Get ready for your next favorite romantic comedy, THE REAL DEAL, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely! April Hamilton wants you to know she hasn’t been on GigsForHire since that time she sold her futon after college. She doesn’t even spend that much time online. And even if she did, she would not be looking up personal ads. But going home alone for her family’s summer reunion … going home alone for her family’s summer reunion is an invitation for every single relative to butt into her personal life. She simply can’t handle another blind date with the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker from her hometown. So when she finds the GigsforHire ad for a boyfriend-for-hire, she’s ready to pay to play.
Heading Home and Need a Buffer? I’m the REAL DEAL.
Theo Banks has been running from the past for years. He’s this close to finally settling all his debts, and one more job as a boyfriend-for-hire will do the trick. He’s no gigolo. Please. He’s something of an actor, and he knows how to slip into any role, including pretending to be April’s new beau — the bad boy with the heart of gold.
Even if it means sleeping in close quarters in that tiny little bed in her parents’ inn. Even if it means spinning tales of a romance that starts to feel all too true. What neither one of them counts on is that amid the egg toss, the arm wrestling, and a fierce game of Lawn Twister that has them tangled up together, they might be feeling the real deal.
She only wanted to show her family once and for all that she had no need to settle down.
He didn’t expect to have the time of his life at her parent’s home.
They didn’t plan on loving every single second of the game.
But can a masterful game of pretend result in true love?
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Very hard to read, I honestly didn’t finish the book, I got more than half way thru because I kept trying to finish but it was hard to read and felt like it was all over the place
Anytime I pick up one of Lauren Blakely’s books I am never disappointed!!! This book was so much fun & the chemistry between April & Theo was hot!
April is headed home for her family reunion & her family is determined to fix her up with a home town guy. So she asks her best friend to pose as her boyfriend but he has to go out of town on work so he suggests his friend Theo who just happens to be on a date for hire website.
I love April’s character, she’s smart, fun and has a sassy mouth. Theo is handsome, sexy and sweet. He’s got a past and he has his reasons for doing what he does.
I absolutely LOVED this book it was a super sexy fast fun ready & add the audible version with it and you can’t go wrong!!!
5 There’s So Much More Than Meets The Eye Stars!!
I absolutely freaking loved this book so much!!! I immediately connected with April and Theo. April is a woman that doesn’t want to face her family’s constant matchmaking shenanigans so she goes to Craigslist and finds what she thinks is the perfect answer…hiring a boyfriend for her family reunion weekend. You’d think it’d be a simple thing right? There’s a contract and two people who have agreed how this weekend will look.
Yeah, not so much… everything changes when they hit April’s hometown in Connecticut and watching it unfold was so fun to listen to..yes I listened to this book when it was an audible first selection. Ms. Mallon and Mr. Weber brought these characters to life with perfection. Their ability to play the different roles had me snort laughing and swooning at all the right moments.
As April and Theo grow closer and their relationship changes with each passing hour and day, they find they have more in common than they originally thought. Throw in some family drama and some laugh out loud funny moments including a scavenger hunt and obstacle courses and you get the picture!
Ms. Blakely has created characters that I fell in love with upon meeting them, her narrator choices are spot on and I found myself engaged fully into this story and their love!
Excellent Read. Thank you.
I couldn’t stop reading this book! I hadn’t read this author but I can’t wait to read more of her books! WOW!
All the stars on this one. Love-love-loved it.
I liked the plot well enough, it’s a typical – be my fake boyfriend story, but something was just amiss for me. Both Claire and Theo have their own set of baggage that they bring into the story, lots of hidden feelings once they discover they have them, and great steam once they kind of figure it out. Maybe I needed them to laugh more?
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Mary Jo –
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars
The characters in this book are well written and the story is very plausible. Most people at one time or another wish that they could rent a boyfriend or girlfriend for a while. Anything to get the family off their back.
No one wants to dread going home for a visit, a family reunion, or wedding, but there are those that do. The endless questions about dating status, potential partners, and the inevitable fix-ups are enough to send April towards a mental breakdown. Then the guy that was going to pretend to be her man for the long weekend gets a gig that he can’t get out of and sends Theo her way.
Theo is a man who’s had to do most anything to survive after the death of his parents. His latest money-making endeavor is playing the boyfriend-for-hire. No sex, strictly platonic, for just about anything a woman needs. Meeting April throws him for a loop. He doesn’t understand her need for a pretend boyfriend but agrees to be the best around – good enough to fool her family.
