Emma Armstrong has a plane ticket to paradise. But she already knows this family vacation will be hell for her.Next to her perfect older sister, twenty-eight-year-old Emma feels like a failure. Not only does her sister radiate elegance and spend her time saving the planet, but she just announced she’s pregnant—much to their parents’ delight. Who can compete with a sibling who’s growing a human … growing a human being?
Then it dawns on Emma. If she can convince her best friend at the office, Luke, to come with her to Hawaii posing as her handsome entrepreneurial boyfriend, she’ll no longer seem so pathetic in her family’s eyes. Luke, however, will only agree to the arrangement if Emma helps him get the attention of his crush—a girl she’s convinced is all wrong for Luke.
Despite her reservations, Emma agrees. Luke is her friend, after all. When they get to Hawaii, though, she discovers she’s in over her head. Luke looks phenomenal in his swim trunks. Emma can’t stop thinking unthinkable thoughts about him. And she soon finds out that those tingly, tongue-tying feelings are mutual.
Giving into their longings is blissful at first…and then it isn’t. With her friendship with Luke suddenly on the brink of ruin and her family more disappointed in her than ever, Emma is desperate to fix things. This time, though, there’s no way to fake it. To untangle this mess, it’s going to require digging deep, fessing up the bare truth…and maybe a Mai Tai or two.
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This was a really sweet book to read. At first I didn’t think that I would like it but the more I read, the more I got into it. You FEEL what Emma is feeling. You feel unsure of your self, insecure, afraid of rejection, like a total failure. And that is before the vacation to Hawaii with her family. Later she makes you feel like you are flying high when things get cozy, then you feel bad with confrontations with her sister, then heartbroken.
Emma is a single twenty eight year old woman. She hasn’t had a serious relationship in years because she hasn’t found anyone interesting. She has a job that she kind of likes, but isn’t fulfilled and doesn’t pay much, but she has a good friend in Luke at work. They go out for coffees and lunch together and can talk together. She has a crush on Alex from work, but is afraid to say or do anything. When her family is planning their yearly family vacation and her perfect married sister, who is a lawyer who is out to save the world, announces that she is pregnant, it makes Emma feel like a total loser. Her sister does everything perfect, is married, great job, great at planning things, just always perfect! Emma feels that she has to have a pretend boyfriend so she won’t look like quite a looser to her parents. So she recruits her co-worker buddy Luke to play her boyfriend. He agrees if she pretends to be his girlfriend for the weeks up to the vacation.
Apparently Luke likes a girl in accounting that believes that Luke is a player because he is on a dating app. If she sees that he can have a steady girlfriend and isn’t a player, maybe she will go out with him. They set rules for their pretend relationship. First, no dating anyone else while they are doing this. It won’t seem real if they are caught out with someone else. Second, they don’t have to actually go out on dates, just agree to what they were supposed to do, like go to a moving and talk about the movie as they had really gone. Third, no PDA. Before they even get on the air plane, they start to care more for each other than they realize, but don’t want to share that info. When they kiss on the beach in Hawaii and her family sees them, it starts the fire between them. But they don’t discuss how things are changing and they both have to protect themselves from hurt and deny how they feel.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the first book by this Author I have read and it looks like this is her debut.This is a book that had me smiling as I read it. A well written story with a great storyline. I will be watching to see if she puts out more books. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.