Fake dating - check. Disney princess - check. If you love a Young book, then this will not disappoint. I have been waiting to read once for a while as my friend adores this author. I adored this book. Star was such an amazing character to follow and I loved how happy she was. The Grumpy x sunshine trope is one of my faves and this did not disappoint.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% my own.

I liked the message of ‘being yourself’ that was portrayed throughout this book. The book itself is cute, with a meet-cute, grumpy x sunshine and fake dating. However, this book is just a typical big city fake dating romance with nothing else overly unique added to the plot. I appreciated the polygamy representation that took place among various side characters and the FMC’s growth as she explored her relationship with her parents.

I personally don’t think that the main characters had a very healthy relationship. They jumped into it too fast and never really talked out their problems. It seemed like sex was used to distract from their individual had relationship problems.

4.5⭑

Tropes;
- fake dating
- one bed trope
- grumpy x sunshine
- billionaire romance
- single POV

If you are looking for a true rom com, this is the book for you! This book was so much fun!!

We follow Star and Rafe, who meet at his niece’s birthday party where Star has been hired as Merida (bonus points bc it’s the Scottish Disney princes). They get off on the wrong foot with Rafe judging the fact she works as a Disney Princess actress but soon learns she does odd jobs here and there that offer good money.

Rafe, wanting his mother and sister in law to stop annoying him about his dating life, offers to pay Star, if she becomes his fake girlfriend for the next couple of months.

Enter fake dating trope eeek!! I loved the development from fake dating and annoying each other on a daily basis to starting to have feelings for each other.

The romantic development to their relationship was a perfect medium burn and personal character growth and development was very much PRESENT in this book - which I loved.

This is book was so funny at times and I loved everything about Star. She is super headstrong and doesn’t let anyone stop her from being herself.

I have been a long time fan of Samantha Young and this book was just as good as I knew it would be.

Thank you NetGalley and Piatkus for sending me an early copy of The Love Plot in exchange for my honest review.

BOOK REVIEW: The Love Plot by @authorsamanthayoung

4.5 Stars
I am a huge fan of Samantha Young and have read nearly everything she has written so it's safe to say I was excited for this book!

The Love Plot is about lead female Star, in her late twenties, she is a quirky, happy, bohemian woman. Star meets lead male Rafe at his niece's party and thing's don't exactly start off well. However after another run in, Rafe asks Star to be his fake girlfriend to get his rich family off his back. The story has a few tropes including fake relationship, grumpy and sunshine, found family, only one bed, strangers to friends to lovers and opposites attract.

Star's parents are hippies in a non-monogamist relationship. They are neglectful and aren't really a part of her life. Star has a found family of her three friends that are in a polyamorous relationship. I really loved her friends and wished we had seen even more of them. What I loved about Star is that she knows who she is and is comfortable in her skin. She is also incredibly kind, caring and rarely judgemental.
Rafe has a grumpy nature and struggles to meet new friends and he started off quite judgemental but that changed. Star's influence definitely made him a more thoughtful person. He is a vet which I loved and a romantic at heart who wants to find the one.
The romance was both cute and hot. They had so much chemistry and bounced off each other so well. Samantha Young certainly knows how to create sexual tension and this made the romance sexy and the smut very hot!
The writing and humour was perfect and had me hooked.

Overall this is an absolute winner of a sexy adult romance. Samantha Young can do no wrong in my eyes and I highly recommend picking this one up asap!

Please note that I was #gifted this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

A 3.5 star read, and thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this.
Star Shine Matthews (yes, really) is our main character. She is judged by many because of her unorthodox career choices - but as the child of hippy parents is quite used to feeling odd. When she is cast as the entertainer for a child’s party she finds herself judged by a man she finds herself extraordinarily attracted to.
Rafe is a vet, part of a successful family and used to behaving as people expect. He is intrigued by Star and offers her a proposition - to pretend to be his girlfriend so his family will stop trying to set him up with eligible women.
Naturally, they’re from very different experiences but the story focuses on them realising their love…with the usual bumps along the way.
Some rather unappealing moments, but a positive spin on the self-affirmation and our couple do work together.