April likes Theo and when sparks start flying, she wishes that the fake relationship was real. Theo likes April, she’s the real deal. He finds that he can talk to her and tell her about things from his past. Most importantly, she doesn’t turn away from him but offers compassion for the child that he was.
I did enjoy this book, but at times the texting between the parties took me out of the story.
Ruthie –
I have read a number of Lauren Blakely novels, and enjoy her style and most definitely her sense of humour. Here we have a wonderfully romantic and fabulously fun story of love and adventure.
I really, really enjoyed the crazy five days in the Hamilton B&B, from the maddest games, to the deflowering of April’s childhood tree house! Every page is full of the love that exudes from her family and friends and gives Theo quite an insight into just who he has contracted his boyfriend services to this time. And along with the family time, we see two people who unexpectedly find themselves fighting an attraction that was (in our eyes at least) utterly inevitable. Theo trying to make April’s dad understand about her career was my favourite non-couple moment. The romance wove through their ‘remember when’ stories so enchantingly
Throw in an old debt, a dodgy background, and a brother changing the playing fields, and we are treated to a really enjoyable story. Really, just get a copy and enjoy it too!
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely to read and review.
Lauren Blakely never ceased to amaze me with her RomCom. The Real Deal is a boyfriend-for-hire romance. Even though the storyline was well-used, Lauren’s writing style and sense of humour made the book very entertaining. April and Theo had great chemistry and their banter were hilarious. If you’re looking for an all over funny, romantic and steamy read then look no further.
The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely
Narrated by: Zachary Webber and Erin Mallon
4 Stars – I quite enjoyed this fake boyfriend plot line and the characters involved. The dialogue was witty and filled with fabulous tension. The story slowed a bit for me part way in the last quarter, but picked up again with a wonderful ending.
Zachary Webber did a wonderful job narrating as usual. Erin Mallon’s male character voices were great and her regular voice is easy to listen to, however she tends to dragout some of her syllables at the end of the words. Example: “Chapter Twelllvvvvve- Aprillllll”. Not sure if she is doing this on purpose for this character or not? Either way I found that distracting and didn’t care for it. That said, I would still listen to her narrations.
~Paragraphs and Petticoats~
Another winner for Lauren Blakely! What do you do when your fake boyfriend begins to feel all to real? This is our heroine, April’s dilemma. If you have read Lauren Blakely before, April is typical of her heroines. Smart, brave, sweet, large in heart and small in ego. Also… April has just about the coolest job ever….. body painting! I loved that! Our hero, Theo, has not had the easiest life. He is currently a bartender and a “boyfriend -for-hire “(not an escort). April hires him to attend a family reunion. She loves her family dearly, but is tired of their efforts to match her with single men from her small hometown.
Most of the book takes place at April’s family reunion in Wistful( perfect small town name). Our heroine’s family is a hoot. Their Lawn Games cracked me up ( Junk in the Trunk just hilarious). It is here where the character’s fake relationship begins to morph into what feels like the real thing. Problematic for both of them a variety of reasons.
Dialogue here is sharp and witty as is typical in this author’s books. Characters will give you the warm fuzzies. There is heat, humor and heart. Great read!
Reviewed by: Jamie B.
I won a copy of this book from the author and was not required to give a favorable review. This was a great story of how a young women and youngest child an moved away from home and is making a wonderful career for herself in NYC. The friend who was suppose to be her plus one for the family reunion weekend got a job out of the country and told her about a friend that is a rent-a-boyfriend. He is a bartender/actor and is trying to pay off some debts from college and other things. So when this opportunity arises he takes it and hopes it will clear everything up. But little did there little acting job get them to become closer. I loved the writing and it really makes you feel for the characters.
4.5 snarling leopard stars
Lauren Blakely was right on the money with this one—it was indeed THE REAL DEAL. It’s definitely her signature rom com through and through, but elevated a step higher. It was all kinds of fun, adorable, steamy as hell, and hilariously charming, but it also held a deeper story that managed to tug at my heartstrings. I actually enjoyed April and Theo’s tale more than I expected to, and I couldn’t be happier. I felt the build up and every ounce of tension between them, and it was perfect.
“We’ve vaulted over all the lines, and we’re crossing the final one now, but in some ways, we were never truly playing pretend. We were real from the start.”
There’s just something about these two that was so easy to love and enjoy. Their chemistry was through the roof right from the start. Their relationship was nothing short of enthralling to witness it unfold. Their banter was absolutely spot on. And those fantasies… those text messages they exchanged and even the ads on Craigslist from Theo… every single one of them was just so entertaining.
