“When I kissed you last night, I wasn’t pretending.”Everly Dalton is a walking, talking, martini-drinking dating disaster. Forget kissing frogs. She can’t even get past the first date. But at work, she’s a badass—the longest-running assistant billionaire Shepherd Calloway has ever had. Her coworkers wonder how she handles the big bad wolf—and never gets bit. Shepherd Calloway isn’t interested in …
Shepherd Calloway isn’t interested in being anyone’s sugar daddy. Tired of women who only want him for his money, he swears off dating, determined to focus on running his empire. Until his gold-digging ex hits him where it hurts, putting him in a difficult position.
His solution—to have Everly pose as his live-in girlfriend—is obviously crazy. But the timing is uncanny. It just so happens Everly needs a favor from her boss—a big and awkward one—and this could ensure everyone gets what they want.
Besides, Everly can totally survive a few months of faux romance.
Except there’s a problem. Shepherd is supposed to be a single-minded, unemotional robot boss. Not an actual human with a heart and morning wood. Between the awkward bed-sharing and tingly fake dates, lines are blurring. And as Everly gets to know the real Shepherd, she discovers there’s more to the man behind the bank account.
And faking it gets all too real.
Faking Ms. Right is a hot, STAND-ALONE romantic comedy.
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This is the first book I have read by this author and it will not be the last! I devoured this book!!
Shepherd is a tough hard nosed boss. Everly has been working for him for years and still can’t get the man to talk to her.
When Shepherd calls for her help she jumps…she just doesn’t know what she is jumping into. Will he finally see her as more than Miss Dalton?
This was a great read with fun characters. I look forward to the next one!
#KURead
Faking Ms. Right by Claire Kingsley is a contemporary, billionaire, fake relationship, workplace romantic comedy told in first person, dual POV.
Everly Dalton may be a disaster in many ways, but she is the best executive assistant ever. She’s the only one who seems to be able to handle her boss, the cold, intimidating, billionaire, Shepherd Calloway. So when he needs her to be his fake girlfriend, she steps up to the plate. Everly’s a great assistant, but she has ulterior motives for helping Shep with his unusual request. What will happen between them as they pretend to be in a relationship? Read the book to find out.
I loved Everly and Shep’s story! They were both great, well-developed characters and I fell in love with them right away. Everly is so sunshiny and sweet, and although Shep seems standoffish and somewhat robotic at first, there is much more to him underneath it all. They both have great big hearts in common and are well matched. I loved watching their relationship evolve from professional to personal. This book was steamy, sweet, and so much fun! A recommended read.
Fabulous Story & Narration A Heartfelt Delight!
Faking Ms. Right
A Hot Romantic Comedy
By: Claire Kingsley
Narrated by: Jason Clarke, Emma Wilder
Series: Everly Dalton’s Dating Disasters: A Faking Ms. Right Prequel, Book 2
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Claire Kingsley is a talented author, she creates stories and characters that are realistic and easy to relate to. I first met Everly Dalton in “Everly Dalton’s Dating Disasters” a fun RomCom and prequel to this book. She is such a likable character, she is a grounded person with a great disposition and personality. She is the executive assistant to Shepherd Calloway and is great at her job. Shepherd Calloway, a billionaire and brilliant businessman, is not very personable and comes off as an unemotional robot but Everly is used to him. When he asks to pose as his girlfriend and then to move in with him she agrees. Then the unexpected happens, she sees that he is a human being and he sees how great Everly is. I loved these two together, she was just what Shepherd needed and they were perfect for each other. I loved how everything played out, there is never a dull moment with plenty of drama, a bit of angst, some great humor and fun moments, as well as heartfelt ones and a great romance. Loved the smoking hot bonus epilogue! Claire Kingsley thank you for another great story!
I listened to the Audible edition, Jason Clarke and Emma Wilder are terrific narrators and voice artists. They bring the characters to life giving each their own voice and personality as well as heart and attitude. I adore Emma’s portrayal of Everly, she sounds just as you picture her to and Jason’s Shepherd was spot on too. They set the perfect tone for the story, capturing the drama and the humor. They are entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another great listen
Faking Ms. Right is my first Claire Kingsley novel and I loved it. This standalone romance was fun, amusing and steamy and I was hooked from beginning to end.It had both office romance and fake relationship trope included in one fantastic tale.
I loved the characters. Everly and Shepherd made a great couple. I loved how well they interacted together and I enjoyed watching their relationship move from fake to something more.
The supporting characters greatly added to the story and provided balance and support to the main characters. I especially loved Shepherd’s father and Everly’s friends. This novel was a fantastic read and I would highly recommend it to all lovers of Romantic comedies.
