My rules for being a Manhattan billionaire’s fake girlfriend… No kissing. No fooling around. No falling in love. What can possibly go wrong?Note to self: When your boyfriend dumps you on your thirtieth birthday, it’s probably not the smartest idea to drink so much that you wake up in the same bed as the mysterious hottie wearing the gorgeous suit who you noticed sitting across the bar.The only … sitting across the bar.
The only silver lining in my obvious lack of judgment is the promise of never seeing Mr. Suit again, not in a city the size of New York.
Or so I thought, until a story I’m working on about the country’s most sought-after and elusive escort lands me in the same café as Mr. Suit. So I do what any self-respecting woman of my age would do in my shoes… Try to ignore him.
But he won’t let me.
Instead he makes a proposition that leaves me questioning whether I need to have my ears checked. Be his fake girlfriend for a summer of wealth and excess in the Hamptons. In return, he’ll help me win back my boyfriend’s heart.
Juvenile? You bet.
Effective? Could be.
Bad idea? Most likely.
But what do I have to lose?
Apparently, a lot more than I originally bargained for.
Let the games begin…
Dating Games is a standalone modern retelling of Cinderella meeting her billionaire Prince Charming. If you like a sassy heroine, a sinful hero, and a whole lot of laughs, then you’ll love this fake relationship romance.
more
This was my first T.K. Leigh book and after reading this story I’ll definitely be continuing on to the next book in this series! Evie and Julian were fun, sexy…..man oh man the chemistry was intense and explosive! I loved the relationship they built, the realization that Evie deserved more from a relationship and Julian finding love and learning to love (which he did all along just didn’t see it that way). This was a great read that has me excited for the next book!
I haven’t read a T.K. Leigh book for a few years, and this book definitely made me miss her writing. The way she is with words just sucks you in. I was hooked from the first page. She is phenomenal at writing romantic comedies.
I loved Evie and her take charge attitude. Her inappropriate behavior was hilarious in this book. I loved how Julian never tried to change her.
What better way to make her ex of twelve years jealous then have a fake relationship with a billionaire in the Hamptons for the summer?
This book will make you laugh so much. All of Evie’s crazy antics. Her best friends Chloe, Nora, and Izzy only make it better.
This is definitely a must read
Julian and Evie are terrific characters, each finding their own true self in this story of fake dating where love wins all.
T.K. Leigh was a new author to me 3 days ago. I picked Dating Games because you could see water on the cover, which was what I needed for a reading challenge. Every month I try to read books from authors I’ve never read before and keep out of my comfort zone. As I hate not finishing a book, I try to get advice, but it doesn’t always work.
The story starts as a perfect rom-com. Evie is funny, a little dorky, but it was easy to sympathize with her after her break up. I was quite afraid after the first two chapters, though. The book is written in the first-person from Evie’s point of view. There were long descriptions and I feared it was going to be like a Balzac novel. Luckily, as soon as Evie met Julian, the writing changed and I was swept by the beat of the story. It was a mix between “How to lose a guy in ten days” as the heroine is a writer in a woman’s magazine, and “pretty woman” for the meeting with a wealthy businessman. Fortunately, it wasn’t another billionaire alpha male trope. Without spoiling the story, all I can tell is that it made me laugh, cry and smile. The tone was more severe in the last part of the book, without losing the intensity. I also appreciate that it wasn’t strictly focused on Evie and Julian’s relationship, but that we could follow the heroine at work.
I’ll definitely read TK Leigh’s other books.
I call it a great feat that I finished this book. I really wanted it to get better for me, but I couldn’t get past how dumb the heroine was. She was with a guy for 12 years while he put went to law school and the guy dumps her because she doesn’t fit the image of the woman he should have on his arm. She agrees to have a fake boyfriend to try to win him back by making him jealous and remember what he gave up. The way she acted was so naive and I just couldn’t get over it. Had it not been for Julian’s character I would have completely disliked this book. I do enjoy some of T.K. Leigh’s writing, but this one was not one of them.
