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They’re pretending. Until they aren’t.
Thomas McKinney has never wanted a woman the way he wants Callie Adesso. Since she started working alongside him at the Colonial Marysburg Research Library, he’s spent his desk shifts fumbling pencils, tripping over his own feet, and struggling to remember both the Dewey Decimal System and the existence of her inconvenient boyfriend. Now, however, Callie is suddenly single—and in need of a last-minute faux-boyfriend for an episode of HATV’s Island Match. Thomas is more than happy to play the part…and in the process, convince Callie that a week together isn’t nearly long enough.
Callie has never found a man as irritating as she finds Thomas. He may be brilliant, kind, and frustratingly handsome, but the absent-minded librarian also makes every workday an anxiety-inducing exercise in stress. Even seven days in paradise by his side won’t change her opinion of him. Really. No matter how attentive he is. And gentle. And sexy.
One plane ride later, the two of them are spending long, hot days under the sun and on display, pretending to be in love for a television show. This may be a vacation, but it’s also an act—as well as Thomas’s last chance to persuade the woman of his dreams to include him in hers. And soon, the island heat isn’t the only thing steaming up HATV’s cameras…
Featured Series
1 primary bookLove Unscripted is a 1-book series first released in 2019 with contributions by Olivia Dade.
Reviews with the most likes.
So cute, but I really feel like this could've been a full-length novel easily - there's a lot of exposition in the beginning that would probably have been more interesting/impactful/whatever if it'd been shown and not just told to us, like all the stuff about Callie's terrible boyfriend and her anxiety and how she can't stand working on desk with Thomas seems like it would be worth actually showing, at least for a bit. I also wish a little more had been done with the fake-relationship premise, because that's one of my favorite tropes and I feel like it was a little underused here. I could easily see myself giving this 4 or even 5 stars if it were longer, but as it is, it felt just too short to give me everything I wanted. I really liked the characters and the premise, though, I just wanted more. Novels for everyone!
(2019 summer romance bingo: “beach on the cover”; would also fit “show business” or “road trip,” depending on how loosely you're interpreting those.)