amirtsos 's review for:

How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

2.0

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The premise of this story is a fun one, there's a reason fake dating is a popular trope, however the serious topics handled in this book are a little too true to life and don't have the requisite fleshing out for me to ultimately root for the couple.

it is obvious VERY early on that Ethan is an alcoholic, which is a tricky thing to navigate in a romance, and while 16 months of sobriety, rehab, and work with a therapist may very well have a real person ready for a relationship again, we are only TOLD about his changed behaviour, and never shown that he has actually changed in meaningful ways that would allow these two to be in a successful, happy relationship. One chapter (and a short one at that) from her perspective is nowhere near enough evidence after the entire rest of the book to convince me that 1. He is actually in recovery, 2. That he has done the necessary work to be emotionally available, and 3. That he has the support network in place to not wind up exactly where they started again. There is an effort to imply (or outright state) these things, but it just isn't compelling enough to combat the rest of the story. Frankly, this should have been split closer to 50/50 across that 16 month break for me to have any chance of rooting for these 2 to end up together.