Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and the author for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Beatrice Corbin is a 29-year-old marketing professional feeling all of the horrible societal pressure to settle down and get married. I thought I would be able to instantly relate to her because that is essentially exactly where I am at in my life right now. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong, and Bea is one of the most unrelatable insufferable main characters that I have ever read.

The first red flag came up in the first 10 pages or so when she gets a phone call and learns that she has been selected for this wedding package giveaway that she entered years ago while still in a happy relationship. It's a $50K wedding package that she only has to pay $2K for, and they already have her card on file to withdraw the nonrefundable deposit. The red flag I was referencing came up when she got this phone call and she's literally so consumed with herself that she stops her moving car on a 3-lane highway to have the conversation and causes a wreck. That was my first sign that this woman is so self-absorbed and genuinely thinks she is the only person living on the planet.

Anyways, after she causes this wreck and ruins her car in the process, she decides to go forward with this wedding that is eight months away. This girl is so desperate to have a wedding, the whole marriage part of it is a complete afterthought. Is Beatrice Corbin's character essentially what is wrong with the world today? Probably. Is she the reason why the divorce rate is so high? Probably.

Here's your dose of CRINGE second-hand embarrassment for the day: Bea's first thought is to call her ex-boyfriend to see if he wants to be her groom. This dude has DELETED her number and doesn't even know it's her calling. Also, come to find out that she dated this guy for 7 years and he cheated on her with a random one-night stand. She forgave him because she thought they were still trying to build a future together, but a week later, HE ended up dumping HER. All signs point to HE IS JUST. NOT. THAT. INTO. YOU. Okay so back to the phone call - she tells him about winning this contest and says something along the lines of "well, what do you think? we were headed in that direction right?" ummmmm I'm sorry excuse me what??? Did she hit her head in that car wreck that was completely her fault and lose her memory??!! Ladies pleaseeee let's have some self-respect and know our worth because DAMNNNN. (For anyone wondering, the ex-boyfriend obviously is super awk and says no and hangs up on her.)

So Bea's next target is her parents. She thinks that by lying to them and bringing a fake fiance to dinner with her that they will automatically believe this thing has been going on for a while and they will be on board with her wedding plans. She asks her best friend Oliver to do it and tells him that he will just be a "placeholder fiance" until she can get them on board. And then what was she gonna do after that? Just find someone to marry and switch the two without her family noticing? This literally sounds like logic used by my 6-year-old niece, not a grown-ass woman. Despite her stupid plan, her parents immediately see through it and know it's all a ruse. So even though now her family and friends are telling her that she is being absolutely insane and erratic about the whole thing, she still wants to go forward with it.

Still without a fiance, Bea is so obsessed with having this wedding that she goes to FaceBook to update a "Life Event" on her timeline to announce that she's getting married that Summer. Baby girl what???? What are you thinking??? You know your friends and family are going to see this status from a single-ass woman and be like ..... excuse me? The desperation in the air is so thick so tangible I am CHOKING ON IT.

So now onto plan B for Bea. She has her eyes set on her hot coworker Andrew whom she ends up drunkenly making out with at a bar. She thinks oh for sure let's string him along without telling him that he's a pawn in my master plan to get married in 7 months. After three dates, she finally tells him and after a few weeks he's like okay yeah sure let's do it. *You can't see me right now but my eye roll is going into the back of my head down my back and out through my butt.* This guy is the wooooooorst and is constantly keeping secrets from her, calling himself her boyfriend while they are literally making their upcoming wedding plans, AND telling her multiple times that she is "too much" and he needs breaks away from her. YALL I CANNOT MAKE THIS UP. How low does your self-esteem have to be to look at this man and be like wow yep I am hooked, he is the one I want to share the rest of my life with and have his children???? ICK to the EXTREME.

Bea is so obsessed with the wedding that there is absolutely zero romantic storyline. This was supposed to be a rom-com but there was zero chemistry, and not only was I not laughing, I was enraged by her behavior and immaturity the whole time.

The blurb on this book compared itself to The Love Hypothesis, Beach Read, and The UnHoneymooners, and to those beautiful gorgeous stunning authors I would like to extend a personal apology on their behalf. All I can say to that comparison is LOLLLLL and HOW DARE YOU.

