if you think about it for, like, 3 seconds, nothing makes sense... but that's not why we read books about actors and single moms getting into a fake wedding, and it's a pleasant story to follow for a little while, very wholesome in all senses (kinda leaning in the whole "traditional values" thing, but nothing too much)

also a lot of wasted potential with the "subplots" that could be very interesting but seemed to be there just so it wouldn't be literally just the two of them falling in love and a occasional interaction with the daughter

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have medical anxiety and an appointment in the afternoon. I flew through this novella because a) it’s a novella and b) it kept my mind off of an appointment I had. It didn’t hurt that I was actually enjoying it either. If you’ve seen my other reviews for this author’s Married series then you know that I rated the first three books in this series so low. The highest rated one was 2.25 starts up until book 4 which got a 3.75 star rating and now book 5 which got a 3.5 star rating. I don’t know if it’s because this author’s writing has gotten better as the series has gone on or if it’s because the tropes I love are being used in the later books. In this final book in the series, we follow Hollywood bad boy Rick Shade who decides to fake an engagement to his housekeeper, Tara, in order to tame that wild image and land a new role.

Fake dating? Mutual pining? Soft hero? Stop it. You’re going to make me blush. I loved this hero more than any other in this series. There’s still my usual complaint that the situations get a little too far on the comedy side of rom-com for my liking. And the whole being pitched as a “clean romance” and all that that entails. But otherwise I had a lot of fun checking out of reality and diving into this one. The characters were well fleshed out and the settings were well described. I still think the side characters could use a little more page time, but when the novella is less than 200 pages that gets to be a little difficult.

Overall, I don’t know if I would suggest the whole series to anyone. I think the first three in the series are objectively bad. But if you are an angst girlie, if you love yourself some mutual pining, these last two books in this series are prefect for you. Since it’s a series of standalone novellas, you’re good to start and stop anywhere without it effecting the story. My outcome? Am I glad I picked up this series bind up? Oof. I don’t know. I want to say no because the first three were so bad, but these last two gave me so much that I enjoy in a Contemporary Romance. It’s hard to decide.