidest thing to ask for while Eliza is trying to determine whether the shop stays open and is trying to pull off a fake marriage to do so.
I think the book had good potential as a concept in general but not with a character so selfish and deceptive.
The main character is SO unlikeable that I found myself hoping that she wouldn't get her way in the end. She manipulated and used so many people just to get what she wanted for her business, regardless of another human beings feelings being at stake. She constantly was thinking to herself that she could potentially love Blake in the end and that kept her from telling him the truth. She won't give up this fake marriage/wedding even after Blake calls off their engagement and somehow manages to sucker some other poor soul into marrying her.
A lot of this book just seemed unrealistic, with having these high end wedding companies wanting her to advertise their stuff in exchange for free services when their business wasn't that big. She even said that multiple people checked her store out and passed on it for other companies. One of the biggest problems I have with this book is that her sister who is trying to get pregnant with her wife using IVF would ask Eliza for a "raise" of $15,000 for a round of IVF WHILE THEIR BUSINESS IS HANGING BY THE SEAMS. I'm not a monster, I empathise with her situation but I think it's the stupidest thing to ask for while Eliza is trying to determine whether the shop stays open and is trying to pull off a fake marriage to do so.
I think the book had good potential as a concept in general but not with a character so selfish and deceptive.
lamom77's review against another edition
4.0
This was more like 3.5 - 3.75 stars, but I rounded up. It was a cute story with an appropriate ending, but definitely felt much frustration with the main character. I thought about putting the book down a couple of times but needed to find out how it ended and I am glad I persevered.