ARC Review: Fake It 'til You Make Out (Love & Luck #1) by Isla Olsen

Blurb:

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…

Todd's rating:

As the blurb states:

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…

And that was actually a pretty accurate description of how the book got started, as Heath pretended to be in a relationship with his gay best friend, Declan, which set up all sorts of hilarity when they were only *pretending* to be a couple in front of their friends and family.

Ben Ryland: I still want proof of some kind before I'm totally sold on this heath thing. Doesn't need to be naked proof but I need something!

Me: He likes riding cowboy? He likes the taste of cum? Do you want me to go on?

Ben Ryland: Yeah no thanks, that'll do pig.

But when Heath decided that they needed to really sell their fake relationship at Declan's birthday party, by exchanging a steamy kiss in public, one bathroom stall later and their relationship immediately changed from faking it to a whole helluva lot more real.


I really like how, since these guys had been best friends for a decade, they never really got weirded out by being with one another. Their former smartass behavior toward each other continued much the same as before, even in the bedroom, which was a breath of fresh air.

“Do I have to do anything special with the foreskin?”

“Yes, there’s a little latch at the back so you can take it off. Just leave it on the nightstand and I’ll reattach it when you’re done.”

This playful and fun story was told in dual POV and had a good deal of steam, so I found myself all in for these two as a couple.

AND THEN THE RAINS CAME... :- /

At around 80% in, the author decided what this carefree story simply must have was a "BIG MISUNDERSTANDING".

Ugh, those are the most dreaded of over-used, tired plot devices in my opinion, so it would be a huge understatement to say that I was NOT happy that the story went in that direction.

But what made it worse was that, after Heath caught Declan secretly (but harmlessly, of course) meeting up with his ex, it was Heath who everyone in the book seemed to think needed to make things right.

WRONG. Heath wasn't at fault in the slightest here, so nope, nope, NOPE.

And when Heath finally crawled back to Declan, instead of Declan coming clean with a goddamn EXPLANATION, we got sex. Wait... whut???

“I just…got scared.”

“I know. And I’m sorry for scaring you. I’ll explain everything, I promise. But right now I just really fucking need to be inside you.”

“Fuck, yes.”

FUCK, NO! What the hell, people?!?!?

So yeaaaaaah, the first 80% of the book was firmly in 4-star rating territory, but the unnecessary horse-shit ending pulled it down to around 3.25 stars for me.

My ARC copy of the book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

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