My love for fake dating books isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I’ve literally just finished reading one and it’s inspired me to write this post. I don’t get to write these too often as I’ve found good fake dating books difficult to come by. However, I recently did a search on the Kindle store and have collected a decent amount of books to try. Fingers crossed they’re as good as the ones I’ve talked about so far.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
I’m the type of person to put off reading a book because it’s been hyped up so much – something I regretted when it came to The Love Hypothesis. I absolutely adored this book. Fake dating works so well with grumpy x sunshine and I wasn’t even mad that the grumpy character was the male. Adam is the right amount of broody and he more than makes up for it in other ways. That’s my attempt to not completely spoil what happens in this book. Which is probably pointless because I feel like everyone has read this by now and if you’re a romance lover and haven’t read this, why not?! For me, it’s worthy of the hype it got but I can see why some people may not like it.
Fake dating in a work/education environment always makes the stakes way higher, which makes this trope even better in my opinion. I also love it when the characters don’t know each other well as there’s always some way they’ll slip up and almost reveal the ruse. Ah, I love it.
Ali Hazelwood has become an auto-buy author for me, even though I’ve only read two of her books. My plan is to read at least two more before the end of this year.
Synopsis: As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Ok so this one is a little bit of a cheat as the fake dating aspect isn’t the point of the book, however, I love an enemies to lovers fake dating situation. Although I do still stand my stance that true enemies to lovers doesn’t exist in contemporary books.
Anyway, the fake dating element of this book takes place at a family wedding and not just any wedding. Oh no, It’s the male love interest’s brother’s wedding. What makes it even juicier is that he’s marrying his brother’s ex. Like who actually does that? So yeah, the fake dating part is pretty intense and you can understand why it’s so important. The stakes are extremely high. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if everyone found out you had to ask someone you don’t even like to pretend to be your girlfriend because your brother is marrying your ex.
That probably isn’t the best way of selling this book to you as a fake dating book, as it technically isn’t. But I’ve been thinking about The Hating Game a lot lately and while I don’t think it’s worth a re-read, I will watch the film again to get my fix. It was actually a decent adaptation.
Synopsis: Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.
If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
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Fake dating is such a good trope, loved these recs!
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