I listened to the audible version which was narrated by Jason Clarke and Emma Wilder. Their voices were perfectly suited to this story. Their pace and timing was excellent. I loved how they gave the characters their own personalities. It was a pleasure listening to them narrate this novel.
I could easily see this as a rom/com movie. Humorous and touching. Looking for some love and laughter? Pick this one up!
I’ve enjoyed this author’s books in the past, but for some reason, this one just didn’t do it for me.
Plot overview: Shepherd Calloway, sexy billionaire, needs a fake girlfriend because REASONS. His assistant Everly steps in. The fake relationship soon becomes all too real (as is law in the fake relationship trope). It’s a billionaire, fake relationship, office romance.
I’ll start with the good stuff, I guess.
Everly is a decent heroine. She’s unabashedly kind and generous. But she’s not SO kind that she lets people take advantage of her. She let a few people know that just because she appears to be marshmallow fluff, she wasn’t going to be anyone’s doormat. I appreciate those qualities in a romance heroine.
Shepherd wasn’t an awful hero, either. I mean, he’s a bit of a cliche (it’s not like the whole-hot-billionaire-who-likes-to-dominate-in-the-boardroom-and-the-bedroom-and-who-isn’t-used-to-getting-attached-to-anyone thing hasn’t been done a million times before), but at heart, he’s a decent guy.
Now for the not-so-great stuff:
1. If my boss ever called me after hours, told me to show up somewhere, and instructed me to “look hot”, I wouldn’t go. Then I’d report him for sexual harassment. The fact that Everly went along with this and never even questioned him on it was completely unrealistic.
2. Shepherd’s reasons for needing a fake girlfriend were beyond ridiculous. How about you man up and tell people the truth?
3. Everly’s reasons for accepting Shepherd’s proposal were equally ridiculous. I won’t give anything away, but Everly’s sister asked her to do something that NO rational person would EVER do, especially when it involved their boss.
4. There’s an evil, gorgeous, gold-digging other woman. Sigh. Haven’t we seen enough of this kind of horrible, one-dimensional character? Can we all just agree that we’re sick of this character and agree to never speak of her again?
5. There are literally NO surprises here. Everything that you think is going to happen, happens. The lack of surprises made it a little tedious after a while.
Long-story-short, this one wasn’t for me. It felt like something I’ve read a million times before. But the other reviews are overwhelmingly positive, so if it looks good to you, I say give it a read. One person’s crap is another’s treasure, and all that…
And feel free to check out the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, book lists, and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
Everly is the assistant to the wealthy and powerful businessman Shepherd Calloway. She is sweet and cheery, but doesn’t take any crap from anyone. She is the only person in the office who is not scared of the broody Mr. Calloway. He barely says two words to her every day except for his business demands. Imagine her surprise when she receives a call from her boss asking her to be his fake date. Imagine his surprise when he sees a whole new side of Everly when she says yes. These two have amazing chemistry and they both open up and learn so much about each other during the course of their fake relationship. Will they really take a chance on each other and let love in, or will it all just be a clever game?
I absolutely loved this story. It was a laugh out loud action packed book with lots of twists and turns. I could not put it down and loved every minute of it.
Everly is the longest running assistant to her boss. He can be quite stoic. She handles him like she handles everything else, well. Until they play at more……
Shepherd is only emotionless because business requires taking care of. Once he starts seeing what Everly looks and acts like outside of the office, there is no going back. Can he keep himself away from the butterfly that seems to never be kept?
Their store is a true and classic romance read. I felt blessed to turn each page and enjoyed every minute. I will be totally disappointed and surprised if this is not made into a movie. These are genuinely likeable characters. With actual depth and incredible growth. I honestly could not put it down.
Everley is a great secretary with a terrible dating life. Shepherd is no nonsense boss with a secret life who only has one night stands. When his last encounter refuses to leave and starts to date his sick dad, Shepherd gets Everley to pretend to be his date and ends up with her in his house. Then, they begin to fall for each other. Nice story with good characters.
Everly Dalton is a dating disaster if the many failed first dates are anything to go by. But by day, she is the super-efficient assistant to Shephard Calloway, the smoking hot, robot-like, emotionless boss who expects everyone to do as he asks, when he asks. Shephard has a string of beautiful women on his arm and when he is done with them, Everly arranges a vacation for them as a consolation prize. After Svetlana, one of these dates tries to worm into his life, he realizes he will need to take drastic measures to stop her. Enter Everly, number one assistant, who he asks to be his live-in girlfriend to throw Svetlana off the scent. It’s purely a business arrangement, although when you see someone out of their normal environment, relaxed and trusting, you may develop feelings. But this is business! Such a fun read, although it is a standalone you should read the prequel Dating Ms. Right, which is four short stories about four of Everly’s dating disasters. I only hope these are from Ms. Kingsley’s imagination and not experience because that would be tragic! Well worth reading.
