extra sweet and extra spicy
Connie doesn’t trust nice guys. She doesn’t particularly like the bad guys, but at least she knows where she stands with them. They pretty much just want the one thing, so there is no confusion. And then there’s her neighbor, Henry Samuel Beckett (Beck), who is a very nice guy. He’s always making her cakes and is very thoughtful. But he’s married. Or so he said.
Connie is going to get the chance to get to know her neighbor better though. He’s a book editor and has helped plan a weeklong writer’s retreat. Connie has been working as a copywriter, but what she really wants is to write fiction, so she signed up for the writer’s retreat. She’s been looking forward to a week of relaxing and getting to know other writers.
When Connie talks to Beck about the retreat, she finds out that he’s far more awkward than she first realized, to the point that he made up a wife that he told his entire workplace about. And he’s going on the writer’s retreat with people who think he’s married, including a bestselling author who isn’t afraid to call Beck out on his awkwardness. Connie sees that and feels protective toward Beck. She feels so protective that she jumps into the conversation and announces that she is Beck’s wife.
Which is fine, until Connie realizes that now she’s going to have to pretend to be Beck’s wife through the writer’s retreat. And she’s finding that the more time she spends around Beck, the warmer her feelings grow towards him. So acting like his wife won’t be too difficult. But staying in the same room and respecting each other’s boundaries might be harder than they think.
My Big Fat Fake Marriage is a sweet rom com about a couple of people who don’t quite seem to fit into their worlds they live in. They have both been bullied and marginalized for being different, and it takes them some time to realize how perfect they are for each other, and I thought it was really sweet how they found respect and support in each other.
I listened to this book on audio, narrated by Imogen Wilde. I thought she did a really good job. The accent she used for Connie was lovely and brought her to life. The voice she used for Beck was a little awkward, which brought the character to life with perfection. I thought that listening to this book was a lot of fun, but there were several scenes that got extra-spicy, so listening at work may be a bad idea.
I wanted to love this book. I loved Charlotte Stein’s When Grumpy Met Sunshine, and I was excited for this fake marriage story. I thought the idea was a lot of fun. I just felt like the story veered off from the fake marriage idea to a very spicy story about the tension building between Connie and Beck. For me, that took over the plot, so I missed out on the comedy I was looking for with them acting like a couple in public. It’s not a bad book, but I think that the marketing for it was a little off from what the book became. It was still a lot of fun to listen to, and extra spicy, just not as entertaining as the book I was picturing in my mind.
Egalleys for My Big Fat Fake Marriage were provided by St. Martin’s Griffin, and an early copy of the audio were provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.