“I want her to know me. Want her to understand who I am. Because I want her to feel the same damn way I do. I want her to fall in love with me, too. The real me.”
I was originally only going to read this on paperback, but then I thought—oh wait, this is Lauren Blakely. There MUST be an audiobook. So I checked it out. And what do you know—it was narrated by two of my top favorites! So I ended up reading and listening to this one simultaneously. And it was fanfreakingtastic! I think I appreciated every moment, every scene between these characters even more because of the audiobook.
I adore Zachary Webber—don’t get me wrong. But holy moly. Erin Mallon!! She just reminded me why I won’t ever get tired of listening to her stuff. She’s just got the best, sexiest and smokiest male voice ever! Seriously, she can melt you with that voice. These two narrators absolutely nailed this audiobook—their voice acting was superb and they certainly brought April and Theo’s story to life.
There’s so many things I love about Lauren Blakely, but the thing I love most is that she can take a frequently used romance plot (fake dating!) and add in some super common tropes (bed sharing! hidden pasts! meddling family in a small town!), and some how turn it into a book that, while somewhat predictable, is still thoroughly unputdownable and ridiculously fun.
Our heroine, April Hamilton, has a problem. And that problem is her family. They’re wonderful and loving and also can’t seem to keep themselves out of her dating life. They mean well, but they want her to move home from New York City and each one of them is hoping to make that happen by setting April up with every single man in Wistful, Connecticut. But April loves her life in the city and after a recent nasty breakup, she’s on a dating-free diet. So when the time comes for the Hamilton family summer reunion, April decides the best way to keep the family from trying to set her up with one more mortgage broker is to bring along a boyfriend. A fake boyfriend.
Enter Theo Banks. Theo is an actor, of sorts. After a rocky childhood and less than pristine adult life, he’s got some serious debts to repay and his bartending job doesn’t quite cover it. So Theo uses his talent for fake accents and ability to transform himself into anyone into an enterprising “boyfriend for hire” business. He’s played everything from the charming office Christmas party date to the bad boy hired to start fights at Thanksgiving dinner, but this gig with April is going to prove to be the most challenging of all. It’s really hard to keep the fake dating from becoming the real deal when a job turns out to be fun and your client turns out to be someone you have explosive chemistry with.
Here’s the thing. I am the world’s biggest sucker for the fake dating trope. And while The Real Deal followed pretty much the standard format for most fake dating romances, because the characters were ridiculously lovable and the setting was charming, it still felt fresh and fun.
Right from the very beginning, I loved Theo and just grew to love him even more as April did. He’s got a pretty tarnished and ugly background, but Blakely does a great job of giving him valid motivations for doing the less than above board things that he’s done and it just becomes impossible to not root for him. And I adored April, especially as we began to learn more about her. At first, I found her story of not wanting to be set up a tad bit eye roll inducing, but once we learn more about her last relationship (a man she met through her work who lied to her about being married), it all clicks into place and all of her avoidance of relationships and leeriness about Theo makes so much sense for her character.
But I didn’t just love the characters individually, I also adored them together. They had a spark right from the very beginning, before they even officially met, and it wasn’t simply attraction. Theo and April felt like kindred spirits. They had the same sense of humor, enjoyed weaving their detailed tales of their fake history, and just formed an instant bond. So while their whole love story takes place during the course of one family reunion, it didn’t feel like it happened too fast or that it was entirely based on the fact that they were just physically attracted to each other.
And the reunion itself was an absolute blast to read about. Because the Hamiltons don’t just throw a basic summer cookout. No, their reunion is a massive, all out competition against another family. There’s lawn twister and arm wrestling and a ton of other events that just kept making me giggle and think that Blakely must have attended some really interesting reunions/parties throughout her life. All of April’s family were a tad bit insane but lovable and made for a superb cast of supporting characters. They added to the comedy of the novel, but also made for excellent sounding boards for both April and Theo as they figured out their feelings for each other.
The Real Deal was everything I love about Lauren Blakely. It’s heartfelt and romantic, but doesn’t take itself too seriously and provides a quick read that’s fun from start to finish.
A & T forever. The Real Deal was a great pretend lovers to real lovers story that drew me in from the very beginning and kept me reading until the very end. April and Theo are such a wonderful pair to watch as their fake relationship grows into the real deal. Lauren Blakely does a wonderful job weaving this tale of a business transaction turned love affair that will last forever.
