The Only Reason

A Lesbian Fake Relationship Romantic Comedy (The Holidays with You)

By: Shannon O'Connor

Narrated by: Lois Ridge

Two women, one fake relationship & a fall they'll never forget. Bella Gold needs money for college, so when she hears of an agency that pays you to date people in return for large sums of cash she signs up. She knows what everyone’s thinking but she doesn’t take off her clothes, even if she wanted to. The only thing that happens is some hand holding and honest conversation. If she’s being honest, she feels bad for how lonely these people are.

Enter Dylan Marsh, a long time co executive at To Be Read Publishing. When her boss comments for the billionth time that she’s attending the parties alone, she decides to hire someone to help. The last thing she wants to do is date anyone her age or get married anytime soon, but maybe a few dates with a beautiful woman would get her boss off her back. As soon as Dylan meets Bella, it’s love at first sight. For Bella, it’s more of confusion, as she was expecting a man.

Dylan gives Bella a proposition she can’t turn down, pretend to date her for a few months and she’ll pay for her college tuition. At first Bella thinks it’s a prank set up by her best friends, but the more she gets to know Dylan, the more they surprise each other. Will Dylan be able to convince Bella to fall in love with her for real? Or will Bella cash the check and not look back?

©2023, 2024 Shannon O'Connor (P)2024 Shannon O'Connor

A Cute Feel Good Story With Lots of Spice

I really enjoyed listening to Dylan and Bella’s story. The chemistry was there and the spice was an absolute plus!
The narration was a little over the top and didn’t feel realistic but I was still able to get through the book.
If you’re looking for a cute book with lots of spice, you’ll find it here!

Cute story that puts Rom-Coms in a twist!

First of all, I’m not much for Rom-Coms but the storyline was intriguing. I thought yeah, we’ll have the basic make the other person pretend to be your partner while you pay them and later it’s a happy ending because both fall madly in love during the pretend, but no. This book has twists and turns and uncertainty at almost every chapter. The narrator brilliantly describes the scene as if you were right there with the characters. Beautifully written, characters were fully developed, and the ending? It made me feel like there should be a series attached so the story can go on. I’m curious to now what tricks author Shannon Connor has up her sleeve for future books.

Wish it had been longer…

I love a good fake relationship and I really enjoyed this story. Characters were well developed and the narration enhanced the story. If you enjoy a well written, skillfully narrated, low angst, age gap sapphic romance, this is the book for you. Oh, and spice…there was definitely spice!!

Worth a listen

I do not read/listen to many sapphic novels but so glad I gave this one a try. I loved the story, an age gap, fake relationship story with a bit of Pretty Woman vibes thrown in. I would definitely read this novel again but the audio was a little lacking for me. At times I felt the emotion of the characters coming through but at other times, it was too flat and almost emotionless. Overall I would definitely recommend this novel to any sapphic book lovers. It has some angst and some heat which I love in a romance.

Not bad, but lacking

It seemed the flow of the story was lacking. Like it was a series of scenes cut together, but lacking something (maybe depth). The stilted feeling was also apparent in the narration. I have listened to this narrator before and know she does good work, but this on seemed to lack nuances.
I dropped the audiobook with an hour left; the MCs hooked up, and then the following chapter opened with a 'I'm going to pretend it didn't happen'. That may help drive a story further, but it's just not a direction I'm interested in going.