Star Shine Meadows is a free spirit, raised by parents who didn’t believe in monogamy, traditional jobs or following society. Whilst working in her job as a character party entertainer, Star has a run in with grumpy but very attractive Rafe Whitman. Rafe is being constantly set up with women by his family to a point where he desperately needs a fake girlfriend to get them off his back. Whilst she is nothing like the women he would normally date, Star seems the perfect choice as he’d never fall for her truly.

I enjoyed the fake dating aspect of this book and could understand the reasons behind Rafe needing someone to take the heat off him with his overbearing family. There was a lot of back story to their history and it helped give context to how their stories played out and intertwined with Star’s. The societal pressure on them both featured heavily in the story and I felt was addressed well.

Star spends a huge amount of the book discovering herself and learning to be who she is despite her upbringing and it’s an interesting journey of discovery to follow her on, though it wraps up a little conveniently without much help or intervention from something such as therapy which I really think would be needed in this situation in real life.

The steamy scenes are really well written and we get multiple so if you like this sort of scene I think you’ll really enjoy this.

I have some reservations around the possessiveness of Rafe - whilst I understand where it was coming from I think it bordered on extreme behaviour that made me feel a little uncomfortable rather than excited. These two seriously needed to talk things out earlier and the lack of communication was a little frustrating at times even if I felt the author did make efforts to explain why this was happening.

I’m not personally a fan of exclamation marks in the narration to emphasise a point in a romance (I think it detracts from the authenticity) and there were a few too many for me to really absorb in the writing style.

Overall this is a fun read and if you like a grumpy sunshine with a possessive MC I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A sweet and funny romance with a lovely grumpy hero and a sunny heroine. Star and Rafe are a fun couple with a true meet-cute and a host of classic tropes.

samantha young is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. this was just so good!!

this follows star, a character costume acting, line sitting commitment phobe and rafe, a wealthy vet in need of a fake girlfriend in order to get his match making family off his back.

the book was so well written and i was so invested throughout the entire story. i laughed and i cried, ultimately finding one of my new favourite books.

i’ll be recommending this to everyone! just such an amazing book

I really enjoyed this book. It was one of those that I requested an Arc of and then, when I was given it, I wasn't sure if it was actually the book for me. I'm glad I read it because it was so much better than I was expecting.

Now, I've cried at a few books this year and this was one of them! The struggle Star has with her own self identity really made this story for me and I really, really liked Rafe and his role in helping Star see who she really wants to be and helping her be that person.

If you're a fan of grumpy x sunshine, then this is the ultimate definition of that trope!

And don't even get me started on the spiciness!

I'm now off to read more Samantha Young - I always love finding an author I've never read before!

Absolutely everyone should read this book!

Headlines:
Female commitment-phobe
Different sides of the tracks
Grumpy-sunshine
Fakey-datey

The Love Plot was all easy-breezy reading but with substance. Picture a bohemian, free soul of a New Yorker alongside a buttoned-up grumpy vet and you have Star and Rafe. Star's unconventional job choices and her kind and joyful demeanor where what set her in Rafe's path initally. Instead of a spark, there was irriation. Instead of a meet-cute, there was a grumpy collision.

I got a lot of joy from reading how these two started fake dating and how their interest in one another became authentic. Rafe's family were a key part of their story and bumps in the road; I really enjoyed that aspect. Star's family both parentage and found family, made the pages turn too.

These two had chemistry. They were so incredibly different as characters but they found a common ground of respect and affection; what a journey. I would have liked more wrap-up on Dawn to go along with the karma dump.

What a peanut butter and jelly pairing these two were (you had to be there).

Thanks to the author for the eARC; this is my honest review.