If you are thinking about reading this book, might I recommend several better ways to spend your time: go on a hot girl walk, do a face mask, bake a cake, do your taxes, get a colonoscopy, wait in line at the DMV, watch paint dry, have a cavity filled, or pull out all of our hair strand by strand.

Thanks again to NetGalley and Bookouture but babyyyyy this book was NOT IT.

I'm really, really sorry to say this book was not for me. :(

I tried, I honestly really did. But the story, the characters, the writing, did not work for me. It had great premise and potential, but in my opinion, it didn't follow through.

Main problem? The heroine. What her friend said was pretty accurate:

"Oh, is there another problem going on in Beatrice Corbin’s world?” she demanded. “Oh, boohoo! Poor baby! Everything’s about you, and everything’s going wrong, isn’t it? And you won’t talk to anyone about it unless it can be a five-minute dramatic monologue.”

Second problem: (and I feel this is very personal, so don't judge the book by it -and I'm sorry) I work in the wedding industry (it's why I picked it up to begin with). I do love stories and wedding planning for a living, 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. So it frustrated me to no end that EVERYTHING HERE RELATED TO THE WEDDING WAS GOING ALL WRONG! I just couldn't relate, that's now how it works...

The heroine's fixation with the perfect day, making it like some work project she had to check things off a list for.. No. If it was supposed to be funny, it didn't hit the mark for me. :(

"She looked up at her new fiancé: handsome, confident, stable, with earning potential. He was a real catch. She decided, then and there, that she couldn’t have planned for better than him. When he grinned down at her, she returned the smile with relief and joy."

And the middle didn't bring some revelations or growth, it just felt like it dragged...

The ending was good though, so yay for that! Bonus points for the best friend getting their HEAs, nice touch on how things came full circle.

So let's edit, rewrite some parts, get rid of Andrew sooner (there really was no point in prolonging that 'perfect couple' phase, it was awkward), shake the heroine a bit sooner, and all is well. Oliver is a sweetie pie tho. I would marry him too.

Best quotes:

There’s this sense, nowadays, that everything has to be focused, planned, like a stupid Pinterest mood board, when really it’s not that way at all.” She leaned her arm on the back of her chair. “Now that I’ve learned that, I’m ready to get on with the hot mess of living.

But maybe that was why life was such a hot mess. People worked toward goals; they achieved them; they looked for new ones to replace them. People abandoned goals, found lesser ones that were easier to achieve, but they still poured one out for the ones they’d lost. It was okay to lose. Expected, even. Getting used to failure was part of the human condition, and Bea was determined to get better at it."

Rounding it up to the 3 stars because the writing is good enough and engaging, there's some life lessons in there and redeemable parts at the end...

*I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest opinion. Thank you (and sorry again lol I wish I loved it more)

The premise seems promising but there are so many things that make me ick. The MC is deeply self-centered and the plot lay flat to me. And also some dialogues are so bad I cringed while reading and some of the scenes don't even make sense. Like what just happened yk? Overall, it's safe to say this book fails to exceed my expectations.

It was a fun romantic read, Bea, our MC wins a free wedding lottery and loses her groom, she incorporates her friend Oliver on her mission. Bea is set on fact she is going to get married on her wedding date. Bea starts to find a boyfriend/fiance so she can have her dream wedding.

This was a fun, yet predictable read. Bea was a bit over the top, but in the end got her happy ending.

A nice romantic read. I enjoyed the story and was eager to see who Bea would end up with (even though we all knew from the start). A simple read however, my only negative is that the book is quite long with a lot of irrelevant information and could definitely have been shortened.

Couldn’t put it down really enjoyed this book totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley aWhen Bea Corbin enters a lottery to win her perfect wedding, she never imagines that her name will be picked right after she’s been cheated on, and unceremoniously dumped, by her ex-boyfriend. But when the event planner calls with the good news, Bea doesn’t say any of that. She panics and says yes.

