Dorian and Briar promised to wait for each other; the chemistry was right but the timing was wrong. Now she’s engaged to his brother. I love the fake fiancée storyline, it’s so exciting, together with the angst and all the family drama it’s a compelling and thoroughly entertaining read!

4.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishing company and or the author for giving me the chance to read and review Fake-ish.

The book from the characters to the plot. The interaction between the characters had me laughing.

Dorian and Briar meet in the Dominican Republic while celebrating their friends' bachelor and bachelorette parties. They end up spending the rest of the trip together enjoying each others company. Dorian declares that he is not in a place for a relationship, and the two decide that in two years they will reconnect and give a relationship a go. Fast-forward one year and the two run into each other while on a family trip, but Briar is there posing as his brother's fiancé.

This book was a quick and easy read. I enjoyed the characters and the relationship between Briar and Dorian.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fake-ish by Winter Renshaw is a right place wrong time book. Briar and Dorian meet at her cousin's bachelorette party weekend. They spend the whole weekend enamored with each other but neither are in a position for a long term relationship. Dorian is a famous bands manager and asks Briar to wait two years for him. After two years, he'll be ready to quit the band and commit to each other. They bonded over their shared disdain of marriage. A year later, Briar has a job opportunity. Her boss, Burke, offers her one million dollars in exchange for pretending to be his fiancé for eight weeks at his family's beach estate. The only problem is that when Briar arrives she realizes Burke and Dorian are estranged brothers.

This book takes place both alternating point of views and alternating past and present. 99% of the romance in the book took place in the past. They could barely look or speak to each other in the present chapters. The book ultimately needed a few more chapters to make the present day romance believable. I got whip lash the last two chapters of the book. It was more than 3/4 of the way through and I couldn't figure out how the author could possibly wrap this up since they still weren't together. I really enjoyed the writing and the storyline but it didn't feel finished. It still isn't clear to me why three siblings were so vindictive to each other. They were quite unlikeable characters for no particular reason.

Tropes included: fake fiancé, second chance, dual pov, alternating past and present chapters, antimarriage, right place wrong time

Thank you to Winter Renshaw, NetGalley, and Montlake for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own. #netgalley #montlake #Fakeish

Cute, fun, easy read.

Renshaw never disappoints with her humor and fun reads. I found myself speeding through this easy read, worth the time on a cozy Sunday afternoon!

I was so consumed with this story from the start!

I loved the way Winter incorporated flashbacks to Briar’s and Dorian’s time together so that you could understand the present time!

Briar and Dorian are both in such an emotional place! My gosh so many times I wanted to jump in the pages of the book and yell at everyone. Dorian’s sister my gosh I loved and hated her because she was a mess but she is the perfect example of why Dorian is who he is and why Briar is his perfect match!

There isn’t a lot of steam in this book but the story itself is so beautiful and the way it’s written helps you to really know the characters and understand the feelings and emotions. I love a good steamy romance but I appreciate when an author can write a story that has you so consumed you don’t even miss it and this book definitely did that for me!

This one did not click for me in any way shape or form.
I couldn’t connect with the writing, with the characters with anything 😫

Thank you Netgalley for kindly giving me an arc 🫶🏻

I really enjoyed this. Dorian and Briar meet at a joint bachelor/bachelorette night and instantly hit it off. Their chemistry is off the charts after spending an intense three days together they make a pact to meet up after two years without contact. Fate however has other plans for them, when a year later they come face to face at Dorian's holiday home. Only to discover that Briar is now engaged to his brother Burke.

Briar definitely had no idea what she was getting herself into and seeing Dorian again and knowing they could no longer be together was a painful reminder of what could have been. This was a great story, with lots of heartfelt emotion.

I initially enjoyed Fake-ish, I liked Dorian and Briar, but I found myself unable to enjoy the story of 2 people who met for 3 nights and then decided to wait for each other for 2 years with no contact at all. It was difficult to believe and I started to dislike the characters. I did finish the book but it want for me.