The Love Plot is the story of Star and Rafe, who agree to fake date each other to keep Rafe's meddling mother and sister-in-law off his back about settling down. The attraction between them soon does away with the fake part of their relationship and they start dating each other for real, leading Star to rethink what her idea of life actually is.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found both Star and Rafe to be great characters. The book has great pace, keeps the reader engaged with the characters and the story and I really loved seeing the way Star and Rafe's relationship evolved and how she grew as a character.

I adore this book for many, many reasons.

I love Star and how she measures success. I love her sense of humour and her witty banter. I love her attitude to her happiness and how she loves the people who are important to her, her 'family'.

However I also adore Rafe and his ability to listen and understand when Star challenges his thinking and how he wholly accepts her for the person she is.

All of this and I haven't even touched on their road to HEA!

This grumpy/sunshine offering from Samantha Young is laugh out loud hilarious as well as being, steal your breath, heartbreaking.

I physically swooned on more than one occasion when Rafe's actions showed his support and protection of, his shining Star.

Star and Rafe compliment each other so beautifully, even when the inevitable cracks appear and our couple question their ability to make things work.

But fear not, Rafe and Star find their way through the seemingly tumultuous issues and unhappiness to create their perfect ending!

The Love Plot is an opposites-attract, fake-dating romance between Star and Rafe. Star is a happy go lucky hippie type who refuses to be tied down by a job, let alone a man. Rafe is a crisp and professional vet. The two are thrown together when Rafe pays Star to be in fake girlfriend in order to get his mother off his back.

I actually was really enjoying the first 50% of this. There was some good back and fourth between the two of them and the getting to know each other was enjoyable to read about. Young's characterisation of the two was good and it was nice to see them both begin to open up.

However, after this mark the story was sort of lost on me. The family dynamics truly seemed outlandish (both Star's parents who were blasé at best and neglectful as worst and Rafe's who were strangely overly-involved in his life and simply horrible to his girlfriend). It was so frequent that I sort of became numb to it and switched off. I found that I couldn't really connect to the characters because they couldn't connect to each other.

It was a fun read and definitely something quite different - it unfortunately just didn't follow through.

"The Love Plot" by Samantha Young is an enchanting romcom that effortlessly captivates readers with its delightful blend of grumpy and sunshine trope, fake dating, and slow burn romance. The story flows seamlessly, making it a breeze to read and impossible to put down. The characters are well-developed, and their chemistry sparks with every interaction, leaving you rooting for their love to blossom. If you're looking for a heartwarming and charming read, "The Love Plot" is the perfect choice to indulge in some swoon-worthy moments and light-hearted humor. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a feel-good romantic escape!

What can I say I just love SY's writing style.
What I saw this one on Netgalley, I just hit request without reading synopsis.
And I must say this one did not disapoint. I adore Star and her humor. And Rafe is such a sweet hero. Yes, this one is grumpy vs sunhine, but Rafe wasn't really grupmy. I love Stars and his relationship. And you can just feel them falling in love. (Spoiler alert) I hate what Stars' parents did it to her. I hate tha she was sooo afraid of love, that she it the end wanted to please eveyone just to be loved. This would be for me a 5 stars read if we had Rafe's POV. I just needed it! Such a sweet romance. I would recomed it! 4.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

The Love Plot is a romantic comedy but not without some emotional and heartbreaking scenes. It’s main message is of always being yourself and not changing for others because it fits into their ‘norm’
Star meets Rafe when she is playing a Disney character at his niece’s birthday party, he is taciturn and rude about her outfit and accent when playing her part. She is very attracted to his good looks but realises he’s a real grump, he is annoyed because she just laughs off his criticism and throws it back in his face. When she sees him next by chance in the street she shouts out to embarrass him in a very funny scene.
Born to neglectful hippy parents Star has a rough childhood but has overcome that by her sunny nature, she is truly a wonderful character.
Rafe has a proposition that he will pay her to act as his girlfriend as he is fed up of the constant match making his mother and sister keep doing hence his grumpy attitude.
As Star and Rafe grow closer and start an intimate steamy relationship Star feels she must change to fit in with his family which Rafe doesn’t like, so misunderstandings start to put a toll on the relationship.
This is a brilliantly constructed story that sweeps you along as you become invested in this relationship. Really enjoyable and certainly difficult to put down, as usual with this author’s work.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

The Love Plot is the cutest book I’ve read in a while and AGH it was perfect! Before I get too excited, there are no spoilers in this review.

