Book Review: The Fake Out by Sharon Peterson

 

The Fake Out - Sharon Peterson - 3.5 Stars - Many parts I enjoyed, but many parts not so much. Let's chat!

While there were SO much in this rom-com I really enjoyed, there are some parts that fell flat. The storyline itself - great and very layered. The characters have a depth to them that make them feel relatable - specifically our main girl of Mae. (See more thoughts on that below.) But many of the quick one-liner pick up lines bothered me from a sexual content and language perspective - this will be personal preference to each person, but it did impact my reading experience a bit. Many of them were funny - I will admit - but there were maybe between 5 and 10 that bothered me personally. Overall, this is a clean rom-com from a sexual content perspective, with some things riding a fine line. There is mild language in this book and I searched the kindle book and will leave the content details on that at the bottom. I had a good time overall in this story, had some laughs and enjoyed the ending. 

This story follows Mae Sampson, she is just trying to keep it all together between her job at the failing library to working other multiple jobs just to help pay the medical bills for her mother's stroke therapies. We see her struggles to "do it all" and that's where I felt she was very relatable - as someone who feels like they "have to do everything" but you really don't. I also love how she was a plus size girl - very relatable for me too!

She meets Chris Sterns, a profession football player she finds asleep in her library one day. Chris is the ultimate guy with integrity - he cares so much about raising awareness for CHF - a heart disease his sister suffered from growing up. But there is a situation that occurs when he's found in a suggestive photo that isn't what it seams and the media is out to destroy his good name and his work with the charity is in jeopardy. 

Chris decides to offer Mae an offer - $100,000 for a fake engagement to settle his image and she gets the money she needs for her mother's medical bills and can quit her second job at a "hooters" like establishment called "Chicky's". Things go on from here as they get to know one another and as usual, real feelings start to form. :)

Great premise - right?! I love a good fake dating story and the beginning of this was GREAT! I just found myself wrestling with some of the innuendos and pick up lines I didn't love so that took it down for me some. But the storyline with Chris, learning about his upbringing with his sisters and how genuine he was, and Mae, her Mom and sister, then her Dad comes in and that was WILD - it all just played out to be a good story. 

Overall, I recommend to anyone who likes funny, clean, rom-coms and doesn't mind mild language or sexual innuendos / some questionable pick-up lines at the beginning of each chapter. :)

Content Warnings: Language - 14-15 D words, 14-15 H words, 4 JA words, 2-3 B words, 4 S words that I found. No F words. Clean from a sexual content perspective but I did not like the pick up lines about "crawling out of Hell" and "breaking Old Testament rules" the most, with some of the others being a bit much in the sexual innuendos. Chris and Mae sleep in the same bed, but nothing happens between them. They start a bookclub together and read a "spicy pirate romance" book so they mention some of the sex scenes in that book but it's not explained. Overall, the sexual content is going to be a personal preference to everyone but I wanted to mention this for your reference. 

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5859389291
Amazon: https://amzn.to/46wFfBU

YouTube Review Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrJBzCMbGUw&t=2s