The Love Plot
Samantha Young
352 pages
Berkley
published August 29, 2023
After a couple of meh romcoms this was a breath of fresh air. There’s fake dating, which is fast becoming one of my favorite romance tropes along with opposites and grumpy sunshine. Yeah I know kinda similar but they both don’t have to exist.
Star and Rafe. What names. I connected with her happy go lucky personality and while he was a little much at times, I really grew to like him too. And as I always say, the most important thing for me with a romance is to root for the couple. Which I did.
It’s cute and heartwarming. I giggled and loved the banter. The characters grew and stumbled as they spent time together. Opposites don’t just change and fall in love, I liked we saw the struggle and them trying to work out the solution. Exactly what I needed to read right now.
And kudos to @savannahpeachwood for doing a bang up job being both Star and Rafe. I’m sometimes disappointed when there isn’t dual narration in a romance but she does such a good job. I loved it.
About the book
There’s a magnetic attraction when a happy-go-lucky gig worker agrees to a fake relationship with a rich, uptight New Yorker in this steamy romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young.
Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl’s grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can’t help but needle him. She’ll never see him again, and honestly, he’s pretty hot.
Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn’t mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding “the one,” so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He’ll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else’s new phone, and he’ll get his family off his back.
When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star’s desire for “no strings” is tested against Rafe’s staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all….
Leave a Reply