How To Fake It With a Fae by Amy Boyles

This is the first book in Amy's new 'Seven Suitors for Seven Witches' series and was such a fun introduction to the series. If you love a fun romantic comedy, mixed with magic you will definitely love this. It gave me beauty and the beast vibes which is always a good thing. Also have you seen the cover? It's very beautiful.

"If this isn't true love, then true love doesn't exist."

Tropes:
💕 Dual POV
🪢 Forced proximity
💍 Fake engagement
🌤️ Grumpy/sunshine
❤️‍🔥 Slow burn

Thank you Amy Boyles, Ladybugbooks LLC and netgalley for giving me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How To Fake It With a Fae
by Amy Boyles
Book 1 of Seven Suitors for Seven Witches

This sounded like such a fun idea and the cover immediately drew me in. The colours are super pretty, girly, but also kind of mysterious.

Addison Thornrose is a book lover through and through. The person she has not found the perfect book for is yet to come. But that’s the only thing that matches in her life, relationships? It that much. And here comes the twist, if Addison does not marry, her witch powers will be gone, POOF!

Then we have the king of the Fae, Feylin. All he wants in life is revenge on the Thornrose family. When said family holds an old fashioned ball to marry off Addison, he sees his chance.
Come as it must, neither of them see feelings coming from a mile away, as well as as ancient fae magic binding them together.

Recipe for disaster?

This had everything you need to make this fun! I loved the idea of the story. It’s nothing that invents the wheel again, but it had its perks. Lots of fun characters and the world building was ok. I may have wished for a faster pace.

My problem was that I could not really relate to the characters at all. Just didn’t click for me. This was a great idea with some executional flaws. A nice and cozy read without big expectations. So I guess this was average to me.


Pub Date 25 Feb 2024 by Ladybugbooks LLC
Arc received courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley, thank you so much. All opinions are my own.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙏𝙤 𝙁𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙄𝙩 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘼 𝙁𝙖𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙢𝙮 𝘽𝙤𝙮𝙡𝙚𝙨

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦'𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥'𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.“

Wow, I was not ready for how much I enjoyed this book! 💞

Addison is the eldest of seven daughters in the Thornrose family. Her family runs a magical bookshop that allows people to travel inside their favorite novel. Unfortunately, out of every witch in her family she is the only one without magic. She’s been living in a human city for years but gets called back home after a tragedy strikes the family. Now herself and her sister must all marry in order to save their magic. When Addie accidentally gets engaged to a stranger, they decide to fake their engagement for both of their benefits.

Feylin, king of the fae, has one goal, to protect his kind. After getting engaged to a witch, he knows there’s something more to their connection than just fake dating. As they both continue to pretend, it somehow becomes more. Unfortunately, Feylin is keeping secrets that could destroy them both.

This book was seriously so good! The buildup in Addie’s and Feylin’s relationship was so good. The world building and setting for the story wasn’t necessarily new, but really well done! This is definitely a slow burn romance with mild spice towards the end.

This is the first book in the series and I cannot wait for the next sister’s book after that twist ending!

Tropes:
👑 Fae King x Magic-less Witch
🗺️ Fantasy
📚 1st Book in a New Series!
💞 Dual POV
🔥 Slow burn (1🌶️)

Thank you to the publisher and Amy Boyles for my eARC of this story so that I could share this honest review! I highly recommend this story to all romantasy lovers! This book will be available on February 25th!

I really enjoyed this, I stayed up way to late as I couldn’t put it down. The first time Addison & Feylin see each other will forever be my favourite meet! It was adorable funny and crazy. Addison was such a sweetheart a witch without powers first born of 7 daughters. She had such a hard time but she’s always positive and happy. Feylin king of fae and guardian to his 10 year old cousin. Their relationship was my favourite sweet and innocent. Addison and Feylin are so perfect together but the past is going to get in the way and Feylin completely rips my heart out real tears devastation. He does come through with the loveliest apology. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions, The whole book was about family, love, happiness, magic and books!!! I’m so excited to find out more about each sister In their own story I need them now.

This book is the first in a series and the premise really appealed to me. We've got a witch who has no magic, although she comes from a powerful magical family, and she has to marry to strengthen that family magic. \Enter the Fae King who has some questionable motives when he and the witch become 'fake engaged'.
I got a little confused with how this fake arrangement was supposed to benefit either party in the long run but I didn't sweat the details too much.

But the plot wasn't the only thing that felt flimsy to me.

I couldn't really get a handle on the main characters. There's a point when Feylin tells Addison she has to return to his castle with him, and one of the questions she asks is, 'will there be servants?'

I couldn't figure out if this was meant to be a joke, some kind of dig at his pompous behaviour or if she was making sure there would be someone to do her bidding.

Addison is empathetic and generous at times and, at others, callous and dismissive. Her family seem strangely uncommunicative for people who are meant to be close.

Feylin's character is slightly easier understand. He is conflicted in his plans and feelings for Addison. Even so, sometimes he acts without logic, purely on instinct, which seems strange for a leader. In saying that, the chapters written from his point of view were more enjoyable for me.

The story moves pretty slowly until the third act conflict which was so avoidable I threw my hands in the air. At that point my 'just go with it' had run out.

I get that this is fantasy romance and there will be unbelievable elements to the story but the characters and their motivations were just too hard for me to connect with.

While this book didn't strike a chord with me, fans of fantasy romance, perhaps new adult readers, may enjoy it.
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.