Fake Date (Dating #2) by Monica Murphy-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 17, 2019.
Working at Bliss Lingerie, Sarah Harrison deals with all sorts of—interesting clientele. Yet no one sparks her interest more than Jared Gaines, the ultra-rich, ultra-sexy businessman who frequents her shop, buying delicate little “gifts” for the women in his life.
But one day, Jared sends her a gift from Bliss. Then another—and another. So when Sarah walks into his office demanding to know why he can’t stop sending her gifts, he makes her an offer she somehow can’t refuse: be his fake girlfriend for the weekend while attending his brother’s engagement party.
Next thing Sarah knows, she’s in San Francisco, pretending to be in love with Jared. Not that it’s a hardship. Once you get the man away from the office, he’s much more relaxed. Sweet. Funny. Even…thoughtful? Oh, and sexier than ever, of course.
Their pretend relationship feels very real, very quickly. Soon Sarah’s in over her head. Could what she and Jared share turn into something real? Or is it all actually…fake?
•••••••••
REVIEW: FAKE DATE is the second instalment in Monica Murphy’s contemporary, adult DATING romance series. This is thirty four year old, acquisitions billionaire Jared Gaines, and twenty four year old, lingerie sales clerk Sarah Harrison’s story line. FAKE DATE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Jared and Sarah) FAKE DATE focuses on the building relationship between thirty four year old, acquisitions billionaire Jared Gaines, and twenty four year old, lingerie sales clerk Sarah Harrison. For close to six months Sarah Harrison has been the go-to personal shopper for businessman Jared Gaines, a man whose taste in lingerie is exquisite and expensive. Believing Jared is nothing more than a manwh*re with numerous mistresses Sarah remains overly professional in the face of her unwanted attraction to a man she doesn’t like. When gifts of lingerie, expensive shoes and flowers arrive at Sarah’s door, our heroine battles between head and heart believing Jared is treating her no better than the women he leaves behind but Jared need a plus-one for his brother’s engagement party, and Sarah is the perfect woman for the job. What ensues is the fake girlfriend but building romance and relationship between Sarah and Jared, and the potential fall –out when Jared’s secrets all but destroy Sarah’s faith in a possible happily ever after.
Jared Gaines doesn’t do relationships; having been burned in the past, Jared refuses to fall in love, having hardened his heart to romance and love. Meeting Sarah Harrison sparks something deep within our story line hero, something Jared struggles to accept or acknowledge. Sarah Harrison has raised her younger brother and sister since the death of their parents four years earlier. Having spent no time on herself Sarah battles with Jared’s offer of a fake relationship knowing that her heart has already started to fall for the man who struggles with family and friends. Watching Jared falter with basic social skills, Sarah quickly discovers that Jared has closed himself off from said family and friends.
Jared’s personality and actions will be difficult to accept for many romance readers. Oft-times immature and cold, Jared struggles with ordinary and everyday social encounters including his treatment of our story line heroine. Demanding and petulant, almost child-like in nature, Jared steps over the line on one too many occasions, and Sarah must remind him about his poor behaviour, and treatment of other people, and herself.
The relationship between Jared and Sarah begins as a business arrangement wherein Sarah becomes Jared’s personal shopper at Bliss Lingerie. Jared’s attraction to Sarah finds our hero ‘using’ Sarah to ‘shop’ for his many ‘women’, only for Sarah to discover that she has been the only woman for several months. The $ex scenes are passionate and intimate but mostly implied, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including Sarah’s sister Andie, and their brother Brent; and Sarah’s co-worker Bethany, and boss Marlo; Jared’s brother Kevin and his fiancée Rochelle, their sister Candice, their father Marcus Gaines, and his wife Mitzi. We are reintroduced to Sarah’s friends: Caroline Abbott ( Save the Date #1), Stella, and Kelsey.
FAKE DATE is a story of family, grief, acceptance and love. The premise is entertaining; the romance is seductive; the characters are energetic but Jared’s actions and behavior are questionable and problematic.
Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one Save the Date
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
“Mr. Gaines,” I say, pasting on my best customer smile when he lifts his gaze to mine.
His dark brown eyes flash with an unfamiliar gleam and my breath catches in the back of my throat. “Back so soon, I see.”
“You know I can’t resist you, Miss Harrison.” His smile is slow. Wolfish, if that’s really
a thing. I read it in a romance novel once, thought it was kind of silly, but right now, it’s working for Jared.
His entire demeanor right now reminds me of a predatory creature. His face is all hard lines—stern, straight nose, granite jaw, sharp cheekbones, steely eyes. Yet his mouth, his lips are soft. Full. Lush.
Kissable.
Shaking my head at the wayward thought, I return his smile, trying my best to remain
polite. Professional.
“Is there anything in particular you’re looking for this afternoon?” I’m surprised by how steady my voice is, considering I feel like my insides are sloshing back and forth, like I’m on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
“You don’t have anything pulled aside for my appointment?” He raises a single brow, the expression on his face practically daring me to say no.
Well, guess what? I’m about to say it.
“No, I didn’t pull anything aside.” I shrug when he glares at me. “You never told me the nature of your visit.”
He glances about, making sure no one is around, I’d assume. And lucky for him, there’s no one in the store currently. It’s the middle of the week, early afternoon. We normally don’t get too many customers at this time.
We are the only two people in here. Even Marlo has disappeared.
“Perhaps you can show me some of your newer items,” he suggests.
“I can do that.” All new arrivals are at the front of the store, so we’re in the right spot. I lead him to a table showcasing our latest bra and panty design. “Celestial is the theme for spring into summer.”
I point to the bras made of thin, sheer netting and pink silk, tiny pale pink stars stitched in a scattered pattern across the tulle fabric. They leave nothing to the imagination, and the panties are the same.
“They hide nothing.” He holds up a pair of brief-cut panties, turning them this way and that. Every time he holds underwear in those big hands of his, I melt a little inside. I don’t know why he affects me like this.
“You’re right. They don’t,” I agree, grabbing a thong and flipping it over to the thin
string of lace that makes up the backside. “But they’re terribly sweet.”
“Sweet?”
I glance up to find him watching me. “Sweet yet sexy,” I counter, my cheeks going hot
from the way he’s studying me so carefully.
“You like the celestial theme?”
I nod. Press my lips together so I don’t say something I regret. Like, I love this theme, or Do you want me to model the panties for you?
Yeah. That’s a bad idea.
Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both self-published and published by Random House/Bantam and Harper Collins/Avon. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance.
She is a wife and a mother of three who lives in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.
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Wonderful and honest review, Sandy. Thanks.
Thanks for the great review and excerpt. In all honesty, the hero sounds like he is on the Autism spectrum scale of behavior disorders.
HI Sassy. You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what I thought when I read this story but saying that, the author does not mention anything about a potential connection to Autism etc.
wonderful review, sandy. i like the sound of this storyline.
Another fantastic review and excerpt, thanks Sandy
Thanks for the great review and excerpt.
Great review, Sandy. Sounds very good.
Wonderful and honest review, Sandy., Thanks.
Looks great, thanks for the wonderful and honest review.
Terrific review, Sandy. The premise of this story line looks intriguing.
Great review and excerpt. Thanks for the honesty