Review: Fake Out
Fake Boyfriend is one of my favorite fanfic tropes, so it was fun to see in a novel. The story follows Maddox whose high school girlfriend refused to accept his repeated attempts at breaking up, so he finally lied and told her he was gay. She then outed him to his entire town, which, I don't care how upset you are, that's just wrong, so I actually felt no sympathy for her because of the lie. Maddox moved to New York to attend college and then stayed, rarely visiting his small town home in Pennsylvania. Years later he ran into the ex-sweetheart who was having a bachelorette party. SHe boo-hoos about how it should have been them getting married and how much she misses him. She then invited him to the wedding with his boyfriend...his non-existent boyfriend. And much like she did in high school, she blabbed and told everyone he was coming home. Everyone including Maddox's parents who make certain he can't politely back out of the wedding because they guilt him into bringing his boyfriend (that he didn't tell them about) home to meet them. Now he's tasked with finding a fake boyfriend to take home for a weekend.
Enter his best friend, Stacy, who convinces her gay brother to do the job. Maddox promises to get Damon, an endeavoring sports agent, a meeting with a high profile hockey player in return for the favor. Of course Damon cannot turn the chance to gain his first (solo) client and agrees. And shenanigans ensue. I don't want to spoil the good bits.
The characters were likable and flawed like normal humans. They were not perfect and there were bad choices made and misunderstandings, but not to the point of angst where you wanted to strangle everyone. It was a fun story where the plot didn't resolve itself immediately, but it didn't drag out overly long either. There was comedy, drama, angst, sweetness, and sexytimes. All of which were well written.
The narrators did a good job of capturing the voices and emotions of the characters. This was the first in a series and I would be interested in checking out more.