The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely is a standalone contemporary fake lover romance told in dual POV and complete with a happily ever after. Sweet and Sexy, Spicy and tantalizing, this book was a page turning read. I just HAD to know how these two would resolve their issues, hangups, doubts and feelings…
April needs a buffer for her trip home. It is reunion weekend and her ENTIRE family is trying to set her up with one or another all with the special qualification of being from her hometown – where she no longer lives and does NOT want to move back to. When her male best friend cancels on her at the last minute he gives her an option via his friend and his craigslist ad.
Theo has been hustling since he was a teenager. Aside from bartending he is a platonic date for hire and can be whatever type of date you can imagine someone needing. He has been a fake fiancé, a bad boy, he has made other guys jealous, made dad’s mad, you name it and he has a plan for it. When his friend asks him to consider helping April it comes at a time when he is in desperate need for the cash. The only problem, this may the first client he has ever been attracted to.
Hot and sexy, angsty and unexpected – It was a pleasure to read. Enjoy!
Lauren Blakely never disappoints and The Real Deal is another hot story from her!!
April is in need of a boyfriend for hire to keep her family off her back at a family reunion, in comes the sexy Theo to be just that for her. Only once they meet there is an instant connection (and it is HOT!) and maybe pretending to be a couple isn’t the best idea.
April probably has one of the coolest jobs, she is a body painter. Her family doesn’t understand what she does for a career and thinks she should easily be able to move back to her home town in Connecticut, but April doesn’t want that. Theo understands this and will do anything he can to help her, to keep her happy and to protect her even though he has been through some tough stuff himself. His parents died when he was young and that left him and his older brother, Heath, to move with in with their aunt and eventually just go off on their own and trying to find a way to have a better life for themselves.
This is a beautifully written story, the growth in both the characters is fantastic and the chemistry between April and Theo is on fire. I found myself laughing at times and I found myself crying at times.
5 “Real Deal” Stars for this story!
One of my favorite rom-coms ever is The Wedding Date starring Debra Messing and Durmot Mulroney. It’s seriously one of those movies that I can watch over and over and over and never get sick of it.
As I was reading The Real Deal, I kept thinking about all the similarities between this book and The Wedding Date. Make no mistake – the plots are not identical. It’s not like Lauren Blakely ripped off the plot or anything. But, all the wonderful parts of the movie that make it one of the most happy, feel-good romances are present in The Real Deal alongside tons of witty, truly hilarious dialog that I’ve come to expect from Lauren Blakely.
Like in The Wedding Date, April hires Theo to be her pretend boyfriend for a weekend reunion with her meddling, but lovable, family. The weekend includes silly games, sleeping in the same bedroom and other potential suitors, all of which result in April and Theo’s pretend feelings becoming very real.
Theo is especially conflicted because he makes it a point to make all of his pretend boyfriend gigs strictly platonic. He’s not a gigolo and doesn’t ever want to cross that line. But, he feels like April is this kindred spirit that matches his right from the beginning. There’s a spark and she makes him laugh and want things that he’s not supposed to want.
The Real Deal is real magic. The chemistry between our two main characters practically jumps off the page. They’re completely adorable as they make up their meet-cute story to tell April’s relatives and then try and deny their true feelings. The writing is absolutely brilliant. I dare you not to laugh out loud and swoon repeatedly. This book was pure joy to read, and it was over way too quickly.
April Hamilton is tired of being set up by the women in her family so with her family reunion is fast approaching, she decides to not give the women a chance to interfere in her happiness. April takes matters into her own hands. She is introduced to Theo Banks, man extraordinaire. He can be anyone you want him to be.
The Real Deal is another wonderfully written book by this veteran author. She brings humor and fun to this couple. We visualize everything perfectly especially the tension between this couple. I love the nosey women and the closeness of April’s family. I even appreciated the relationship between Theo and his brother. Grab The Real Deal today and relax while you get lost in this world.
Wow! This was just super adorable! A little slow burn but fun and flirty and just right up my quirky alley. April is tired of being set up by her family and Theo is just the boyfriend for hire she needs! From the start, their playful role-playing was just sexy and all I could think was “let’s act on this!” Their chemistry was at a low simmer most of the story and you could just feel it perking along. April’s family was so close and the kind of well-meaning and supportive folks you wish everyone had. And they fall in love with Theo and I think Theo falls right back! The reunion and games are so addictive to read about that I wish I had a reunion just like this. I need to have a talk with my family. The Hamiltons put mine to shame and now I have all sorts of ideas on how to spark some life in our get-togethers. But I just fell in love with all of the characters and the how they met story was so cute. I want a Theo in my life. He really won my heart over in record time.