The Almost Romantic

How to Date Your Fake Husband

De: Lauren Blakely

Narrado por: Vanessa Edwin, Teddy Hamilton

Duración: 8 h y 7 m

Resumen del Editor

Fake engagement. Real marriage. Both have an expiration date in this spicy marriage of convenience romantic comedy standalone from #1 NYT Bestselling Author Lauren Blakely performed in duet by Teddy Hamilton and Vanessa Edwin!

“Marry me.”

They were the last words I expected to say to my fake fiancé, but I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t back down from a challenge. Pretend I’m engaged to my gorgeous and talented business partner to secure a business deal?

No problem. Agree to a no-touch rule even though she’s been driving me wild since I met her?

Challenge accepted.

Resist grinning like a damn fool every time that same big-hearted, sunshine-y woman laughs with my little daughter?

Done. So, yeah, when my fake fiancé’s vindictive business rival threatens to expose our make-believe romance, I can handle that too. I’ll prove our engagement isn’t fake–by marrying her for real. A marriage with an expiration date at the end of the year.

But that’s when I run smack dab into the biggest challenge ever–not falling madly in love with my wife.

©2034 Lauren Blakely Books (P)2024 Lauren Blakely Books

I ADORE Elodie & Gage!!!💋

Love love love Vanessa & Teddy in this one! They are two of my favorite narrators & they were perfect for Elodie & Gage!

I LOVED Gage & Elodie!! Their chemistry is off the charts, they are funny, sweet, spicy, & so so good together! They bring out the best in the other, & fully support the others dreams! And if you love when a man uses “my wife”, buckle up! It’s a favorite phrase of Gage’s😮‍💨

Elodie is bold, fun, sexy, & goes after what she wants. Gage is protective, sexy, sweet, romantic as heck, & just dang near perfect! Plus a man who sees the benefits of therapy, yes please!

This is a fun single parent, fake engagement, marriage of convenience story, that brings all the feels & all spice! 🔥

Loved this !

I fell instantly in love with Elodie and Gage. I loved their banter and their chemistry was on point . What made me love this story more was listening to it as well as following along. The narrators did a phenomenal job playing these characters and boy did I get a good laugh and blush during those steamy scenes. This was such a great book that left me with a smile on my face.

Wanting more

I love these two characters and the duel narration was perfect. This book was definitely a feel good heartwarming story.

Fantastic book

Every woman needs a Gage in their life. Even when he was adamant that he didn’t believe in love, the way he acted around and treated Elodie was swoon worthy. He was a busy man who owned a bar, was a single dad and wanted to expand his business. When a package got delivered to his bar with Elodie’s address, he used the mix up as an opportunity to ask her out. Little did he know that the date would get cut short, but change his life forever. Elodie is a chocolatier who is the guardian for her sister and is struggling to make ends meet. She has a huge decision to make about her business but can’t seem to get Gage off of her mind. When he shows up at her shop with her package she is mortified at first, but then owns it. She accepts the date and is disappointed when it gets cut short. Without even realizing it, they both start acting like their fake relationship is real. He becomes possessive (in a good way) and protective, while she becomes reliant (only when absolutely needed) and more confident due to his belief in her. Seeing some of their friends (characters from previous books) giving them advice was nice. I adored the interactions they had with the girls, Eliza and Amanda, and how well they all fit together. Her business rival was not a nice man and I liked how karma got him in the end. With an end date set from the beginning, they both realize they don’t want it to end, but don’t know how to admit it to the other. His plan to romance her and show her how good it could actually be was sweet and when he had his aha moment he didn’t waste any time. I V loved this book. It was funny, sweet, romantic and I didn’t want to put it down.

Vanessa Edwin and Teddy Hamilton were great as Elodie and Gage. I loved the dual narration. Each voice actor brought so much emotion to the character that it felt like I was living the moment with them. I would not hesitate to listen to another book that they narrated.

Chocolate, tatted bar owner and banter - Fun read!!

This was super fun, steamy and unexpectedly well thought out plot. Can never go wrong with this narration pair or this author!

One of my favourites

From the first page to the last I was invested in Gage Archer and Elodie Starling’s story. Full of humour, laugh out loud moments and sizzling chemistry, this book will draw you in and you won’t want to put it down.

What starts out as a fake relationship quickly turns into a marriage with real feelings. The banter and camaraderie in this book was witty and I found myself through most of it. The relationship with Gage’s daughter, Eliza and his with Elodie’s sister, Amanda added an extra element to their story.

Both have struggled as single parents bringing up their charges and it was something that they bonded over and made their connection even stronger.

The Almost Romantic was an entertaining read with characters whose story I quickly became invested in. Vanessa Edwin and Teddy Hamilton were absolutely superb in their narration of this book. They captured the characters perfectly.

