Her Childhood Friend Makes a Great Fiancé… …Even if it’s Only Pretend.When Olive woke the morning of her engagement party, she didn’t plan on catching her fiancé with another woman.No worries, her old-southern mama comes to the rescue whether she wants the help or not.Rafe has known Olive since they were both in diapers. She’s the princess of Honeyville, while no one in her high-society even … Honeyville, while no one in her high-society even knows his name.
Now he’s given an offer from her mother that could fix all his problems: pretend to be Olive’s fiancé to save her good name with a few business associates, and walk away with the cash he needs.
As long as the guests are wined and dined no one will notice the groom has blue eyes instead of brown…
…The trick is not falling for the girl he can’t have.
**If you love swoon-worthy southern guys and the sassy women that hold their hearts come fall in love in All My Life. Guaranteed laugh-out-loud fun, toe-curling kisses, and southern charm that will leave you grinnin’ like a debutante in pearls. **
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This is a great story for the YA audience. Loved the flashbacks of the lives of Rafe and Olivia together in their earlier years. Helps to understand their feelings for one another. This was a very slow burn as they each grew and matured. I appreciated the way Ms Marie describes her characters. Some of them sounded like people I know personally. Of course there were misunderstandings that made the story more interesting. And, of course, I loved the way Rafe Proposed to Olivia! So romantic! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can easily recommend it.
Set in the beautiful world of a small town near Charleston, SC this story has all of the hallmarks of southern sass and sweet iced tea. Olive grew up in a mansion, “The Big House”. Rafe grew up over the garage. This friends to lovers tells the story of a pretend engagement while also telling the backstory of sweet, young, innocent love in its purest form; the story of love transforming into the confusing emotions of teenage love; and of love buried out of self-denial and sacrificial love for the other.
Can the sassy, sweet Olive and the stubborn, self-sacrificing Rafe risk their friendship and overcome the objections of others?
I greatly enjoyed this story with a cast of characters as well written as any Austen novel.
I received this story as an ARC and am giving a voluntary review.
All My Life is a sweet story about love rising above differences in class, and background. Olive and Rafe are a great couple. I abhor the prejudice and superiority of people like Beau and the twins daddy. Thank goodness for Olive’s dad and his love for her. Yeah for Olive and her determination to be her own person. This is a well written story that should be read by anyone who enjoys when the underdog wins!
Friends from birth they had always had each other’s back. Everyone saw what they didn’t but he never thought he was good enough. All his life he had felt the difference and been made to feel less than, it was the fuel for his anger. She always wanted him, but knew he would never love her back so she looked elsewhere. When circumstances change and there might be a chance for more she can’t help but hope. This story pings the heartstrings as these two fight for their hea against old prejudice and attitudes. The hardest part of the battle is against the voices of the past. Love the way this author tackles these issues and moves mountains for love.
CJ Marie has this way of making you see her characters, as well as know what’s in their hearts. Her characters are complex and flawed but you love them anyway. Her writing has humor and heartbreak and the setting of her story is as much a character as the people are. Rafe and Olive aren’t the only two characters she does this for … all of her characters are more than background scenery and it makes for really good reading. I strongly recommend any of her books – and really look forward reading more by this good author.
I have been so excited to read Rafe and Olive’s story. Rafe was the housekeeper’s son and Olive lived in the big mansion. They had been friends forever. But they lived in different worlds. When Olive found her fiancé having sex in her house on the day of their engagement party she broke it off but her mother thought she needed a fake fiancé so she grabbed Rafe and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. But soon the fake became real.
Rafe was convinced that Olive deserved someone better than him but all she wanted was Rafe. He was the man that she loved and the only man she wanted but would she be able to convince Rafe of that or would he always think he would never measure up? Was his insecurity destined to tear them apart?
I’ve read several books by this author and I love her writing style. There are intimate moments and scenes but without the graphic details. You can really feel the emotions of the characters in her writing and for that reason, I keep coming back to her books. They always have a happy ending but sometimes it takes a while to get there.
I was given an arc copy of this book and I willingly offer my honest review.