3.5 stars for this one! Original storyline, fun secondary characters and easy to read. Very enjoyable.
I loved the prequel. It was funny, witty and had me rooting for Everly so hard. And Faking Ms Right started out real promising. I mean, the fake relationship trope is the best. The story just seem to have it all. There’s the sexy but allegedly cold and unfeeling billionaire boss, there’s the catty ex, there are all these delicious situations where Everly and Shepherd need to fake intimacy to uphold their ruse. And then of course, the baby-contract. So yeah, it should be nothing but amazing entertainment. And in a sense, it is. But this read has about the straightest storyline I’ve ever encountered. There are no side-tracks, no twists you didn’t see coming a mile away. Everything is utterly predictable.
The first few chapters of a book is crucial. They set the stage for the story by revealing just enough to build expectations, and they need to pull the reader in but without divulging too much. The breadcrumbs dropped in the first chapters should be teasers, they should enable you to guess at some of the story development, but complete transparency is not a good thing. If you’re never surprised along the way, if everything in the story happens the way you envisioned it from the beginning, then it’s just boring. And unfortunately, Faking Ms Right didn’t contain a single surprise.
So, I’m vacillating between disappointment of the predictability of it all, and delight over the juicy story. Because it is juicy and sweet, funny and romantic. Just without an ounce of that little extra.
Also. There’s a bit of nooky. I like nooky. Preferably explicit nooky. But apart from the first, really really hot scene in the car (kudos to Kinglsey because that was something else!), the rest of the sexing was quite frankly uninspired. In, out, in out, scratch, spank. The scenes were long, and every other paragraph I was sure they were about to come. Only to discover that they weren’t actually coming but going at it harder. So, I guess I was wrong about the no surprises thing. It was rather surprising that Shepherd didn’t break Everly’s vajayjay with his intense in-outing.
But… this is my disappointment talking. Claire Kinglsey is an amazingly talented author. Her writing is hilarious and the story is delightful. If only there would have been something unexpected thrown in there, it would have been an amazing romance read. Unfortunately, the predictability makes this only an average read to me. Which is truly a shame since Kingsley is obviously a very skilled writer. However, I will have to read more of her novels, because I can’t bring myself to write her off just yet.
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blog.se/
After reading Everly Dalton’s Dating Disasters, there was no way I was going to pass this book up! I laughed till I cried reading about that poor girl’s disastrous first dates and I was ready for her HEA. If anyone deserved one, it was Everly.
Shepherd Galloway is Everly’s boss. Cold and impersonal, a perfectly sculptured hunk of manhood with no emotions. She has outlasted any other assistant he had before by doing her job perfectly and unobtrusively. He appears to never specifically notice her, never say her name, or praise her work in any way, other than pay raises, which he has generously given her over the past 3 years.
When Shepherd needs a favor, a big favor, he realizes he has no one he can ask. He lives a very solitary existence. So he calls on Everly, his dependable assistant. And for the first time, he really sees Everly. He gets to know Everly and is shocked to find out how much more there is to his stalwart employee.
Everly is shocked to be introduced to the private life of Mr Calloway as they pretend to be in a fake relationship. To call him Shep, to find out he is a man underneath that shell he hides himself under. The slow burn between these two was amazing, as you watch Shepherd shed layers of tension and rigidity under Everly’s effervescent personality. Everyone Everly came in contact with succumbed to get her charm. I loved watching these two figure out who they were together. And seeing them team together to go after the ex hussy gold digger was such fun! I fell in love with both of their families; Shep’s dad was so adorable and brother and partner, as well as Everly’s sister and partner. I can’t say enough about Everly’s besties Nora and Hazel, except well, I want girlfriends just like them! I am excited about them getting books!
The HEA was everything I could expect from this amazing book, and I am sad I read this book so fast because I couldn’t put it down, because now it’s over. But this prolific author has other books you can catch up while you are waiting for her next new release, like I will be doing! Go ahead and one click this book now! Happy Reading!!!
This is a new author to me, and what a fantastic story this is. Everly and Shepherd move their relationship form assistant / boss to being in a fake relationship. The chemistry between these two is scorching, and I loved the witty banter between the secondary characters as well. This is a well written story which is fun, sweet, humorous, and steamy which leads to an all round entertaining read. I was totally enthralled throughout and cannot wait to read more from this talented author, whose work I recommend for all rom-com lovers.
