Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
This book was so fun. Mariah writes in a really easy manner to read and so I was able to power through this book. You have fake dating, real feelings, and all of the meddling friends & family you could ever hope for. You have Lexi, a completely over worked and sometimes underappreciated director of a youth facility, and Dyson, a hardworking firefighter whose concern for those he cares about makes his rule making/following come across like a stick in the mud. All of the characters in this book are well rounded, which is nice in ensemble pieces – I don’t like throwaway characters just to fill scenes. I believe this is part of a series of books (all standalone but interconnected from what I gathered) so I look forward to reading the other books that are connected as I enjoyed all of these characters. Fake dating isn’t always pulled off well but I think Mariah hit on the correct amount of will they/wont they and raised stakes in a manner that made it make sense. Only one thing stuck out to me as not believable but it is spoilery so I will skip it, and also it is not important in the grand scheme of things.
I enjoyed this book and I think others will too, so check it out! 4/5