Fake dating, insta-love, and a big, public declaration of love in this one, so if you love tropes, I think you'll enjoy it! I liked the cast of side characters and the premise, but it felt weirdly long even though the actual page count is short. There's also a moment where my general affection for a character changed big time, and that kind of ruined it for me!

I had a really hard time getting into this book initially. I started it, but then lost interest and put it aside for a while, so I ended up starting again from the beginning. Luckily the book did eventually grab my attention better, and I was able to finish it.

I think part of my struggle with the beginning of the book was that it felt like it jumped into the things very abruptly with several characters all at once, then went straight to the fake romance premise before I felt like I hardly even knew anything about the main characters. Along the way there were scenes that felt they should have more of a backstory that was missing, though a lot of that was covered later in the book. And there were just parts that didn't feel quite believable - for example, it was a huge deal that Jiya is seen in public with a guy (Ibrahim) by a family friend, yet she's very close friends with Harry and meets him in public without issue. All that said, there were also enjoyable parts, especially once I was farther into the story and felt I knew the main characters better. I think one of my favorite characters was Ibrahim's grandmother!

In the end, I can't say I necessarily disliked the book, but I also didn't love it. It's very possible that it just wasn't quite the right book for me. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book!

This book was extremely enjoyable and I loved it! The characters were amazing and the storyline was a classic but with uniqueness tied into it.

From the description, From Fake to Forever should have been great. I love a fake dating trope and especially love a meddling family. However, the writing was strange for me; I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly.

There were a few oddities that did stand out. There was no description of the characters' appearances nor mention of what Ibrahim’s job was. A few chapters had the wrong name at the top, but both Ibrahim and Jiya had distinct voices, so it was easy to tell whose POV I was reading. I should mention that I received an ARC of this book, so that may not be the case in the published version.

For the most part, I did enjoy this book. The plot was fun, and I enjoyed Ibrahim and Jiya getting to know each other and slowly falling in love. What I didn’t enjoy was Ibrahim's older brother spreading vitriol on an already fraught situation, leading to Ibrahim believing something of Jiya that was entirely out of character for her. I feel like the whole misunderstanding was there just for a third-act breakup.

One character I loved was Reshma, a side character in an arranged marriage to Ibrahim's oldest brother Zafar. Throughout most of the book, she’s either ignored, subject to the family's passive-aggressive behaviour, or getting some serious shade. All because she agreed to marry Zafar. The treatment of Reshma by the rest of the characters brought this book down for me, and it was only towards the end that Ibrahim spoke to her like she was a human being, and the others started to accept her.

Overall, From Fake to Forever was an easy read, but some flaws brought the rating down for me.

This is a great debut novel, I look forward to reading more from Laila Rafi. This was exactly what you would expect - the title and synopsis are spot on. Lots of laugh out loud moments, a few tears, and general contentment with the way the story unfolded. Would recommend!

This book had the potential to be a fantastic, quick read, but unfortunately, the pacing was slow, and the characters were hard to connect with. I usually love a dual pov, but it didn't work for this book, nor did the fake dating concept.

Thank you to Netgalley & Publishers for allowing me access to this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wasn't for me unfortunately, I found the pacing to be very slow and the charecters although interesting, just did not have the chemistry needed to engage me

Fake dating✔️ dual POV✔️ cute cartoon cover✔️
It had all of my favourite things so I was sure it was going to be a hit but sadly it was a DNF for me.

My main issue was the dual POV’s, they were too similar so it made it very hard at times to distinguish who’s POV it actually was. I had to go back to check a couple of times. This obviously made for a frustrating read, not to mention it was taking forever to get through!

Another issue was the pacing, it felt very off but I don’t know if that was just me and the issues I was having with the above.

Disappointing but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What an amazing book!!
Would love to read more from the author.
Thankyou netgalley for the Arc!

4/5 stars!
I felt like the book started off kind of slow but I really got into it a few chapters in. Once I got past this, I loved the chemistry between Jiya and Ibrahim. I found their transition from strangers to friends to lovers throughout their fake dating scheme to be really sweet. Although, they needed to be seen with each other for their own personal reasons in the beginning, by the end, you can clearly see their love for each other. They no longer need each other to get their families off their backs; now they just need each other because they cant live without the other. I loved Ibrahim’s brother Harry and his friendship with Jiya! He was the best support for both of the characters throughout the book. My only complaint is that I would have loved to see more groveling by Ibrahim or talking through of their issues at the end. Overall, a good, quick read that is perfect for anyone who loves fake dating and romance.
Thank to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I always love a good romance book and the fake dating trope is one I enjoy. I enjoyed Laila Rafi's From Fake to Forever and the way that Rafi got the Jiya and Ibrahim introduced to us as readers and the reasoning behind the fake dating. I loved how the story progressed and adored Jiya and Ibrahim's interactions. The other characters such as Ibrahim's brothers were great as well

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this story. The romance and dialogue was so engaging and I kept wanting to read more. Highly recommend!

