My Big, Fat, Fake Wedding

A story about Ross, the man about town, eligible bachelor, and Violet, the up and coming interior designer who have truthfully known each other for years. In order to keep a promise, Violet needs a husband, quick, and Ross needs to show the board that he can settle down and be responsible. They come to the natural conclusion that a fake marriage would be the perfect solution…let the games begin. Ms. Landish had created endearing characters in Ross and Violet, but also in the supporting characters as well. Ms. Landish is a new, to me, author and I look forwards to reading more of her work.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

A great, well written- story, light-hearted story.

The chemistry between the two main characters is off the charts.

This is a fun, hot, sexy read with some drama to keep you hooked and a much-anticipated happy ending.

I received an author’s copy and have left an honest review

I really enjoyed this book. There were quite a few ups and downs, as well as times that I wanted to smack both of the main characters ( Violet and Ross) upside their heads to make them open up to each other. The characters were well developed, including secondary characters. Laughed out loud several times which made both my daughter and roommate ask me what was so funny – to which I read what had made me laugh and got both of them laughing as well! Great story! Definitely recommend. Must read!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Absolutely love Violet & Ross’s story. From enemies to lovers, Ross and Violet couldn’t help falling in love. Their story will definitely give you all the feels. Another great story with amazing characters that everyone who is loves a good enemies to lovers needs too read this.

Fake it till you make it…

Sticks and stones may break my bones….but names will never hurt me. Unfortunately that did not ring true for Violet Russo. Violet’s BFF Abigail Andrews’ older brother Ross made it his mission to relentlessly tease Violet when they were all younger and in school. She hated him, she had a crush on him, both at the same time. He was the hottest sexiest guy she had ever laid her eyes on.

Fast forward. Violet is engaged to be married and right near to tying the knot, her jerk of a fiancé calls it off. Violet is beside herself. Her one hope and wish was to be able to have her Papa walk her down the aisle. He told her that it was the one thing that would make him happy. Devastated and desperate, Violet, her BBF and her other friend Archie, her partners in crime come up with a hairbrained idea to have Ross step in and be her fake fiancé.

Ross is flabbergasted first by how grown up and smoking hot Violet is now and also at her request to fake marry her. He has a reputation for being a womanizer with no intentions of settling down. As it turns out, Ross’s father is pressuring him to settle down with someone as his shenanigans are giving the family business a black eye. A win/win for both of them, or so they thought.

I found myself laughing hard at the antics in this story. Violet’s Italian family are hilarious as they all have no filter and are full of advice. Violet and Ross’ chemistry was both devilishly funny to read but also smoking hot. There were also tears and angst watching these two discover their real feelings for each other, it was magical.

My Big Fat Fake Wedding by Lauren Landish is the story of Violet and Ross.
Violet was raised by a single mother and her grandparents. Violet’s grandfather had always dream of walking her down the wedding aisle. With his health in decline she feels great pressure to give him that wish and even went so far as plan on marrying a old flame. But then he canceled two weeks before the wedding. Enter Ross, Violet’s best friend’s brother who always tease her and they have a frenemies type relationship. Ross needs to clean up his image to his family’s business board of directors. So deal is made between the two to each to help the other but then the fun start.
Loved their story and Ms. Landish’s writing.

I absolutely loved this book. I laughed until I peed. The book was funny, entertaining, over the top and a delight to read……until I cried. I had to put the kindle down because of the tears in my eyes made it difficult to read.

I always like to share parts of the book I like. Unfortunately I can not clip and paste the whole book….so here are some that are fun.

“The legs are rolling up, the waist is rolling down, and I can’t breathe at all. But that’s probably a good thing because if this were any tighter, it’d be giving me a wedgie so bad I could smell my own a$s.”

I’m going to be late.” He looks up at me, feral and possessive. “Brush your teeth. I’ll make …….come before you’re even done.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ross confirms, suddenly all manners and politeness. If he wasn’t doing my dirty work for me, I’d tease him about suddenly turning into Eddie Haskell.

In just a second, we’ve gone from a polite post-yes kiss to full-on tonsil hockey mouth snogging, and it’s only our need for oxygen that forces us to pull back.

