By: Julia Wolf
Many thanks to The Author Agency for the ARC of this book!
Samantha has been around The Wells brothers her whole life, Adrian Wells is her best friend. She also has a tendency to pick the wrong guys to date. When Adrian gets sick, her boyfriend gives her an ultimatum and she leaves him. Adrian has a bit of a road to recovery to endure and Samantha and his brother Nate help him. Sam’s sister is getting married and her family is cruel. She needs a plus one. Adrian is out of the question because he’s out of commission. Nate steps in to help her. He’s the perfect fake boyfriend to help her deal with her family. But she gets him to laugh, and to live like he hasn’t before. The only problem, if she falls for him, then she could potentially lose her best friend and her found family if things don’t work out.
I read a book by Julia Wolf last year and it was a 5 star read, so I shouldn’t be surprised that this book is also a 5 star read. Wolf has such a way with her writing that genuinely makes me feel all of the emotions of the characters, keeps me entertained, and has me reading her books fast. I don’t know why I haven’t picked up a book of hers since last year, but now I must make it a priority. I laughed, swooned, and cried reading this book.
Nate is super sweet. He really is the perfect fake boyfriend. I love the way that he saw Sam, because she didn’t see herself the same way. But he didn’t push it on her, he just was present. Sam was a great character as well. She is multifaceted, strong and resilient even though she doesn’t think she is. Both of these characters grow throughout the book, and their growth is really awesome to read.
There is a huge mental health aspect to this book, and I’m not going to lie, it’s heavy. The way that Wolf handled this aspect of the book should be a master lesson to all authors on how to handle mental health representation. It was raw and real, but very delicate. The characters struggled and GOT HELP. It was hard to read but it was so beautiful to read.
I already want to re-read this book because it has my heart in a vice grip.
I haven’t read the first one in this series and I didn’t feel like I was missing out. I will go back and read it though. I highly recommend this book.
Publish Date: September 24, 2026
Find the book here.
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