I was drawn to this book by the cover, title and the description. I also LOVE a good fake dating trope. However, I reallllly struggled to get through this book. I felt lost a lot of the time and still don't entirely understand what I've read.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and Laila Rafi for allowing me to read this arc in exchange of my honest review!

I love fake dating and cute covers but this just did not deliver to me like I thought it would!

I kept getting confused who was actually speaking. I really dislike the miscommunication trope and it just fell flat.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this arc in exchange of my honest review!

Thank you to @netgalley and author for an ARC of this book 🥰

Blurb
Jiya Ahmed has a dream: she wants to complete her MBA and get a job in the city. The problem is that her parents think it’s high time she put her books away and focused on becoming good wife material – but surely there’s more to life than finding the right boy?

Ibrahim Saeed has a goal: he wants to avoid marriage but more specifically, he wants to avoid the arranged marriage his father has planned for him. Why would he want to end up like his (clearly unhappy) older brother with a partner of his father’s choosing?

⭐️might contain spoilers ⭐️
Dual POV and fake dating is my favorite! Not to mention this book also has desi representation. This felt like a fresh step into fake dating.
I REALLY liked this book and it was sooo cute!
There were times I wanted to hit Ibrahim on the head because he was SO frustrating. Everything was going so well (TOO WELL) and then comes the issue.
Man, this book was SO good like i had to keep on reading because i really wanted to know whether Jiya would take him back after he acted like this.
I LOVED the airport scene and the fact that she accepted his apology but stood her ground ( yes girl!)
I would have loved to see Ibrahim grovel a bit more. And Harry, he was one of my fav characters in this book next to Jiya.
Can’t wait to see more of Zafar and Reshma too but Ashar can go sit on a cactus just because 🫠

I'm a big fan of the fake dating trope but not the misscommunication trope and a good fake dating book toe the line of the misscommunication one. This book went way over that line for me. And for some reason it both went too fast and too slow, the pacing was just a little off.

It wasn't a bad book but it also wasn't a great one, I'm just very neutral but I don't think I would recommend it if someone asked me for a good fake dating book.

The best part of the book that saved it from a 2 star to a 3 star was Harry, I think I would be much more interested in following his love story since there would at least be some humor in that one.

This book is fake dating through and through and if you love that trope you will love this story of Ibrahim and Jiya.

This book has lots of fun moments and cute exchanges but overall it falls short on what it sets out to deliver. Its storytelling is detailed but slow with little pay off. By the end my feelings for the two mains were mixed if anything, with the story losing track of itself, trying to be more but not putting in enough work for a beneficial pay off.
An easy read that leaves you wishing for more in the worst way

it took me so long to finish this book but im so glad i finished it, the fake dating in this book did great and let me continue this book till the end. i really enjoyed the plot and the charachters interaction. so cuteee and love how this book talks and shows sooo many things in a different culture. the charachters are sooo cute i just love how they end the book with a very cute ending, idk how to write this review but im obsessed with the writing even tho its a debut book.

This book’s premise had everything I love, yet I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. I wanted to love it but then it took me ages to get into. My biggest problem were the two main characters and their dynamic. While I really liked Jiya, I just couldn’t really warm up to Ibrahim.

I loved Jiya from the first time she appears and verbally but playfully and confidently tells off her best friend and youngest Saeed brother, Harry. Jiya is such a warm, big hearted person who puts her family first even though she doesn’t feel right about it and wants to do something for herself. She knows exactly what she wants and thanks to Harry and Ibrahim the possibility to get it is in reach.
Ibrahim on the other hand is calmer and more serious. While he thinks he knows what he wants, he seems to be unsure about it all the time. His character didn’t really leave an impression with me and I was constantly finding myself annoyed with him for some reason. To be honest, I kind of wish this book would have featured Jiya and Harry as a couple. Even though From Fake to Forever portrays their strictly platonic friendship in an amazing way, they had such a good dynamic, that was all around more believable than anything Jiya and Ibrahim had going on. They just had the chemistry.
I have to admit Harry might have been my favourite character in the book and I found him to be so much more interesting than Ibrahim.

I did enjoy the different families though and how the dynamics within them worked and were written. I loved that they were chaotic and difficult and complex but so full of love for every member of them. I liked that they had their problems but when it mattered they stuck up for each other and helped when necessary. I loved their similarities and differences.

From Fake to Forever is quite a short book so I was prepared for a fast pace. Instead I got a slow beginning before the story picked up only to deflate again. The pacing was just off to me, and sometimes dragged so much for me to get a bit bored.

All in all, From Fake to Forever was a quick, easy read. While I enjoyed some parts, it mostly wasn’t for me unfortunately. I really do wish I liked this more because the concept of it all was great.

Ibrahim and Jeya are set up by his brother, as they can both help each other out. A fake relationship should benefit them both, but will they be able to keep it all fake?