“Wait, how’d you see John’s tattoo?” Courtney asks, sucked into the conversation. “Or do I want to ask?” “Not in a church you don’t,” Estella says before blushing as she looks at Father O’Flannigan. “I’d hand out Hail Marys, but I doubt they’d be useful,” Father O’Flannigan says with a smile.

Quite possibly my favourite Lauren Landish read to date. I love enemies to lovers, best friend’s older brother rom coms, and Violet and Ross are the perfect couple for this trope. Violet needs a marriage, curtesy of her dying grandfather, Ross needs to be in a committed relationship to stop his philandering ways and to appease his family and their business. A fun, easy and highly entertaining read, beautifully written in dual POV. I loved the banter between Ross and Violet (their current banter, and their childhood banter – because, yes we see it all). Lots of drama and a few added twists in the mix, oh, and let’s not forget that my emotions were all over the place in parts, I was so desperate for them to get their happy ever after. A wonderfully addictive 5 star read for me. I received an advanced copy of this book from the author. This is my honest review.

Loved the book it was great, the story was well written and the characters are interesting. Once I started I could not put the book down from start to finish you just could not get enough with twists and turns it was funny light hearted with Ross and Violet quite enjoyable.
Thank you for allowing me to review your book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

My Big Fat Fake Wedding combines 2 of my favorite tropes: fake relationship and enemies to lovers. Of course, the fake relationship trope in particular comes with a certain level of outlandishness; we’re here for the here for mutual pining and the will-they-wont-they (even though we know they TOTALLY will), not something super realistic and believable.

Violet and Ross are two people who need relationships of convenience for different reasons. After one scandal too many, Ross wants to prove he’s willing to do WHATEVER it takes to clean up his image for the family business. With her grandfather’s life ticking down, Violet desperately wants to give him his dream of walking her down the aisle … and all is going to plan until her fiancé calls things off 2 weeks before the big day.

Both are scrambling and on the same page and while their history of pranks and teasing presents a hurdle, they’re determined to sell the ruse for their own purposes. Of course faking it ends up getting harder as their feelings become more real the closer they get. As the tide starts to turn and their feelings become genuine, expressing them becomes harder because each is scared that the other will be scared away. After everything goes downhill, they find their way back together and the courage to be honest.

Now, this could have been a much better read with some small adjustments – there were a number of small irritations that made what could have been a solid book simply so-so.

Firstly, while I appreciate a few cultural references for fun here and there … this book was overflowing with them. Another gripe I had was the way the premise was set up. Again, fake relationships are always contrived – they almost never make any logical sense. But this one was particularly silly – in the very beginning, Violet decides she wants her grandfather to be able to walk her down the aisle, so she rushes off to find a husband (even though it’s just the wedding that she wants, not a marriage). Why didn’t she just go with a staged thing from the get-go to fulfill his dream instead of rushing a relationship and legally binding herself to someone else? Well, because there needs to be an ex-fiance to cause drama later, that’s why (the breakup happens like 10 pages in, it’s super quick)!

Honestly it felt like the initial setup of the story was an outline in sentence form. Especially when the breakup happens and Violet immediately introspects and realizes she doesn’t love her now-ex after all and she was rushing it for all the wrong reasons. In one split second she goes from convinced she’s in love and planning to get married to realizing she’s lying to herself to fulfill her grandfathers dream .. and isn’t even fazed about it? It again feels like the author had a rough idea of what needed to happen and just filled it into the scene without developing the concept any further.

Overall, the rushed pace and lack of character or plot development made the characters feel incredibly two dimensional and unengaging. So why 3 stars (which in my mind is still “good) if I have so many problems with it? Partly because it was otherwise a fantastic read and partly because there was some hilarious dialogue that I quite liked (even if most of it was courtesy of the gay bff character that is essentially ever stereotype of gay men ever shoved into one character).

A little more time fleshing out the characters and transitioning the plot would have made all the difference.

Despite it’s issues, this wasn’t a bad book. If you like Lauren Landish, you’ll probably like My Big Fat Fake Wedding. It’s worth a shot if the issues outlined here won’t diminish your enjoyment of the story.