While this was my first book from Claire it definitely won’t be my last – I really enjoyed this book and it’s storyline! Everly has the worst luck with dating, but thankfully has a great professional relationship with her job as an executive assistant where she is essentially invisible to her boss. Shepherd, said boss, lives his life to meet the expectations that others have for him but also feels unfulfilled with his life. When an ex-girlfriend throws him through a loop, Shepherd decides to rope his assistant into helping him, and the situation spirals from there. What starts out as a pretend date ends up developing into much more as the lies continue to grow and they follow along with the lies. When the lines cross from an act to the truth, they two end up a little in over their heads and everything comes to a head over a misunderstanding. It’s there that they realize the feelings they’ve developed and how it’s much more between them. Of course it’s a HEA and it makes the perfect ending to the journey between Everly and Shepherd.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Ok Faking Ms. Right was such a good book loved everything about it , the characters , story line , and some interesting moments . Everly was hilarious loved everything about that girl she is funny , sweet , smart , and beautiful . Shepherd did take a bit to fall for but the more we got into his point of view and then the little things he would do for the heroine and for the ones he loved just made me fall even more . The only thing that did bug me is how fast the hero was to jump to conclusions and hurt the heroines feelings but there needed to be conflict it just hurt my heart with how much pain was caused . Over all this was a really good story with interesting characters , funny and super steamy scenes . I so can’t wait to read more by Claire Kingsley her stories are always a treat .
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book
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hero=10 heroine=10 secondary characters=10
Chemistry=10 steam=6 romance=7
humor=6 darkness level=3 action=3 mystery=3
enjoyment=10 angst=3 story line=10 Story ending=10
character development=10 pacing=10
cover=10 Blurb =10 Stars =5
Is this part of a series =yes
Can it be read as a standalone =yes
would I recommend this book=yes
would I re read this book= yes
would I read future books by this author= yes
Everly is not the best at choosing dates and neither are her friends. Each date ends up a bigger hot mess than the last, and eventually Everly finds herself swearing off dating for awhile.
Shepard is a workaholic that acts emotionless. He bottles up all of his feelings and doesn’t think he can handle love.
Eventually these two find themselves in an unlikely circumstance where their professional relationship must become personal.
I love fake relationships. These two understood each other and had known each other for years before reality set in and they were made to see behind each other’s mask. They would second guess everything until eventually the line between fake and real became blurred.
If you are looking for a fun, hilarious, fast paced fake relationship, then you definitely need to check this one out. And don’t forget to read the novella before this one to witness all of Everly’s disastrous dates!
-An Arc was generously provided in exchange for an honest review.-
This book was everything I hoped it would be and more. It lived up to my expectations and beyond. I knew it was a rom-com and I had read the prequel but I couldn’t wait to see where and how it would lead. The thing about these characters are they’re well developed. People are way more than one dimensional. What see you isn’t always what you get. Society has a way of making snap judgments on people in an instant. They do it to you and we do it to them. I know my professional demeanor is a little different than my going out at night persona. Both of these people are not me they are a part of me. Why you ask am I telling you this? Well it adds to the what makes this story so real. With that in mind it also is what this story is about, not seeing the real people we see every day but don’t actually know.
Everly, is delightful and hardworking, smart and so darn cute!
Calloway, is handsome, aloof, brilliant, mysterious and hard to work for on a daily basis.
At least that’s what we see in our instant. Then the story actually comes to life.
This is a book so things move much quicker and we get to destinations much faster than would happen in real life. Sometimes, I think people forget that. It’s fiction. However, in the fiction we see reality. Life is comedy, tragedy, everyday mundane, affection, hurt, mistakes, assumptions and every other instance you can think of in your mind and then some. Well the author has given that all to us. THAT is what I love abut this book. I laughed, teared up, got the swoons, and angry. I even got angry at a character, because in my mind I thought, what audacity! I also got angry at one of the main characters cause I thought why didn’t you just say, NO? Well here’s the thing, in real life we do all that. And (yeah I know I started with a preposition) that is what brings truth to the story! I don’t do spoilers because I don’t think it’s fair to the author. What I do know is you will get all the feels, heat, and laughs you want.
Well I’ve gone on way too long. I’d just continue to sing the praises of this book. What I will say is I’ve read other books by this author and each one is different. She keeps it fresh and can hit my heart in all kinds of ways. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You deserve it!
This is such a feel good book. It had me chuckling many times as I read it. The characters are great and I really love them. The story flows well and kept me so hooked I didn’t put it down once I’d started it. It’s a great read, I highly recommend it.