This is a great twisted five-star read. I will be honest I adore this author, so I knew I was going to love this story, but what surprised me was my feelings towards one of the main characters, I know we cant love them all, but I usually find something to like, and this time, nothing, it was one of those that you knew they were breathing and it irritated you cases, I am sure you will figure out who when you read. Briar I adored most of the time, but I did wonder a little, but then she did something that surprised me again, I loved how supportive she was when they needed it, even if they didn’t realise at the time.

This was chock full of angst and heartache and I loved every minute of it.

Briar and Dorian meet one fated night, sharing a deep, fast bond. They both know what they want out of life and decide that in two years, they will get together… but what happened in between? What could have happened to make Dorian despise Briar so much?

It’s been a year since they made their pact and strangely, Dorian finds himself in his family’s vacation home for the summer, spending time with his father and siblings… and his brother’s fiance, Briar…

Briar has started a new job and her boss has given her what seems to be the simplest and most lucrative proposition… pretend to be his fiancée for a family event. She never expected for her boss’s brother to be the man she has not stopped thinking about for the past year. And now things are really messy.

If only she could get Dorian to stop looking her way with such disdain… this summer is shaping up to be a lot more than she bargained for.

I loved the tension, I loved the sibling rivalry, I loved Dorian!!! I also really love that this book set out to do exactly what it says it will. The lifestyle choices these characters make are ones they stick to. Their beliefs are something they stand by and I thought that was so refreshing.

Also, this had the PERFECT amount of spice per story. The plot is so good and it would have been muddled by an un-proportionate amount of sexy times…

4.5 stars

Dorian and Briar meet in the Caribbean during a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. They are both pretty cynical about marriage, so they start off connecting about that. Then they move on to other topics and learn that they have a whole lot in common. They end up spending the entire night talking comfortably about everything. They also end up connecting on a physical level in a cabana on the beach. For the next three days, they spend every moment possible together, and find that they are soul mates. Because the timing is off, they make a pact to reconnect in two years. Meanwhile, Briar takes a job that requires her to sign an NDA agreement. She can’t discuss the details with anyone except her roommate. The job requires her to pretend to be the fiancé of a very self-absorbed man. This leads to some unforeseen complications with Dorian. And unfortunately, she can’t explain herself to him.

This complicated situation sets the tone for the book, and leads to a lot of low-level but steady tension. The pacing is pretty straightforward and even. Readers are rooting for these two against almost inconceivable odds. Fortunately, this author always finds a way. Ms. Renshaw knows how to tell a story; she gets readers invested in the outcome and she always throws in an unexpected twist or three. Her protagonists are complex and fully-developed, and are intriguing in multiple ways.

I will read anything that Winter Renshaw writes, because I know I will be reading an emotionally-compelling and well-crafted story that reaches my heart and takes it on a roller coaster ride before I finish!

Opportunities missed. After meeting at a jointed destination Bachelor/Bachelorette weekend, Dorian and Briar have a whirlwind sort of affair. They are both drawn to the other like no one else before them. After spending many hours just talking, they realize they have a lot in common, including the fact that neither ever want to get married. She agrees to wait for two years when he can be done with his work (managing a band on their tour,) and they can try having an official relationship. When low and behold, they meet again a year later at his family's private island (yes, he comes from money)... only now she's engaged to his brother. Fortunately for him, it's not all as it appears. Unfortunately for her, she can't tell him the truth. There is some obvious tension in the air. Wonderfully written characters (even the not so nice ones are perfect in their role.) There is some sexual content (but a minor part of the book (and not too graphic.)) Both the Heroine and the Hero are smart people who have a pretty thorough thought process. Not really jumping the gun in situations. In addition to the romance, there is the underlying storyline about his ill father and how much time they have left with him (and what that means for Dorian and his two siblings... and how exactly Briar fits into it.

