Oh man. I don't even know where to begin! First of all, I love a fake fiance/boyfriend trope. That will get me everytime.

I related so much to Elle the FMC. The way that she experiences her migraines and it's kind of a key part of the story was written so well. I personally suffer from intense migraines so seeing how well written that part of her character was was so lovely. The way that she's a huge people pleaser but such a ray of sunshine was great and did not feel overdone at all.
August was exactly what I picture in a broody, grumpy man. He had his own issues and the way he approached things between him and Elle were definitely based off of some trauma but he really did try to change his way of doing things for Elle. They brought out the best in each other even if it took them forever to admit their true feelings.

The story of their relationship developing and the secondary story fit so well together and I almost cried while reading this book. His grandmother was a well known children's book author but something had happened to make her stop. Elle had grown up reading her books and even wrote in to the main character of the book through a pen pal program. She learned that August's grandmother is the one who took the time to write back to every kid who wrote in and my soul was just weeping in joy for that.

There's a lot going on throughout the story between multiple characters but all in all, the story was well put together and really was such a fun, wonderful read. It absolutely takes you on a journey and it was nice to watch how everyone in the story went through their issues and finally gave acceptance and forgiveness to even the villain of the story.

This is an opposites attract type of romance. I love any aspect of hero/heroine type of love. When the MMC catches the FMC in the midst of passing out, I’m hooked. Swoon. Kinda on the longer side but definitely worth it.

Very cute book, some spicy but not over the top. Great story line and romance! Definitely would recommend. The characters are likable and the book is witty.

I loved this book! As a fan of grumpy x sunshine I loved the dynamic between Elle and August with her ability to brighten his day even as he stubbornly fought against it. The chemistry and build up is well written and has a good storyline alongside it and with some spice thrown in too. All in all this was a great feel good read and I loved the journey throughout and getting a little insight into the future at the end too. I would highly recommend reading this book it does not disappoint.

I absolutely fell in love with the dynamic between sunshiny, bubbly Elle with her eternal optimism and broody, brusque August. He tried so hard not to be swayed by Elle's personality, but how can you not be affected when you're surrounded by that kind of energy? This story had enough momentum in the plot to keep the story moving and enough spice to keep it interesting! A few unexpected twists and turns had me gasping and eagerly finishing another chapter. I'd give it 2/5 for vanilla spice but 5/5 for story and character dynamic. Well worth the read!!

Truely excellent spice!

Overall I found this book to be overly formulaic and such a slog to read. I love a fate dating trope so much but this one just did not feel right. The characters are not loveable at all, the dialogue felt really stiff and the “funny parts” of the book fell flat.

It could be that I am really not I’m really not a fan of an age-gap romance and this one felt particularly toxic. Basically, August was a terrible husband to his former wife. Along comes 23 year old Elle who is impressed by a very, very low bar, that a woman the same age as August would just not tolerate. Or at least tolerate with open eyes because of his millions of dollars!

Elle herself seems very two dimensional as do all the characters.

There’s also quite a graphic description of SA, in reference to a reddit post. This seemed unnecessary and was unpleasant to read.

There are a lot of “filler” scenes in this book, which are boring and do little to advance the plot.

The spice is actually very well done, but I cared so little about the characters that it fell flat. Also a lack of safe-sex by a man in his late 30s is particularly cringy.