The Big Fake by Penelope Bloom

What do you do when you find out your boyfriend cheated?
Throw up on a gorgeous stranger. Obviously.

Rock bottom, nice to meet you.

Dean Slater–the guy wearing my breakfast–got cheated on, too.
We have a perfectly stupid plan to make sure it never happens again.

If everyone thinks we’re together, we can both stay off the market.
No matchmaking friends and family. No more messy breakups.

We’ll keep things long distance, never be in the same room, and it’ll be smooth sailing.

Except there’s a catch.
We’re both invited to my sister’s wedding.
Oh, don’t worry, it gets worse.

My sister’s wedding to my boss.
The wedding my whole family is invited to.
And guess who else is invited?
My new fake boyfriend everybody is thrilled to finally meet in the flesh.

To survive, we’re going to have to fake it harder than either of us planned.

Dirty “fake” kisses, a shared hotel room with a see-through bathroom door, one painfully memorable couple’s game later, and things are way past complicated.

Real feelings collide with old promises. Our big messy lie threatens to unravel my sister’s perfect weekend. And that vow I made to never date again? If it could wear boots, it would be shaking in them.

My Review

Pearl has significant anxiety issues, but her inner monologue has some semblance of comedy and is a hot mess. She works for a marketing firm in New York. Oh, she gets a lousy interruption on Monday morning. In the form of a lewd image and a wake-up call for her now ex-boyfriend. 

Dean is detail-oriented, but he seems to need help with relationships. They always seem to poof into the air for him. He can see the bright side despite being the worst Monday ever. He starts a fake girlfriend deal with the only person who can understand his feelings. His inner monologue is funny but more like a rambling crazy person. 

Dean is slightly sunny, even if his humor is a little out there. However, I did notice a spelling mistake in this book. I didn’t see this coming, but the book jumps forward in time, and now her little white lies will put her in a very awkward situation. The tension is high between them even though they are only friends. I like the clever way the forced proximity was added to the fake relationship.  

This gets moderately steamy as they cross some lines but then cools off again. I do secretly love that Dean is rich, hot, and sweet. But can either of them trust enough to give up the fake relationship and start a real one? I don’t know; they both seem to have their fears and cover them up differently. Miscommunication or not saying what they mean seems to be a thing in this story. 

Of course, Dean has his idiotic man moments where you want to slap some sense into him. However, Pearl does it, too. They are both so damaged. It sucks when they make the wrong decision, but I love the grand gesture. The book ends happily and kinda sappy, but it was a cute read. Overall this was a sweet read. It had moments of being a sappy romance and even some steamy moments. The general storyline was exciting, and the tropes helped me enjoy the read. However, the two spelling mistakes definitely surprised me. I liked this book for a stand-alone read. 

If you want to read The Big Fake by Penelope Bloom, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Assocaite, I earn on qualifying purchases.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories Work Romance, Fake Relationship, and Billionaire.