*I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

This was a nice take on the fake relationship. I enjoyed the twist and would recommend this book. The happy ever after was quite different since the couple don’t get married but still have the HEA.

A year after an amazing three days together after meeting on a joint bachelorette/bachelor party, Briar and Dorian reconnect when vacationing at his family's private island (wow what a dream!) as she's posing as the fiancee of his brother. While the premise sounds unrealistic, I flew through this book in one sitting and know it won't be my last Winter Renshaw.

Some things I loved about this book:
- Dual POV and timeline (the weekend they met and their time on the family trip) that was done well to see both sides of the story and kept me engaged throughout
- Well rounded other characters
- A quick read for a vacation or afternoon with no plans

What made it less than 5 stars:
- I expected more steamy scenes based on reviews for other books by this author.
- I wanted more development for one character in particular, but the author kept him pretty one dimensional.

This book was fun and fast paced I really enjoyed it Winter writing is addictive and her stories keep you wanting more and more another amazing read.

“4 stars!”
Spice:🌶️🌶️

This story is one of those where there's a secret that, if told, would resolve everything.
This was a well written story and is written from two points of view and in two different time frames.
I think my problem with the story wasn't the quality of the writing, but that the Epilogue wasn't what I had hoped for. Overall, this is a good story with ups, downs, and some surprises.

W.Renshaw is one of my fav authors and with Fake-Ish, published by Montlake, she delivered again.
Briar is always the bridesmaid, never the bride. At a wedding - where else, she meets Dorian, the groom's college roommate.
They hid it right off and made a pact to meet again in 2 years time. Said and done - and here it gets very interesting, let me sort it out. She's just got a new job under the condition attending a family event as her new boss' fake fiancée. Surprise, suprise, Dorian is his brother.
An highly entertaining wrong time - right person read. A fast paced, complex romance, a witty and fun read.

I’ve been working hard editing my novel. Really intensive work this time around. So many historical things to check to be certain and making decisions when the scholars contradict each other. One woman academic who published her dissertation, wrote on Medieval Irish women. There was a fair amount of material on Anglo Irish, but virtually little on the Gaelic Irish, and instead of going to the few sparse previous works and reading up on the society in general to help draw conclusions, she went to England and the continent to study their experiences. How on earth her professors let that go, is beyond me. In any case I had to really comb through and throw out all the English and continent stuff and find a few pearls about Gaelic women. Not much was there.

Speaking of women’s experiences I just finished a novel by Lisa See, “Lady Tan’s Circle of Women”. It’s set in 15th c. China and is about a woman doctor. She came from a family of women doctors in the novel and apparently it’s based on an actual woman whose publications of treatments (only to women of course) were still used 500 years later. Amazing book.

I loved this story that gets told partly in flashbacks. The past is the first time Dorian and Briar met, in a beach resort to celebrate mutual acquaintances engagement. Neither is planning to get married but they find each other easy to talk to and being in a relationship starts to seem appealing. But Dorian is going to be busy touring the world with the band he's managing and it's not going to work out right now. A year later, they meet again. His father is dying and the family has gathered on an island. But Briar is fake engaged to his brother and bound by a non-disclosure agreement so she can't explain anything to Dorian. So it's very awkward but she gets to know his family better in the process.

The author's writing style works for me -entertaining, easy to read, with some real feeling getting through to me here and there. I liked the characters although Dorian's preferences made little sense to me - how would no contact be preferable to a long distance relationship? I am sure they could have afforded the plane tickets and made some time to meet during the tour, if they wished to. But, it was necessary for the plot to work and it got me this great story so I'm not complaining about that plot device. Any case, it reminded me a bit of that fab Cary Grant movie where they're supposed to meet on top of a skyscraper.... there's something so romantic about being willing to wait.

Steam level: Some sexual activity takes place but it's not the point.

I received a netgalley copy and this is a voluntary review.