“Dating Games” is a great read, with humor, passion, romance and just enough angst to keep your attention. Poor Evie, she turned thirty but her birthday was anything but happy, add in a few too many drinks with her girlfriends and things get kinda ugly from there. The good news is that she catches the attention of Mr. Suit better known as Julian Gage, and even in her drunken stupor he is drawn to her. He just so happens to need a pretend girlfriend and since Evie still wants her ex back, he promises her that he will help her get him back in exchange. Win, win what could possibly go wrong?
Evie is sassy and fun while Julian has many layers, you never know which side of Julian you will get, there really is more to him than the good looks that are so easy on the eye.
Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this one and dive in, you will love it. This is a fun, flirty and sometimes emotional read, but well worth it!
The good character and storyline development kept me totally engaged throughout the entire book!
Great book with interesting charcters
Evie Fitzgerald isn’t looking for a new love after her boyfriend of 12 years breaks up with her on her 30th birthday instead of proposing. Saying she is not serious enough because she writes a sex and dating column in a popular magazine. No, Evie wants to show him how serious she is by getting a promotion and winning him back. Show him what he is missing without her.
Julian Gage is only too happy to aid in Evie’s quest. After witnessing her drunk impromptu stand up at the bar after her breakup, he finds himself wildly attracted to the opinionated redhead. He propositions her to be his fake girlfriend, and he can make her ex jealous in return for her attending functions with him to make him look more stable to his constituents. After a lot of back and forth and rules, Evie finally agrees.
This is when all to the fun begins. Evie is just as attracted to Julian as he is to her, but she doesn’t want to give up her goal of winning back her ex. But as the days go by and she gets to know the real Julian bit by bit, she realizes she is thinking less and less about her old relationship and more about the possibility of a new one with Julian. But he doesn’t think he is capable of love.
The slow burn between these two is so sizzling that I was getting anxious for something to explode between them! I was ready to just throw a match between them to get the fire started! I loved them together and I cheered for them! The story Evie was writing and Julian’s past were all part of the scenery that made this book fascinating. Evie’s friends I’ve met in other books and I love them so much! They are perfect!
I love everything this amazing author writes and look forward to the next book! She is an automatic one click for me, I don’t even need to read the blurb! I wish I could give this book more than FIVE STARS!!
An amazing, captivating, interesting and oh-so-satisfying read!
The writing draws you in and keeps you interested until the end.
The chemistry between the H and h is amazing plus their attitudes and events going on make the story even richer.
I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I was really looking forward to this book! The title, the cover, the description, all great. There were promotions galore! And I was so excited when I finally had time to borrow it with my KU subscription. And then, it was just okay. Maybe it was too much hype. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for it when I read it. Maybe I expected more comedy (the drunk scene after the break-up was AMAZING! And also the only laugh out loud moment I had.) There are a ton of maybes that I could go through, but the end result was still just meh for me. This was my first book by this author, and I will check out more of her work as the writing was good, I just wish this one was more than it was.
This is my first read by this author, but I gave it a go because of the cute, fun cover. WOW! I LOVED IT! All except for Evie, being so controlling of every minute of every day of her life! She needed an enima! Once she eased up and started to have fun, it was an awesome read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book was perfect and just what I needed. I laughed out loud and felt all the feels. Couldn’t have loved it more. Well done, T.K. Leigh
Loved this story how Evie & Julian came together! Had you laughing, then crying, then angry then happy. So many emotions in one story! Loved this book
I am totally I love with Julian. I also loved his alter ego. He totally gave a different meaning to being an escort. Without Julian, I would not have rated this book so high. Evie took all the enjoyment out of this book for me. I did not care for her and I never warmed up to her through out the story. Her see sawing emotions and her habit of running away when things got hard drove me crazy. I wanted to smack her so many times but I really wanted to end her when she found out about Julian’s alter ego. She was just plain selfish.