Going against the advice of her oldest friend Oliver, Bea announces her marriage to her friends and family, and begins her hunt for a husband. Just because Oliver is an old-fashioned romantic doesn’t mean that Bea’s colour-coded binder filled with ways to find a fiancé won’t work.

As luck would have it, Bea soon has the most awkward, tequila-fuelled first kiss of all time with her gorgeous office crush, Andrew. But as Bea and Andrew’s relationship gets more serious at the exact moment her ex-boyfriend reappears declaring his undying love, things become more complicated than she could have imagined. Bea feels more lost than ever, especially because Oliver is no longer taking her calls, or answering her texts…

As the ceremony draws nearer, Bea discovers that the only thing more complicated than finding a husband on a deadline is finding the right one.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book. It was so funny and a quick read, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick heartwarming quirky book,

Where to start? Idk what the main character was thinking accepting a 'free' wedding with no potential groom, but I was here for it. I was intrigued with how she would find her groom and if anyone from her life could be a potential groom. The author delivered and my curiosity was satisfied.

Okay, it was okay, but not the best book that I read recently. I don’t know why, but during the whole book I was indifferent to all the things that was happening there, the best thing in this book for me is Lucy, that’s the only character that was really reliable. Bea is very annoying sometimes, sometimes is too stupid! Everything is pretty obvious in The my big fake wedding. I really wanted to have fun with this book, but sorry not my cup of tea. But it’s just my opinion, maybe for you it will be the best book ever. Because it has some nice moments and charisma, I hope that this book will find its audience!

This is a nice book, good premise, but could definitely use some reworking and maybe another set of eyes.

Fun book, great theme and idea but a little dragged out in places. Still enjoyable

Thanks for the arc

I found this story to be a very cute, fun, and lighthearted read. It was a simple romcom with a plot that was very easy to follow.

The story follows a young woman, named Bea, after she wins the lottery to have her dream wedding. However, Bea has since broken up with her fiancée and no longer has someone to marry. Despite this, she is determined to seize this wedding opportunity. We then follow Bea on her roller-coaster of a journey to choose her future husband!

I found the characters to be a bit underdeveloped, but I liked them well enough and they certainly suited this type of story. Throughout the book, I was curious to see exactly who Bea would end up choosing and marrying! I was happy with the ending and the overall story. It was a very fast-paced read with a cute overall plot.

I’d recommend this book to anybody looking for a cute, quick romcom!

I think this book has a great concept and with some more tweaking could be really good! It’s a cute concept and I found a lot of enjoyable moments!

There was nothing redeemable about this. The moment I hit page 30, I knew I wasn't goint to enjoy this. But I gave it a chance. Then I was halfway and still in pain. But since it's an ARC, I pushed through. The premise sounded fun: a woman who's recently single wins a wedding contest and needs a husband. Sadly, it was everything but fun. I would've much prefered if she fake dated/married Oliver. I feel like there was no point to this entire book.
The entire book is predictable. I knew from the beginning where the book was going and how it was going to end, nothing excited me or made me interested in the outcome of the book. Also, at the end of each chapter there were to do lists and they were not for me, I kept just skimming them.

I did not care for a single character. I barely know what they look like, except Oliver has a beard, Ray is blonde and Lucy as red hair. None of them have any personality nor feel like real people. Also, Bea is the most insufferable person: seflsih, whiney, and makes so many dumb decisions.

Bea and Andrew had no romance: no tension, their relationship didn't feel genuine for a second. Bea and Oliver equally had no chemistry, with the exception of the fake-fiancé scene where they kiss.

Finally, this book was filled with mostly unecessary references. Sure, she likes movies that's why there's so many references and the wedding related references also are ok, but this was just too much.

Overall, I really did not enjoy this and would not recommend.

Bea was still in relationship when she enters a competition with a dream wedding as prize. She never thought that her status in relationship changed and got a shocks when she got her dream wedding offer. So she strive to find a boyfriend and get married by the scheduled time even against the advice of her best friend Oliver. She set her sights on Andrew to pursue.

It is about the romance journey where Bea learn and evolved at the end of the journey the meaning of love. I never feel that Bea is connected to Andrew. The relationship just too fake and lacked the chemistry. Instead as I read along, I was hoping it was Oliver. Love the writing style and overall it is a fun light read for me with comes with a surprise ending.