The plot - this book has your classic grumpy X sunshine, enemies to lovers, age gap romance tropes. It’s of course all based on the fake dating trope which Samantha Young does BRILLIANTLY! It’s a HEA which we all know scores brownie points for me. The smut was pretty mild, a 2.5/5 on the spice scale. This book is a palate cleanser with the right amount of angst! I loved it, I devoured it. Now to why it dropped a star (hehe, that’s funny); I get the reason for all the miscommunication, but the second, third, fourth and fifth act breakups were ridiculous. And that’s me saying it. I’m all for angst but that was over the top. No one loves whiny insecurities and that played out was a bit much.

The MC - Star Shine Meadows. A ridiculous name for a surprisingly likeable girl. Now she is 50% of the whiny issues that I have, so she isn’t my FAVOURITE FMC in the world, but I did like her when she wasn’t being a coward so brownie points there.

The male counterpart - I loved Rafe. Through and through, he’s a darling. Sets clear boundaries, gives a woman her space, lil bit naive but what man isn’t, and has just enough baggage for him to be broody and jaded which I eat up every mf time. Loved him, thank you very much.

Samantha Young's "The Love Plot" is a sizzling romantic comedy that explores the captivating dynamics between a carefree gig worker and a reserved New Yorker. Star Shine Meadows, embracing a life of freedom and no-strings-attached relationships, unexpectedly crosses paths with Rafe Whitman, a grumpy veterinarian. Despite their initial clash, the sparks between them are undeniable.

Star's easygoing nature clashes with Rafe's uptight demeanor, leading to an intriguing proposition: Rafe suggests a fake relationship to appease his persistent family, and he's willing to compensate Star generously for her role. As their faux romance unfolds at family gatherings, the tension between them escalates, testing their opposing philosophies.

Samantha Young masterfully weaves a tale filled with witty interactions, heartfelt moments, and undeniable chemistry. "The Love Plot" follows in the vein of her indie titles, featuring passionate scenes and swoon-worthy characters. The evolution of Star and Rafe's relationship is a delightful journey, drawing readers in with every turn of the page.

This novel encapsulates Young's signature blend of steamy romance and engaging characters. If you're a fan of her previous works, you'll undoubtedly relish "The Love Plot" for its charming storyline and the enticing connection between its protagonists.

I absolutely love Samantha young books and also love the being someone’s fake partner to love troupes. Reminds me of the good old Tom com days, we don’t see too much of anymore. Can’t wait to see how this love story unfolds and it also has a handsome veterinarian so for this animal lover that’s the cherry on top of the cake. Will be sharing a full review and thoughts soon, but so excited and grateful for this opportunity to read and share with readers.

An opposites attract fake-dating romance that digs deep into prejudices and a lot of people being rude and judgemental. It was definitely frustrating at times, especially with how Star was treated by Rafe’s family and how little Rafe really did to stop that. And then with how uncommunicative the pair were about their relationship and their feelings. I was desperate to knock some heads together for different reasons throughout! That being said, I did like how Rafe’s character was willing to listen to Star’s perspective on different topics and adjust his view based on her sound reasoning - we love a listener, and someone who can admit they’re wrong! Their romance was sweet at times, and there was definitely lots of steam! It also had the classic grumpy vs sunshine trope but Rafe wasn’t the most likeable person at times with his behaviour being questionable, so whether or not he was redeemed in my eyes, I couldn’t say - but a good twenty percent of the end of the book was a complete catastrophe in terms of how they were both behaving and I would have preferred it if at least one of them was being reasonable.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.