Book Review
Title: Dating Games
Author: T.K. Leigh
Genre: Contemporary/Romance
Rating: *****
Review: I hadn’t heard anything about Dating Games when I downloaded it from Booksprout, but it sounded interesting and like something I would enjoy so I had to read it. So, we are following out protagonist Evie, whose boyfriend Trevor breaks up with her after ten years of being together for someone who will be viewed as more serious by his law firm and she is determined to get him back no matter what despite the fact he dumped her on her 30th birthday. However, will getting drunk she manages to draw the attention of a hot guy sitting the corner she nicknames Mr. Armani Suit among other things.
In the aftermath of the breakup, Evie ends up falling into bed with a stranger after a night of heavy drinking, but she doesn’t let it get in the way of getting Trevor back. However, when she is offered a promotion at work, she needs to come up with something the magazine has never featured before and she choses to do a story on the most sort after male escort in New York; August Laurent.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Julian the man Evie ended up in bed with finds her again and offers to help her with her situation with Trevor after they all end up in the same coffee shop, and Trevor has a new woman on his arm. Even though, Evie has moved out, Julian sends her flowers and Trevor sees them, causing him to call her and he appears quite jealous making Evie think that pretending to be Julian’s pretend girlfriend might actually work in her favour after all.
After meeting for dinner and agreeing the terms and conditions of the arrangement, Julian and Evie are now fake boyfriend and girlfriend with the aim of meeting their own goals but I have a feeling it isn’t going to go to plan as there is already a lot of attraction between the pair and they are going to be getting very close to one another. As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the mysterious August Laurent actually gets hold of Evie and agrees to give her the interview of a lifetime and he also makes a bet with her that if he meets a woman who makes him want to give up this lifestyle then she can also unmask him to the world and the ambitious Evie is hooked as she has got the ball rolling on her story and possibly her promotion as well.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we learn that Julian is associated with the Vanderbilt’s and other high standing families, the exact people that Trevor wants to influence. When they arrangement begins in earnest there is a fair amount of flirting between them and the banter is witty and hilarious, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. When Evie arrives at the Hamptons, she is immediately drawn into a patriarchal caste systems where people are forced into place by those higher up and she must now learn to survive in a world she has only ever heard rumours about, but she does have some allies in Sadie. However, when she sees Trevor the pain of his leaving and moving on so quickly really hurt her, but Julian is quick to put a smile back on her face.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Julian can’t hold in his attraction to Evie anymore and decides to offer her the chance at something more than a lie between them and even though she doesn’t get the chance to answer him straight away I know she is going to take him up on this as he makes her feel things that Trevor never did and treats her the way she is supposed to be treated. As they decide to give themselves a chance without actually promising anything serious, I have a feeling that Evie isn’t going to back to Trevor as she has made it clear to him that Julian has given her far more in a few weeks than he gave her in over a decade.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Evie and Julian’s summer is coming to an end and she is so conflicted as she wants to stay with him, but he is hiding his own skeletons just like she was before she met him. Surprisingly, it is August Laurent who gives Evie the strength and courage to do what she has to do, and I am unsure of who August is, but I don’t think it is Julian as she would recognise him voice and even though there is sad feeling about these scenes, I want Evie to stay with Julian.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, so much happens and I can’t really talk about even of it without giving so much away. If you don’t read any other book this year, read Dating Games, while it sounds like a whimsical contemporary romance it is so much more. I definitely judged this book by its cover and it absolutely blew me away. Highly recommended!
This book had me crying and laughing I had to keep reading it to see if I had it right. And I was not let down. Loved this book. This book is about Evie and a certain man.. their first meeting really starts it all off. Great read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Dating games
T.K. Leigh
Reviews on goodreads. Amazon. BookBub. The book addicts.
This is a first read for me for this author. I really enjoyed it. Dating Games is a quick, quirky, hilarious read.
If you like sexy books with a lot of humor this one is for you !! I will definitely look into more books from this author.
This was so freaking much fun! My very first T.K. Leigh book, and I am won over, give me all her books right now.!! This book has something for every readers. Highly recommend
Love this book. I wanted more of Julian. He was sexy, Kind, patient, all around great guy. Glad it wasn’t a cliffhanger.