I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Series: The Long Game #2
Published by Atria Books on July 30, 2024
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 432
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:

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Blurb:
Josie Moore has given the opposite sex—and love—plenty of chances. Four exactly, if you count all her failed engagements, and five if you include the absentee father who kept her existence a secret until very recently. So when her father decides to announce his retirement with a splashy magazine piece about the family, Josie realizes her romantic history is a complicated PR issue.
Matthew Flanagan is in the mud, literally. Not only has he been fired from his job, but also the tires of his car are stuck in the muck after taking a wrong turn as he enters Green Oak, North Carolina. So, he grabs a duffel with his essentials and goes in search of a place to crash until he gets his life back on track. But instead, he finds his best friend’s sister, Josie, greeting him as her fiancé.
What starts as a big messy misunderstanding quickly turns into an arrangement with Matthew playing a new role as doting fiancé. A fifth engagement—and a stunt, at that—makes Josie’s stomach turn, but every dilemma requires a choice between equally undesirable alternatives, and Matthew doesn’t seem to mind becoming one more number in a colorful list of grooms-that-never-were. Despite the ring on her finger, Josie knows this is only temporary, even if the rest of the small town believes that the fifth time’s the charm.
My Review
This was another fun fake dating romance, my first by another author that I’ve wanted to read for a while, and was glad to get the chance to read this early! I also know I now need to at least go back and read the first book in this series. While I’ve never seen the Runaway Bride movie with Julia Roberts, I imagine this has similarities to that story in some ways.
Boy did this book start with a major hook of an opening. I mean having someone show up when you are covered with jelly from trying to get one of your former engagement rings off, and having to suddenly assure them you are getting engaged because it would hurt your newly found father’s public image. And then having a stranger just happen to be walking down your street that you are able to actually pull over and rope into this fake engagement scenario, and that stranger is actually your newly found sister’s best friend that you kind of sort of know.
Matthew was someone I could have fallen in love with myself. He was funny and sexy and definitely such a good guy, with some moves! He was there for Josie in all the ways, letting her go with what she wanted, but also pushing her to make sure she was doing what she wanted and not just what everyone else wanted. And he was real. The secret that he had, well, it wasn’t a horrible one, not even one I’d kind of guessed might be what was going on. Also, not a third act break up, even with what happened on their supposed wedding rehearsal/day.
Even Josie’s father had a moment at the end that made him not someone to completely hate or never forgive. And I liked that. The characters in this small town were a blast as well. I loved Josie’s Grandpa Moe and his neighbor Otto. And as I mentioned at the beginning, I need to go back and read book one to get more of this small town and the characters. My only issue was that it might have been a little longer than needed overall, and there were a few small parts I feel might have been not needed. However since I can’t really think of what they were specifically after I finished, I still gave it 4.5 stars!
I’ve slowly been falling out of love with the fake dating trope, but Matthew sounds like such a dream that I’m not sure if I can pass this one up! <3 Glad the father gets redeemed in the end a bit too. So glad you enjoyed, Lisa. 🙂
I do still enjoy that trope, but it’s nice when it is done really well!
I love the fake relationship stories. Great review!
It’s definitely a good one!