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A review by thebritishbibliophile
Fake Empire by C.W. Farnsworth
5.0
'What a welcome back read to C.W.Farnsworth this was! Definitely and by far my favourite novel of hers I've ever had the pleasure of reading.'
Thank you to Grey's Promotions for sending me an ebook Advanced Readers Copy for me to read and leave an honest review.
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My previous read from C.W.Farnsworth was 'Winning Mr. Wrong', to which I gave 4.5 stars. It was my first read from her and out of this and Winning Mr. Wrong, I for sure know which is my own personal favourite. As stated in my review for Winning Mr. Wrong, anything around television dating isn't my kind of thing. However, I gave it a chance as the concept was interesting with how C.W. put her own spin on it, and I wanted to dive into a new author.
Since then, I've been on the eye for another of her reads that would catch my eye with a topic that would promise everything and more on its cover and in its blurb. Step up to the plate, Fake Empire. All the pieces are in place, let the game begin.
Many tropes are on offer with this read, namely:
✔ Billionaire Romance
✔ Arranged Marriage
✔ Marriage of Convenience
✔ Enemies to Lovers
✔ Romance after Marriage
✔ Family Saga
✔ Slow Burn/Steamy
just to name a few. It's been a while since I've read an arranged marriage trope, as it's not one I go for most often, so that teamed with the promising prospect of 'American Royalty' totally sold me on this novel. Contrary to the term and much to my delighted surprise, it wasn't as you may think. It's a loose interpretation of 'royalty', more so tinkering with the elites of American wealth and the families that play the game. A concept that has been done before BUT, this by far is the novel that has set itself apart from the rest that I've read and the one that has by far impressed me the most with the content within.
Time to talk main characters!
Usually when I talk about main characters in book reviews, I can talk about them as separate entities but not with Scarlett Ellsworth and Crew Kensington. Again, not in a bad way. Scarlett and Crew of course do have their own unique quirks, likes, dislikes etc, but in terms of personalty, strength, power and dominance, they're so evenly matched it's clear these two were meant to be soulmates. It's been such a long time since I've seen a set of characters so perfectly written for one another, I'm (almost) speechless. Of course as time goes on, things twist and change accordingly as everything does in a relationship--or marriage, in this case--, and the two very akin souls somehow grow evermore similar. These two are definitely up there in my favourite book couples from this year, for sure.
Fake Empire was an intriguing, enthralling and entraining take on the fake marriage/arranged marriage trope, which promised and delivered a story about how money buys power, how names have heavy away and influence, and that everything comes at a price. The union between Scarlett and Crew was meant to be merely transactional but as soon discovered by reading the novel, there was so much more within the deal (that really wasn't IN the deal), for one of these two than they let on. Challenges were declared, met and won, and once and for all love was shown to be the real winner in the ever-changing game that these two--and their families--are caught up in within their world of wealth, power and legacies.
Checkmate.
Five stars for Crew, Scarlett & C.W.Farnsworth! Well done on making my must read & top read lists of 2022!
Thank you to Grey's Promotions for sending me an ebook Advanced Readers Copy for me to read and leave an honest review.
------------------
My previous read from C.W.Farnsworth was 'Winning Mr. Wrong', to which I gave 4.5 stars. It was my first read from her and out of this and Winning Mr. Wrong, I for sure know which is my own personal favourite. As stated in my review for Winning Mr. Wrong, anything around television dating isn't my kind of thing. However, I gave it a chance as the concept was interesting with how C.W. put her own spin on it, and I wanted to dive into a new author.
Since then, I've been on the eye for another of her reads that would catch my eye with a topic that would promise everything and more on its cover and in its blurb. Step up to the plate, Fake Empire. All the pieces are in place, let the game begin.
Many tropes are on offer with this read, namely:
✔ Billionaire Romance
✔ Arranged Marriage
✔ Marriage of Convenience
✔ Enemies to Lovers
✔ Romance after Marriage
✔ Family Saga
✔ Slow Burn/Steamy
just to name a few. It's been a while since I've read an arranged marriage trope, as it's not one I go for most often, so that teamed with the promising prospect of 'American Royalty' totally sold me on this novel. Contrary to the term and much to my delighted surprise, it wasn't as you may think. It's a loose interpretation of 'royalty', more so tinkering with the elites of American wealth and the families that play the game. A concept that has been done before BUT, this by far is the novel that has set itself apart from the rest that I've read and the one that has by far impressed me the most with the content within.
Time to talk main characters!
Usually when I talk about main characters in book reviews, I can talk about them as separate entities but not with Scarlett Ellsworth and Crew Kensington. Again, not in a bad way. Scarlett and Crew of course do have their own unique quirks, likes, dislikes etc, but in terms of personalty, strength, power and dominance, they're so evenly matched it's clear these two were meant to be soulmates. It's been such a long time since I've seen a set of characters so perfectly written for one another, I'm (almost) speechless. Of course as time goes on, things twist and change accordingly as everything does in a relationship--or marriage, in this case--, and the two very akin souls somehow grow evermore similar. These two are definitely up there in my favourite book couples from this year, for sure.
Fake Empire was an intriguing, enthralling and entraining take on the fake marriage/arranged marriage trope, which promised and delivered a story about how money buys power, how names have heavy away and influence, and that everything comes at a price. The union between Scarlett and Crew was meant to be merely transactional but as soon discovered by reading the novel, there was so much more within the deal (that really wasn't IN the deal), for one of these two than they let on. Challenges were declared, met and won, and once and for all love was shown to be the real winner in the ever-changing game that these two--and their families--are caught up in within their world of wealth, power and legacies.
Checkmate.
Five stars for Crew, Scarlett & C.W.Farnsworth! Well done on making my must read & top read lists of 2022!