Fake it 'Til You Make Out: Love & Luck Book 1, Isla Olsen

I'm a huge fan of the fake relationship and friends-to-lovers tropes so I was already pretty sold on the premise alone, but I was definitely not expecting to love it as much as I did.  There were a couple points that really bothered me, but on the whole it was the banter, the sexiness, the acceptance, the love that won me over so completely.

Oh geez.  Those texts!!  I think I died a few times with all the hilarious back-and-forth between everyone.  The sexy times were filled with both passion and humor and Heath constantly surprised me with how much openness he had toward his sudden enlightenment.  I have a harder time with the angst that comes with self-judgment due to attraction outside of monogamous heterosexual leanings because it often quickly slides into a blind judgment of everyone that doesn't fit archaic societal views of sexual normality because they refuse to accept themselves being anything other than that.  Heath was a little shocked, a whole lot interested, and accepted himself without prejudice.  A lot of that was because of who he was experiencing everything with.

Declan wasn't the stereotypical best friend that secretly harbors lust or love that has to be denied in order to keep the friendship.  He's a happy, mostly settled, gay male that just hasn't found his person yet.  When he finally sees that Heath is his person, he's surprised that they took so long to get together, but still took most things in stride.  I really enjoyed that aspect of this story.  But how he handled the Joel situation was bad.  Knowing Heath and what drove him to fabricate the relationship in the first place should have immediately gave Declan pause.  He didn't have to share Joel's situation, but to at least give Heath some kind of heads up instead of flat out lying?  Hell to the no.  The denials and secrets were absolutely unnecessary.

I wish so much that the Big Mis hadn't preyed on Heath's insecurities, but I will concede that the question brought up about trusting Dec because of who Dec is and what they've had together for most of their lives, even before romance entered the picture was appropriate.  And the reunion scene, while mildly humorous with the full-body tackle, was a picture I don't think Heath needed to walk in on because, from his perspective and what he saw both previously and here, no matter the reasoning, was misleading enough that Declan should have made more of an effort to be the friend more than the miffed lover.

Other than that pretty glaring thing that really frustrated me, I loved this story.  Heath and Declan had great chemistry both in and out of the bedroom and their families were awesome...how could I not fall head over heels for everything?  And with so many siblings that are other-than-straight, I'm looking forward to a whole lot more awesome from this series!

*$3.99 on Amazon!

Heath
It’s a classic story: Boy meets girl, girl breaks boy’s heart, boy pretends to be gay to get back at girl, girl outs boy to everyone on Facebook…
Okay, maybe it’s not that classic. But it’s what happened to me.

When I bump into my cheating ex and catch sight of the moon-sized rock on her finger, there’s only one option to save face: pretend to be dating my gay best friend, Declan.
And when she outs me on Facebook and everyone I know sees it, there’s still only one option: keep pretending to be dating Declan.
And when Declan and I have to kiss to keep up the ruse and it turns out there’s actually a spark between us (more like a blazing inferno, if truth be told) there’s once again only one option…