3.5 stars
Official book description:
Jamie Westenberg and Bea Wilmot have nothing in common except a meet-disaster and the mutual understanding that they couldn’t be more wrong for each other. But when the people closest to them play Cupid and trick them into going on a date, Jamie and Bea realize they have something else in common after all—an undeniable need for revenge. Soon their plan is in Fake date obnoxiously and convince the meddlers they’re madly in love. Then, break up spectacularly and dash everyone’s hopes, putting an end to the matchmaking madness once and for all. To convince everyone that they’ve fallen for each other, Jamie and Bea will have to nail the performance of their lives. But as their final act nears and playing lovers becomes easier than not, they begin to What if Cupid’s arrow wasn’t so off the mark? And what if two wrongs do make a right?
This is an opposites attract contemporary romance, that I’ve also seen marketed as enemies to lovers. The protagonists are never enemies, they just really dislike each other a lot the first time they meet, and said evening keeps going more and more disastrously wrong until they find themselves locked in a cupboard together and kind of feel like kissing each other. Both Jamie “West” Westenberg and Beatrice “Bea” Wilmot are single by choice. West suffers from anxiety and is the only pediatrician in a family of successful and highly ambitious surgeons (his family, even his Mum, are all awful). His ex-girlfriend chose a position working for his father over him, so now he’s just a workaholic so he can’t be set up on dates. Bea’s former boyfriend turned out to be a controlling, emotionally abusive d*ck, and she doesn’t really feel comfortable telling her twin sister Jules, or any of their friends the truth about how the relationship ended. Bea is also autistic and has a bunch of sensory issues. There’s a whole bunch of stuff she can’t eat, and a lot of clothing she just cannot bear to wear. West comes across as a buttoned-up, disapproving know-it-all to Bea, she comes across as overly clumsy (she literally spills two different things over him the first night they meet), chaotic, opinionated, and a picky eater.
West’s roommate Jean Paul and Bea’s twin sister Jules are dating, and in fact, get engaged on the evening West and Bea first meet. They then trick them into texting one another under their middle names for a week and agreeing to a blind date, because they are so convinced the two will be perfect together. West and Bea both come to really enjoy their flirty text conversation, only to be filled with disappointment and, in Bea’s case, righteous fury once they show up for their date and discover that they’ve been tricked. Not entirely sure why fake dating is going to get them revenge, but all of these stories have to get the couple to come up with a preposterous plan for some reason.
Full review on my blog