Is This for Real?: a feel-good friends-to-lovers fake dating romance by Kathy StrobosMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Okay, let's say up front that I am probably the wrong demographic for this romance and so much of what jarred is probably an age thing.
Penelope makes minatures, little scenes with tiny characters which she sells on her Etsy page (can you hear my 50+ year old eyes rolling?), she also blogs about her minatures and is trying to write a romance based on the characters, which are loosely based on her life. To make ends meet she also walks dogs and helps her friend Jamie's mum Theresa in her sporting goods store. Things have gone very, very wrong after Penelope declares her love for Jamie, only for him to say he doesn't think of her like that. Now she has to see him and his new girlfriend at a friends and family brunch without dying of mortification.
While Jamie has been in Singapore for a year working, Penelope has become good friends with Rory, a guy she was at college with. Penelope and Rory couldn't be more different, she had parents who were on the brink of divorce when they died, his parents are still happily married. To save Penelope from embarrassment, and to save Rory from his boss' wife's wandering hands, Penelope and Rory decide to fake date. Not everyone is convinced by the fake dating, particularly Penelope's annoying older sister Olivia and Rory's ex-girlfriend Callie, which is odd because Penelope starts to realise that her feelings for Jamie were merely a crush, it's Rory she wants to spend the rest of her life with. But having already declared her love and been shot down once, can she dare to do it a second time, and possibly destroy an amazing friendship?
First let me say that Penelope is a mouthful to say and a pain to type, but she hates being called Penny (eye roll). Now I'm a fan of the slow burn, yes I'm looking at you Mariana Zapata but there has to be some purpose to it, some small steps towards the HEA, in this case I just felt like this was a short novel which had been extended by lots of little scenes that didn't go anywhere. Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her writing club and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her tutor and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with a publisher and gets critique, rinse and repeat. Frankly with all the conflicting advice I'm surprised the book was readable at the end.
Also, it was clear to the reader that Rory was in love with Penelope from the very first chapter (2% to be precise) when he's reading a romance to better give Penelope's draft novel a better critique, so the push-me-pull-me where they almost kiss and then shy away got old really quickly.
My final gripe was the story within a story within a story plot, while Penelope and Rory are fake dating, so are her minatures on her blog and so are the characters in her novel. Penelope and Rory go on fake dates so that Penelope has fodder for her writing.
Overall, the blurb is on point when it calls this an opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, fake-dating romantic comedy, just not to my taste.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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