*review post scheduled to be posted on my blog on 23/9/22*

Bea wins her dream wedding in a lottery. The only problem is...she has no groom! With only a few months to go until the big day, Bea is a woman with a mission: will she find a man to say 'I do'?
My Big Fake Wedding is a light hearted romantic novel set in America.
Bea has been single for a few months when she is informed she has won a wedding. She accepts and is confident she can find a man to marry. Her colleague Andrew seems like a good bet so she starts looking for ways to begin a relationship so she can convince him to marry her.
There are plenty of funny moments and the whole situation is quite ridiculous. The real man she should be focussing her attention on is blazingly obvious and I despaired a little at Bea's lack of awareness. Bea has a wonderful relationship with her best friend Lucy and this provides more opportunities for humour as well as emotion.
The book has a subplot of a big launch event that Bea is organising in parallel with her wedding. Her professional side shows how driven and focussed she can be, which then reinforces her determination to wed.
The writing style is relaxed and almost chatty despite the third person narrative. I liked the use of 'to do' lists at the end of each chapter. These link the things that have just happened and allow us to anticipate what will happen next. Plus I am a huge fan of lists to get things done!
My Bg Fake Wedding is an enjoyable romantic novel with humour and emotion.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this e-Arc. This is an honest review.

2,45 ⭐️ Beatrice is a woman who has been left by her boyfriend of seven years, who she wanted to marry and had applied to win a wedding for them. The man had other plans so Bea found herself with a wedding and no one to marry.

The book could have been interesting at first, I thought I was going to like it, but then I had problems with reading this.
I disliked the characters, they’re all so selfish you can’t stand them. One of them was a walking red-flag from the start. Even though he was making me change my mind as the story went on, in the end I realised I had been right with my first thought.

The love story was very confusing. I feel like the real love story took place only in the last 50 pages or less and still not developed at all.

In the end I didn’t like this book and I hoped it was going to continue with the vibe it has at the start.

2.5 stars

Honestly good but it felt a bit too tedious and dragged out???

I liked the idea and the plot but it could've been written better.

Appreciate the hustle though, even if it's pretty bland and I've immediately forgotten what all I read in it.

A while ago Bea entered a lottery to win her perfect wedding, but she never imagined that when she would win! Especially not after she'd been cheated on & dumped by her now ex-boyfriend. But when the event planner calls with the good news, Bea doesn’t say any of that. She panics and says yes!

Despite advice to the contrary from her friend Oliver, she announces her marriage to her loved ones & proceeds to hunt for a husband! Just because Oliver is an old-fashioned romantic doesn’t mean that Bea’s colour-coded binder filled with ways to find a fiancé won’t work...

As the ceremony draws nearer, Bea discovers that the only thing more complicated than finding a husband on a deadline is finding the right one!

At times I found some elements a bit lack-lustre & I couldn't always connect with Bea... but on the whole this is a laugh out loud romantic comedy! A fun & easy read to relax with! I read this in one sitting 😀

If you enjoy rom then maybe check this one out!

Rating - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

Thanks to @netgalley & @bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this e-Advanced Reader Copy of My Big Fake Wedding 💕

thank you netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book!

2.5 stars!

based on that title alone, i was SO excited and thought "oh, marriage of convinience is one of my favorite tropes!" and BOOM it WASN'T. it was the farthest thing from a fake dating scenario i could think of.

i hate the fact that i didn't like this, because the author's note was relatable, but oh god did the main character infuriate me at times. everyone in this book acted like 12 year old, not full grown adults. like make it stOP. and besides, i knew from the very first moment who she would end up with, and they dragged it on SO MUCH.

i didn't laugh, i didn't swoon, i was mostly bored and frustrated and just like ugh i need to finish this arc. i really wish i had liked this, but i just didn't. THE ONLY THING I ACTUALLY LIKED WAS HER CAT, HE CARRIED THE BOOK ON HIS BACK!

I was excited to read this one, because the premise sounded hilarious.
Unfortunately I couldn’t relate to the main character and didn’t really feel the chemistry between the couple. This one missed the mark for me..