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A review by queerafictionado
Just for Show by Jae
5.0
Is it all just an act? Or is it something more?
Just for Show is my first full novel by Jae and I will definitely be reading the rest of her books! It had fake dating, opposites attract, only one bed, and more. It wasn’t the tropes that really drew me into the story though. It was the depth of the characters. Their emotional complexity. Their struggles and past traumas. Their utter humanness.
Claire Renshaw is blindsided the day of her engagement party when her fiancée Abby breaks things off. The problem isn’t so much the broken engagement. It’s the fact that her pending book deal for her relationship self-help book hinges on the fact that she is in a happy, healthy relationship. Afraid of losing both her partner and her book deal, she lets her friend convince her into hiring an actress to play the role of her adoring fiancée.
Enter Lana Henderson. Lana is everything Claire is not. She is curvy and full-bodied. Tattooed and scarred. Free spirited and adventurous. She’s a bit messy. She prefers simple things over fancy things. She’s an actress struggling to find roles because she doesn’t fit the mold. And she absolutely does not trust therapists. But it’s hard to turn down the kind of money Claire is offering for this very unique role, even if it’s not one she can put on a resume.
This fake relationship feels like a disaster in the making. Especially since part of the deal means living together…as if just pretending to like each other wasn’t already hard enough.
It doesn’t take long for Claire and Lana to start to care for one another, though. And for desire to start sparking between them. But it takes a long time for those sparks to turn into something more, because how can you tell if something is actually real when your whole relationship is based on an act? But once these two finally give into their desires it is beautiful and HOT!
I loved this whole story and the way Jae developed these characters and their connection. And Angela Dawes narration was excellent - I especially loved Lana’s low, sultry voice! I highly recommend this book and I can’t wait to read more by Jae!
Just for Show is my first full novel by Jae and I will definitely be reading the rest of her books! It had fake dating, opposites attract, only one bed, and more. It wasn’t the tropes that really drew me into the story though. It was the depth of the characters. Their emotional complexity. Their struggles and past traumas. Their utter humanness.
Claire Renshaw is blindsided the day of her engagement party when her fiancée Abby breaks things off. The problem isn’t so much the broken engagement. It’s the fact that her pending book deal for her relationship self-help book hinges on the fact that she is in a happy, healthy relationship. Afraid of losing both her partner and her book deal, she lets her friend convince her into hiring an actress to play the role of her adoring fiancée.
Enter Lana Henderson. Lana is everything Claire is not. She is curvy and full-bodied. Tattooed and scarred. Free spirited and adventurous. She’s a bit messy. She prefers simple things over fancy things. She’s an actress struggling to find roles because she doesn’t fit the mold. And she absolutely does not trust therapists. But it’s hard to turn down the kind of money Claire is offering for this very unique role, even if it’s not one she can put on a resume.
This fake relationship feels like a disaster in the making. Especially since part of the deal means living together…as if just pretending to like each other wasn’t already hard enough.
It doesn’t take long for Claire and Lana to start to care for one another, though. And for desire to start sparking between them. But it takes a long time for those sparks to turn into something more, because how can you tell if something is actually real when your whole relationship is based on an act? But once these two finally give into their desires it is beautiful and HOT!
I loved this whole story and the way Jae developed these characters and their connection. And Angela Dawes narration was excellent - I especially loved Lana’s low, sultry voice! I highly recommend this book and I can’t wait to read more by Jae!