Amac Productions

SPOILER ALERT!

Ah, my heart.

This book will always have a very, very special place in my heart.

Alexandria Bellefleur crafts an amazing tale, so wonderful I have lost count of how many times I have read this book.

Sigh…

Her writing style flows effortlessly as she crafts this tale. Her words feel just like someone is telling the story of how these two women meant and fell in love. Like one of those stories someone truly in love tells over and over about their spouse or the love of their life.

The entire book flows from beginning to end without ever becoming boring. I’ve read it countless times now and each time I’m amazed by how well this book continues to hold my attention.

Not to mention, I love the feeling that I’m reading from the perspective of someone my own age. They mention Archive of Our Own and fanfictions. They talk easily, avoiding judgement. They create safe spaces for their friends to talk and often friends understand each other better than family does.

I slipped into this book almost like I was reading a fanfic come to life.

It was perfect.

Darcy and Elle are perfectly flawed characters relating to my generation.

Elle loves all things related to the stars and love. She believes in love at first sight, growing old, and having all the gooey wonderfulness we’ve been conditioned to want from the time we’re born. But mostly, she wants it because she just wants someone to want her.

She has lived her whole life feeling like she’s in her siblings’ shadows or not quite living up to her parents’ standards because she never chose the safer route. She didn’t pick a job with a guarantee. She chose to do something that makes her happy, even if she fails. Elle will have known she tried.

All Elle dreams about is having a perfect other half to love all her quirkiness and her astrology and that she’s taking a chance doing something she loves.

Darcy on the other hand chooses all the practical things in life. She never wants to be in a situation where she’s reliant on someone else to care for her. She’s cynical because she’s had her heart broken in the worst way. But is still forced to deal with the idea of the ‘one’ because her brother is a hopeless romantic hellbent on setting her up with someone.

Darcy dreams about stability and trying to keep her brother from setting her up on a date every five minutes.

And thus, these two worlds crash together, and somehow through a little white lie they end up fake dating to keep Darcy’s brother off her back.

Except is it really fake?

Soon the pair discovers they actually have feelings for one another.

Honestly, at this point in the novel I was fully convinced there would be some type of miscommunication that would keep them apart. I had myself convinced one of them was going to lie and say they didn’t have feelings then implode at some point breaking off everything they had because it hurts too much.

Right? Isn’t that how rom coms go?

No! Not this one!

It subverted my expectations and they talked about their feelings!

They talked!

Miscommunicating is so overused as an excuse to keep people apart in rom coms I tend to get a little sick of it. Especially, if it is a straight pairing. Please, find a new plot. If it’s for the LGBTQ community or the black or Asian or literally anything but two white people, I’ll take it. Those communities deserve the chance to be sick of that trope like I am, but by seeing their own stories represented with people who look like them.

So, when Darcy flat out asked Elle if she would come to the party as her date, for real, I was so shocked.

I actually remember the first time I read it, thinking ‘what is the major conflict then?’ I was twice as invested in this story!

I love when there’s a little twist.

Even though the final conflict, the major hiccup, was a result of a miscommunication I still appreciated it didn’t revolve around their feelings for one another.

They slept together and then actively choose to have a difficult conversation and confront what was between them. Darcy didn’t let it linger and Elle told the truth when confront. Honestly, it was a nice change of pace.

It also set up for the real conflict in a very realistic way.

Because here’s the thing, falling in love doesn’t fix anything.

You still have trauma. You still have issues. Nothing is resolved because you find your other half.

Does life seem less sucky?

Sure.

But, at the end of the day we’re still human, and we still make mistakes.

It set up the end of the story where it the conflict plays into their fears. Elle fears not being quite enough, not fitting in, being too weird for Darcy. Not being the exact type, she feels the other woman might wany. She keeps waiting somewhere in the back of her mind for Darcy to wake up and decide she’s too good for Elle.

As for Darcy, she’s afraid to open up, get her heart ripped in two again. She’s just started over in a whole new city. She’s studying to further her career. She is with her brother. Does she want to do something to jeopardize that?

In the end, they realize their fears are unfounded.

And they love each other.

They choose each other.

They want to be with each other.

Everything else be damned.

This was such a good book. I cannot recommend it enough. If you’ve looking for a romcom with a classic fake dating trope about two women and you’re a millennial read this! You will not be disappointed.

And when you’re done, she has two other books set in the same world which are just as amazing!

This book is one of my favorites and it landed with me just right. I hope everyone can read it and get as much joy from it as I do.

Read on and spread the love!