A review by tdotrenae
My Big Fat Fake Marriage by Charlotte Stein

funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC ! OK, I will admit that I did not really think I was going to like this book at the beginning. The book reads like the inner monologue of someone who has ADHD mildly and who get stuck in their own head as life is happening around them. 

Meet Connie/Hazel, who has SWORN off nice guys and believes they are all deep down terrible people, and her neighbor, Henry Beckett, who is burly, soft, gentle giant and a genuinely good and kind human. They find themselves in a fake marriage and stuck in a writing retreat for two weeks together sharing one bed. This book had so many of my favorite tropes: cinnamon roll mmc, forced proximity, one bed, fake marriage, slow burn, and a hint of grumpyxsunshine. But a lot of it just fell really flat for me. I think had it not been written via Connie/Hazel’s inner monologue, I might’ve liked it a lot more. There are parts of like the first 50% that I was like Connie is insufferable. I do like Hazel a little bit more. I feel like the last 30% really made me rate this book differently.

I will say that it feels kinda bittersweet that probably the best written smutty scenes were in here, because it takes so damn long to get to them! Like trudging thru the dark, muddy, abyss of Connie’s/Hazel’s inner monologue to finally see the light of the smut. Now, Miss Charlotte, you definitely can write some spicy scenes. And I think having the book read as Hazel’s in her monologue really worked here. 

I would say this book is a book for vibes not as much logic. There are things that Connie/Hazel does that straight up don’t make any sense (see the idea of Hazel using the name, Connie to like avoid who she is/was). Overall, it’s OK! You might like it, you might not. I will say that the spice in this book makes it 100% worth the read! 
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