SO CUTE and FUN!

Gage and Elody! Gah! They were so much fun together! They had a date, decided they didn’t want to mess up their business partnership with a romance BUTTTT of course couldn’t keep their hands off each other lol

Gage was holding onto some major relationship baggage from his first marriage but Elody just had a way of seeing things that helped him process that grief.

They started off as interested romantic partners to then business partners with a hint of romance to married to save her business to forever partners wit the help of their partners in crime lol (kids are amazing at times!)

It was so fun to watch Elody and Eliza form a mother daughter bond as much as it was fun to watch Gage and Elody form their bond.

The canter between them all was top notch! Aldo the girls and their spy seeking agenda was PERFECTION lol it’s just TERRIBLE that icky Sebastian went out of business 😂😂😂

The narration on this book was so eloquent and fun for my ears!

Teddy Hamilton is such a talented narrator and I thoroughly enjoy listening to a book where he is narrating.

Vanessa Edwin was absolutely perfect for this character. She very much made Elody alive in my mind and that doesn’t always happen for me. She is an amazing talent!

Amazingly!

The Almost Romantic - Lauren Blakely

Narrated by: Vanessa Edwin & Teddy Hamilton

My Review:
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Spice: 🌶🌶🌶
Pages: 376
Genre: Romance
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Fake Engagement, Marriage Of Convenience, Former Pro Athlete

Elodie is raising her 13 year old little sister and owner of a specialty chocolate shop. Too busy to date but she knows what she wants and will not settle.

Gage is a widower and raising his 11 year old daughter and owns a popular bar. Committed to expanding his bar and raising his daughter, he has no desire to date.

Needless to say they meet and end up going into business adventure together that necessitates they be a couple which leads to a fake engagement which leads to a quickie Vegas marriage that has a time limit.

Their banter will have you in stitches. I absolutely loved these two narrators and how they brought Elodie and Gage to life.

You should truly listen to this audiobook. This was my first Lauren Blakely book but definitely will not be my last!

Read this book, listen to the audiobook and find out how all the trickery works out for Elodie and Gage! I very highly recommend!

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❓ I’m discovering with right narrators I prefer audiobooks. I want a female and a male working dually bringing the characters to life. I’m loving audiobooks but picky about the way they are done. Do you listen to audiobooks?

Sweet 🍫 & Spicy 🌶️ (NO spoilers, but tropes listed at the end of the review)

This was such a cute book with fabulous narration. But don’t let the illustrated cover fool you, this book has 6+ open door 🌶️ scenes!🔥

🎧 the audio was fabulous. It doesn’t get better than duet narration! This one was a little different though, in that the main characters were duet narration but the people in their respective chapters were voiced by that narrator. I.e Vanessa did the voices for everyone in her chapter (male or female) EXCEPT the MMC, teddy would jump in and do his part. Vanessa & teddy are both talented voice actors and did great as always. (A minor gripe- can we please pronounce “tamale” correctly? 😩 as a Latina it drives me crazy)

📗I LOVED a taller MFC. So rarely in romance novels are the female main characters above 5’3 or 5’4. Shout out to the representation of taller gals! Also, the therapy rep was a breath of fresh air 🩷 worth a credit/purchase? Yes! Lauren does it again. 👏

✨Tropes:
- Optimist/pessimist
- Single dad
- Single guardian “mom”
- Found family
- Marriage or convenience
- Fake engagement

🩷 Micro-tropes:
- “my wife”
- therapy rep
- tall FMC (5’9)
- business owners

The old school Blakely we know and love.

This book took me back to when I first started reading and listening to Lauren Blakely. Fun, flirty and HOTT. I am kind of over the fake relationship, its way over done right now, but this was really a great way to do it. Gage and Elodie are EXACTLY like their professions, cocktails and chocolate yummm. They meet and have one hot and steamy night, but during the evening come up with an amazing joint venture. They decide to have their night, scratch that itch, and get to business only. But when they meet the man who could make or break their new business, and he wants partners that are either married and happy or the same gender as to avoid “drama” they can do the only thing they can think of and be pretend engaged. Besides their own businesses and the complications that come with it, and now starting this new project, they both also have major responsibilities at home, Gage being a single father to a little girl and Elodie raising he sister. Thankfully both the girls get along really well which makes it even harder for Elodie and Gage to keep that line crispy and not start to blur.
This book was narrated by some of my favorite narrators and in duet! Teddy Hamilton and Vanessa Edwin just knocked this one out of the park. Teddy really embodied the suaveness of gage and Vanessa the fun and spunk of Elodie. This was such a fun book from start to finish, and there was even a little revenge on competing businesses, what more could you ask for?