#TBRChallenge 2022: Grumpy Fake Boyfriend

The Book: Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Book one in the Kwan Sisters series, 2018, In print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I'm pretty sure I received an ARC of this. Back in 2018. Yes, I'm aware. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

The Review: I call books like Grumpy Fake Boyfriend "chocolate chip cookie" or "popcorn" reads. Tasty while you're stuffing your pie-hole, but not something that necessarily constitutes a filling meal.  That probably sounds "damning with faint praise," but it's really not. There is a call and a need for such books. Everybody, I don't care who you are, can benefit from a brain-candy read every now and then, and this story comfortably fits in that niche.

Will Stafford is a successful science fiction writer (he's making a living).  He's also a wee bit introverted and not much of a "people person." He's happy on his own. He likes his life - but it can be difficult navigating said life when his family is always trying to get him to break out of his shell, and his girlfriends keep trying to change him.  Hence, he's single.  Then he gets a call from one of his very few friends and Will can't really say no to him. Which is how he ends up playing fake boyfriend for a holiday weekend to bubbly and sweet Naomi Kwan.

Will was her older brother's college roommate, and Naomi would be lying if she didn't say she asked for her brother's help in the hopes he'd suggest Will.  Naomi has had kind of a thing for him since she was a teen (she's a few years younger).  Anyway, she has an invite to a fantastic cabin on the lake for Canada Day Weekend with friends. Friends who are parts of couples. The same friends she met when she was part of a couple with Jordan.  Jordan, who has also been invited for the weekend and who will be bringing his new Miss Thang along.  Naomi is over him but flying solo is just not an option.  Hence the need for a fake boyfriend.

We're all romance readers here, we know what happens next.  Our grumpy bear introverted hero falls for our sunshiney bubbly heroine and the fake relationship starts to become all too real.  In the meantime Will has to accept the fact that not everyone he meets will want to change him and Naomi comes to realize why her relationship with Jordan was doomed nearly from the start.  Toss into the mix that the friend asking Will to play Naomi's fake boyfriend is her protective older brother, and that adds another wrinkle.

I'm not a fan of the Older Brother's Best Friend trope mostly because 99% of the time it comes off as paternalistic and gross as hell - but I will say Lau at least keeps this aspect of the story very light and minimal. Jeremey has his requisite Neanderthal moment near the end, but his wife is on page to rein him in quickly (thank you sweet baby Jesus).  I could relate to Will's introverted nature although there were times his "I want to be alone!" schtick had me thinking he was going to flounce off page like a Romancelandia hero version of Norma Desmond.  Sometimes he doth protest too much, especially at the end when the third act separation comes into play.  That said, it does lead to a very good ending - which morphs into a grand gesture even though Will didn't set out for it be one.

I could have used a little more oomph to the building of the romance. I got that Will and Naomi were attracted to each other but I'm not necessarily sure how they got from there to true love.  Also, while this is a dueling first person point-of-view story (alternating chapters), Will's voice is a little bit stronger than Naomi's - which is to say that I found this to be a little bit more of a hero-centric story than a heroine-centric one (and I usually prefer the latter).

Still, it was a quick, breezy read.  It very much fits the category romance mold, with a page count roughly as long as a Harlequin Presents but with the tone of a lighter Harlequin Blaze or the very short-lived Harlequin Flipside line.  I've been in a dreadful romance slump, but this story was a quick read and it kept me invested.  I'm glad I downloaded the second book in the series the last time it was on sale.

Final Grade = B-